Oct 27 2010 12:03 AM Well, the series ended on a relatively good note, but it was almost too obvious given what happened in episode 12. Regardless, the problem wasn't with the final episodes of this series, but rather the stuff in between. Between episode 3 and 10, there was almost nothing useful there. Sure they were introducing the occult stuff and other little bits that ended up being part of the black mage, but none of it really contributed to the overall story. If anything, the only episodes that one really needed to watch was episode 1, 2, end of 11, 12 and 13. The rest was filler or character development of random characters, that play no significant role in the series.
Animation is nice from A-1, but the art could have used some work on the facial expressions at times, especially in the last episode.
The music? Very good, loved both the OP and ED themes and the bgms were all great that fit the theme of the show. Seiyuus were okay. Yoko Hikasa didn't really strike me as the violent/tsundere type, so it didn't quite match Maya's character. Everyone else was okay though, not that many other characters got much screen time anyways.
Character development was decent in the middle episodes but again, they were mostly for characters that contributed little to the overall story. Fumiaki/Abe's back story was interesting, but I was hoping they dwelled a bit more rather than do some in an early episode and then come back in episode 13 with everything else. I was looking for something along the line of how he spent his life after the Day of Judgment. Maya's story could have used significantly more work since they didn't really portray her father in many situations, nor did it explain a clear cut reason as to why she came to dislike the occult.
Enjoyment? As said before the show's weakness is easily the stuff in between. Nothing there proved to have any overall effect on the final bit of story. The only thing that got me going again for this series was the number of plot twists in episodes 11 and 12, but I was disappointed that they rushed the whole "magic" thing in the end. It was really nice to see the vice principal ending up not being the antagonist since the series really had me going there for a while. However, it was all too sudden and was difficult to swallow all in one sitting. Because of this, the show has little re-watch value since there's no point in sitting through 7 straight boring episodes. Had the series done a better job at pacing the show, maybe it would have lived up to expectations shown in the first episode. With that said, the show as a whole is great for an original work and I look forward to more shows of this type in the future, hopefully with the producers learning from past mistakes. There is no sequel to this and that's that. I doubt the DVD/BD specials will add anything particularly meaningful. If they hint at a sequel, that basically throws the whole show down the drain, so hopefully this series just rests as it is.
Preliminary Expectation: Limbo Preliminary Score: 8/10 Final Score: 7/10 