Zetsuen no Tempest - Episode 1

First thing that came to my mind: Butterfly Effect

Slightly confusing, yet completely captivating—the first episode of Zetsuen no Tempest far exceeded my expectations. The set-up of the story was extremely effective; I felt that every word from the dialogue and every scene had its own important meaning which greatly contributed to my understanding of the story. Still, the fact that an episode is only 24 minutes long does leave out some blanks that have yet to be filled, the most interesting of them being the relationship between Aika and Yoshino, with the latter possibly being involved in the former's "death". Betrayal and deception seem like they will be important factors in the story, and I'm really looking forward to seeing how they will affect the characters and story. On a slightly negative note, I do feel the Shakespearean elements are unnecessary, but that's a totally subjective and biased remark given how much of a pain Shakespearean plays were to study in school.

After only one episode, the stage has already been set for the rest of the series. You have the antagonist in Samon, the "damsel in distress" in Hakaze, the protagonists in Mahiro and Yoshino, and a general insight on the story revolving around a mysterious murder set in a near post-apocalyptic world. Although there may be some changes via the adding and taking away of elements in the series later on, the foundation in itself is quite solid. In terms of the characters, Mahiro and Yoshino appear to be very complex, which is generally a good thing for non-slice-of-life series. The voices of Hanazawa Kana and Sawashiro Miyuki as Aika and Hakaze respectively were a nice plus as well. Overall, I have to say that Zetsuen no Tempest might become one of my favourite shows this season if it's able to keep up this level of quality throughout.

OP = ED

OP: Not so Engrishy English. The song itself isn't bad, but given that this is a Japanese anime, I expected a Japanese song.