Let's start with the story. I think the first episode usually defines how a series will go. I was laughing my pants off the first episode alone, and it was like that for most of the series. I really liked the concept - it did remind me of Fushigi Yuugi a bit, another seemingly normal teenager shipped off into a new world, rather flushed into a new world. That was only an initial reaction though. I forgot about comparing it to Fushigi Yuugi after a few episodes. I also have to note that this anime is easy to understand. I really think that an anime should be easy to understand and still be able to entertain everyone.
The only problem I have with the series is it's "fillers-galore". It made the series longer than it needed to be, and I have to say that the creators did poorly with the time management and pacing. At first the fillers were amusing, but it got to the point where there were too many of them.
I was a bit worried concerning the premise of yaoi. It's not yaoi after all, but it came really close to shonen - ai (but then again, is it really shonen - ai?). I found me and my brother screaming at the sight of Wolfram wearing his pink night gown, sleeping in Yuri's bed. I had the same reaction when Wolfram offered to scrub Yuri's back in one episode. While those scenes were a bit uncomfortable, they are just foot notes after all, and are usually for comedic relief. Although for some reason, I would like to see Gisela end up with Wolfram. I don't know why exactly. There was also the problem with Yozak cross dressing. He is such a good looking and muscular guy. Why be like Dennis Rodman, Yozak?
No doubt about it, I like the drawing style. Most of what I like are the well drawn bishies, of course.I love the bishonens. My favorites are Wolfram and Konrad, but towards the end I was like "Ken's handsome too". Gwendal's not that bad either, although the wrinkles bothered me a bit. everything else is also considerably well drawn. The backgrounds are nice, and I like the color palette. I didn't find colors that clash together, etc. I would like to take note that the women in this anime are also nice drawn. My favorite is Anissina. She's the one who looks the most consistent (Is Cheri really that old?), and Greta's also adorable.
At first I didn't really like the music. It wasn't the kind of music I would listen to, so my initial reaction was a miss. However, after hearing it constantly and repetitively, I learned to like it. I am proud to say I have memorized all the lyrics to the opening and ending themes.
The background music was also considerably well. I realized the music complemented the scenes very well, and they were discreet enough to put focus on the scenes and not overshadow them.
Voice acting was so - so. I realized that the seiyus had a hard time pronouncing their characters' names - Wolfram became Wolfram-u, Konrad became Konrad-o, and so on. Similar problems occured when the characters spoke in english as well. The seiyus are Japanese after all, so A for effort.
All in all, I think that this anime is really good. I can't say it's the best I've seen, but it's almost there. The only problem I had with it was the pacing - as I've mentioned the anime didn't need to be that long. It had way too many fillers, and that keeps me from saying it's good enough for everyone to watch and to like.
