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Watched the first episode, and I must admit that I'm a bit... underwhelmed. It wasn't bad per say, but it failed to leave a mark. I'm feeling a case of deja vu - both from AIR and from Suzumiya Haruhi. Some remarks:
- Stunning graphics.
Excellect attention to detail. Once again, the animators at Kyoto Animations outdo themselves. This is like watching AIR on steriods. With that said...
- Characters.
Well, looks like we have AIR on steroids once again, but not in a good way. The Toei version may have been inferior technically but managed to generate distinctive, entertaining characters. KyoAni does not. Kyuichi seems like a one-trick pony who can't display any emotion other than cool sarcasm. Nayuki is incredibly generic. And while Ayu is less annoying, she, too, can't seem to break out of the shell. If this was done with the intent with creating subtle characterizations - I missed it.
Plotting/screenplay.
Could be better. This work seems to share a critical flaw with Suzumiya Haruhi - too much monologuing. They could use the advice given by my grade-school teacher: "show, not tell."
Music.
I feel this episode could've used more music; it would've been nice if they used imagery and music to convey certain moods instead of relying on Kyuichi's monologues.
Overall.
While far from poor, it was unable to generate more than a "meh" reaction from me, despite the eye candy. It was not unlike watching a summer blockbuster: plenty of great special effects, but what else does it have? It's certainly watchable but not as fun to watch as say, the first episode Canvas 2, which had decidedly inferior visuals but at least drew me in with a promising story. Still too early to give up on the show, but it looks unlikely that it will go beyond the "mediocre-to-good" category.
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