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Before I start, important advice - don't take ANYTHING about this anime seriously. Anything at all. Even the fact that I'm writing a serious review about this feels a bit weird to me xD

Anyway, let's get down to business:

STORY:
My expectations were maybe a bit too high. The first couple of episodes were great story-wise and the introduction to the story was nicely done and hilarious, but I feel like this probably needed a bit more than 10 episodes. In several parts of the story, it feels rushed, VERY rushed, but I think the season is overall bringing us a high-quality satire of RPGs and does ... a good job in pointing out some absurdities we somehow accepted as norms.
Not the biggest fan of the way the story is conveyed (despite the nice first few episodes), but absolutely a fan of the satire. 7/10.

ART:
Not anything truly unique, but not bad at all. It does meet the standards for mid-2010's animation but it doesn't show anything special.
I hoped for a better product, but overall I approve it. 6/10.

SOUND:
First of all, the seiyuu is great. The VAs match their characters well, more on that in the next category.
About the themes... eh.. meh. They're meh. Nothing that really stood out for me.
The BGM however is very well made. Perfectly conveys an RPG environment. Loved the explosion magic theme! The repetition really got a few laughs out of me.
Oh, and the way the "KONOSUBA!" scene changes by voice tone of the prior scene? Loved that, better than many dull screens in other anime. Especially ones aspiring to be funny. 7/10.

CHARACTER:
There is no good satire without trope characters, and this one sure delivers.
Characters in this show parody fantasy/RPG tropes very well - be it chuunibyous, masochist tanks, and even cheaters. Every character in this show is a comedic relief of its own and they have their own set of trope jokes. The main character Kazuma sometimes really expresses what the viewer thinks or is at least expected to think and it enriches the experience. Also, the VAs do a great job of emphasizing each character's humorous tropes throughout the series and almost no moment is humorless. Not a half bad for a parody. 9/10.

ENJOYMENT:
It kinda depends on the part of the show in discussion, but overall it is kinda fun to watch. It didn't really get me hooked like other anime and it's not really binge material, but it's a great time-killer that can get a few good laughs from you. More laughs are guaranteed if you have history with fantasy RPG games. 7/10.


In conclusion; Enjoyable. I don't feel an urge to carry on to the next season right away, and it also has quite a few issues, but it's nice to watch it to be in the loop and to have a little rest for your brain if you just finished a very mentally intriguing anime.

I'll be honest, when I first heard from friends about this anime, something about it sounded overhyped. I've seen enough cases of a shonen anime being incredibly hyped and popular only to get mediocre results, and I initially thought that this is not going to be much different.
I have never been happier to be wrong. The popularity, in this case, is completely justified, and the anime is not quite overrated!

STORY:
Well, relatively speaking, it's the weakest aspect out of the five in this one. It is still very good, though, and I mean VERY good.
There's one big downside though - Plot armor. It's everywhere, you can't ... ignore it. Unlike many other anime out there it seems to actually *make sense* and correlate with the story so in some cases I did decide to give it a pass, but some others are rather disappointing and feel like they should have been introduced in a different way.

ART:
I wish I could give an 11. I've seen some anime with fantastic animation, but my god, the art here is STUNNING. It's brilliantly made, 2.5D elements are integrated very well, the sakuga is almost unique to this one and the style is easy to grasp, but the battle scenes, good lord, especially the one in the climactic moment somewhere in the 2nd half of the season in an episode number I won't specify. What a fantastic sequence, what a masterpiece, what an outstanding work of art.
Everything art-related in this anime is not only pure eye candy, it actually works to affect your feelings of a scene.

SOUND:
The soundtrack, the voice acting (ZENITSU GODDAMMIT), the BGMs, it fits so well in the staging that nearly everything I said about the art category applies here as well. Zero complaints, perfect.

CHARACTER:
Finally I can see what I felt was missing in so many other anime I reviewed here. The best character balance and development I've seen in shonen. I'll cover a couple of the main characters but really generally to avoid spoiling as much as possible (maybe very minor ones in the Nezuko part but they're also for the first few episodes), and also not all of them to prevent giving away the sequence of the anime:
Tanjiro is a fantastic protagonist. I think the humorous part of him was introduced a little too late but it's worth the wait. At first I thought he's a little bit of a Gary Sue, especially with the plot armor, but this image does break when you see several scenes where he actually struggles and develops.
Nezuko is one of the most interesting deuteragonists I've seen in anime, maybe even at all. She is a great mix of simplicity and complexity, openness and mystery. She's the driving force behind the story, and even though her screentime is very limited as a deuteragonist, her impact is huge. The story decision to let Tanjiro carry her on his back the whole time is an amazing decision - you don't see Nezuko, but you're always reminded she's there, she matters, and it's all for her.
Zenitsu and Inosuke are an amazing comedic relief and they bring a great spice to the show. They are arguably the most distinct characters you can put in the same boat and yet they complete each other experience-wise and make the show much more enjoyable.
Lastly (even though I left out so many amazing characters) - the villains.
Finally, a shonen with villains who have depths. So many villains in this anime (except for the super-ultra-mega-bad guy, and even that one has potential) are so well-written and well-executed, deep, and interesting.
Absolutely great experience!!

ENJOYMENT:
Perfect. Mystery, action, thrill, comedy, drama, shifts between fast and slow pace, this anime is a rollercoaster that was amazingly enjoyable to ride.

In conclusion: One of the finest shonen I watched. Really can't wait for more seasons. Glad I went against my initial instincts and gave it a try :)

I have just finished a one-sit binge of the entire anime, probably the first time I ever do such thing. This was on my list for about 5 years, and I'm glad I have a V on that now. I'll get to the categories soon enough and save you the storyline summary, but first I have to get something off my chest: my goodness, the finale caught me off-guard. I did not expect this twist to happen and the more I think of it the redder my eyes get and by the time I finish writing this review I'll probably shed a tear or two.

Now, ... without further ado - categories:

STORY:
For the most part, I have had slightly mixed feelings about it. Before the finale I thought I'd give this story a 7/10; overall it's a good story, relatively high-speed and manages to find a great balance between being dramatic and suspenseful, and at the same time being wholesome and humorous just enough to get a couple of smiles and giggles from me. However, the high speed of the storyline and dramatic developments might have been a double-edged sword, because I don't know if the fact I watched it all in one sitting is to blame, but at a couple of points (especially in the two-digit episodes) the story started to have such deep philosophical meanings that it got a bit confusing. Without spoiling, my logic told me at some point "wait, so if this should happen, why all of a sudden they...?" and so on. Maybe it made the last few episodes seem a bit rushed.
And then came the finale. The god, damn, finale. That one thing happening in the final episode that dramatically changes the way you see quite a few key events throughout the episodes. I could not imagine that the introduction of such a seemingly simple detail can make you see an entire anime very differently in hindsight. I salute the one who came up with this idea of a finale. 8/10.

ART:
Given the seemingly simplistic setting of the anime art-wise, the animation is stunning. I really reserve the 10s to something that seriously blows me away, and I'm not TOO keen when it comes to animation, but oh my freaking goodness the sakuga here is fantastic. This gets the maximum rate I can give under the mentioned circumstances. 9.5/10.

SOUND:
I reserve my 10s to the best of the best, those who I really think belong in the list of the magnum opus of their category.
Since the very first episode of the anime I was already 100% sure that this one's sound category is getting a 10 from me. I could tell almost immediately.
Everything related to sound in this anime from seiyuu to soundtrack is absolutely outstanding, and this category alone makes my impression of this anime skyrocket. I'm talking Death Note, Fairy Tail, JJBA tier. This one goes straight to the sound category hall of fame. One of the finest works of sound I saw in anime in my whole life.
10/10. Absolute no-brainer in this one.

CHARACTER:
This one is a bit complicated. Quite a few characters which appear to be main at first end up being less and less crucial and I feel like there's massive potential wasted here. I'd be more than happy to have this anime a couple episodes longer in exchange for deeper development of those.
In the other hand, the main characters are very well developed. I don't know it talking about some of them will be considered as spoiler, but Otonashi's character for instance is written amazingly well. You really learn a lot about him throughout the story and he ends up being a very deep character with a very relatable motive.
Also, some of the side characters, like TK, really got me to like them quickly despite being supporting characters with no very big importance to the plot.
Shortly said, there isn't much focus on many characters, but those who do get the spotlight are very well-written. 8/10.

ENJOYMENT:
It's always hard for me to detail in this category without repeating myself. The confusion in some episodes kinda damaged my experience but I'm really glad I avoided spoilers all these years. 8/10.

FINAL VERDICT:
9/10. Should absolutely be on your checklist.

I am so damn glad I kept watching after season 3. This season alone was worth staying through the previous three. Every single thing has improved here.
Now, to the categories:

STORY:
This season's story is the climax of the entire anime. This is what you came for. It took an entire 3rd season to set the stage for this. This is where the hypothetical narrator says "Alright, enough joking. It's time for shit to get real". Finally a different formula than the one used before.
The story is aligned well and nothing is left behind, everything happens for a reason. No high-effort humor here, almost pure story and ... a strong emphasis on character relationships (more on that later). The story also features great plot twists, and as the biggest guesser in the world when it comes to stories even I couldn't predict some of the twists happening.
There are two things that lower my rating for the story:
• Although it was very good, it didn't blow me away. I gave a couple of animes a 10/10 in story and it's just not the same.
• Unfortunately, this season introduced something that barely existed in the other seasons - plot holes. One of them is in the season finale.
Therefore, I wholeheartedly give this season's story the maximum rating for one that matches this criteria - 8.5/10.

ART:
The improvement from last season is noticed almost immediately. The location art got more creative, character design looks better, and the battle scenes feature the best animation in the anime.
I'm not too keen in this topic, though, and it didn't stand out from any other category, so I'll simply give it the same rating as the overall one - 8/10.

SOUND:
After four entire seasons, it happened: Some songs finally managed to stick. Great mixture of a couple of new tunes and the old ones that got too damn addictive.
The voice acting is fantastic and in a way even better than before.
The OP+ED are okay, but they made me kinda miss the ones from the first couple of seasons. Even though they're from the same artists they're not as fun if you ask me.
The sound effects are awesome, had to mention that too.
9/10.

CHARACTER:
If you complained about lack of character development in the previous seasons, then I have excellent news for you.
Everyone are finally more rational and mature.
Yes. Even Siesta. You'll be happy to see her this time if you missed her season 1 persona.
The villains this season are a lot less dull than seasons 2 and 3, and there is now some spice as well. The "final boss" bored me though. It was rather everything that happened around it that made its existence good.
It's impossible for me to elaborate any further without spoiling.
8/10

ENJOYMENT:
It was very fun to watch!! I rarely watch OVAs and this is the first time I consider watching if there are any actual spin-offs that extend the storyline (and slightly humorous hopefully). I especially can't get goddamn enough of Saito and Louise.
I could use a bit more humor this season but whatever!
I binged the entirety of Zero no Tsukaima from start to finish in 7 days. This season alone in 24 hours. The only two anime I ever binged like this were Death Note and Vinland Saga and both got a 10 from me. Unlike them, though, I wasn't left speechless this time. Therefore I believe 9/10 is a fair rating.

Final verdict - You CANNOT drop if you made it this far. You should absolutely watch this season. I guarantee that you'll at least be partly satisfied.

Alright, I know that what I'm about to say seems to be an unpopular opinion, and I know the top reviews as of today (early November 2020) are really harsh towards this season and say it's worse than its two prequels, but as someone who's more drawn towards the plot+drama aspect of this anime I have to disagree with them.
I can't believe I'm saying this, but I liked this more than the previous ones, and most things in this season are better or equal in quality to season 2 (FnK).
It's not perfect. Quite frankly, far from it, but from my personal perspective it's a corrective ... experience to many things I felt were wrong with this anime.
So, to the details:

STORY (this will be longer than I usually give for a section):
I'll minimize the spoiler for the previous season as much as I can, but I'll assume you already saw it so odds are you'll infer what I'm talking about. If you don't want anything that could remotely spoil the previous season (keyword: PREVIOUS. No spoilers to this one) please skip to the art section.
Sadly I didn't feel this season that there was an event that left me shocked like the event in the end of the episode where they entered the academy trying to burn it, but I'll admit, they improved. The story has a bit more depth to it (despite some irritating borderline-filler moments in the middle, more on that in the "enjoyment" section) and in hindsight the introduction of the key character in FnK's finale seems like a smart move, despite appearing controversial in the first half of the season.
The main characters seem to act a lot more like an ensemble which I personally liked, because it seems to shed a light on some of the supporting characters as well and makes them crucial to the story. More on that later.
The villains are still a bit boring compared to other anime of the same genre, however I do think that after the quality drop in season 2 they seemed to partly recover. It doesn't make up the fact they're boring and their scenes are boring to watch, but there is improvement and I hope it will improve even more in the final season.
Another thing that bugged me is that this season, for the first time, there are minor plot holes. There are a couple of counterintuitive and counter-logical (if that's a real term) decisions made in this season that some viewers may find to be bizarre and annoying. And yet, somehow, despite the plot holes, many other things suddenly seem to finally make sense. One being the character of the relationship between Saito and Louise.
Season finale is not very impressive this time, sadly didn't recreate season 1 properly, but considering the fact this probably builds up to the final season, I see it as a fair step.
7/10.

ART:
I don't really see a big change excluding the one expected due to the season being released later in time. The sakuga isn't anything extraordinary here, but their background and location animation mildly improved.
I gave the previous seasons 7/10, and even though there was slight improvement here, it's not enough to be worth an extra point this time. So 7/10 it is.

SOUND:
Kinda worsened. The voice acting of most characters is as great as usual, which is definitely a plus, but some side characters are kind of a let-down. Fortunately their screen time is extremely limited.
I prefer the OP+ED songs of the previous seasons over this one's.
The soundtrack in general was fine, but I had higher expectations. In season 2 they seemed to nail the soundtrack pretty well, and this time, in some very specific scenes, this pattern was sadly broken. They literally reuse the same BGMs as in the rest of the seasons and I myself could tell that a song didn't match.
I may be generous here, but due to the mostly fine voice acting and bearable soundtrack I give this a passing grade. 6/10. Hope it'll get better next time.

CHARACTER:
Alright. It's very easy to impress me when it comes to characters after the clusterfuck that was season 2, but I genuinely can't understand why people don't see character development here.
Let me start off with the characters that pissed me off the most last season - Siesta. It seems like it was at this part of writing the story where it was realized that the writer/s made a big mistake with Siesta, and now they seem to have not only gradually toned down her overly thirsty season 2 mentality, but also mix it with the storyline more elegantly.
I LOVE where Saito and Louise are heading, both together and individually. Each one of them seems to reach some important conclusions they should have reached far earlier, especially Louise.
Finally, unlike last season, the characters we know and like from season 1 are crucial again. I'd even go as far as saying that aside the obvious couple leading the anime they seem to be a moving gear for the story. One character we're all familiar with goes through a huge development.
The reason I decided to give this 7/10 is because I look at it in comparison to past seasons. It's not far better than season 1, but characters' behavior seems to make sense overall, and even end up being relatable.
In fact, maybe 7 is just a little bit too low, though 8 is too high in my opinion despite the great relationships and finally some sparks of depth after two entire seasons without it. So imagine it being sort of a 7.5/10.

ENJOYMENT:
I can't believe I'm saying this, but except for the very unnecessary episode 6, I enjoyed this season a lot! I can't help it, despite the flaws it was just really fun to watch. Episode 7 was probably my favorite this season due to very nice combination of story elements, drama, and humor. Speaking of which - The humor is great this time and laughed more than in the past two combined which is extremely weird when taking into consideration that this is the most story-above-comedy oriented season yet.
9/10, and they're lucky to not lose more points due to the uncalled for yuri-fest in ep6 (watch the last few minutes of it though, they're important).

IN CONCLUSION; This season felt like it was trying to patch the wounds from season 2, and even though it has its weak spots and they're not hard to notice, the dots seem to finally start to connect, and the stage is ready and set for the finale.

Final verdict - watch it, and if you're pessimistic just approach it with the thought that it's there to set the stage for the ultimate conclusion.

Update after starting season 4: WATCH IT. IT'S WORTH THE 4TH SEASON

Alright, season 1 was great, and this one was better in some aspects but worse in others.
I'm a bit on the fence about continuing to season 3 due to reasons I won't elaborate on in order to prevent spoiling, but I am quite glad I watched this one.

STORY:
MASSIVE improvement! The drama/storyline-oriented crowd here will be very happy as we go through this season. It's much harder to not spoil this season than it was in season 1 because this one features much more crucial story events. It's not yet a masterpiece, and it sure has dull villains, but thankfully there are finally more layers added ... to the plot here. And kudos for the interesting dynamics between Saito and Louise. 8/10.

ART:
Slight (though not easily noticable) improvement, mostly in character design and magic animation. 7/10.

SOUND:
Improved overall. Not a big fan of the OP and ED but that's just personal taste so I won't be biased, but there are some BGMs that really seemed to blend in very well with the setting and fan its flames. Voice acting is great as always. 8/10.

CHARACTER:
Worsened. A lot.
Saito and Louise's dynamics are very interesting here as I said, but when looking at each one standalone it seems like their development is getting dumped in favor of tiresome jokes. On her own, Louise is still a goddamn abusive tsundere and immediately after any sign of redemption, even the biggest ones imaginable, it's nullified by the same tsundere trope traits and her depth is cancelled. Saito is not much better, his depth and dedication are too often cancelled out by resorting to the tiresome "omg tits" gag. But I'll save my rant about the tactless humor for later.
If your favorite from season 1 is Kirche, Tabatha, or Guiche, then I have bad news for you, because their appearances are borderline cameo. They're not ruined, though there are some points which felt like wasted potential. I'm a bit glad that Tabatha stopped being basically the deus ex machina of the anime but... eh, spoilers
The new characters are OK. Agnes has an interesting arc which first seems like a filler but in the end of the day I think is fair to include. Except for her it seems that the new characters get just the right amount of screen time.
The villains are straight out boring in comparison to season 1, but the one who saw the worst drop of quality is beyond all doubt... Siesta. Oh my, the horror. The script massacred her character and for the majority of the season seeing her behavior was no less than agonizing. She was severely downgraded to a thirsty, desperate, and one-dimensional character. Thankfully she seems to partly restore by the end of the season so it's nothing that can't be fixed, but I really, really hope that they didn't dare this again in the upcoming seasons.
There is just one character in this show (which I won't specify because it's quite a big spoiler) that went through a massive, sudden development. That character's arc left me seriously surprised and I salute whoever came up with that idea.
I wanted to rate Character this season 5/10, but that last one I mentioned alone is in my honest opinion better than all other character developments (or lack of any, in most cases) combined, and I feel obliged to show at least some sort of recognition to it and therefore raise it to 6/10.

ENJOYMENT:
Overall, I enjoyed it a bit more than season 1. Unlike the latter, this season somehow managed to get a few good laughs out of me, especially in the first few episodes. Many jokes are reused far too much to the brink of being annoying (we get it, he's a "ばか犬", we don't need to see it physically happen while the credits roll), but when they did come up with something original or managed to modify the usual jokes into a bit more clever one, they did succeed in making me laugh.
Despite the disappointing character development and several issues I have with the very end of the season, the storyline got it to break even in my personal experience and I did find this season to be fun to watch. 8/10.

Final verdict - if you made it this far, watch it. You might not want to continue afterwards, but if you enjoyed Zero no Tsukaima so far, then give this season a try as well.

Two words: Guilty pleasure.

I'll start with general impression and then go deeper into the details and each rating category:
At first, my expectations from this show were higher than I thought I ended up getting, judging by the first few episodes, because I thought I'm watching another serious, mind-engaging anime (I should have probably waited a little instead of starting to watch a day after I finished Vinland Saga). However, as the show progressed, the more I found myself enjoying it, and now I'm pretty sure I'm gonna watch the sequel.

Now, to the categories:

STORY:
Even though it's quite cheesy and stereotypical, overall the storyline is not bad. ... The first one or two thirds of the show tend to be more comedy-focused and the plot itself felt somewhat secondary and reminded me more of Slice of Life anime I watched, but at some point later in the season the storyline slowly gets a big improvement and steals the spotlight.
Without spoiling, the episode in which there's lots of screentime for restaurant staff felt like an unnecessary filler, but aside that every episode is crucial to the story. Including those coming before "the change in tone".
I've seen better stories, but given the premise the story not a half bad. 7/10.

ART:
It's a bit hard to judge 2006 animation in 2020 terms right after watching a 2019 anime completely neutrally, but nothing bothered me about it. Maybe the magic spells appeared a bit underwhelming at times, but I did get the impression that thought was put into the details in each character and most locations, though some specific places were too similar and I couldn't tell the difference. I also liked how there's not really any stereotypical copy-paste appreance for background characters.
7/10.

SOUND:
The voice acting is fantastic and is probably one of my favorite things about this anime. It looked like the VA's adapted to their characters quickly and managed to convey their personality through the voice. Zero complaints about that.
The soundtrack is nice and casual and fits the story well, and this includes the opening and ending themes, even though I personally didn't like them that much. However despite the nice soundtrack no theme really "sticked" like it did in other anime.
I believe that based on the given details, 8/10 is a fair rating.

CHARACTER:
No character in this show is complex, though some of them go through some development and we're exposed to depth of some of them over the season.
Fine and simple, often on the expense of depth. 7/10.

ENJOYMENT:
This is the one which had the biggest change in me. The first episodes somewhat bored me, and I said "Oh well, it's just 13 episodes so why not finish it". Thankfully that ended up being a good decision, because the more I watched, the more I enjoyed it.
This didn't get many laughs from me and some of the ecchi scenes in the earlier part of the show were really uncalled for, but what can I do - I liked watching it! 8/10.

Closure:
Do not come to this show preparing for some mental homework. This is a light-hearted and casual anime that is simple to understand. Even if it doesn't look like your taste at first I'd still advise you to keep watching the season from start to finish, and if you didn't enjoy it just drop the sequels.

Final verdict - Worth your try.

Even though there are a couple of noticable good points, Umaru is a disasterous character and she completely ruins the anime. I hope the author of the original manga never comes up with such a character idea ever again, especially not as a main character.
Her "personas" are severely exaggerated, and while exaggeration of some traits is a common comedy trope, there's some point which if you get past it stops being funny and starts being annoying, and Umaru is far beyond it. And speaking of her humor - if you also hate low-effort unironic "omg I eat so much I'm such a scorpio lol" jokes, ... especially when the popular hot girl posts them, then you should avoid this anime like it's the coronavirus.
Oh, and if you hate Mary Sues, I have bad news for you.

Regardless, except for her character (which the whole anime basically revolves around) I also found the humor in general to get boring quite quickly, but don't give this fact in particular such a big weight though because usually I'm not easily impressed by slice of life anime.

The good points - Good voice acting, fine animation, and overall every character except for Umaru is not that bad.

Bottom line: I've seen worse, but I'd advise against watching it.

TL;DR - One of the best anime I ever watched, do not miss it. I didn't read the manga, but you can be sure that if there's ever another season then it will be very, very hard to surpass this one in quality.

I'm writing this review immediately after completion of the anime. Think of it as a "right out the theater" type of review.

I'll start with the things that kinda bothered me about it at times, most of it can be narrowed down to the "mid-watching" part, and not the "after-watching" part.
1. Some episodes felt a bit boring to me and borderline filler that didn't ... contribute much to the storyline.
2. The history-addicts of you might be disappointed if approaching this anime with the wrong expectations. Don't expect a historically-accurate tale but rather a one loosely-based on it that touches some very specific key events but doesn't cover them as accurately as one may hope it to. It's good if you come with a little bit of background (and also good without background at all), but over-knowledge of norse lore might make the historical inaccuracies a bigger nuisance to your experience.
3. A couple of the main characters are very exaggerated in their behavior to an extent that sometimes harms their authenticity and makes it hard to relate to them, or fantastic characters that sometimes act recklessly. I do get the impression here that this makes Thorfinn a slightly controversial character, but I personally think Thorkell is the best example; I wouldn't say Thorkell is badly written (reasons are involving spoilers, so I won't elaborate), but for the most of the show he feels like an overly one-dimensional and somewhat fake character that better fits the most basic "fight-obsessed shonen character" trope, and as a guy who watched some of the classic shonen anime I grew tired of his character quite quickly, despite his crucial importance to the storyline.
4. The EDs are a bit underwhelming. They fit well with the way each episode ends, but they didn't feature anything unique that made me want to stay through the credits.
5. Some scenes might be unpleasant to watch if you're a huge animal lover. Most of them are off-screen (No dog will die in front of you, promise!), but it's better if you're aware in advance.

Now for the things I did like about it:
1. Although some episodes in the middle did feel mundane as I said earlier, the storyline as a whole is brilliant and well-written. The introduction to the story in the first 5 episodes is brilliantly made, and the finale is one of the finest I saw.
2. The animation is very good. If anything at all contributes to the realism of this show then it's the art and design.
3. Most characters are well-written. This applies to both main and supporting characters.
4. The OP themes are phenomenal. Well balanced between being spoiler-free and making those already halfway through the arc to see them differently in hindsight. If you're a J-rock fan, especially of bands like Man With A Mission and Survive Said The Prophet, then prepare for very enjoyable tunes!
5. No annoying "Join us next time" snippets after the ED credits!
6. I know I already said it, but the finale. Goddammit, the finale. I'm blown away by this brilliant way to wrap up the entire story. Once you start watching the anime, please, please, please don't drop. The final couple of episodes are really worth it.
7. The battle scenes convey a great message. They really remind you to make no mistake and accidentally think there's right or wrong in war. This anime does a good job depicting the brutality of war, and the lack of glory in it.

Bottom line: Strongly recommend.

I wouldn't call it a must-watch, but it's generally a good show.

I'll start with the pros - I'm quite a fan of the concept! I like the "assemble-a-team-and-launch-the-showdown" sort of shows and especially when each character clearly has unique traits and it's easy to distinct them from each other. The animation and design really make it seem like thought was put in their appearance to symbolize certain traits and endorse their uniqueness. Shortly put, when you like/dislike a character in this show, you can easily tell why. Oh, and the soundtrack is fantastic, HUGE fan of the OPs and EDs as well!!! Don't skip them!

The ... cons - In contrast to the good character design, the background design felt a little weak. It felt sometimes like an imaginary storyteller tells me "Yeah there's also the location but ignore that, focus entirely on the characters". Regardless, in the end of the day, this show didn't really hook me to the point where I feel that I really want to keep watching, but I rather got the impression of a time-killer.

So; Do I think you should watch it? In my humble opinion - yes. I'm not certain that you'll enjoy it, but in the end of the day it is a fine anime and I'd definitely say you should at least give it a try.