Elfieeva

I've just finished watching this anime. I really enjoyed it, but I did have a few problems with it (discussed below).

Story:

The story is stereotypical in several aspects (utopian city, engineered diseases, corrupt government, apocalyptic scenes), and usually these are the sort of themes that I do NOT enjoy watching; however, the characters' responses to these situations and their interactions with one another shed an entirely different light on the type of themes that you see recurring again and again in science fiction animes/films/novels/tv series - and raised some important questions that got me thinking long after I'd turned my computer off. The relationship with Shion and Nezumi, was, of course, one of the most enjoyable aspects to watch develop.
My main problem with the story was that I felt that the ending was far too rushed, and as the revelations in the plotline seemed to pile upon each other, I was left with a sense that I had no idea what had happened, despite having watched the final episodes more than once. I believe that the producers tried to cram too much information into the last two episodes, rather than spreading it out over say, three (or even hinting at what was to come so that it'd make more sense at the end!)

Animation

The animation was good - characters and scenery drawn well and movements look natural.

Sound

The theme tune is quite unfittting - it's rather sickly, but I suppose in some ways it's different to the rock songs that are usually part of my anime playlist :P

Characters

I felt that the relationship between some of the characters could have been made more explicit - I found myself wanting to know more about the history of their connections. It would definitely have been nice to know more about Safu - the most the viewer gets is that she's smart and wants to have sex with Shion! It would also have been nice to have known more about Nezumi's history. I still found myself questioning at the end whether he was a good guy or a bad guy, but maybe that was the intention...his character is definitely a lot more developed in the manga (which I'm aware came after the anime, but I prefer it.)

Overall

Overall, I'm going to give this a 7. I'd definitely recommend it, but I think that if I could go back in time, I would have read the Light Novels first so that the ending made more sense.