Anime: Urara Meirochou 6w3t27

This story begins with Chiya (an ambiguous silver-fox-like girl who lived 'in the wilderness') coming to Labyrinth Town in search of her mother. Labyrinth Town is a layered-walled city where one must earn their way through the hierarchy in order to go beyond a wall, closer to the heart of the city, where the most skilled 'Urara' reside. In order to go deeper into the city in search of her mother, Chiya is required to undergo Urara training, and winds up under the care of Nina along with Kon, Nono, and Koume, also new Urara trainees. I assume that this is intended as a long form story since there are numerous levels in the city, and this 'first season' deals explicitly with progressing from tenth rank to ninth. Not quite a Slice of Life, this show focuses on the friendships between the four girls and their teacher as they explore various forms of Seer abilities and undergo endless antics of various forms, largely revolving around Chiya's wild (untamed) nature. ...And, spoiler, I just revealed the entire plot. Sorry about that.

Honestly, I'm having a hard time deciding whether I like this show or not. As a typical 'girls being girls' sort of comedy, I'd have to say that this show falls on the underwhelming side... But there are numerous heart-warming moments in the show as well, most of which managed to give me a warm-fuzzy buzz. I honestly like Chiya's character, but although I have no real qualms with the other characters, I simply couldn't make myself care enough about them for this show to really entrap me. The artwork is excellent, the animation's good, and I'd even go so far as to say that the acting's better than average, but the plot and story fell short of the premise. I found myself genuinely wanting to see all of Chiya's story, but instead the show reveals very little about it because this is only the 'first part' of a manga that, as I said earlier, undoubtedly wants a long run. Personally, I can't fathom anyone turning this into a ten-season show. In fact, I will be extremely surprised if it's picked up for a second season.

I suppose one good thing I could say about this show is that its stripped-down simplicity adds something to the ambiance. It's a world where "anything could happen" depending on the creator's whim. It's a spiritualistic-type setting steeped in Asian culture/religion, but doesn't take place in any location relative to the real world. Aside from some various references to the regular 'real world' existing, this story could have taken place... basically on the astral plane where the gods reside.

Level of Taboo/Ecchi/Fanservice: Virtually none, aside from a half-hearted shoujo ai subtext between some of the adult characters.

Intended Audience: Listed here on AniDB as 'Seinen'. Whatever. This show is solidly acceptable to general audiences ranged maybe 13+ of either gender. It deals with various forms of mysticism, what some might call 'witchcraft', and is steeped in Asian religious culture in general... So I suppose a devout Christian might turn the channel. But other wise, perfectly safe for anyone.

Art & Animation - 8 - Surprisingly good. In fact, I love the background art style. Some scenes are better than others, of course, but there's a lot of detail and a lot of rich color involved. The background work does a good job of setting the ambiance for the story. The character art is decent as well, though nothing special. The characters are all ridiculously cute.
Sound - 6 - Nothing stood out, good or bad.
Story - 6 - As is typically the case, I have to split hairs. The storytelling wasn't bad. The premise wasn't bad. But the plot is essentially non-existent. That being said, though I liked the premise, and the ambiance of the story overall was pretty good, I had a hard time keeping my interest in the show. Giving it a 6 is generous, but probably deserved.
Character(s) - 6 - Mostly generic templates. All of the characters were likable enough, but the only one I was really interested in was Chiya. The 6 instead of a 5 goes to the seiyuu cast who did a pretty good job, I'd say. The touching moments tended to suck me in despite myself, and I'm giving most of the credit for that to the seiyuu cast.
Value - 7 - Boiled down, the show's plot looks something like this: "Girl goes somewhere in search of long lost mother; winds up getting sidetracked." Seen it before a hundred times. However, there's something to be said about how this story strips things down to its essentials. The story takes place within a hierarchically-sealed city where one has to earn their way deeper in. While sidetracked, the girls explore numerous different forms of divination and other 'Seer' ('Urara') abilities, many of which I found interesting in their own way. Instead of taking place in an academy, the girls are taught at Nina's house. There is plenty of room for all sorts of different antics to take place, and they do. As an amorphous fantasy setting in a 'probably' 'real world', there's lots of room to play. I bet the manga has a lot of potential... though I haven't read it.
Enjoyment - 5 - Overall, the best I can say about this show is that it was 'average'. And it was 'average' 'girls being girls', which I don't place a whole lot of value in anyway. As a rule, just about any 'girls being girls' show would have a hard time scoring higher than 'average' in my book. Even with a premise, a show has to have a plot that actually progresses in order for me to enjoy it.

Conclusion - 6 - I wanted to enjoy this show. I liked the simplistic premise, I liked the main character, and I loved the artwork. But lacking a plot, the best I could say about this show was that it was average. That said, this sort of show probably would appeal to people who like the more... sitcom-style shows and won't be particularly bothered by the lack of actual plot progression.