At this point, "Wuuuut? They're a giiiiirl?" must be the most tired, played-out trope around, and it's no fresher here just because of the stylish setting.
Broghanne Jessamine does a superb job of voicing Sharp with a characterful and authentic Scotch accent (although curiously she pronounces "Och" as "Ock").
But the character itself is just a little too brash and unsympathetic, and the relentless overuse of idioms quickly becomes blistering bumrag barking insufferable.
Why she's a brown is baffling, given that everybody else is appropriately ethnic, and its even more peculiar why nobody comments on it. Then she starts singing in Japanese, and all suspension of disbelief falls apart.
Sharp isn't quite a girlboss - that's Lilit - but aren't we bored yet of skinny girls who are just stronger and faster and better than bigger men at absolutely every physical activity, because of course they are.
The rest of the voice cast are generally solid but generic. Hobbes is too lispy, Barlow too arch and plummy, and Aleksandar just a touch too whiny.
The visuals are great, up there with Ghibli, and the score also has theatrical aspirations. The presentation is superb, it's the content that's the problem.
After a promising start, the plot quickly starts to drag, feeling both padded AND rushed. It's clear there's a lot elided from the books, but what is presented becomes expositional and repetitive.
Side characters are killed off in such a predictable and trite manner that there's no real emotional impact to the scenes.
It's presented as a mystery box, but given that the solution is mentioned early on, it's hardly a nail-biter. As the story reaches its conclusion, it oversells its meagre premise by becoming overblown, in a rather tragically desperate manner.
The final couple of episodes are so ridden with cliches that they practically qualify as a parody. Every story and character beat is utterly predictable, and therefore deeply unsatisfying.
It's such a shame when the premise and talent started out so strong. It could have been, and should have been, better, but ultimately it piles mediocrity on mediocrity so relentlessly that it hugely overstays its welcome. It's frankly a relief when the tedious modern-dayism carping and moaning about the unfairness of being a woman in a man's world finally ends.
