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I was going to write an introduction to slowly draw the reader in, and compel them to read my review. It was going to be full of evocative language and rhetorical flourishes. But you know what? This is going to be crazy long as it is. Let's just get started.

STORY:
Awful plotting, awful continuity, and awful character motivations. Yeah. That about sums it up.

Vividred Operation is a decent series. It's about a young girl who, one day through strange happenstance, stumbles upon a threat that could wreak chaos upon the Earth, and takes up arms against a threat from another world.

Oh, sorry. That's Magical ... Girl Lyrical Nanoha. Let me try again.

Vividred Operation isn't a bad show. It's about a few young girls who team up to become magical girls. However, the show is less about the plot itself, as it is about the relationships between the characters. Despite its flaws, it manages to be a memorable show with some solid characterization and interesting twists on the magical-girl formula throughout.

Oh, sorry. That's Puella Magi Madoka Magica. One more time.

The problem with Vividred Operation is that it doesn't really try to do much that was new. It doesn't try to put a spin on tired material. It doesn't... try to do much of anything. The story is just a mish-mash of tried tropes tossed into a blender by some uncreative writers that thought that whole silly "writing a creative story" nonsense would simply get in the way of their panty shots.

The amount of continuity glitches, plot holes, and ignorance of base human psychology run rampant. Characters know things they could only know through reading the script. The show's "science" is more or less a bunch of gobby-gook that the writers make up on the spot. The show doesn't bother to even try to keep its own continuity straight!

Yes, yes. I know the plot is goofy. I know that I'm probably not supposed to take it seriously. That's no excuse to not try. The show isn't even popcorn-movie level entertaining, because of the rampant continuity glitches and illogical and incoherent character behavior. It distracts you and pulls you out of the story even IF you're trying to do nothing but have a good time!

CHARACTERS:
Oh, hey! Let's chat about the characters! They existed. Aside from Kuroki Rei, I'd say that we already have a solid candidate for the most boring cast of 2013.

I don't know what to say about most of Vividred Operation's cast. I thought about comparing them to cardboard cutouts, but then I realized exactly how cruel that was to cardboard cutouts. Here's your typical Vividred Character: They have a name. They have one or two defining character traits. In essence, that makes up their entire identity as a fictional being.

But what about character development? Nah. Almost all of them go through a minimal character arc, and really... don't do that much. The story really tries to make it look like the cast is developing, they really do. But we don't see it. The characters seem to go through experiences that should change their attitude towards other members of the cast, and then this is mostly disregarded and almost never talked about again. There is little self-reflection, and almost none of the characters even bother having any kind memorable backstory.

Notice that I kept using qualifiers. There is a single character of interest: Rei Kuroki. She's a dark magical girl (Well, Dark Sufficiently-Advanced-Technology Girl), who is working with the Alone and their mysterious benefactors for reasons unknown to the viewer. She's actually a rather compelling character- she has an interesting personality, she pretty much steals every scene that she's in, and when you learn her motivations, they actually make some degree of sense. (Okay, that's partially because she's a blatant rip-off of Fate from Nanoha. But I'll take what I can get.)

The villians are rather stock with unimpression motivations. There's really no reason to watch the entire show just to learn exactly why the Alone are coming to Earth: it isn't a plot twist of mind-bending proportions.

So congratulations Vividred. You managed to have one memorable character. In the long run? Doesn't amount to much.

Art:
Looks pretty, but ruined by the blatant fanservice.

The animation is smooth, the character designs are decent (although several of the characters are colored such that they look like they're blushing half the time, which annoyed me), and the backgrounds are fantastically done. The show definitely does look pretty. So why did this get such a low score? Because of the blatant fanservice shots. And are there plenty of blatant fanservice shots. The amount of fanservice in the show is simply obscene, and in the end there is no excuse for it.

Sound:
Opening and Ending are pretty meh. Maaya Uchida is pretty much the only voice actress that even tries, and the sound is overall rather bland.

Really, there isn't much to say about the music in Vividred Operation. It's... okay? I guess? It's nothing particularly special, and rather easy to tune out. The opening theme and end theme aren't bad, but they're pretty generic, as far as openings and endings are concerned. Nothing separates them from the hundreds of competing OPs and EDs out there.

The seiyuu performances are... acceptable. They certainly are voices, and there certainly is acting, but pretty much none of them even try to go beyond their comfort zone and add personality to their performance. The except is Maaya Uchida, who voices Rei. She really does try to add some nuance to Rei's character, and you can tell that she's putting the effort in. It definitely adds to the show, and is probably a key part of what makes Rei a compelling character. It's just a shame her talent is wasted on this show.

So... what have we learned?:

Vividred Operation is a mess. Bad characterization, poor plotting, blatant pandering, and just poorly thought out on every level. There are plenty of shows that do exactly what Vividred tries to do, and do it better.