Here’s another online-gaming-inspired anime in the form of Ixion Saga DT. Is it any good? It may not be the best among the Fall 2012 anime offerings, but I love how it’s honest with its purpose-to-entertain and to be a comedy/parody of the shounen adventure series. That said, I can now say that this one doesn’t have any solidity in the content nor in the presentation aspects. Still bloody funny, though.

Brains Base is doing the production of this anime, and one might expect the same visual quality seen in Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun to be seen in this title. I kid you not, the visuals present here are just mediocre to “good”. Let’s start with the positives this time, shall we? But there’s only one positive thing about the visuals here, the other aspects are completely underwhelming and/or nothing spectacular. Character designs are unique despite having an air of being-inspired, thanks to the original styling queues the designs have. On the teasers for Ixion Saga DT, we see polished, excellently-detailed, and nice sharpening present in all of the art and illustration. Like almost all anime, animating the illustrations and art on screen seems to be a problem that the sharpening and polishing went poof. Animation present here is just standard-fare, apparently still having a big room for improvement.

Voice acting is just “good”, even if top-billed seiyuu star on this series. They add to the quirkiness and to the fun, aside from breathing life to their roles. Kamiya Hiroshi had been a little inactive recently, and having him star in this series is big welcome to the already-star studded cast. Some of the voices may actually surprise, especially with the roles they’re attached to. Jun Fukuyama is voicing a “trap” in this series. Sound effects exhibit proper audio, but they’re lacking the impact found in other series like Sword Art Online. Background music is just average, and something expected from series set in a fantasy-medieval world. They portray the aura of the quirkiness and funny feel of the series well, though.

While Ixion Saga DT is listed under action, adventure, and fantasy; the first episode actually worked more as a comedy than as something serious or deep. Dialogue lines and the story are what you’d expect from similar series, but with more funny lines and quirkiness. Despite not being as awe-inspiring and attention-capturing, the direction was able to extract the potential of the script to make it funny and entertaining even if it doesn’t shine well. It’s honest, not pretentious nor ambitious — something that we rarely see in anime nowadays. If you liked anime like Maji de Watashi ni Koi Shinasai and other anime filled with parodies of their genres, you would want to watch this series.

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