Likely the strongest part of Gal & Dino is its art direction. It’s really better described as a mixed media project than an anime as it mixes not only 2D and 3D animation but also live-action content. The format is also interesting as each episode is made up of individual segments of various styles and lengths, mixing slice of life vignettes with clay-like 3DCG music videos, gags with actual Japanese comedians, and more. If you’re familiar with shows like Nichijou and, particularly, Pop Team Epic it is reminiscent of those shows but with it’s own feeling that leans towards a very relaxed atmosphere.

Getting more into that feeling, Gal & Dino, overall, is a supremely calm series. While ostensibly a comedy, it’s not usually aiming to be super in-your-face hilarious and relies more on the charming interactions and expressions of the titular characters. In some ways, Dino feels quite retro—even almost silent-movie-esque—in his non-verbal simplicity that plays well off of Kaede’s relative modernity as a gyaru.

Kaede herself is quite charming and her strong sense of style and use of gyaru slang lets her stand out as a character but it’s done in a way that doesn’t make her too over-the-top or just a stereotypical gyaru either, giving the series some genuinely heartfelt moments. However, what keeps Gal & Dino from being too predictable or relaxing to the point of boredom is the wildcard factor found in its visual variety and, most strikingly, its fourth-wall breaking.

So, what has us really looking forward to more Gal & Dino? It has to be this craziness that came out of nowhere. Without spoiling much, several episodes into Gal & Dino another plotline involving a mysterious blue book, actual live-action Aoi Shouta, and several other characters has begun to unfold, adding a weird feeling to the show that creeps in and out of the background on occasion. Will this actually amount to anything in the long run? Who can say? but it adds a strange metanarrative mystique to an otherwise mostly relaxed slice of life series in a way we’ve never seen before. This also works amazingly well with the format of the show as various skits, you’re never quite sure when and if the next layer of weirdness is coming so it can surprise you.