The Story Premise
The idea is interesting, some Anima and Animus are god-like beings. Anima, the princess, is trying to stop the evil sorcerer Animus from destroying the world with the Biscuit Hammer. The only people able to see the Biscuit hammer floating over the earth are the twelve knights chosen by the animal spirits. Each person has a unique power granted by their animal spirit and one wish of their choosing for fighting for the fate of the world.
Where the first interesting twist comes when Yuuhi, our lead character, only decides to devote himself to Samehade, who is the vessel for the princess, and declares that she will destroy the world herself upon destroying the Biscuit Hammer.
Rushed Emotional Moments
The first thing holding this show back is all the emotional payoffs feel rushed and forced. The main ones are Yuuhi and his grandfather. His issues tie back to a grandfather who told him all his friends will stab him in the back. Once when Yuuhi made a friend, his grandfather chained up him and locked him in an attic for three days. This is resolved by said grandfather effectively going, 'You know what? I was a dick back then. My bad dog.' This is a summation of pretty much everything. It's not that the moments are bad in practice, it's that none of them feel earned.
Too Little time for the characters.
There are twelve knights and twenty-four episodes. You could probably get rid of three to four of these characters and nothing of value would be lost because they are given so little time. I don't think any characters are bad, and some of them are fascinating. One character in particular whose wish was to be able to make Golems like Animus. He is one of the few characters that get a lot of screen time and is fascinating to watch. You get a lot of insight into whats going on just through his observations and planning. The characters are good and interesting, they just needed more time to shine.
The show doesn't define its own rules well.
So every spirit grants a unique power to its knight, but it's not long before you start to realize all of these psychic powers function the same. With the exceptions of the guy who wished to make golems and a guy who was granted power by Animus, there is no real answer given to what each person's power is supposed to be.
Despite little time, I do like the cast.
This show does a really good job of making it's cast likable and interesting. It's one of the things that manage to carry the show forward despite giving the characters so little time. I genuinely liked seeing Yuuha start to form different relationships with people, and a handful of characters were just fascinating. I didn't walk away hating any of the Knights, and that's saying something.
This Show is really funny when it wants to be.
Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer is one of those shows that know how to deliver an anti-climax and get a laugh out of it. The sheer volume of jokes with a really strange payoff and some odd steps to build up to it are staggering. There are so many gags that the show gets out of the main character digging holes to use as traps for some of the Golems they will be fighting, and every one of them is great. If the show was entirely a comedy, I'd give it a recommendation, because that's the strongest part of the show.
Action is hit-and-miss.
Some fights are really fun to watch, especially after 'Babylon' is revealed. That said, there are some others that just kind of happens and end. Sadly the fight with the final Golem is like this. There are plenty of interesting ideas that are under utilized, like the Knight creating his own golems. I don't think there is a fight that is just outright bad though.
Final Thoughts
Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer feels like a rushed story. It either needed to cut down the cast or give the story more time. Despite this, there is a certain charm to the show and it gets a lot of great laughs throughout it's runtime. It's even got some pretty unique ideas going for it, and those reasons keep me from just calling the show bad. It's not going to be a classic for anybody, but it's not a show I regret watching. I only recommend it if you are running out of shows to watch, and want to see something fairly unique.