The art, especially that of the main character, Kikuchi Yume, is so
pretty at some places that I get a new level of understanding as to
what Kurosawa-sensei was feeling when she first encountered
Chiyo-chan, dressed in the Penguin suit. Yoshidzuki-sensei's drawings
are extremely well balanced. If Tateo-sensei's (Full Metal Panic)
drawings are bolder and more "perfect" and Abe-sensei's (NieA_7,
Haibane Renmei) drawings are more soulful and "imperfect," I'd say
Yoshidzuki-sensei's drawings are like the perfectly balanced nature.
Not too complex, not too simple, not too fuzzy, not too sharp, and
extremely cute. There's no such thing as "too cute" as far as I'm
concerned.
Moving away from the purely artistic point of view, progression of the
story leaves much to be desired. I think perhaps that if magic wasn't
so prevalent, the story might have worked better. The main theme is
fairly subtle, which I have absolutely nothing against, but because it
is so subtle, having such a strong plot device defocuses the story. I
feel that perhaps that's why people feel it is lacking. Come to think
of it, I think that just toning down the mind bogglingly pretty
drawings could've helped me feel better about the story. But then, my
personal focus _is_ the drawing, so I wouldn't want to sacrifice the
art for anything.
I like Yume-chan's extreme righteousness even though it doesn't always
make sense. She's so unspoiled that it can feel unnatural at times!
In this world of corporate corruption and power struggles, I feel so
warm and fuzzy just seeing a character like Yume-chan.
Oops, I better write something more relevant so I don't lose the few
readers I have. Then again, do I actually care?
Anime art is obviously not as good as the manga art, but it's good
enough to make the series collection-worthy. A lot of the manga story
is munged a little for the anime. I don't think either one is any
better than the other. They're just slightly different. For those
who find something to like about the anime, I recommend you buy these
books. There are only two volumes and kanji has furigana. Even if
you can't read Japanese, I think these are worth it for the art work.