"The owls are not what they seem" - as is this anime. Starts off a little too gory for my taste, also the whole Japanese folklore fantasy theme is not my "go to" theme, but it's still a good show... and it's most important quality is that it leads to season two, which is much better and really a treat to watch. Story: 6/10 - The story is decent, but at times slow and uncertain. Characters: 8/10 - Great characters and lots of them. The majority of them were slowly being introduced in the first season, with some strong newcomers in the second, and it all paysoff in the end.

Character development: 6/10 - Not that much, but probably because 13 eps are not enough to do that with so many characters they have to introduce. More development in season two.

World building: 8/10 - It relatively quickly establishes the lore, who is who, and more or less what to expect of the surroundings, etc. Some shows fail miserably here because they try to preserve that "mysterious aura", but here we don't have that and it's still interesting - I wouldn't say it's predictable, but if it is - it's in a good way.

Overall: 7/10 - In the end, season one is decent on it's own, but where it really shines is being the road to season two.