Listened to the Japanese course before the Mandarin one, I prefer the Mandarin tutor. The Mandarin tutor had a more humorous style and better mnemonics for introducing words.
The tutor here does a good job, but I had the impression they did not brief the students enough, or maybe they needed to reassure them outside of the recorded sessions. Mistakes make it more organic, but it'd have helped the listener more if they got all the in course students up to to speed before recording.
Still, it is a good introduction, and the listener will learn a few key phrases to begin their journey.