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This review covers both seasons of this show currently released. There are no major spoilers.

So if you read the synopsis, you've noticed this line at the end: "will Hachiman's rotten view of society prove to be a hindrance or a tool he can use to his advantage?"

The answer is: Nope to the latter.

Story:
The main character is relatable, if not plain dumb sometimes. He takes way too much of other characters' crap for nothing, and he often doesn't stand up for his ideals past the first episode. My major problem with him is that he really doesn't change like he should throughout the series. By the ... end, he should be even more bitter than he was than when he began, but nothing's changed. We're right back where we came in. It's no wonder everything in this series kinda blurs together most times. The story is forgettable, because it's just a vehicle for the soap-opera drama this series revels in.

Art:
It's fine. No complaints. The art is a standard anime from recent years. No examples come to mind of bad animation or design. The atmosphere is gloomy most of the time, which matches the characters quite well.

Sound:
Again, no complaints. Voice acting is okay. Nothing stands out to me as exceptionally well-done. I don't speak the language so I can't comment too much.

Character:
The other characters in the student body range from tolerable to plain villains. The ONLY redeemable character is Totsuka, because he's the only person in the whole show who doesn't treat Hachiman like he deserves what he's gotten in life. The others are totally unredeemable, mostly because whenever Hachiman makes a tough decision that nobody else wants to man-up and make, they give him crap for it, and treat him like human garbage. The other students constantly demean him and his past even though we've seen that he hasn't had an easy life, and that he's entirely correct in his cynical way of thinking. Despite having no real drama in their own lives, the other girls just project their own angst and self-fabricated sorrow onto Hachiman like an emotional punching bag, seemingly just because he's "wrong" for thinking how he does. In their eyes, it's fine to heap your emotional baggage onto somebody like this. Do they stop and realize that they're causing their own toxic high school drama because god-forbid somebody actually sit down and just talk with another person? Nope. This is a common theme throughout the series.

Everyone views Hachiman as a rotten loser with a sad point-of-view. Even his own younger sister. Do they ever try to show him why he's being self-destructive and make him a better person for it in the end? Nope. This is a common theme throughout the series.

Does anyone, at any point, ever try to empathize or sympathize with Hachiman and his life struggles? Nope. Easier to just make fun of him and ignore that he exists. This is a common theme throughout the series.

Does Hachiman ever show anybody that he's truly had a rough life? Does anyone every forgive him and change their preconceived notions of him? By the end, does everyone reach an understanding about each other's emotions, justified or not? Nope. This is a common theme throughout the series.

Enjoyment:
Growing up, I was taught that if I had two bad things to say, I should at least sandwich one good thing between them. I got nothing good to say. I know this ended up reading like a rant, but it's hard to write a negative review and not sound like a rant. I'll sum up my review here: Watching Hachiman get beaten down, time and time again, even at least once by his own teacher who was trying to "help" him in the first place, is like pulling teeth. Every episode adds up into the emotional equivalent of every bad high school drama rolled into one punch. I suppose you could watch this series if you wanted to see a mishandling of teenage depression and unrealistic portrayal of high school drama, but if you want any catharsis from this series, I recommend a hard skip on this one.

4/10