I love it. Their relationship and characters are super interesting,

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I love it. Their relationship and characters are super interesting, and thematically very strong.

Reina is an idealist, and arguable a modernist. She believes in striving for perfection, that greatness is achievable, that her role is to struggle against mediocrity. It's easy for other people to see her as naive.

Kumiko is by her nature a realist, a pragmatist (though it could be inferred that events in her past stifled her prior idealism). She's a bit cynical, and she's just smart and open enough to identify and assume the pessimistic position on every issue.

The two philosophies clash vividly, time and time again because they don't understand each other, but eventually their curiosity draws them together. Each sees the other as so foreign, alien in how they live their life, they're drawn to it and want to understand. After they feel each other out and manage to lower their guards, they connect in a very intimate way. Reina intensely inspires Kumiko, and Kumiko bolsters Reina when she is about to falter.

The beautiful things about this show are:

Kumiko's arc, going from never expecting to win to her impassioned plea to Reina about not compromising herself for anybody, for any reason. She has never believed in anything before, but now she believes in Reina with all her being, and she's starting to believe in herself as well.

Reina's struggle against mediocrity's attempts to tear her down, coming into conflict with artificial social constructs intended to protect mediocrity, and standing strong against them as a beacon of idealism. She shatters the delusion of Ribbons, showing her the grievous error of her ways.

It's the two of them against the world, and they face it with strength and solidarity. They're truly portrayed as heroes, and that's what I love about it. it's basically Ayn Rand without all the heavy-handed bluster about capitalism. Add to that the incredible direction and visual storytelling, and its one of my favorite shows in years.