BESM is one of the few RPG's besides the d20 system that I play. It has several features worth noting however.
First, the system seems to be inherently low-level. While many may not consider that a good thing, there is something about knowing your characters will never be hopelessly min-maxed that's almost freeing. You only have three stats, 2d6 each, and only one is ever allowed to be 12, for example.
I do agree that, inherently, it has no setting (unless you run the multiversal crossover adventure included in the GM's screen), but given that quite a few of their anime books are setting books (I'm not sure, but I think even the UFG's have stats in them...I think), it's not at all that hard to start a campaign in the anime of your choice.
The power system is, like the attributes, low-level, and is made to be very easy to stymie players who want to build up uber-powers. GM's have it easy here with not letting player's become too strong unless they want them too. The skill system does seem rather limited, but a lot of games I know just dispensed with it entirely.
My only major complaint with BESM to date is actually the format of the book itself. BESM 2E was a big, thick book with laminated color interiors, the artwork of which was beautiful. Furthermore, the powers were broken up into two lists, "Normal" powers, that pretty much any campaign could have (and they weren't even that off-the-wall), and "Extraordinary" powers, that a wilder campaign would have.
In contrast, BESM 2E Revised is $5 cheaper than its counterpart, but this is no compensation for how the book is smaller, on unlaminated paper, with black & white pics. Further, all the powers have been lumped into one group, making it harder to draw a distinction between where more down-to-Earth powers and wackier powers are divided.
As for the d20 version, I'm looking forward to it, though I'm looking forward to Slayers d20 more. My only concern is that it's being made without the ELH, which I think it needs because that's obviously a campaign that, if not epic in scope, at least brushes against it. Characters routinely cast the "most powerful" spell of X brand of magic (the Ra Tilt for White Magic, the Dragon Slave for Black Magic), and demon-god killing spells like the Giga Slave and the Ragna Blade seem like obvious Epic Spells. I'm hoping GoO will implement a new magic system that basically keeps a similar distinction, but we'll see.
Oh, and I for one would like to see some of those other anime made into d20 also, but that won't happen.
