Leviathan

I won't go in too deep, because the show it really short (You can binge watch it in a day), and it was great, so I'd encourage you to watch it.

But to summarize: The Setting was fantastic. The show got me hooked with the first (30 minute) episode.

The Visuals are great. Only the best "animes" had better visuals like Arcane, or To be Hero X.

The base story wasn't super crazy, but how the executed it made it great. Just for an example: I won't consider this a spoiler since it's revealed in the first 5 minutes: One of the main characters (Dylan) is a girl, and she only poses as a boy only to be able to enlist in the UK air force. Just this simple setting makes the story much more interesting and exciting, as you hope she won't get discovered.

I'd be really happy if this show got a 2nd season or more. It was worth every minute.

I've seen some people saying romance killed the show. Don't let that discourage you, that "romance" was basically only in the last episode, and for about ~6-7 minutes.

They reimagined the world war I with bio-engineered animals and some walkers, at-at style, plus other kinds of technology.

From the worldbuilding to the characters to the story itself, I really enjoyed the show.

I could get through even though the CGI is, at times, not so smooth; and I'm definitely not a fan of CGI, up to the point to skip a show if it has any, but everything else was so well created and tailored that it didn't bother me, much.

In any case, if you're a fan of sci-fi or alternative realities, give this a chance because I promise you it will deliver, if only due to the amount of imagination involved in its creation.

This is so typical for these anime stories; the most important persons are involved in war, but how much hurt do they really get? It says it all.

I get so tired of these "war stories" that don't really show any dangerous conflict they way it should be shown. This story could be about anything really. The reactions from the two most important people after a long involvement in war, is shrugging and making small surprised sounds? They look so cute both of them that one understand that their looks are more important than the story. Boooh! Boring. That is why, at the end of the series I don't really care for any of them.

The plot is very well produced, and the voice acting is excellent. The animation is spectacular, with talented characters. The character development was natural, not at all forced, and balanced. The work is excellent; there's nothing to complain about. The praise has been so good. I hope there's a second season and a third.

The protagonists Aleks and "Dylan" are probably two of the best characters in the coming-of-age genre I have ever seen. If you are a fan of character development, this show does it masterfully, especially as to Aleks. The development of Aleks from being a "spoiled brat" to a selfless hero is beautiful, and you genuinely feel like you want him to succeed. The romance between the two protagonists was also utterly captivating. That is the strength of this show.

The weakness is that the show didn't really play up to those strengths as much as it could have. The plot itself outside of the friendship and romance aspects between the protagonists had to do a lot with very interesting twists and turns in politics and war and started off amazing, but it really lost its way at the end. No spoilers, but let's just say that there are a bunch of plot holes behind a certain capture. In any case, the politics-war plot was unsatisfying, and it also pretty much caused the ending of the romantic plot to feel unsatisfying as well. It also just makes you feel like it would've just been better to see Aleks and Dylan interact more.

Yet despite all that, when the two did interact before the ending, there was definite chemistry between the two. The way their personalities interacted, especially when it comes to subverting gender expectations or even stereotypes, worked very well with these two.

Without going into detail, I also think the ending in the show diverged from the book in which it is based? It seems like an extremely significant change too. I don't know which ending I prefer when it comes to our protagonists. I think I'd have to see a season 2 to decide, but I definitely think this show warrants a second season, especially given how much the politics-war plot ending left a lot to be desired.