I mainly picked up this show because I remember the first season being good. It was quite some time ago and my taste have changed quite a bit, but I still don't remember it being quite the train wreck that this was. To put it as simply as possible, they turned a shounen anime into K-ON; What a blasphemy.
Story
The core of the story was not bad, it was the execution. They named the episodes after chess moves like each battle was another strategic event. If this were true, I would have loved it. Instead we had plot holes everywhere with battles that had zero strategies involved. It was purely random events that pop up that decided the winner of the battle. Talk about being driven by the plot... in a bad way. Even the core resolution to everything was terrible put together, I seriously question the sanity of anyone that wrote such a terrible plot. Even a show like Dragon Crisis was better, that is how bad this was.
~ 0/10
Immersion
The setting is top notch, I love their world. We haven't had a steampunk setting in quite some time. The problem was the pacing. For the first half of the season, quite literally nothing happens. They even decided to have 2 recap episodes too. As they progress further in the war, the pace picks up a bit, still, the pacing doesn't feel right. Due to the fact that the plot will dictate the winner, they lost the tension the battles usually hold.
~2/10
Animation
I guess this is where I vary with most people. I have no problem with CG in my anime and it was done decently in this show. If you discount the clear copy paste whenever they were showing fleets flying around. They did have quite a few still frames that annoyed me a bit, but not enough to ruin the overall look of things.
~7/10
Characters
The whole point of this show was to sell cute girls doing cute things so I guess this is pretty important. The growth within the characters was not bad, even if it was forced at times. You could see almost every character grow with the exception of Fam, though that isn't necessarily a bad thing. At least they did this well even if I hated the whole cast by the end.
~8/10
Personal Satisfaction
The lack of tactics in the battles really ruffled my feathers, especially when they name the episodes after chess moves. I hold anything strategical highly, the way they butchered this will never be forgotten. I came in expecting a plot driven show and got cute girls playing with vanships with a horribly butchered plot. Words can not express how horrified I was of this show.
~0/10
Overall
I guess my biggest gripe was the lack of anything resembling a decent plot. It just felt like it had potential and then fell flat on their face on delivery. Their focus on characters created huge plot holes that I could not ignore. I could not remember the first season that well, but I am sure it was nothing like this.
Final Score [2/10]
~Pearz
