Review of Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom

I'll start off by saying that this anime, in my opinion is a kin to a hidden gem. The main reason I say its akin to a hidden gem is because I'm honestly not sure how well know this anime is, however before I happened across this anime at the local anime store I had never heard of it. The story, at least for me gets better as you go on. As the anime began I found it good, but nothing spectacular. Then as I got about half-way through I thought it was easily a favorite of mine but definitely not top ten material. AsI got the end, or more specifically, the very last part, my opinion shot through the roof, blowing my expectations away with such a surprise that I couldn't but admire it. Without spoiling anything, I do have to say that this anime has one of the best twist endings I have seen, partly because I was so confident in my ability to predict how it would end, and how wrong I turned out to be.
The music is nothing that impressive until you get the main character's theme song. It starts playing about half-way through the series and this is when the series kicks it up to the next gear, the song is so powerful in how its delivered, its not the song its self but how well the song ties in with the main character's thoughts and feelings at the time that makes it feel so powerful.
As for the characters themselves while overall they aren't too impressive, I do have two favorite that I feel stand out from the crowd. Lizzie Garland, and Hardheaded Tony.
The way this story keeps you guessing is a huge advantage of its, you usually have some idea of whats going to happen but the delivery of which is always surprising.
This was actually the second anime I showed to my Father, who is not someone who particularly likes anime, but even he said that it was thoroughly enjoyable when it was all over.
Either way I think this is a great anime full of great action, suspense, and interesting plot twists that will keep you watching right up to the end. Its worth a watch most any day in my book.