It had a big fandom when it aired, most of which were yaoi females. It was also made by DEEN, the studio anime went to die with lazy production values and poor directing by the guy who ruined Record of Lodoss War and Beelzebub with his dull handling of the source material.
ART: Don't I look hot in this robe?
A blend of medieval fantasy and science fiction, the artwork can be catchy with its fairy tale-ish aesthetics. It also combines clergy life, occult mystery and military super-soldier projects for some rather surreal backgrounds. It's also a series of bishounens, so it will be extra captivating to fujoshis. Everybody is made to look like a dream boy any fangirl would kill just to touch his hair. They have glances and smirks that can lure you into their arms in less than 3 seconds. There are some women and old people as well but they are just background decoration or cute mascots, like a perky mermaid, a fuzzy pink critter and a trio of aloof sisters.
The series can look awesome when you focus on frozen frames, but when you notice how terrible the animation is then things get messy. Action scenes and visual effects are you typical DEEN crap, with battle choreography being a joke, explosions never damaging the background, and magic attacks existing on a different plane of existence since they were computer rendered instead of drawn along with the background. The characters stand still way too much, flapping mouths is most of what is moving, and jumping is just a static picture that slides across the screen. I can go on for hours, but you can just check the opening to see that Teito fellow sitting on a spiky rooftop without it somehow sticking in his ass. So yeah the series disregards physics, making all battles completely boring and fake-looking. Just imagine that most action is limited to characters shaking their hands and magic stuff appearing that doesn't affect the environment or other characters. If you are going to make it so bad, don't make it at all.
SOUND: I love you Mikage! ... in an erotically innuendo way only!
Voice acting is nothing remarkable and it's mostly the actors trying to sound like gays in love. The music on the other hand is very pleasing, making your mind travel with various chorus pieces.
SCRIPT: Oh forget about the fate of the world and just look at me walking elegantly
It sounds mighty interesting as a concept with military secret ops, mystical temples, scary ghosts, gay innuendos, a sort of detective feeling, and a lot of daily life in a fantasy setting. The overall ideas are mighty interesting, but when you watch it is so darn slow. Most episodes don't even seem to progress the plot and the rest give you only a few seconds of important info. They could have taken out half the total duration and it still wouldn't feel rushed.
It is also straightforward, since despite its events affecting the lives of millions it centers on five people at the most. It's too focused on the military base and the temple, and it completely ignores every other location of an otherwise huge and complicating setting. There is no pay-off at the end either, since it escalates for many episodes and ends with the story left incomplete.
CAST: Pick the one you want to date
Just like playing a date sim, the series is full of ero/moe archetypes you are suppose to like for their variety in looks and mannerisms and not for their personalities. Most of the cast was useless to the plot anyways; it was just there to increase your possible dream boyfriends. The only characters the series needed was Teito and Mikage (the main couple... er, I mean pair), any one of the priests, and Ayanami the psycho military man. The rest were dressing. The only thing you are left to gasp at is the pretty faces of the males. More specifically, their frozen still faces with a smirk full of erotic innuendo, while their hair and cloths flap in the wind with a few repeating frames.
LEGACY: Neeext!
If you are a seasoned viewer this series will offer you nothing. It's not even remotely interesting. The plot is snoringly slow and the characters are too generic. It was only made for horny fujoshis, and even then it's a one-time watch at best, since it doesn't do much with its content and was left incomplete. It got forgotten pretty soon and is now buried under some pile of equally mediocre anime.
