BurntFlower

Candidate for Goddess can be more aptly described as being one big, juicy bait.

It presents potential viewers with its premiere episode ‘00’, bountiful amounts of eye-candy, a seemingly interesting plot filled with mystery and lots of space battles to satisfy even the most hard-core action fans. However, what this anime doesn’t want you to know is one dark, little secret: There is no ending. It piles on with every episode more drama, more symbolism, more of everything and just when you expect something epic to happen, you’re just left with thin air. I won’t say I didn’t fall in its trap; it’d be as big as a lie as the anime itself to say that, and a lot of arrogance on my part.

This anime gathered all the potential it had for it, and brought it crashing down in just one minute flat. After the credits rolled, the whole plot suddenly turned into one big fiasco, the characters were mere puppets, and I felt betrayed. Candidate for Goddess was really a trap after all, and it laughed in my face cruelly after I finished watching it.

Story: (2/10) The plot started out well enough: humans lost their home planet thanks to the alien invasion called ‘Victim’, and they had to live in colonies in outer space, while still trying to protect their last planet (Zion) with the help of five mecha goddesses. Though many plot points were confusing and muddled, each episode tried to explain part of what happened in the past and you sort of began to understand some of it. But soon new mysteries began to appear, and the whole focus of the show grew more and more dramatic as it drew to a close. And what an ending that was.

…If it had an ending, that is.
Characters: (5.5/10) The characters, for one, have all cliché personalities you’ve seen before countless times, ranging from the determined Zero, to the know-it all Clay, and the cold, emotionless rival Hiead. You’ve seen their counterparts in many anime before, but they’re overused archetypes for a reason: they’re actually likeable. Seeing the interactions between the cat-eared Kizna and Zero always made me smile every time, not to mention other entertaining characters like Wrecka, Roose, Gareas, and the rude instructor Azuma Hijikata. That’s not to say that all the characters are appealing or worth remembering in the least; there’s a large cast for a series that’s only 12 episodes long, and thanks to that there are more than a handful of boring, unremarkable characters. Like the yawn-inducing, shy Tune, the uninteresting brother and sister Kazuhi and Yu, those nameless fanservice nurses, and Ernest, whose only purpose is to fill up the melodrama quota of the show. But the worst character goes to Ikhny, who seems to have no will of her own other than to make Hiead happy and then pathetically whimpers in a corner if he’s angry with her. Though there are still even more people that I couldn’t bother to remember their names, the characters are one of the best parts of the anime...which is not saying much.

Sound: (5.5/10) The OP is overly cheery and composed solely on instrumentals. ED was forgettable. The BGM is also purely orchestral and it fit the lighthearted mood of the anime on some occasions, but it completely ruined the dramatic moments on some others by it. Voice acting is average.

Animation: (8/10) This is, hands down, the best part of Candidate for Goddess. The characters are crisp and well-animated, and everything is pleasing to look at. Except for some bad CGI animation (mostly the Goddesses) that made me cringe at some parts, there is a lot of nice eyecandy.

Overall: (5/10) Sadly, Candidate for Goddess failed on many levels and it will surely leave you dissappointed. It's also a mixed bag: there are some interesting episodes that'll make you want to watch more, and there are other episodes that'll leave you snoozing.

It's all a waste of time in the end, so don't even bother watching.