Have you ever had a friend who needs to think things through, who never has a plan but also isn't spontaneous? Who isn't shy but is reserved? Yamada is such a wonderful character who is poorly represented in the world of entertainment. A character who lives in her own head, concocting fantasies, scheming, creating plans that all fall awry because one thing doesn't go her way. Confident of her goals but terrified of failure to meet them. There are so many people that can relate to this character, and I'm definitely one of them.
It's also refreshing to see a very accurate depiction of attitude in a highschool setting in an anime, at least as a westerner. A lot of anime that I've watched tends to make everyone embarrassed of relationships, sex, romance, attraction, while this show aims to show more how people can be one way and act another. That whole feeling of, "If Yamada was honest with herself, she could have her cake and eat it too, but she's so obsessed with being this thing she isn't, that she never gets laid". Well, how many people can you name that were like that, especially in highschool. People put on one face and feel a completely different way.
Anyways, if you're a prude or feel like this isn't appropriate for kids, guess what, it's not for kids. It's cathartic to those of us living in our own heads, it's reminiscent of HS and all it's funny quirks in a frighteningly accurate way, and it's pretty spot-on as to what hormones are did to us at that age, what they do to kids today, and what they will do to the kids we all end up having.
