Pumpkin Scissors had promise purely because of the premise -- it's a story about the aftermaths of war. The main protagonist is an idealist who essentially wants to make the world a better place and has joined the military to do so. Setting a series in the aftermath of a war has worked very well for quite a few shows ranging from Saiunkoku Monogatari to Rurouni Kenshin, so I was quite optomistic that Pumpkin Scissors would be good.

Unfortunately, it falls flat in a number of areas. It's not awful, but it's no RuroKen, no SaiMono, no Fullmetal Alchemist.

The heroine, Alice Malvin, is annoying and, dare I say, foolish. She's a naive, idealistic girl of noble birth who joined the army to make things better and to fulfill her family's tradition of military service. There's nothing wrong with this setup on the surface, except that they never explain why she's so driven to make the world better. Plus she's hyperactive, hot-tempered, undignified, and she puts her men in danger more than once.

However, I think my biggest complaint with Alice is that they didn't really establish her motivations. Yes, she's an idealist, but why? In Rurouni Kenshin, you know why Kenshin wants to save people -- it's about atonement. In Saiunkoku Monogatari, Shuurei wants to become a government official to fix the system from within -- and her background motivation is that she's lived through a famine caused by politics and saw people starving to death. In Fullmetal Alchemist, which has a similar setting of "post-war badness," the Elric brothers join the army to try to reverse the damage they did to themselves with ill-advised use of forbidden alchemy, and along the way they help people.

Alice is simply presented as idealistic. End of story. That's what she is, and why she's idealistic is never explained. This very shallow character development is a major flaw and a huge hurdle for the series to overcome. Granted, they may develop her further as the series progresses but the lack of motivation early in the story is a basic story-telling flaw.

Additionally, the series is pretty heavy-handed in the plot department. There's little sublety and few shades of grey. The bad guys are evil, the good guys are clearly identifiable, and few ethical questions are raised. The first three episodes stand alone and serve to introduce key characters, good and bad; the fourth appears to be the start of a story arc that.

However, lest you think I completely hated it, I will say that the series has some good points. Randel Oland, a mysterious soldier who Alice meets and makes part of her team, is a nice counterpoint to her youthful, innocent enthusiasm. He brings a depth to the series which it is otherwise lacking. The two characters have chemistry and play well off each other.

Additionally, the series is beautifully drawn. The character designs are gorgeous, the animation is smooth, and the whole feel is very artistic. Oland's lantern is a splendidly spooky effect. Overall, I'd give the animation high marks.  

For voices, the English dub is pretty bad -- Alice is extra spastic in English. This is one series that should definitely be watched in Japanese with subtitles. The sound effects are pretty decent, and, when played on a decent surround-sound system, in some places they were startlingly good.

I will say that Pumpkin Scissors has potential. It may simply be suffering from "early-series-itis" and may improve. Roland is a fascinating character and plays so well off Alice's enthusiastic gung-ho naiveté that I'm tempted to get the next DVD just to see how things evolve. However, overall, this is a series I would recommend as a rental. It is watchable but not brilliant.