I can start of mentioning the two lesser good things about Zetusen no Tempest:
1. Fuwa Mahiro. One of the main protagonists. At times, he can be too much of a hot-blooded shounen character. Rushes straight into matters with simple and brute solutions, fueled by the emotion of revenge. While this is a good counterpart to the other protagonist and his friend, the intelligent and methodical Takigawa Yoshino, Mahiro's personality can be a bit clichéd and predictable at times, but he also has his good moments.
2. The first few episodes. While I never got a feeling that the pacing of the these first episodes was never rushed, the plot progressed kinda slow. It's not a big issue, but I feel like there could be a slight improvement here. However, this allowed more time to get to know the characters and the situation of the world. It just would be swell if there was a perfect balance between the amount of exposition and plot progression. But after those few episodes, things start to heat up pretty fast!
Now for the good stuff:
- Story: As already mentioned, the whole teenagers-out-to-save-the-world-thing is old as hell, but the way it was executed was rather surprising and unconventional in a good way. You know those typical solutions of typical shounen characters? The ones where they pull a superpower or something similar out of their asses and suddenly the problem is solved? Well, nothing of that here! Here we actually have characters that fight equally with superpowers and words. While the action parts can be entertaining to watch, it is the clever fights with words that steal the show. Words that are carefully crafted with logic, reasoning and lies can even have the power to the turn the tide of a conflict. That itself is something few animes (and far less in shounen animes) can do well, and well Zetsuen no Tempest does.
- Art: I dare say that the art surpassed the manga version. It has a lot cleaner look and emphasized the characters' personalities better than in the manga. Seeing how the drawer for the manga was responsible for the character design of the anime, it isn't too odd, really. Luckily, the production value of this part is a lot higher than your average shounen anime. And for that, I am glad, for Zetusen no Tempest truly deserves it. As far I noticed, there were no cheap shortcuts for the animation and such. The series has a quality feel to it.
- Sound: The music. Without a doubt, the most surprising part of the anime. Here I was expecting somewhat generic music to accompagny the art and story. But boy, was I wrong. The exception is the first opening song. While it isn't necessary a bad song on its own, but it doesn't match too well of the tone of the anime. My favorite track of Zetsuen no Tempest is without the second opening song ("Daisuki na no ni" by Kylee). It's a catchy and beautiful song with lyrics that fit with the show. Other than that, the show has music that fits with the mood, created with real instruments rather than computer-generated. It really helps set the mood of the moments of the show.
- Characters: I already mentioned the bad things about Fuwa Mahiro, so I'll let that be. But the real star of the show is his friend Takigawa Yoshino. Even just a high-schooler, he is a rather intelligent individual that would rather fight with words and wit than brawn and might. Overall a cool and composed character that is hard to not like. The other characters can be a hit or miss. Just about all characters you meet, are in some way used in future episodes and not just "thrown away" like they tend to do in other shounen series. However, some of them don't add too much than other characters. This is more of a nitpick from my side.
So overall, a great series. Too bad the anime didn't cover the epilogue that the manga had. Let's hope they produce this if many enough people enjoy the show! ^^
