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Watching this series felt like playing a quality RPG game with a Novel Sci-fi story then it turns into Flappy Bird by the end.

This is one of those series that could've used more episodes to fully utilize and better lay out the many tools it has. Unfortunately, they crammed it all up into a 1-cour run. It was a big picture with lots of characters and substance in it when it was being painted, then that picture got crumpled and whatever remains to be seen from its crumpled state is what was shown to us by the end.

I'd at least hope that someday, in some ... way, shape, or form, this gets a remake. Henshin, Sci-Fi, existential-crisis story, it has a pretty interesting mix of ideas. And it WAS pretty interesting in the Anime for the most part. Just a shame it had to force everything it set up into the latter 4 episodes.

Positives:
- The 2 MCs' chemistry
- OP, ED, and the BGM (Crimson Lightning)
- Variety of characters
- VA
- Henshin Designs

Negatives:
- The last 4 episodes effectively rendering all the 'Positives' wasted.

(1st-half thoughts)

There are 2 things that I believe one should be aware of about this Anime before watching it:
The first is that it's a very wholesome show... with a tiny bit of unannounced gruesomeness. Don't get me wrong, the vibe and story of the show is definitely intended to be light-hearted and funny. But if you have a dislike for anatomical dissection, blood, and such stuff, you need to be wary that you'll see those things at some point in the show. Not often, but it has some. Might wanna check it first before letting kids watch this.
The 2nd thing I think everyone should know ... before watching this is that... this is NOT a story about food. Instead, it's a story that heavily involves resourcefulness in making food out of the limited stuff that could be found inside dungeons.
The main story itself is simple: Explore a dungeon with a purpose, deal with obstacles, get to the goal, and then survive and succeed. Sounds simple... BUT... how would they survive dozens of days' worth of exploration if they don't have any money to prepare food to bring with them? That's where the 'Food' aspect of the show plays a part. How will they find food in an underground dungeon that mostly consists of items and monsters? Will they find anything edible? If so, would it be safe to eat it? And if it is... will it be something they'd want to put in their mouth?

I appreciate how every single episode always involves food in one way or another, not missing a beat when it comes to the concept.
Be it a regular episode or a backstory episode, food will always be a part of it and not in a forced or out-of-place way.

When it comes to the characters, I wouldn't say they are anything to write home about individually but, the dynamics and chemistry of the entire party are definitely there. There's not a single character that doesn't feel close to any individual party members.

Both the OP and ED music provide a lovely energy that fits the vibe of the show.

Judging from these 12 episodes that are available so far, and the hints on where and/or how the story will go from here, I think it's now fairly safe to assume that it's going to remain the way it is now and maintain its vibe. As for me, my concern will be focused on their handling of the 'Food' aspect of the show, and whether they can keep it relevant even if the story starts getting a serious vibe without it beginning to feel like a nuisance to the story.
But so far, they've done a great job in doing so, in my opinion.

As much as I'd want to go ranting so hard, I'd just refrain from doing so as it's clear to me now, that this entire season (Part 1 and 2) has been designed for younger audiences. And I'm ashamed for denying that for too long. So me wasting my time on this show is all on me. I've got nothing and no one to blame but my Emi-and-Suzuno-simping self xD

Obstacles that have been set up since the beginning of the series? Taken care of in a matter of seconds.
Characters being kept hostage and/or in a tough situation needing to be saved? Effortlessly saved in a ... matter of seconds.
Long awaited meeting encounters and closures? Undermined by bad execution in just a matter of seconds.
It almost felt like the people working on it really just wanted it to end. Can't blame them though. Even I, a viewer of the show felt as such.

I see a possible sequel, seeing as the situation with Yusa's mom is still yet to be tackled but, unless they get a different studio that could make this show at least as interesting as the 1st season, I just wouldn't give a flying F anymore.

POSITIVES: OP theme
NEGATIVES: Wasted precious time of precious lives

"Undead Girl ANIME Farce"

POSITIVES:
- Character-filled
- Art Quality
- Voice acting
- Bop OP, good ED
- MCs chemistry

NEGATIVES:
... - Clickbaits
- Unnecessarily stretching out cases for too many episodes.
- Rushed climax/finale
- Threading two rivers at the same time while clearly favoring the other.

I'm not even gonna talk about its story-- it's interesting to me, personally. Instead, I'd rather judge how it performed as a show, and how it ruined the story-telling of this Anime. And just like the finale of the show, I'm gonna rush through my rant as well.

The first episode had a Dark Fantasy-Action vibe which had the then yet to be acquianted MCs battling each other in a somewhat testing of strength, which concluded in a partnership to achieve opposite goals relating to a common enemy.
It then immediately took a sudden 45-degree turn and became a full-on dialogue-heavy Detective/Mystery the very next episode. It would have been just fine as it acted as the introduction to the protags' now-established investigative team... except it took 3 episodes to conclude and felt like an unnecessarily stretched-out filler arc.
It was then followed up by an arc filled with new characters (I'd refrain from describing them to avoid spoilers) who were the ones that took the center stage in dealing with the case at hand as the MCs get relegated to the sidelines, showing up once in a while on-screen, with smug reactions on their faces implying they are picking the case apart one by one while they were off-screen.
What came next was the climactic first interaction with the villains of the story. This set the tone for what's to come as the show nears the finale... except it didn't come.
What followed is another helluva stretched-out dialogue-heavy case where they teased the presence of the villains just being around, and the presumed chaos that might ensue at any moment...
... which was paid off by a less than 5-minute still image battle slide show, followed by a barrage of words to close the final case and end the series, which took about 15 minutes... but felt like forever.

ART? Good. Sound? Good. VAs? Good. Characters? Fun...
... "Crack-Crack-Crackle" OP by CLASS:y?..... GOOOOOOOOD xD

OVERALL:
I feel so betrayed by this Anime. Even after watching its clickbait-y 1st episode, and reading the complaints of people towards it, I still stuck by it as I found the execution of the Detective/Mystery path it took quite entertaining and fun anyway-- and I did enjoy it. But it's a shame that it had to lie once again, for the finale no less. Not to mention, having to rush that said finale after over-extending most of its chapters. All I could've asked for from this Anime was for it to just be a clear Detective/Mystery Anime instead of trying to be a pretentious Dark Fantasy/Action. It did have a quite interesting arc which had an abundant amount of characters involved. But that was the middle part and barely involved the MCs. What should've been prioritized were the most important parts of a story-- the beginning and the conclusion.
And for that, I can't recommend this to anyone who's looking for an Anime with a good story. Not to say it didn't have one-- it does. It just failed to tell that "good story" properly.
Watch it for aesthetics? Yeah. Sure. Do you. Want me to give at least one good reason to watch this Anime? I can give you one. Here it is...

JIRI-JIRI TOOOOOOO!!! MOTO-MERU GIMME MOOOOOOORE!!! xD xD xD

"The Girl I Like Doesn't Realize She Can't See Shi* Until She Gets to School" xD

Positives:
- POV male protag exists!!!!
- Aesthetically beautiful
- VA quality
- Bop OP theme
- Wholesome

Negatives:
... - Too redundant
- Minimal utilization of side characters

STORY:
There isn't really much to say about it. It's the usual Waifu-focused, Youthful-romance Anime. The only thing that separates this a bit from other shows of the same genre is that it has a somewhat unique concept that justifies the "Perfect" female MC noticing, and getting close to the "Average" POV male MC. The female MC (Mie) struggling with her bad eye-sight gives way for the male MC (Komura) to be put in situations where he can aid his crush during times of need, but not without having to find the guts to talk to her first. That simple concept alone gives this show an advantage compared to some shows of its kind which usually just have their female MCs already inexplicably interested in their POV male MCs from the get-go with barely any reasoning for it. The only problem is that it gets too redundant and often lacks creative/humorous reasoning as to why Mie would forget her glasses for each chapter. So in a way, that concept mostly just served as an ice-breaker for the MCs to start having conversations with each other, and effectively ended up a running gag during the latter parts of the Anime.

CHARACTERS:
It's basically just the 2 MCs. First, there's MIE, a usual clumsy, airhead, cute female MC that the male MC would be swooning over. Unfortunately, she has a bad eye-sight, which requires her to wear prescription glasses to be able to see properly. But an even bigger "UNFORTUNATELY"..... her memory sucks. So she forgets it almost, if not every day when going to school.
Fortunately for her, KOMURA-- the male MC, is around. Her -not so- secret admirer who's more than eager to help her with her eye-sight struggles... as soon as he gets over his fear of talking to her. Komura's character would mostly be acting both as a POV character for Mie's shenanigans, and basically a narrator for the show. But what I like about his character is that, he's actually a part of the story. He's not your usual 'insert-self' cardboard POV character, but an actual leading man to the leading lady. And in my opinion, that decision to not make the male protag of this story a non-factor greatly added to the watcheability of the show.
There're are some side-characters that shows up once in a while, but I'd rather not spoil the minimal contributions they had for some of those were actually fairly fun-- for what it's worth.

ART & SOUNDS:
I've been aware of the opinions about the "disorienting" animation style for this Anime since the first few episodes. I do get why but, it never really affected my own personal viewing experience of this Anime at all. I did mostly just watch it at 720p on mobile and 1080p on laptops though so, maybe watching it on bigger screens give those feeling off? Idk. As for me, my only nitpicks are the very sharp linings/edges of objects such as walls, lockers, tables, etc., especially when they're viewing an empty hallway. But overall, I find the art style beautiful.
As for the sounds, I'm loving the OP theme. I even added it on my playlist and sing along with it without shame for my manhood xD
I didn't notice any of the BGMs if there ever were ones. I do appreciate the VA performances but of course, there's basically just 2 VA's to appreciate as it was mostly just the 2 MCs that had screentime.

OVERALL:
Simple, sweet, beautiful, and wholesome are the nicest things I could say about this Anime. But it's quite hard for me to recommend it to anyone as it was basically the same episode every week. I do highly recommend listening to its OP theme "NAME" by Tsuzuri though. And watching the TV size OP sequence might help feeling the show out.

--Phenomenally Late... Review? (Just sharing my thoughts, really) xD--

Finally! After putting this Anime on hold for about 4 years, I finally got to finish it. I did need to watch it with English Dubbing to help me do so though (I'll explain in a bit.)
I've tried multiple times to get back on it during those years, restarting it from the beginning every time, only to lose interest after the very first arc. Back then I couldn't quite point a finger as to which aspect of the Anime seemed to be causing me to feel somewhat bored about it, especially since it already captivated me, aesthetic-wise ... (Animation quality, Distinguishable characters, Good Japanese VAs, OP music, etc.). It had so many great things going on that it felt weird to just conclude and consider it a bad Anime. But now, I kinda have an idea as to why I felt as such.

The thing is, after multiple failed attempts to watch this Anime entirely, I decided to once again attempt finishing this BUT in English Dubbing this time around, as I play it in the background. I've already seen the first chapter multiple times this past few years anyway so, I felt playing it in English would aid me refreshing without having to watch every scene again for the 'x' time. And it worked! I breezed through the first 10 episodes easily without having to pay full attention at any point. This also means that I missed out on some story exposition, details, info, and such. It wasn't until the "Formation of Special Fire Force Company 8th" episode that my attention was first taken by the show, and then the "Asakusa Arc" as well. And from that point on, I slowly transitioned from half-arse watching, to properly watching in subbed mode (during the "Into the Nether" arc).
Now, we could say that it makes sense that it got interesting during the latter half because that's when the climax starts but, for me personally, I felt the change in setting had something to do with it as well. I say that because I think I only felt bored during the first half of the Anime because it felt like they were in the same place every time. Their World felt small, and the backgrounds felt bland as it was the same-looking buildings and walls and pipes every time. But as soon as the environment changed, (When they went to Asakusa and Vulcan's place) it felt like things suddenly got interesting, and the characters being away from each other during battles finally felt like a big deal.
I'm still not sure really but, after all these years of getting back into this Anime and failing to progress past the 7th episode every time, it's the only reason I can find as to why it felt that way all this time.
So I guess what I'm basically saying is: Episodes 1-10 felt boring because of the environmental setting, and it got interesting after that as the story started progressing.

Pros:
- OP themes are bangers!
- Very high art quality
- Character-filled
- Cinematography
- Enemies everywhere... exposed, not teased. Makes the story interesting when they let you know who's bad... and who's worse among the ranks.
- Also, credit to the English dub. Some characters got some good fitting, even unique voices on them. And the entire dub didn't feel cringe at all. This is probably just my 3rd or 4th English dub experience, ever, and, this is one of those that worked well, IMO.

Cons:
- Took half a season to get interesting (IMO)
- Ridiculous generic protag-related twists.
- Lots of characters just have the cliche "sadistic psychopaths" as their "personalities".

I'd probably rewatch the latter half of this season in Japanese dubbing. But it won't change the 4-year experience I had with this Anime... the first season at least. (Hope the sequel would do better as a whole season.)

This Anime has been a bit loose when it comes to its "unique" concept so far (keeping it vague to avoid spoilers).
And while that "unique" situation is being actively tackled and dealt with during each episode so far, it just doesn't seem to be making much impact in the story other than being a "plot device" to get the waifu MC and the insert-character MC entangled with each other. It also made me worry that with the recent episode (the 3rd one), there were some signs that this Anime would be spending some time on relationship-building between the female MC and the side characters before ... even properly establishing the unique circumstances, which could turn this into just another simple slice-of-life, neighborly, feel-good story.

With that being said, it has been a very wholesome, simple, light, and straightforward show so far, which might appeal to people who just need some relaxation Anime show without worrying about any story complications.

TL;DR
NOT RECOMMENDED - If expecting the story to focus on the romance with some special/unique circumstances.
WORTH CHECKING OUT - If looking for a light, wholesome, easy-to-watch family-friendly show.

Finally! A rom-com that makes true of its concept. Usually, in Anime romance or just romance stories in general, the "true beauty lies inside a person's heart" premise is applied to a character that's already visually good-looking in the first place anyways. Which often makes the protagonist of those kinds of stories less sympathetic, and more irritating with how self-pitying it comes off.
But in the case of "Tomo-chan wa Onnanoko!", it was never about Tomo's (the protag) appearance, but how her femininity was being overshadowed by her very boyish attitude and personality. And in my opinion, they portrayed that character pretty well. Adding to that, ... having a counterpart for her that's not an empty insert character in the form of Jun, really helped make the relationship progress fairly interesting to follow.

But if I'm gonna be totally honest... it was the chaotic duo of Gundou and Carol that mostly carried the entire show. Yes, they did well enough with the romance stuff but, for non-romance fans who aren't fond of redundant episodic cheesiness and timidness (myself included), this show wouldn't have been as enjoyable as it did without those two characters' shenanigans. From putting the two MCs into some awkward situations to getting themselves into problematic situations. These two characters contributed so much more entertainment to the show than the romance ever did.

But regardless, this show has been quite a fun rom-com to watch, overall. Heck, I even want a second season of this. But seeing as the main characters have already gotten their closures, having a sequel might just do more damage than good. But hey! One can dream, right? A Gundou/Carol-centric spinoff and OVAs won't hurt, won't it? ^_^

STORY (7/10):
I appreciate this Anime managing to use a cliche plot pretty well. It didn't feel like the usual overthinking or lack of confidence issue on the female protag's part. It's understandable that for childhood friends who saw each other a certain way growing up, it'd be hard to change the perception that has been built throughout the years. Even more so when we see the male MC's POV and find out that his seemingly dense and clueless behavior towards Tomo's affection hints isn't really as simple as that, and that he has some conflicting emotional feelings as well related to their childhood friendship. It makes Tomo's struggle to get her feelings through Jun make sense. Adding to that, Gundou being somewhat of a catalyst to Tomo and Jun's entire situation added intrigue to the story.

CHARACTERS (6/10):
While Tomo's character traits don't really have much to write about, her honest attitude stood out to me. In most issues she had with the other characters, even with Jun, we didn't have to wait for someone to do it for her, or push her hard to do something. She usually just goes straight up to them and demands to talk things out. That's one of the reasons I can differentiate her from other rom-com-leading ladies. She isn't a "Damsel in distress" but a boyish damsel unconfident to wear a dress. Jun avoided becoming a bland insert character by having that competitive relationship with Tomo and having a conflicted feeling of not being needed by Tomo, someone who's strong enough to stand up for herself. Also... his first love is Tomo's mom's oppai. And that makes him the real respectable bro protagonist of the story XD
But as I mentioned earlier, Gundou and Carol's antics carried this show. No doubt that the romance plot of this story would've felt so cliche and predictable if there wasn't a Gundou playing puppet master to the MCs. But that alone wouldn't be far from the usual if there wasn't a Carol being a cuddly devil on Gundou's shoulders, being somewhat of a confidant to her character.
There are also male counterparts for the two of them but, they barely, if not entirely never got involved with the MC's love story. One of them barely even existed in the series :P

ART (6/10) & SOUND (7/10):
Nothing too special about the Art style but it fits well. Points for good character designs. But I don't remember a single scene/moment from the Anime being impressive enough to be remembered.
Pretty bop OP and ED this Anime had. It fits well with the vibe of the show. Plus the VAs fits their characters as well.

OVERALL:
I liked this. One of the shows I waited for every week. I wouldn't say that it's different compared to other romance/rom-com but, at least the titular protagonist has been portrayed better than most. I recommend this to non-romance/rom-com fans that are looking for something to start with from this genre. There are not many cringe-cheesy moments in this one.

As lovely as this Anime may be, I'd have to drop it now. I haven't felt like watching another episode for weeks now and it's already nearing its end, mostly because the story hasn't really given me anything to anticipate. I'm basically just watching two timid individuals struggling to express/confess the mutual feelings they have for each other in every episode with no obstacles whatsoever other than themselves. But to be fair, it's supposed to be like that since it's a romance Anime so, I totally get it. And those sweet, innocent, wholesome cheesy moments are actually this Anime's main point.
I just wish they did ... something more on the side seeing as they've had 2 side characters sitting on the backseat and barely been relevant since the beginning, just so the romantic moments of the 2 MCs didn't feel quite redundantly a drag. I think a new character debuted where I left off who I'd assume will be more involved with the MCs and shake things up a bit but, it's not enough to pique my curiosity at this point.

With all that being said, I think romance fans would probably appreciate this. But rom-com fans in my opinion would do best to take a pass with this to avoid mistaken expectations of this Anime having some comical aspect to it.
I'd probably try to complete this someday (my backlog enters the chat :P). But for now, I'll just wish everyone who follows/followed this series a lovely time with it. Hope you all enjoy it.

Short Review:

STORY (8/10):
The first half of this season (Paranormal Liberation War Arc) has been really good, if not great. Beat-by-beat activity with almost every minute of every episode having something to offer, be it battles or dialogue that contributes to and progresses the story arc.
The second half (Dark Hero Arc), unfortunately, ended up being mostly a stretched-out prologue for the next season. It has been mostly a long exposition, sometimes recap since episode 15 before we finally got to an anticipated new villain/enemy about 5 episodes later, which only took 1 episode. Then the rest of the episodes left were mostly spent on a "pity-the-hero" ... build-up for Deku. With that being said, that emotional build-up for Deku is understandably very necessary to emphasize the capacity of the chaotic situation they're in at this point of the story. I just wished they didn't take too long with it. And of course, hopefully, they don't waste those dragged-on build-ups by going back to a fun, light-hearted mood at the beginning of next season.

CHARACTERS (10/10):
Lots of appreciation for managing to make the sacrifices of side characters that barely existed in the series prior to this season contributing to tense and emotional moments. Lots of minor side characters during the First half, heroes and villains alike got their share of screen time and I don't feel like any of it has been a waste of time. Almost everyone got to do something regardless of how long or short their screen time was during the entire season... except Principal Nezu parts (he could kiss my arse beyond PLUS ULTRA!). But that's too small a portion of an overall great utilization of characters and screen time to complain about.

ART (9/10):
Well... it's BNHA. It has its usual art quality of course. I just have little nitpicks for those parts with cars and buildings during the 2nd half. I might be wrong but, those were CGI I believe? Not that I have a problem with that but, it was quite noticeably awkward-looking. But it's very minor and doesn't affect the overall experience that much.

SOUND (9/10):
Again... it's BNHA. VA is top-notch of course. But also, this Anime has mostly done a great job of picking vibe-fitting themes for its arcs, especially the OPs. My only nitpick is that I barely really notice BGMs affecting my experience. But I believe it has always been like that for me with BNHA in general anyways.

OVERALL (7/10)
While the filler-y latter half of the season felt quite unnecessarily long and suddenly slowed down the momentum of the show, it still did its job of building emotions and developments into the characters necessary for what's to come. Plus, the first half being quite an exciting, very active ride is enough to compensate for that. Story progressed, characters developed, threats amped up... overall, a good season this one has been.