Now I am still a noob when it comes to anime as a whole, so take my opinion how you want, but this series made me feel depressed after watching it and made me consider dropping anime in general (even though I had already watched 8 or so series before it). Thank God for ToraDora! and Future Diary for letting me give anime a second chance.
Okay so I am only going to rate this based primarily on Story, Character and Enjoyment. The sound and artwork were good in my opinion and they certainly did a good job in that department. However, the story is downright terrible.
Story:
So you have Makoto, a boy on his way to high school who has a thing for this girl Kotonoha, and this girl, Sekai agrees to help him get with her though she has a thing for Makoto. The first half or so of the series seems like a stereotypical romance/drama and you don't see anything wrong with it at first. Then Sekai agrees to let Makoto get some "practice" in physically with her so he can please Kotonoha (who becomes his gf) and that is where the series starts going down hill.
I'm not supposed to write any spoilers, but essentially Makoto takes a liking to "practicing" and decides to do whatever it takes to continue practicing, and not just with Sekai.
Now going in, I thought this would be over-the-top funny. However it wasn't not by a long shot. The follow example describes the emotions you will feel when watching this series:
It's like watching someone adopt a puppy, pet it, feed it, and train it, for a week only to stomp it to death before your eyes. As that Puppy is whimpering cries for help or to hope whomever is hurting it will stop, some other guy comes over and is rewarding the person hurting the puppy.
The story comes across as just excessively cruel. I guess the message is, don't be a player? But it's not like any of the characters learn any lessons from what happens in the show. They just keep doing what they're doing and making things worse.
Characters:
Everyone in this series just makes bad decision after bad decision causing emotional and psychological damage to all characters. Once stuff starts going bad, The 3 main characters; Makoto, Sekai and Kotonoha, never try to do anything to resolve the problems that arise. In fact, all their actions seem to be the exact opposite of what their characters should do. Meanwhile, the supporting cast, shift between trying to help and making things worse. Towards the end though, everybody gives up any semblance or normality and they just end up like the main characters.
Will you like any of these characters? Perhaps. My friend expressed sympathy for Kotonoha, and one or two of the other supporting characters may have motivations or desires that you can sympathize with.
Will the character you like win at all? The answer is a big NO. Everybody in this series gets screwed, some literally.
Do any of these characters stand out? No. You've got the average guy who is a "fast learner" regarding women, you've got the kind of popular girl who befriends with said average guy, you have the shy stereotypical virgin girl, you have the idiot best friend, the childhood friend that was a girl, you have the "cold one", you have bullies, and you have a girl that has a crush on idiot's best friend.
Just because they're archetypes doesn't mean they're bad. But the almost inhuman level of bad decisions these characters make will make your head spin.
The one thing I was left asking after I finished watching this was "Where are all the adults in this show?" There is one brief instance of Kotonoha's mother and maybe the teacher who is teaching the class where they pass notes and that's it. There was not a single mature voice of reason that would have put a stop to something...like I don't know a.....FREAKING SEX ROOM from being operated at the school's festival. That's right, it's an open tradition that whomever what's to shag get's their own room operated by one of the classes. What kind of teacher would be cool with that? What kind of Parent or Principal?
Enjoyment:
This story is what you get when you put a popular guy with no morals/values in with a group of dumb and careless women. By the end of the series, you will most likely hate every character in it (with the possible exception of one or two) and will regret the time you wasted on it.
In real life there are so many tragic stories of people whose lives are ruined from affairs, divorce, drug use, losing their jobs, car accidents, etc. This story comes along to remind you that, with the right set up, the world can be a really shitty place.
I hated this series, and it wasn't because the series was serious. It was because, behind all the layers of misery, this series didn't even have a message beyond "life sucks" because "people suck". It didn't even make an attempt at creating human like characters.
If you want to get anything from my review, I beg you not to watch it. If I can convince one person not to watch this, it will have made the hours I spent watching it and the hour I spent writing this worth it. Go watch something optimistic, adventurous, deep, or comedic but STAY AWAY FROM SCHOOL DAYS!
