[Sheba]

The Good

• Fanservice done right. Not the ecchi kind but the one that makes game players feel right at home. Akagi the glutton, Nagamon, the bucket scene in episode 2 and the kan kan kan sound that scared DesDiv6 in episode 6 comes in mind.
• A good main trio that helped carrying the series. Fubuki, Mutsuki and Yuudachi have had the right character chemistry to make me care about the series. It makes me care more for Mutsuki, so the anime must have done somethign right.
• Characterization of some characters were spot-on. Nagato and Akagi comes in mind. To the point that it would have been better if Nagato have been the C.O if they never wanted to have the Admiral to begin with.
• A little bit for ALMOST everyone. You have had your Kongou sisters episode, one about the CarDiv 1 and CarDiv5 rivalry, one about DesDiv6 and one about Yamato. So we covered most of the popular girls.
• The character designer had done a good job standardizing the many character designs for the original game.
• Voice acting. Kudos to Ayane Sakura and Nao Touyama who managed quite well. Not to say that others were not on par. But Ayane Sakura and Nao Touyama really stood out.
• Music, probably the best thing about the anime.

The Bad

• Fanservice done wrong. Cardboard cameos, lines straight out of the game. And also things like Weekly Lesbian that overstayed its welcome.
• Speaking of Weekly Lesbian. This is an example of something that have been detrimental to a character, namely Ooi.
• A notorious drop in quality check after the first couple of episodes.
• Just one cours. It was not enough for the plot to develop properly.
• Victim of the one cours curse, the vast cast of characters meant that a LOT were going to be left out (*cough*Shigure*cough*Akebono*cough*). Some like Tenryuu and Tatsuta were only mentioned by name wwwww.

The Ugly

• An uneven balance of tone between a comedic tone and one full of gravitas. It gave off the impression of a schyzophrenic series.
• The air Admiral have been detrimental to the series. One of the many draws of the game is that YOU are the Admiral who have to deal with a large cast of girls who just happens to be incarnations of WWII ships or ships themselves, depending on who you ask. Having the Admiral present would have helped to see how the shipgirls, like Nagato, Kongou and Fubuki relates to the Admiral. Like I have said, the anime is made by Japan for Japanese, so they can make him look like generic light novel protag as long as he have an actual personality and agenda. One of my favorite of this kind of Admiral is Shino's Admiral from Miss Akebeno & The Shitty Admiral doujin series. He cares about his girls, his presence is felt but not overbearing and he can deliver on the comedic side of things.

I still have been entertained from beginning to the end. In fact, knowing the previous works of the director have made me adjust my expectations accordingly.

Rating:

7 Poi out of 10.