I really expected more from a series that has been so well rated, but "my disappointment was immeasurable and my day was ruined."

After watching the anime I was very disappointed, so I went back and read the manga from the beginning past the point where the anime ends, and I have to say that the manga is much better than the adaptation.

First, the biggest issue I see most people have with this series is the way the anime handles the relationship between Ash and Eiji. In the manga, this is explicitly made a gay relationship, but in the anime... They can't say gay, this aired on television... So this just has to be some kind of weird intimate friendship, which takes away so much from the story itself and redefines several major plot points. This "friendship" causes Eiji to follow Ash around like a lost puppy, as he receives special treatment, and causes nothing but problems for the characters around him.

In addition, I found Eiji to be an extremely annoying character in the anime (less so in the manga). He basically fills the damsel in distress cliché and brings very little to the story. His character does not develop throughout the series, and he very rarely is helpful in any way. He exists solely to push the plot forward. His primary role in the manga was to develop a romantic relationship with Ash, helping Ash grow as a character, but the anime doesn't do this. They just put romantic subtext under a "friendship" with a will they-won't they set up. This is not only disappointing from a romantic perspective but really takes away from the overall narrative of the series, and any character growth that Ash may see.

The plot itself has some interesting ideas but again, I feel that the anime failed to capture what made the manga great. The character development was much weaker in the anime than in the manga, to the point where I really didn't care when characters died. Character deaths felt like they were set up more for shock value and plot than any actual emotional impact, and it felt like when characters died, there was very little grieving in the aftermath as the story jumped right into the next plotline.

On a separate note, the art style from the manga did not adapt very well to animation. This is just my own opinion, and I guess a lot of people really liked this anime, but I just don't see it. I probably wouldn't have even sat through the entire series if I weren't watching it with my wife. My wife enjoyed the series more than I did but was also disappointed by the end. I really don't recommend this anime at all. Just go read the manga for a better experience. If you are anime-only, then I would just pass on this series.