Actually, I'm going to watch episode 2 of Star Driver now.
With Star Driver, you need to accept that it's an episodic monster of the week show like Utena meets Gaogaigar. This means the same re-used footage every week (lots), a story about some character for 3/4ths the ep, and then a short battle at the end of every ep. The structure is very old-school and most people (including me) tend to find the monster of the week shows to be a bit boring.
To enjoy it you have to enjoy the characters and their interactions, since 3/4th of each ep is simply that. The characters are kind of weird and the S&M costumes are horrible designs, but they grow on you and are kind of interesting. Then you have to enjoy the re-used footage every ep. I personally think the footage of Taubrun breaking dimensions to be AWESOME looking and the accompanying song that goes with it pumps me up and makes it overly dramatic in getting ready for the fight; so personally I'm totally ok with the re-used footage. But I know it annoys a lot of people. >_<
Anyhow I don't think it's a 4/4 show or one of Bones' best. I'd probably put it around a 3/4 as of now. But I think, for the genre it's in, it's a very well done Utena-ish show. Whenever I finish an ep of Star Driver I want to watch the next one right away. Whereas in a good chunk of Utena & Gaogaigar it was a bit tough to make it through their repetitive pacing.
Plus it helps that I think Takuto is awesome. I love leads like him who are totally energetic and positive and never go emo. They're kind of kid-ish heroes who are unrealistic but the ideal Hero for a kid.
And it's obviously aimed at a female audience fwiw. Which makes sense since this is the team that did Ouran Host Club. This is basically Ouran with less comedy and instead giant robot fights.
