Pretty standard stuff in the very half from what I can see. There's the school setting, food contest, students, some drama, etc. Of the mecha series so far this season, I think this one of the most normal so far from the beginning.

The animation/visuals are okay I guess. Well, there's the mecha part in space that I can see. The action was alright as there seems to be some outer space invaders that came out of nowhere in the second half. Pretty good stuff with the action and I kinda liked it. Not bad for first episode imo.

white haired dude is an @sshole

My biggest question originally was if Shouko was really dead but now I have more pressing questions...

I was almost dying of laughter by the ending, I legitimately didn't see that coming for a second. Shouko's death, on the other hand, was a bit too obvious. Very sad, I thought she'd stay as a main player, she seemed like a really good character. The world could use another well written female character, but alas it was not to be. I do hope our big breasted females aren't just going to end as fanservice as they seem to be, getting a tad tired of that.
I don't have a solid opinion on Valvrave quite yet. The first episode certainly wasn't anything special, but it was rather entertaining and I'm in need of a good mecha anime. I suppose this'll have to do, hopefully it gives a good explanation for it's little twist by the next episode.

I'm not convinced that shes dead. In mech Anime when someone dies you generally see them vaporize in the explosion. It was quite an off center blast so I'm wondering if she got launched into a tree or something. Part of the reason I think this is because he resigned his humanity to avenge her death. It seems like the authors would want to play with what happens when he made a brash decision and later finds out that she is alive and has to deal with the fact that he's no longer human.

I'm thinking the same. She'll be alive somehow but more importantly vampire Mecha? If you are not curious after seeing that then idk what to tell ya

Also, must be a badass Mecha to cause you to choose whether you want to keep your humanity or not. I'm very intrigued by this anime so far.