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Oh boy was this a very pleasant surprise.

Going into this, I didn't expect much. What I got from it was so much more that what I expected. First of all, if I could use one word to describe this show - beautiful. And what makes this beautiful is the music.

The plot isn't complicated. Setsu leaves his home after his grandfather who taught him to play the shamisen dies. Now that the person who gave him reason to play shamisen is gone, Setsu has lost his sound. I wanna say he then sets out on his journey to find his sound, but that wouldn't ... be quite right. Cause Setsu questions himself about why he plays, who he plays for, and whether he can, or should, find his own sound.
This aspect of the show is what's really the peak (besides the actual music). Though I am not someone who understands music other than listening to it and loving it, even I can see how well portrayed the struggle of musicians finding meaning in their playing is in this show. And that is something I really respect.

Now other than the focus on the music we of course have small sub-plots in the show that all-in-all tie in to the show being solely about the shamisen. And that tie-in is what keeps the show going and is what makes it good. I couldn't care less about it otherwise, cause I can see it being lacking and mediocre. And thus, I'm very happy about the fact that they're keeping it all tied to the music. Even the drama going on is solely focused around the shamisen. Truly, if not for the music, I would've given this show a much lower score.

The characters themselves I'm not that interested in. I love their relationship and how they all grow close through the shamisen, but more than that, what I really think is more interesting is everyone's different views on what it means to play the shamisen, what it means to be able to bring life into your playing.
But shout-out to Umeko though, hottest mom of the year xD

Let's finally talk about the actual shamisen playing, cause my goodness is it something. The shamisen is downright beautiful, and nothing would convince me of otherwise. The sound it produces is absolutely stunning and I can't help but feel goosebumps every time it's played. Combine it with gorgeously portrayed symbolism and you get chilling moments.
What's cool about shamisen, and what they do in this show, is the many ways one single piece can be played. How do you use your own sound to make the piece your own. And listening to the different ways it's played is very refreshing.
And if we're talking about sound in general, we can't forget the openings and ending. The first opening, "Blizzard" by Burnout Syndromes, is not only a banger, but also very special. If you have a show about shamisen, you can bloody well expect the opening to have shamisen in it. So it's sad that they changed the opening to another song by Burnout Syndromes. However, I'm not too sad about it as people make it seem, cause it's a banger too.

Going into the final episodes, I can only expect beautiful shamisen music.

I can only say that this show has made me fall in love with shamisen, and once again, made me appreciate people who do music. This is definitely worth your while. More worth your while than reading this xD

Oh was I excited to watch this or what?! Everything about this sounds cliché and stereotypical. But that doesn't necessarily mean it was bad. On the contrary it was really good. Though I'm dissapointed to say it has its flaws.

The plot is really interesting. Sure it's clichéd but minor details makes it differ from other demon-son-of-satan anime. It's about a demon, the son of satan nonetheless, who wants to become an exorcist and beat his dad. Now that sounds intriguing won't you say so. I love the humoristic moments that occasionally pop up. I think it's such a great contrast to Rin and the situation ... he's dealing with.
The only problem I had with the story was when they deviated from the manga and began making up their own story. Around episode 16-17 it suddenly took a darker turn. Now that's not the problem I have. The problem is the content not living up to the story portrayed in previous episode. It was poorly written and didn't fit with the original plot. I read the manga after watching this and the Kyoto arc. And the Kyoto arc is significantly better than the finale of this show. If you had the first 16 episodes of this combined with the Kyoto arc, I would've given this a 9/10.

I absolutely love the art. I think the animation style has been done beautifully (also in comparison to the manga).

I think the voice actors did a wonderful job on this especially the voice actors behind Rin and Yukio. And I absolutely LOVE the openings "Core Pride" and "In My World".

Characters - this is where the show shines. They're all your stereotypical characters but you gotta love them. Though the studio makes it hard to love the side characters because there wasn't any room for character development. Which is why I recommend you to read the manga because it's got amazing side character arcs like Izumo and Shura's background and Shima too...
So it's sad to see them not get very much development. But let me talk about some characters. Let's start with Rin and Yukio, twins and sons of satan though Rin is the only one who's inherited satan's blue flames. These two are interesting individually but also together. First of all Rin's the fun-loving-type who lacks rational thinking while Yukio on the other hand thinks logically and is cool-headed. Both have suffered in their own way, Rin being treated the way he was treated as result of his rage and Yukio bearing the burden of knowing who their true father is and becoming an exorcist at such a young age. The both lack and want what the other has. And most interestingly is that they are complete opposites which means that their thinking often clash with each other. How they cope to deal with the other's way of thinking is part of their development which unfortunately isn't shown as much in this as it is in the Kyoto arc and definitely not as much as in the manga.
Now a really interesting physic-wise character is Mephisto. He is really someone that gets you thinking in terms of his position, power and role in story and character developments. He's a manipulator with either subjective or objective intentions and he makes for a really interesting character.

Overall I enjoyed this excluding the finale. But I think this is definitely an anime one should watch in terms of demons, shounen and fantasy.

This show is far from being flawless. But I still liked it. It's not the best but not the worst either. And yet it still really hit me. At times it was so very emotional and sad and I just kept wanting more.

Story - 5/10.
I feel like the plot was really rushed which is a shame because it does have an interesting story. I love the master-spirit relationship and how they learn to cope with each other. But I'm not a fan of how the story was portrayed thus giving it a 5/10 stars.

Art - 7/10.
Darn is the animation beautiful. But I had some ... problems with it at times and so it gets a 7/10.

Sound - 7/10.
I mean it's beautiful, sometimes playful, Chinese music. No more needs to be said.

Character - 6/10.
I was more interested in the relationships between the characters, especially the relationship between our main protagonists, rather than the characters themselves. There was a lack of character development which I hope to see in the next season. But I can't deny that despite all this I still really liked some of the characters. Even though they were your stereotypical, cliché type of characters.

Enjoyment - 7/10.
Overall I enjoyed it and am looking forward to watching season 2. It was neither good neither bad though as a fujoshi myself I must say that some scenes were awesome *blushing*.