Art Style, Animation & Music
Art Style
Overall Opinion: Not
bad.
Most of the time it looks far more generic than the manga art. They
look to have been aiming at later character sketches, since Ginji's hair is
pretty wild, Ban's shirt has the long tails, and Akabane has appropriately long
hair--- which is very good because I like the later designs as opposed to the
earliest sketches.
Color choice for a lot of things I'm very fond of. I'm thoroghly pleased that they've given Ban blue eyes and Akabane purple ones. They fit the characters well. Clayman came together really nicely, too. I like her hair color and green eyes.
It does stay very faithful to the style when the charas are in SD, though. Tare Ginji is quite cute, and Tare Ban has his appeal. Though I'm afraid, in a straight up comparison, the manga SD would have to win...
Then there is Hevn. She's been, erm, "downsized", and given a sense of modesty. Trust me, Anime Hevn is a nun compared to Manga Hevn. This undoubtedly means that Manga Ban's favorite hobby, breast-groping, is out the window....
Animation
Overall Opinion: needs
work.
Your regular basics, talking, walking, scenery changes, are all okay. If
they weren't, I'd be worried. Normal-to-SD shifts are cool, too. It's
the action sequences that are the problem.
They are really rough at first. And I mean reeeealy rough. Some
of the fight scenes were more painful to watch than it probably was to be in
them. Around the beginning of the Mugenjou Arc, things start shaping
up, a little. And I do mean just a little. They go from painfully
jerky to blah.
I like the animation of the Jagan, though, and Ginji's lightning attacks are pretty good, too.
As for the still-shots in the OPs and EDs, those are NICE. I especially like the ones in the 3rd ED. 2nd ED wasn't bad either...
Music
Overall Opinion: Enh.
Take it or leave it, I don't mind.
Typical J-pop and BGMs, nothing to write home about,
but they are appropriate to the scenes, mostly. On occasion, they
do get annoying, though.
The first season OP is a pretty up-beat song with female vocals that don't make me cringe, so that's a plus. But it's not something I'd go out and buy the single of. 2nd season OP (starts ep. 27) is a sub-par J-Pop bit that I fast forward through every time it shows up. Art's cool, though.
The 1st ED is (I think) the same voice as the 1st OP, doing a slower, more melancholic song. The 2nd ED (starts ep. 13?) sounds like something out of DDR, but it's catchy. The 3rd ED (starts ep 27) is the one I like best so far. Not too slow, not to jazzy, just right. Still, it's not something I'd go out and buy.