*THUD*
Among ALL things... they chosed Kugimiya for Shannon...? Heck I would have preferred Noto any day of the week in comparison...
Yes, she is still 16 years old and all, but Kugimiya has really a big issue with calm and mature voice, and her inability to change her tone will definitely make most seasoned audience think that Shana or Louise jacked in Umineko.
OTZ...
As for Kobayashi Yuu... I'm a bit disappointed, as she can't be as angsty and deep as Sakamoto, but at least they didn't use a male seiyuu for him.
As for the design:
Battler: well, he loses his "cool" and looks a bit the very laid back guy. It is hard to consider him as a 18 years old philanderer... I think they need to polish more the traits so he can look a bit more like Rudolf. In other words, he looks too young.
Jessica: I don't think I have any complain about her design: very detailed, not exaggerated (though will be a bit funny with her tsundere antics).
Maria: well, somehow the eyes don't cut it... I would expect her to be more on the "cute" aspect than the airhead one. At least, Maria's design somehow fits for Horie's voice, but still, the "occult mode" will be hard for her. VERY hard.
George: I know that George is COOL for Battler, but I was expecting something along... more chubby and less "mature". I mean, George can be VERY shy at times, and his design wouldn't exactly match an unconfident George around Shannon.
Shannon: I'm surprised they didn't go overboard over her bust size
. One thing that bugs me with Shannon: she lost her gentle "aura". Well she looks nice, but doesn't seem all caring at the first glance unlike her game/manga counterpart.
Kanon: whoa... bishi mode? Well... would fit the emo parts, but the aggressive and depressing moments would be a bit awkward.
So far, only Jessica managed to get a proper adaptation, the rest needs quite some tweek.