I've read a bit of the manga (as much as I've seen). This anime is clearly not a panel-by-panel imitation, nor should it be; Anime and Manga have different strengths. The art is high quality. The occasional "bumping panels" (not sure what else to call it) technique is interesting, and not something I personally have seen before. And I love how Asuna's bells have gone from being simply a visual identifier to an audio one, as well.
I found the "stick puppets" part at the end amusing, and I'm thinking the "baka rangers" bit at the end is going to be a bit of amusement I look forward to.