A great anime... I would definitely recommend it. There was one point, I think it was episodes 50-56 but I might be remerabering incorrectly, when I was totally glued to the screen, I was literally shivering with anticipation.
One of the reasons this anime is so great is because, unlike the typical boys anime, it's not afraid to kill off a few characters or (Without giving away too much) severely cripple others. Because of this, when one of the protaganists is in a tight spot, there is actually a real sense of "Oh no, this might really be the end!". Rather then "Hey, we all know nobody ever dies...". They kind of ruined that aspect of it in the much later episodes though...
Anyway, I guess, what I'm trying to say is, this anime is somehow both as fantastical as most Shonen, yet a little more realistic-and better for it.