Xanatos Gambit taken to the logical extreme.
Anyway this seemed like the last episode, but I think this was easily the best anime of the season.
I'll easily refute BT's thoughts because it does make sense that people who think they never lose easily fold when they're handed just that. People hate being outsmarted, it's a shock to them. Regarding 'everything is dumb', I wasn't expecting strategy so verbose it would take a war general to get it. It's anime, it's naturally going to be dumbed down to a large extent, because that's more entertaining. I also thought the concept was a clever take and a good way to avoid another violent murder-them-all show while still having lots of interesting tactics-based plotlines.
I dunno, I always hear lots of petty complaints about good animes, which bother me ('Kill la Kill has a dumb concept about chicks stripping!' 'Gurenn Lagann is is nonsensical and unrealistic!')
In any case this anime was extremely fun to watch. Sora and Shiro are really clever, especially Sora since he was obviously the main protagonist, and watching his ideas and pieces come together in the perfect plan was entertaining, and even made me go 'holy cow you thought that far ahead?', which was obviously the intention both in-character and out.
The art for this was also visually stunning, I really, really, really enjoy anime with non-generic (and still high quality) art styles. I really hopes this gets more seasons on its belt, because it really deserves them.
