Three seasons, it took this franchise three seasons to make a really really good anime, and then it ended.
Story - 10/10
While we still have the overarching theme of Keima having to use his video game skills to "conquer" females, this time around it didn't seem as tedious. I guess because despite still being his main mission, the act of it either took a back seat to other action in the story, or when it was front and center it was much more in-depth than what we've been use to.
For season three Keima is now tasked with finding out which of his past conquests are inhabited by the four remaining Jupiter Sisters, as they are being hunted by a force looking to bring down new hell. For the most part his portion of the story revolves around figuring out who the last goddess resides in, Chihiro or her best friend Ayumi. This puts Keima in a weird spot, because he has to try and get them to show their love for him without letting them know why, or letting the other know he's playing them both.
A much more interesting plot in the season is Haqua's attempts to figure out the mole inside the loose souls team whose helping out Vintage, the cult trying to kill the goddesses. Being a much more interesting character than Elsie, it was nice to see the season focus on her while Elsie was off impersonating Kanon.
With an ending that actually had some thought behind it and a story with purpose, this was easily the most enjoyable season.
Animation - 8/10
As usual, what can be said? The animation of this series, from episode one, has been some of the best in the ever evolving world of anime. And little has changed, well except it got even better.
Due to the story taking a slightly darker turn, the animation had to follow suit, and it did in amazing ways. The new locations as well as the improved use of lighting, from the bonfire to the lit pirate ship, all added to the great detail this show always went into to give us the best animation.
The new looks on old characters, for the goddesses, were also done very well. For the most part, each goddess looked like an alternate reality version of the girl she was possessing. When they finally evolved into their full angel form, they were extremely detailed and animated beautifully, with the wings looking like a picture, and not an animated cel.
The one downside was the computer animation used in some sequences. The knife and miasma used in the Kanon sequences looked terrible and didn't give the feeling they were supposed to. Instead of being some scary ominous fog, it looked like a bad funhouse at a two bit fair. Though they did do an excellent job using CGI for things like Kanon's water protection and then other elemental aura's of the goddesses.
Sound - 8/10
Another shinning point of the series was always the music. Again it's all smooth sailing on this front. With great opening and closing songs, and finally a decent practical song, sung by the school band and teased in the OVA.
Since they spent most of the series portraying the show as a school life anime, you also got great nature sounds and overall background noise, something that tended to be lacking in the first few seasons as it always felt like half the episode was taking place inside Keima's head with his Voice Over.
Characters - 8/10
The last season of the series managed to add more characters than the first two combined, while also expanding heavily on some we already knew.
Along with the six new goddesses, who all had great personalities of their own, we also got a quick rundown of the ladies Keima had worked his magic on since we last saw him in the OVA. Somehow, in the five or so minutes they set aside for the recap we were given more background on the small group of girls than many girls with multi-episode arcs seemed to receive.
The bulk of the conquest time revolved around Chihiro and Ayumi, whom we finally got to know. They each were featured in previous season, but they went much more in-depth with their emotions and personalities for this story. The writers really put effort into these ladies, something that was sorely lacking before.
They also spent a good deal of time on Haqua. They sort of white washed what we already knew about her, like how they made it out like she was completely inept, and instead wrote in her great work and instincts, a reason why Dokurou Skull thinks so highly of her. She actually shines much more in these episodes than Elsie ever did, being a more complete character, as opposed to Elsie's sidekick roll.
Overall - 9/10
And a series I've long found to be infuriating ends in the most infuriating way of all, by being so good.
A stand alone season three, with maybe a small OVA or opening explaining the loose souls and new hell, could be one of the top ten series of all time. It's only dragged down by what came before.
If they were able to follow on with this writing style and stories that were more than just carbon copies of each other, I would gladly continue to watch for another dozen seasons.