Well, I've been sitting on this anime for about a month and I finally decided I wanted to wrap it up. I rewatched the first bit with my brother, and he commented that the 'animation' was lazy. I'd have to agree with him :V
That little detail aside, I was pretty content with how it turned out.
First, the little "twist"...
As for the conclusion...
Spoiler:
For starters, the graduation thing was pretty cute. It really brought me back. I was, however, left with the feeling of "now what?"
Well, it was clear they would all go their separate ways. Sora would be going back to the sticks and Gota would return to the sea. I sort of half expected seeing a sort of honeymoon period between the two, but I guess we could say their summer was exactly this.
I honestly thought that would be it for them, but then bam, TIMESKIP. I'm a sucker for these "What are they doing now?" deals. Initially, I wanted it to be Sora on that bike (that would have been pretty badass), but we get Gota revisiting that very tree and scenery Sora wished to show him. I didn't know how to feel about the last bit - while the others were pretty solemn in their referring to Sora, Gota never once frowned with the memory of her. I guess in this sense, love really does "conquer all" - not to live for himself but for Sora as well.
I really felt that they could have took their time and made this thing a few more episodes longer. Heck, all they needed was to buy a couple more rolls of film for that camera :V I felt that for most of it, Sora took on a supporting role for the others. I don't know if this was to emphasize that she fit perfectly with the charge given to her as a mage or something, but a little more "alone time" with Sora and the viewer was needed.
Overall, this would have to be up there with my favorite anime of last season. It was refreshing and very earnest in it's storytelling.