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[This is my first review, please go easy on me]

This is a review of the two seasons of Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon, which I will abbreviate with "Horizon" from now on. I decided to treat both seasons as one, as the producers immediately anounced a sequel after the first season was over and it leaves with a cliffhanger. So let´s dive right into the story of "Horizon"

Story - 3

From what I understand, this anime is based on a light novel series where each novel consists of more than 1000 pages and there´s eleven of them up to this point. So it comes as no ... surprise, this story could only end up in a mess. I don´t really know which parts of the light novel got incorporated into the anime and I don´t know if the story makes more sense in the light novels. All I can say is that the story in the anime itself is a convoluded mess. Most of the time you will be struggling to remember all kinds of different terminologies and names. I had to stop several times just to catch my breath and trying to understand what´s going on. The whole story about reenacting the world´s history, the students on the ship Musashi trying to regain the emotions of Horizon (the character Horizon) and preventing some sort of apocalypse does sound interesting, but none of them are really explained very well and will leave you with a big questionmark on top of your head.
Everything just seems kind of random and pops out of nowhere, haha. Get it? The title of the anime translates to "Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere" and that just sums it all up. You literally feel like this story is getting nowhere as there are far too many different plot lines that are loosely connected to each other and often don´t really make any sense. I can at least say that the story of the anime pretty much sucks, but I will hold my horses for the light novel series. Maybe it made sense there, but it´s definitely not true for the animated version.

Art - 7

I think this is the only real redeeming quality this anime has. I thought the animation was pretty decent in the action scenes and the scenery looks pretty good. So the visuals definitely make watching the anime a bit easier.

Sound - 5

Not much to say here. I found the OP songs were pretty forgettable and most of the BGM tracks didn´t really leave an impression on me. But I have to say the ED songs were beautiful. Music always depends on your own tastes, so if you did like all of the music tracks in the anime, no hard feelings.

Characters - 2

OMG! Never ever have I seen an anime with a lead character this annoying as Aoi Tori in "Horizon". I felt something was wrong, like he didn´t really belong to this anime. He is just a huge goofball with a playful and perverted nature that will soon get on the nerves of any sane person. I couldn´t comprehend how this was our main character, the one you are supposed to cheer for all the way. Most of the time he goes around with this big smile on his face that just makes me want to punch him and in the second season he runs around stark naked for the most part. Yes, you heard right! I didn´t understand this, like was there any reason for him to do this? Did he lose a bet? I don´t care if he is meant to be a pervert, most of the perverted characters I´ve seen in other animes seem fairly normal in comparison to him. And while he manages to be somewhat helpful to his friends at the end of season one, he is considerably downplayed in the second season, which isn´t really as bad as ist sounds.
This leads us to the other characters, but to be honest, there´s really litte to tell about them. Just that there is a lot of them. While the main character is fairly easy to remember just because he is him, you will find yourself scratching your head looking at the other characters. Very rarely will you get background information about them, e.g. for the main character´s sister Kimi and the automated doll Horizon, but most of the other characterst just have one or two personality traits, which is supposed to count as full characters. I think for the sake of this anime, it would have been a good idea to just leave some of them out. For example this curry-throwing Indian guy and this slime dude. They have no purpose whatsoever.
But if you are a huge sucker for boobs then this is for you. Most of the female characters wear skin-tight jump suits or revealing costumes to entertain you. But it does leaves you wondering, is there some kind of drug in the atmosphere that makes your breasts grow faster? Characters with flat chests are really limited and middle-sized breasts seem to be nearly extinct as most of the female cast has ridiculously huge breasts. Not that I am really complaining, but it does get kinda absurd to the end.
But aside from that, there are some pretty forgettable characters. How about this guy who is supposedly a crown prince or whatever and this girl in a wheel chair, who happen to care for a ghost girl, which appears in the middle of the first season. Except for a few comedic moments the crown prince later starts off, all three of them don´t have anything to do with the story. In fact, the girl in the wheel chair doesn´t seem to even leave her room. What´s the point of that?
I could point out numerous other problems with this show´s characters, but I will leave it at that. The thing is, we have this complex story line to cope with and then the anime throws all these characters at us, most of them with little to no impact on the story. I liked some of them, but mostly because of their "two features" and not really because of their personality. And if everything you have to offer with your characters are their big busts, then this is truly dreadful.

Enjoyment - 5

It may seem like I didn´t enjoy this flick, which is not the case. Even though the story and the characters are lacking in every aspect, it does leave you wishing to know what will happen to them. The anime doesn´t develop a connection with the characters, which is a big mistake for any kind of story in my opinion, but if you are like me (the kind of person that just automatically forms a bond with the main cast, just because you want to see the "good" guys win over the "bad" guys), you will watch till the end. The anime lacks the tension and suspense necessary for it to truly enjoy it, but it´s not that bad either.

Overall - 4

At the end you will be left with a mixed opinion about this show. Even though it fails at so many aspects, it does leave you with the feeling you want to see more even if it´s just to see if everything makes sense at the end. I think the main problem lies in the convoluded story and the big character cast. I think it´s nearly impossible to adapt a series of light novels into a 26-episode anime, if there is so much material to work with. For the animated version, you should have chosen either more story and less characters or vice versa, but not both of them. Maybe it´s just me, but it takes the fun out of it for me, if I have to look everything up when I don´t understand something. Maybe the story did make sense, but it doesn´t change the fact that it is poorly told and has uninteresting characters.