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I had high hopes for this show, mostly because I love books, and it sounded like an interesting concept. However, that interesting concept was shunted into a villain-of-the-week formula that soon grew tiresome. While it is possible to do that formula well, these plots ranged from boring to inane. In addition to the stand-alone plots of the episodes was a feeble attempt at an overarching plot, which really failed spectacularly at tying anything together. The ending did little to actually end anything, or explain anything, or give even the least sense of closure.

Which brings me to the characters. This was by far the most negative ... element of the show: the complete lack of character development. Dalian was your generic bitchy little girl who actually cares more than she lets on. Huey was just plain bland. Some of the side characters, such as Huey's friend with the strange wardrobe choices, were cute, but ultimately lacked any sort of depth. The mysterious figure with the braid who we kept seeing is another example of a character wasted: he shows up at the very end, does something crazy for no apparent reason, and then the show ends. Who is he? Why is he such a dick? We don't know. Nothing was explained. Not to mention the mysterious pigtailed girl in the library. We spent so little time with her that it was really hard to give a crap about her when she showed up again in the last episode.

The show's artwork, while polished, was as bland as the characters. I sometimes found it difficult to tell characters apart. There was an exception, however, in the episode with the apprentice medicine woman or whatever she was. The art in that was truly beautiful, and I wish the entire show could've looked like that. In comparison to that high point is the climax to the musical episode, which they chose not to animate but instead to just show us a bunch of stills of the "thrilling" conclusion. It was really jarring considering the quality of animation in the rest of the show.

Dantalian no Shoka had a lot of potential, but just failed to deliver in almost every aspect. I wouldn't waste my time with this one.