Watched episode 1, and it didn't disappoint.
It may not be the top show of the season and some may even find it a bit slow, but slice-of-life fans will certainly love this. Directed by Sato Junichi, the atmosphere of the episode is very soothing with beautiful animation and music. IMO it is as good as Aria (another Sato work btw) on the storytelling side and is even a bit better on the technical side. Maybe being backed by the gigantic pachinko industry translates into a larger budget?
Spoiler:
The story of this episode is mainly about two mermaid sisters (with legs in this world), Marin and Urin, trying to return a ring found on the seabed. They managed to get to the land and found the owner of the ring, Kanon a high-school student also working as a miko (?) who is said to be having an aura of evilness. Kanon was in a bad mood as she got rejected by her boyfriend, and she threw away the ring again. The remaining episode focuses on the sisters trying to find the ring, the interaction between Kanon and Marin, as well as how Urin unintentionally unleashed some sort of demon cloud.
Besides the slow pace, the only thing that may take some time to get used to is the skimpy outfits of the mermaid sisters. But it is fun to see them getting stared by males wherever they go to.
The interactions between the characters are interesting, especially those between Marin (as boke) and Kanon (as tsukkomi). Kanon's mother is also fun too. It seems like young MILFs are becoming more and more common nowadays. The miko who sung besides the sea is not yet properly introduced and I wonder what role she will play in the later part of the story.
Anyway, I just hope that they will make it more of a slice-of-life story and maintain the Aria-esque atmosphere, instead of turning it into a generic magical girl show.