The art in this is really gorgeous; it's very well done. The character designs are nice for the most part. The basic conceit of the show is a bit strange, but that's true of many series which otherwise turned out to be really good.

But this series, at least so far, isn't really good. It's actually pretty bad. The problem is the writing. The story is melodrama, with bad guys who are REALLY bad, almost mustache twirlers (despite being clean shaven) and a female lead (Princess Fine) who is so brave and kind and dedicated that she's like a refugee from a Ghibli movie.

Everyone associated with the good guys is handsome or beautiful and is honorable and kind and brave and self-sacrificing. You kind of expect them all to have halos.

Everyone associated with the bad guys is brutal and sadistic and evil. Where are the horns and the whiff of brimstone?

The bad guys are Germans, from the nation of "Germania". The good guys are from the Duchy of Eylstadt. They show a map at one point, and a far as I can tell, the director cut a piece off of Austria to be Eylstadt.

There's only one character who is an enigma, Major Belkman. Nominally he's a German, but he isn't acting like all the others. What does he really want? What is he trying to accomplish? Unfortunately, that isn't the story; he's a minor character (at least so far). If I had to guess, I'd guess he's a witch or related to them. But he's an obvious candidate for a heel-face-turn before the series is over.

But I don't intend to wait for it. Dropped.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in General Anime at 10:28 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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