Verdict
This is undoubtedly one of the top 3 animes to have ever been produced. The art, the music, the story and it's characters all fit together perfectly. If you choose this as your first anime, you will hold almost every other anime to it's standards for quite a while. For this reason I cannot recommend anyone breaking into watching anime for the first time, to pick this one as your first. Pick another. Hold off long enough so you can appreciate some of the lesser ones a bit better. Nothing else can be said about this apart from that it's not just an anime. It's a masterpiece.
Review
The Music
I don't know how to say this. But when "Again" by Yui started playing to the intro, I felt a teardrop rolling down my cheek. I rarely cry to any sort of media, but this one really got me. To put things into perspective, that song was my ring tone for a whole 2 years.
The other opening song that really caught my attention was "Golden Time Lover" by Sukima Switch. Still all the opening songs were amazing. That's not the only thing, the scores were downright perfect as well. If the story and the art weren't just as intriguing, then one could argue all your focus would be on the music.
The Art
I'm going to let the art speak for itself.
The Story
Without spoiling anything, the story is about a search for something by two brothers and the epic adventure that follows it's wake. The emotional connection between the brothers and the characters they encounter in their journey is what sets this story apart. There is something for everyone, be it romance, adventure, drama or action packed fighting.
The whole thing is set in an alternate universe where military rule and strange powers preside. The bewildering mysteries will keep you on your toes and the action packed sequences will make some characters bad-ass and others hated beyond reason. Despite the story being serious overall, it still manages to squeeze in comedic effect where none would expect. You cannot be disappointed.
Reason for the Score
Some of you might be wondering, "How can any anime deserve a perfect score?". There's a lot of obscure anime out there that might fit your taste better in the long run like it did for me. But this isn't about personal (subjective) tastes. This is about objective popularity. In the majority of cases it is indubitable that this anime will be in the top 10 of lists that rank anime TV series by quality. Don't get me wrong, I'm not appealing to the majority. Rather the contrary, I'm appealing to the genius is takes to appeal to everyone. To be fun for everyone. So if we're going to say there are objectively some really good anime, then you'd have to agree with me that this should always top the list.