Review of Galilei Donna: Storia di tre sorelle a caccia di un mistero

At first, it looked like a light spot of fun with the addition of awesome airships to spice things up. So, three sisters are going on a quest, pursued by an evil corporation and some colourful pirates, right? "It's fine", I say, "it's normal for anime premises to sound a bit goofy, and the universe looks like it has great potential". So I decided to give it a chance, in the hopes of some good fun, drama, character development and all of that jazz - indeed I got my hopes up in such a way as the show progressed: At a point, it looked likethe characters were set for some interesting exploration and evolution individually and collectively. Moreover, I was impressed by the tone of two adjacent episodes in the mid-point in which things became pretty serious all of the sudden with some new, darker themes introduced. I believed I might have found a hidden gem, that the sisters' relationship and personalities would be explored satisfyingly, that I would be fearing for their safety in crises and filled with good feelings when they succeeded. Yes, I sensed the tendrils of that goosebump-worthy anime magic that can bump up my ratings of any series creeping their way around GD.

Yet none of these ever happened. The show didn't reach nearly as far or as high as I had hoped, and the bad aspects that were apparent near the beginning only inflated towards the end, snuffing out any magic that might have been had. The characters fly around wielding plot armour and using lazily frequent mechanical hocus pocus, the dialogue gets dull, whilst ridiculous or boring events become the show's bread and butter. Interesting character developments are dealt with in only the most rudimentary and unsubtle manner, and once Kozuki is done it would be generous to say that they slow to a trickle - including one of the most mediocre villains I've ever encountered in anime. The plot and story all but collapse in the final three episodes, culminating in a conclusion devoid of pacing, drama, intensity, emotion, depth or anything that might carry the viewer with it. GD never sets out to be funny, but combined with the above defects it doesn't really have much going for it sadly, just a kind of watered down, lukewarm averageness.

Alright, maybe I'm being a bit harsh. On the technical side, you'll be able to expect a fantastic OP which was a pleasure to watch each time, with the rest of the score and ED being pretty decent. The expressions and animation are decent, while the costumes and mechas are a noticeable strong point. The main strength of this show are the pleasant, positive moments between the characters that surface quite often, as the dark ones are quite rare. They're simple, and in no way exceptional, but they keep the show together and make it somewhat enjoyable on a basic level. And yet, when I think about other shows that I've given four stars and how much I enjoyed them in comparison, the overall result comes a bit closer to a 2 than to a 3 star rating for me. I can see why people might enjoy it, but if you don't like the idea of investing a good amount of time in something that turns out to be kind of dull, I hope you find my feedback helpful. Whatever the case, I find this all a big shame because it's clear that the people who worked on this gave it an honest go to make it worthwhile/special, and if they happen to bring out an OVA, I'll give it a fair chance.

4/10