I finally got around to watching the first episode and I have to say that GONZO is the best company in making the most out of Idol-Poppish songs. Somehow the opening didn't bother me yet by all rights I should have hated it. The ending is good too.
I like the complicated tribal politics of this series, and for once the male character has the upper hand on the female character in the series (Femdom days are over, it's time for a male hero to take to the stage again, if only briefly. Remember Male Hero's.... I Do
)
Anyway I noticed a bit of the late Kaneto Shiozawa in Kazuma's voice and I think his voice actor did a fine job in bringing the character too life. Kazuma is an interesting blend of outward cockiness and inward self-doubt (Which we see in his dream sequence where he is still haunted by his defeat at Ayano's hands). On that matter, I was hoping for a little more of the infamous 12 year old beats 18 year old scene, but all she does is raise her hand with an expressionless look on her face, and set him on fire. He was powerless. (I bet Deathkillz liked the quiet loli Ayano scene
). Anyway there's more to even this regarding his backstory than we have seen yet, which makes the series all the more intriguing.
On Ayano, she doesn't bother me. She seems to treat her friends as equals despite the fact that they are like the Relena Darlian groupies from the early episodes of Gundam Wing, and she also doesn't seem to realize the stigma she has left on Kazuma by mercilessly crushing him in their duel. (I wonder if that's what the title is referring too) Her fighting style in the beginning seems to show that she is kind of clumsy, so she isn't the perfect fighter that the tribe seems to think she is.
Then there are the two heads of the family. Ayano's father seems to be a fairly reasonable "Wait and See Fellow", but Kazuma's own father is a huge jerk. This could turn into something interesting if they play it right with Kazuma's own father being less sympathetic than his rivals father.
@lightbringer: Actually I think Kaguya is supposed to be 12 (The age you designate your character when you want them to be a loli. Seriously.)