[relentlessflame]

Spoiler for Episode 1:

The thing I found most remarkable about the first episode is really the atmosphere -- it's weighty, depressing, and almost brooding at times. At first that made it hard to "get into" but by the end of the episode I was starting to understand where they were coming from. None of the characters in this story are happy campers, to say the least -- which, I suppose, makes sense given the title and theme. Here's to hoping that, by the end of the show, the heavy clouds will have lifted and the characters will finally find a way to be truly happy and free. That's sort of the feeling I got from the first episode, anyway.

The one scene in particular that stood out for this was actually the bath scene. It started like the classic cliche, but they totally flipped it and turned into something... I don't know... weighty? The protagonist actually found himself wanting the stereotypical response just to show that his life wasn't actually as depressing as it is. That's the sort of atmosphere the show seeps from every pore. It's a very odd feeling in a genre that typically starts with things pretty generic/happy and turns tense later. Not by any means saying it's bad, it just takes some getting used to.

Production-wise... it really looks different than most anime I can remember, actually. Very distinctive colours, artstyle, backgrounds, and effects. I'm not a very big fan of the way they used CG to automate some human motion, though, mostly because it sticks out too much (it runs more smoothly than the rest of the animation). That being said, overall, I think the show looks pretty good; music and voice acting also seemed pretty good.

Anyway, I'd like to keep watching to see more of what they're doing with this.