Mixture of cheap action, shallow attempt on creating emotional scenes, reasonless behaviour, holey logic, cheesiness and signs of homosexuality implying we are not only about to see the bad guys proceed in their no-sense-making plans, but even some fun between the protagonist and his harem - that is how I would shortly and precisely describe anime 07 -GHOST. Truth be told, review consisting of these few sentences would most likely create a misunderstanding, which is not my intent. Thus, I shall continue, so worry not, my dear fans of anime we're currently dicussing - I am going to give valid arguments as for why I used such non flattering description and maybe you will even agree with me.

##Cheap action
Unfortunately, 07-GHOST is classified as fantasy action. The year 2009 sure can be considered as the ancient times of thick lips, bright white backgrounds, pinkey leaves falling all over the screen, but that is not an excuse for the humilitating lack of action, proper battles and epicness.

The first half of anime brings only a little excitement. The protagonist encounters small flies, enemies unworthy of more than 7 minutes of screentime, one or two hits required to defeat these foes. As the second half of anime draws near, we might expect something more spicey. But that shall remain our modest hope. Even when the main force attacks head on the knights of darkness, all we are allowed to see is a blast. Satisfied? No. Are we getting something more then? Definitely no.

Animation itself is actually a pretty sight, colourful, with a high percentage of cheesy shots. Character diversity in terms of image is laughable. When animators think you have already forgotten about that cool dude from the beginning, they are going to shamelessly use his looks again, with only a little difference, leaving you confused and pissed. On the other hand, we're getting some sexy angles and Frau's manly chest, so points for that.

##Shallow attempt on creating emotional scenes
What truly is worse than action anime without real action is trying to look deep and psychological without any depth and actually relatable psychological themes. As the main character struggles with his inner conflicts, which is the topic of the first twelve episodes, the watcher cannot relate.

Questions of guilt and atonement for the death of your dear one could actually ring a bell for some of us, but maybe not if the story takes place in fantasy world where one fights using magical words, is raised as a killer by the army which is, absolutely shocking, actually evil and person makes friends with oath to die with them in the matter of days. I just don't know the feeling. If you do, I take my words back.

##Reasonless behaviour, holey logic
If you watch 07-GHOST with your brain turned on, you might start to question its logic. Why did they do that? Why didnt they do that? What is the point of this? But just you wait a few episodes, the anime will definitely explain absolutely nothing and if it does, it's going to make even less sense than before. Strategic plans that lead nowhere, anticipated plot twists with zero logic and yet they all manage to look so damn smart it makes you doubt yourself. But don't. That anime really is stupid.

##Signs of homosexuality
The one element that could have saved the whole thing. If only had they made it into yaoi. Then all of above could have been less dramatic. But, as you might already know, protagonist and his harem got nothing more than few blushy scenes. Which buries anime another meter underground.

The problem here is, you do not expect it. People come for action (lol) and fantasy, not guys being all lovey dovey with each other. That is just going to scare off those watchers, who are no fans of yaoi and shounen ai. They just didn't sign up for this. I, personally, think the gay scenes were at least three times better than the non gay ones. Matter of opinion.

##Overall experience
We start off with fresh characters with a lot of potential that goes to waste, at least most of the time, and never reach anything. The anime is just a promo for manga, which is fine as long as the anime is able to stand on its own. And it is not. We really don't see what these 25 conclude in. I do acknowledge the character development of the protagonist, but that's just not enough. There is just no actual plot, only minor conflicts that follow each other throughout the whole anime.

To give anime the credit it deserves, music was great. It suited the atmosphere, opening and ending are on my playlist and there is a small amount of humour, which is simple but suffices and the later half of the anime was not boring.

I don't think I would recommend 07-GHOST to anyone, maybe for the slight shounen ai vibes, but that would be all. I have yet to read the manga, but I hope it does a better job than the anime did.