So I watched the first episode of the God Eater Anime, it's not too bad though there are somethings to get used to.
Things I Like
[spoiler]
1. The way Lenka was handled.
The guy is your typical spiky haired hot blooded revenge driven shonen hero protag that wants to destroy all Aragami, which is not surprising. However while the guy is somewhat badass, ie not even flinching when being injected with Bias factor and surviving in an Aragami infested hell hole implied to be outside of the Aegis wall, they show exactly how much of a liability he is instead of an instant prodigy being showered with praise at almost every turn like you are in the game.
He constantly fails his training simulations, which he wanted to skip in the first place during a minor Aragami attack like a dumbass even though he didn't even have his God Arc yet, always trying to save someone instead of attacking the Aragami. Tsubaki also doesn't take any of his [parasitic bomb] either, as expected of her. At the end of the episode when the big Aragami attack happen he barely did [parasitic bomb] until the end, by dumb luck I might add, and had to be bailed out by the First Unit. The only reason that Lenka was out there in the first place was because Tsubaki didn't realize that Lenka's God Arc was finished before it was too late thanks to Kouta showing him his God Arc after yet another failed training session.
2. How they introduced Kouta
It was so friggin awkward in the game with you 2 just sitting on the couch and offering you a piece of gum before realizing that he doesn't have any and not even looking at you when he told you his name.
In the anime Lenka bumps into Kouta when he wanted to go out into the field, with no God Arc as mentioned above. After things calm down with Tsubaki not taking Lenka's bullshit and telling him to train Kouta introduces himself. Once again he offers Lenka a piece of gum and before realizing he has none but the instant he takes his hand out of his pocket he's shaking hands with Lenka. That's a much better intro than the previous one which even added a somewhat cocky mention of him being the Protag's senior by nano second.
It also shows Kouta starting to be a bro to Lenka in a nice way without his annoying aspects, yet at least. No obsession with Bugaraly yet either. Also was a nice touch of seeing Kouta in a generic Fenrir uniform instead of his main clothes.
3. Tsubaki's outfit modification
I have expressed annoyance about Tsubaki's revealing clothes due to obviously showing that she's not wearing a bra or panties a few times. The way they redesigned her outfit still makes her incredibly sexy and revealing but in a way that makes her a badass former lieutenant much more believable. I very much approve of this though I wish they did the same with Sakuya and her lack of bra.....
4. The Bias Factor injection process.
Lenka is shirtless and it shows the Oracle Cells entering his system while still attached to the machine. In the
game (at around 2:50) you're wearing your default uniform and when you get out of the machine a random ass tendril just pokes your bracelet while your character with barely a reaction. Also in the game you instantly got your God Arc when the process is done, Lenka only has his bracelet and no God Arc at the beginning.
If they do an anime adaptation of the second game I'm curious about how that will look since they way they did it there was absolutely gut-renching.
5. Aragami breaking the Wall of Aegis
Just goes to show how the Wall of Aegis was only a temporary solution, not that it wasn't portrayed properly in the game either though really your missions are usually outside the wall if I remember correctly.
6. The music
The rock music really fits the tone of God Eater.
7. Pretty much no one was really aware about the abilities of New-Type God Eaters.
So as I mentioned before Lenka was always failing his training sessions because he tries to save someone instead of attacking the Aragami and they justified it beyond Lenka just being a reckless hot head. Lenka, and the First Unit, didn't realize that his God Arc Sword could also turn into a Gun. As I mentioned before Lenka did not get his God Arc until the end of the episode, and he was using a mock weapon while training, so he had no way of knowing that since he's a New Type God Eater that he has the benefit of being able to use a Sword and a Gun unlike most God Eaters who can only use one or the other. He blasts a Kongu in the face by the sheer dumb luck of the God Arcs being somewhat sentient.
It's really good because at this point there's only really 2 known New-Type God Eaters so it makes sense that everyone was shocked about it.
8. Eric is in the first episode
Nice that they introduce Eric and he's not acting like a narcissistic jerk, and he doesn't die yet. Hopefully when he does bite it it's not to an Ogre Tail getting him while his back is turned.
[/spoiler]
Things I found interesting
[spoiler]
1. Sending injured God Eaters out to fight the Aragami
There's no better way to show how crapsack and desperate a world hanging by a mere thread is than sending out soldiers with broken arms and messed up faces to the field. It also shows that despite the fact that while the God Eaters are more durable than a normal human due to being injected with Bias Factor they certainly are not invincible, which they did a pretty good job in the game when Eric died.
2. Art style
While I think Johannes looks a little weird I think it looks nice though I wish the Aragami and the God Arcs were a little less CG like, even though it makes sense and it's not too jarring with the art style. However I know it will mostly be hit or miss with others.[/spoiler]
Things I didn't really like.
[spoiler]1. Not a lot action in the first episode and not a lot of good explanation either if any.
For someone who played the game I'm kind of fine with it, for someone who hasn't this is not going to be very interesting and you'll probably be a bit lost about what the hell is going on.
2. Stupid jump cuts to flash backs with very little rhyme or reason.
The good news is they didn't spoil anything but god dammit I could have done without the flashbacks with Johaness and Sakaki. It was boring as hell too.
3. The episode kind of dragged, a lot.
It's very slow and at some points pretty boring especially with said flashbacks.
4. Could have used a lot more character interactions and really could have used a little less intense focus on Lenka.
For gods sake they made Sakaki look absolutely boring, [tornado fang]ing Sakaki! I hope they show a lot more of him in the next episode because he's one of the best characters in the game.
5. Lenka is rather hit and miss with a lot of people with mostly misses as of right now.
Since he is like you're average generic Shonen Hero, as I mentioned before, I can understand why people don't like him yet and if he continues that way why they will keep not liking him. His design is also pretty generic too, not as bad as Yuu, the game canonical protag, in my opinion but it's still pretty bad. The ending of the first episode will probably not help this since it looks like generic shonen hero fair of having the Protag's butt be saved by a last minuted not foreshadowed ability. People have compared him to Eren Jeager, which as a first impression with all those factors, I don't blame them for thinking that way.
[/spoiler]
First impressions are good to me at least, hopefully the pacing will be okay since the Anime is only about 13 episodes. Then again most of the game was filler missions so actually might make sense. However this is from someone who has played the game, for someone who hasn't the first episode doesn't really do much to hook in new comers and does a pretty bad job at it unfortunately. So it's mostly objectionably okay despite the fact that I like it I can see why most won't and don't. I hope this changes in the second episode.