I should have listened.
The first few episodes are incredibly strong. The plot begins with several mysteries that are very compelling, questions that give plenty of reason to continue watching. Takumi acts believably and the various girls each have their own distinct personality about them. However, this strength does not last for long.
Several of the female characters periodically show up to either provide slightly more detail into the plot or to say pretty much the same thing to Takumi. It works for a little while, since there's a sense in how important Takumi's sword is. However, it seems to get dropped as more of the female characters become important to the overall plot.
The anime falls short in two primary areas. First, the primary cast is entirely too large and spaced out to be characterized effectively in thirteen episodes. This is incredibly apparent in the second half where two or three of seemingly minor characters are forced into the spotlight. It looks very out of place and seems tacked on. It also has this weird idea that the best way to go about a subplot is to solve it at the same time it's introduced. It definitely felt that way, as any hints of those subplots beforehand are either incredibly small or easily forgettable. Second, the complete change in the premise from mystery and paranoia into full on action just doesn't fit or flow well. The initial premise is basically thrown to the side, as most of the initial questions that got me interested in continuing got an incredibly shallow answer. For example, one of the mysteries involved a seemingly minor character who is suddenly thrust into the spotlight and similarly brought back into obscurity several minutes later. This character has been showing up in several past episodes, but only in passing. There's no reason before that point to ever pay attention to their presence.
The main characters overall aren't great either. Takumi is a strong character in the first half of the series, but the giant plot twist involving The General and everything afterwards does a lot to destroy that credibility. Some of the other characters are strong, but others are incredibly weak. I still don't see what true purpose Takumi's sister has in the entire anime. There's not much purpose in having so many female characters in the spotlight. If they had combined some of them so that there were four instead of six, they would likely have been able to solve some of these issues.
When it comes to the antagonists, there's no real contest. There's only one primary antagonist in the entire anime, and he gets increasingly shallow as time goes on. He's a generic villain, a character that doesn't really stand out from the rest of the cast even though he plays a major role in the story's climax.
I feel this anime would have been much better if it was spaced out to 26 episodes instead of condensed into 13. With a cast as big as this and so many subplots being thrown around, it's incredibly difficult to avoid rushing through various things. If they had more time to flesh out all the characters and give a compelling answer to all the mysteries at the beginning, this would have been a much more satisfying experience. However, the way it is, I can't recommend anyone I know to watch this.
