Apr 2 2010 12:33 AM What another inconclusive ending. Although there were no hopes of this showing coming near a proper conclusion, at least hint at a potential second season.
From the way it ended, the chances of a second season look grim or at least not for a long while. Given how much material they had to animate, I'm surprised that the pacing was absurdly slow, especially the last three episodes where it felt like two chapters of the manga covered in the span of three episodes.
The show has a marvelous plot, but its pacing execution was incredibly poor that I really was bored to death at points waiting for something interesting to happen in the latter half of the series. Plot wise the second half was good but abundance of content was very dull. I mean, if they wanted to do this properly and avoid running into a new arc, they probably should have slowed down the pace of the first half and sped up the second half a bit to at least keep people entertained.
Animation is done by I.G. No real complaints here since it had a similar feel to many of their other shows including Kemono no Souja Erin, FLCL, and Higashi no Eden (of course this animation quality is superior to all listed). Art wise, it felt like Honey and Clover style and I'm surprised that none of the staff was doing this show despite the large similarities.
The music score is fantastic for this show. Although I was never a big fan of the OP and that the ED was only decent, the bgm is absolutely amazing. Each scene almost always had the appropriate perfect score to go with it.
Character development was more or less solid for this series. Although we never got much about Kazehaya or Kurumi's past in depth, everyone else was pretty solid, especially Sawako, Ryu, Ayane, and Chizu. Really no complaints there. The blame really just falls on the pacing of the story in this department.
Enjoyment? As I said, this show started out really good. Strong conflicts rose and were resolved in very meaningful manners. However, as the series progressed beyond its halfway mark, the show began to slowly deteriorate in its enjoyment factor. Episodes began to become less interesting to watch as the story progressed even slower and conflicts were no longer as interesting as they were in the beginning of the series to the extent that they never got to the more interesting/"mysterious" characters like Kazehaya, whom we know almost nothing about.
Overall, the show has a lot of potential, but the closure to the series is absolutely what killed it for me. I.G. usually doesn't make a second season of series that they're the main animation production crew of. If they do, it probably won't be for another few years before it's announced. In other words, don't get hopes high for a second season, especially since how I.G. closed the series, meaning it's time to start picking up the manga if you want to continue.
8/10 This could have deserved a potential 9/10 if that ending just wasn't awful, but now it's sitting at a borderline 8. Usually series I give above 8 means that they would have a relatively high rewatch value, but this one really is close to being cut from that list entirely.