There are two problems with the show that were never really addressed, and I felt kept it from becoming great.
1) I never really felt intrigued or cared about the characters. Haruka was a damsel in distress throughout the entire series, Yuu and Karasu were one-dimensional in their obsession with her, and everyone else was just bland. I mean, they were so bland, I don't even remember their names now. None of the cast struck a cord with me.
2) Too many uxexplained things at the end. Who was the man that kept appearing? Why is Haruka imbued with her powers? What was that strange phonecall at the end? What was the disaster that befall Karasu's world? There were just so many plotlines and interesting hooks they could have picked up on, but they ended up being wasted.
But eh, I still liked it, and it definitely helped wash the taste out of that awful melodrama known as Clannad, so I can't say it was bad, or even okay. It's a good series, but it doesn't deserve all the praise.
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If you haven't seen it...
See it.
I wholeheartedly recommend Noein, even if you're not into science-fiction or quantum physics. It has both genuinely funny moments, genuinely heart-warming moments and genuine moments of awesome kick-assitude that should satisfy any viewer of any gender. I watched it with my older sister (30) and my younger sister (12) and all three of us greatly enjoyed it.
Honestly, it did sometimes become really confusing...the space-time plot might perplex several people, but count on the show to pretty much tell you what NEEDS to be known. It has intense fight scenes and hilariously amusing dialogue between the young friends, and it becomes rather dark near the end. The voice-acting is great, too.
The music deserves to be in Crowning Music of Awesome. Every single song is amazing, like "Mirai no Haruka" and Noein's theme song, "Idea", is positively sweeping in its beauty. True, it does have a bit of musical dissonance since it's an upbeat song and the tail end of the series becomes dark, but it doesn't play during the final (and darkest) episode at all. "Shangri-La" even has Ominous Latin Chanting, and it's very well done.
In short, it's one of the best animes EVER and my favorite. A rather under-appreciated show. My only two complaints is the Ship Teasing never goes past just that, teasing.
And, unfortunately, the series isn't longer. ;)