>>13913251/y/aoi pandering: I think the designs were kinda shit in some parts such as style - cartoony esp Mika's eye shape and the manletting, dull colours (or irritating choice of colours.) Character designs look largely generic. Manlets and the older characters appeared to be top heavy. Orga, Chocochar and Gaelio are ok in most frames but most of the male cast have fairly boring personalities with no real development arc. I'm not seeing much chemistry between the characters plotwise - there isn't the sense of danger that 0079, Zeta, 00 and even Unicorn managed to bring out some degree of betrayal and sacrifice. Mika is terribly characterised. You could sense a person behind Setsuna, you can't sense anything behind Mika.
/m/echas: It was a bit disappointing. I'm not a fan of the Gusion and Kimaris etc look uniform completely generic. The sweetest mech is Barbatos - especially in shading - but the mechs are criminally underutilised forming more of a subplot. It's a bit tiring to see the characters all the time with little focus on politics and stratagems that the genre is famous for. I also feel that the designs lack elegance, uniqueness and flare.
Girls: I can't really comment but Kudelia's eyelashes and the whole frame of her face looks a bit off. I'm not really sensing any kind of development. Fumitan's death felt fairly flat, I felt that she was quite a promising character and was more well rounded than Kudelia's. I also feel that Atra would have made a better Kudelia than Kudelia and am not seeing the Mika/Kudelia romance (indeed I feel Orga's temperament is more suited to Kudelia's). They also don't look cute to me.
Budget: 00, Origin and Unicorn look, feel and have a plot substantially better than this show in the landscape, CG, soundtrack. Landscape also looks really dull and is rarely inspiring. And holy shit Atra quality.
Plot: Plays it too safe. It's not hard to see why this doesn't do well. Needs more and better looking mechs.
