Thoughts on Rewrite Ep1:

The feeling I got while watching the first episode was, "they haven't fucked it up yet." I was surprised when the opening monologue suddenly transitioned into Moon route, but I think they managed to work it in well. The first half of the episode was pretty standard; it followed the events of the VN more faithfully while truncating some scenes (which is to be expected, unless they want to broadcast three full two-cour seasons or something).

I feel that they did tease Kagari way more up-front than in the VN. At this point in the VN, we've only seen a silhouette of her face with her eyes not even shown, but the anime showed her to us multiple times in full, showing off her and her ribbons. This leads into the next "major" deviation from the VN, Kotarou's first meeting with the witch.

The chase is much more involved than it was in the VN, with the search being interrupted by Kagari wandering in. This then leads to Kotarou ending up in the compressed space, which leads to the meeting of Gil and Pani, an event that only happened during the Chihaya and Shizuru routes in the VN, and not until quite later. That scene is played pretty faithfully to the VN (again, truncated, and understandably so), but immediately after, they bring Krivoy Rog out of nowhere. This is the only thing they did in this episode that I consider truly "questionable." Not bad, just questionable, and it especially depends on how later episodes play out. They also made a show of Kagari's powers, again, much earlier than we would see them in the VN. I do feel that this makes sense in a way--the perspective of the viewer is much different between an anime and a VN, and I think I only feel that they're "showing her off" too much because I have the perspective of someone who's played the VN.

One thing I really did appreciate that the anime did was make the early scenes of Kotarou getting spooked by Kagari more serious. In the VN, I felt that they lacked a certain tension. The narrative made it seem almost like a wacky encounter, but to Kotarou, it was terrifying enough that he sought help from the school witch. I feel that by revealing Kagari earlier and handling these scenes slightly differently, the sense of urgency is more appropriate.

This has gotten very long-winded, so I'll summarize my thoughts and finish off. I will reiterate: They haven't fucked it up yet. There are definitely changes, and things are being handled differently than the VN, but I find myself able to agree with the changes that have been made so far. What really worries me is what will happen when the branch world splits off into the characters' routes. I personally think it would be an excellent idea to use Higurashi-style arcs where each route is its own "universe," disconnected from the rest. Honestly, with the way the routes are in the VN, it seems impossible to fit each route into one cohesive narrative. That is why all I can say is I hope they don't try to do that by force.

Also, this is completely unrelated to the plot or adaptation itself, but luckily, CR's translation is excellent so far. Woot.