The premise of the whole story was also fascinating. As well as having magic, a murder mystery, and some bizarre butterflies and floating eyeball fruit, this anime, for me, was set apart from the pack.
The initial set up to the story was intriguing, and the characters had a kind of gritty realism about them. Combined with a catchy opening sequence, the series showed a hell of a lot of promise. Promise that ultimately was unfulfilled. The end left me with unrequited yearning. Allow me to explain.
If I were to sum up the series in one word it would be "slow". The pace of the anime was just too darned slow. From memory I could only remember a few occasions where I REALLY wanted to watch on. And although there were a few minor surprises and twists (none which you wouldn't be able to guess yourself if you're bright enough) the anime just did not seem to have the pace that it promised from the first episode. Much of the series was taken up by somewhat pointless dialogue which kind of droned on. I kept asking myself when something would happen, then the episode would end and I was left with a feeling of "what the...?"
That's not to say there aren't some good elements to the anime. I thought the music used was very atmospheric, appropriate and really added tension to the dramatic aspects. The art was also superb, it was really something, and for the most part I enjoyed watching it for that aspect.
But having finished I couldn't shake the niggling feeling there was something essential lacking. It's hard to put one's finger on it. The artwork was great, the music fantastic, the characters original and unique... But Zetsuen no Tempest was ultimately unable to deliver.
Firstly the characters. The first half of the series was difficult to watch because there were no protagonists who the viewer could identify with or even like, except for a mage who is stuck on a deserted island in the middle of nowhere and can only communicate through a wooden doll. Mahiro is not a likeable hero, and does not seem to pretend to be one either. So we follow his angry, selfish motives for vengeance as he tries to find the killer of his sister. And on the flip side of the coin we have Yoshino, who is nebulous at best. He barely reacts to anything, and it's hard to drum up any feeling for this deadpan character. Even at the end I wasn't sure if I liked him or not. I suppose I would say I didn't really care.
The second half of the series was also somewhat disappointing. All the potential conflicts and plot lines are too conveniently tied up, and they don't really go anywhere. It was disappointing.
The constant references to Shakespeare were interesting... sort of. The characters have this thing where they start spurting random quotes form the Tempest and Hamlet. Others have said this is a strength of the anime, but personally I'm not so sure. It appears forced initially and out of place. Even I can start spouting Shakespeare if I wanted: "When we are born we cry that we are come to this great stage of fools"... but I'm not sure why I would do it ... At the end they tie in the two Shakespearean references somewhat nicely, so I guess it wasn't all bad.
I'd give it a go if you like slow paced character driven anime. Being a fan of fantasy genres in general, I wouldn't have high hopes for that aspect of the story as the mages' "powers" are kind of limited and in the end don't really mean much or add anything to the plot.
Story: 6
Art: 9
Sound: 10
Character: 6
Enjoyment: 6
Overall: 6
