A few things about myself.  It should be noted I'm typically a critical person, one reason I love this site so much.  I become highly critical when glaring flaws appear in something I love.  That so happened with anime; which once consumed my life I now on a regular basic despise.  However, it's easier to make love than war, have friends than enemies.

So when plot comes along that caters to my interests, usually I'm willing to check it out.

There are some animes I like: Full Metal, Hellsing Techi Muyo and Lovess.  Loveless which even for it's obvious faults I notice tries to breaks clichés.  (The regular bimbo is infact everyones bitch and the main character totally brushes her first rather than drooling on her tits.  Even joking at the fact most anime girls looks like 10-12 year olds, with 20-30 something old love interests, this time that's literally the case.  Also cat ears, disturbingly tried to pass at sexy, in this world only virgins can have them.) Yeah yeah. you care, you care.

I checked out King of Thorns, I was motivated hearing it was short and apocalyptic.  I've swore off anime for years, so this was a bit of a testing the waters.  I was vastly DISAPPOINTED, it did not break trends and followed the same clichés that turned me away to begin with. Unlike science fiction, which also has its own physical laws, sci-fi at least tries to be practical about how it combats with our world.  Anime has no problem changing things on whim "just because" and no problem being the least bit rational.

NEGATIVE

The romance angle I didn't buy for a second, and the main character I thought was 13!  Fail creator for not specifying.  The protagonist had little character development concerning relationships with any of the other characters.  As well the so called "gore" was hardly PG-13.  Another pointed docked for taking mangas as anything remotely serious.

POSITIVE

I think anime fans will like it, generally anime fans like generic writing, and one-dimensional story telling and characterization.  I know, I used to be an anime junkie and I back then I would have enjoyed immensely.  There's always new "missions" for the cast to go through, and the series for having a dark and serious tone brings in playful banter in its ending, which is usual typical of animes in their whole story lines anyway.

So it does follow the trends people like to see, the medusa has a "twist" so to speak which is very typical "anime" thing to do.  I hated that aspect, but it's something anime fans usually want since that's what anime is known for and delivers. Hey, if it's not broke don't fix it.

NEUTRAL

The story changes from sci-fi apocalypse to fantansy and can never really decide which it wants to be, nor does it work out a balance.

The main character does not get a lot of background and is described as school girl, yet later is referred to as a young woman.

The setting is not 1000 years into the future, much more recent.

There are not explicitly graphic scenes.  Limbs are thorn off but they last usual a single panel and aren't very detailed.  The worst is the bodies that statued.

RATING

Anime Fan: 7/10 - The tone is quite serious and there isn't the usual quirky author notes or caricatures for exaggerated emotions, it least til the very end, and it's not very much. Also the characters aren't always together so the story might seem slow.

Critic: 2/10 - The series manages not to throw in all the usual tropes.  The clothing is practical and less of eye sore compared to drag costumes most seem to wear.  The series does fall in the same unexplainable magical mythology in what could have been a more impacting, realistic threat.  The very ending is quite a sell-out, leaving nothing to feel accomplished and could make the story wholesomely seem pointless.  I can't say I'm especially pleased having this in my experience and would not at all mind trading to get my time back.  Harris, recommend better series.  I truly to want to have more things to read.

Average Joe: 4/10  So long as your a fan of both sci-fi AND fantasy, this series will feed both needs.  Half the characters are worth caring about while the rest never develop enough to care for.  The romance comes almost unexpectedly but it's never a fixation, so it won't be shoved down your throat. The art work is pretty basic, can't recall anything in particular standing out.  Unfortunately there's nothing note worthy to mention and the story and it's characters are easily forgettable.

I don't expect anyone to read this, but it felt too long for a post.  I didn't bother spell or grammar checking, I simply ranted. I not a blogger, but perhaps this will become a regular thing.  If Harris brings up more animes, I'm a novel reader, regular comic reader, I would certainly love to include a bounty of good manga.  Not the fangirl BS I used to eat once upon a Jr. High.

Edit: Finally did one editing, and changed ratings.  I was either perhaps being too fair to the book, or not giving anime fans enough credit.  If I find out my friends who are anime fans like this, I will have less respect for anime and its fans than Cyrus.  (If I don't already.)