Warpuppy

This feels like another anime that starts off interesting with a cool concept and a lot of potential and then the splendor of the cool concept wears off after a couple of episodes and drags on from the middle to the end.

Story - What seems like an average family has one of their own get kidnapped and they are charged a ransom that they can't afford with only 30 minutes to get the money.  The grandfather reveals a spell that can put the entire world into stasis where time is completely frozen. It doesn't take long to find out that knowledge of stasis and a stone that enables it was what the kidnappers were truly after and the kidnap was just used as bait. 

The concept was cool at first, but the anime left me with a lot of unanswered questions. Some of the main characters have unique powers outside of being able to cast the stasis spell and why they have these powers is never explained. How the people in the Genuine Love Society who were the antagonists of the anime were immune to the effects of the stasis spell were also never explained. 

Animation - This was where the anime really shined for me. The way dynamic action of a world frozen in time looks really cool. You will see things like a dog suspended in midair while it is running, a window that has just been shattered and the pieces are floating and various facial expressions permanently etched on people's faces all look awesome. Other then that, there were some cool fight scenes that brought some much needed excitement to an anime that is otherwise boring.

Sound - I have seen people saying amazing things about the OP song, but its just not my thing.  When a Japanese singer tries to sing an OP in a mix and match of English and Japanese it just sounds awkward to me. It did have a catchy melody though.  The ED also felt like it wasn't bad, but not memorable either. None of the background music particularly stood out, so I guess that means it was immersive, but I'm not going to give music top marks when it was unnoticiable. In general I felt like the voice acting was where the sound failed. Maybe it was the characters themselves having no life to begin with, but the voice acting didn't do any favors to bring out the best in the characters.

Characters- Almost all of the characters felt completely lifeless. Blank slates that said whatever needed to be said or did whatever they needed to do for the story, but none of their actions really felt like they were based on any particular character traits. There is one exception, a minor character who was motivated by greed. While he did his best to appear like he was doing everything for the good of the family, he was acually willing to sacrifice others for his own personal gain. I actually liked this guy. 

Overall- A few enjoyable moments, a cool concept, and good animation save this series from being unbearable, but I really don't feel like I would recommend it to anyone.