The story of the anime starts out by thrusting our self-described loner Hachiman into a club established for helping others, a loner's worst nightmare. The club's other member is the prettiest girl in the class, Yukino Yukinoshita, who has few friends due to her cold demeanor and that she is envied by other girls due to her looks and intelligence. The initial banter between the two as well as some hilarious deadpan delivery of lines is downright hilarious, and sets the tone for the rest of the series. The plot moves forward as the club helps others with their problems, and recruits another member Yui Yuigiahama, an outgoing and cheerful girl from Hachiman's class. The plot progresses each episode as the group will help someone overcome their problem, and we begin to learn more about the main trio and their philosophies and some interesting events that occurred in the past. It has several other elements typical to a romance school anime, such as an episode devoted to a field trip and the last episodes covering the cultural festival. as the plot goes on their are some slight hints at romance that begin to become more obvious as the show continues.
The main group of characters as well as their teacher are the really great part of the show, as they provide much of the clever humor and the best development. However, the supporting characters are all quite generic and some feel too forced, such as the normally quiet BL girl who is supposed to be played for laughs but comes across as annoying. The jokes surrounding the bishonen Saika also feel forced at times, and get stale quick, in a contrast to the humor in the rest of the show that flows quite naturally and quickly through the rapid fire banter of the main characters. The cliche of characters are present as well, such as the overly nice athletic guy, a healthy does of onii-chan, and an annoying stuck up blonde who says like every 5 seconds. The main characters really make up for the lacking supporting cast, as Hachiman is a surprising relatable character whose realist view is quite hilarious as it is applied to every day situations, but can also bring out some empathy as you watch his cringe worthy behavior in social situations. He is one of the funniest characters as he readily accepts himself, and the flashbacks that he often references are down right hilarious. He is also quite intelligent, and thinks quickly to solve some issues, but in a slightly twisted way that tends to alienate him from others. Yukino is also quite funny due to her deadpan delivery of lines and her quick wit, and we are shown interesting development of her character as we learn more about her family as well as the shoes that she has to fill, and dreams to surpass. Yui is best defined by her cheerfulness, and is a believable character who faces some realistic issues such as being unsatisfied with your current friend group, and embracing hanging out with "that kid" in public despite the fact that some would consider it social suicide. Her niceness and cheeriness leads her to some slight misunderstandings with Hachiman, but despite her setbacks she still is willing to try to get closer to him. Their sensei is another funny character who looks after the club and provides them with some advice, and tries to get Hachiman on the right track, and these scenes also provide some of the funnier moments as she has Hachiman try to explain his actions.
Overall despite not taking the path less traveled the series is still an exception funny one with a great group of core characters, but has a lackluster supporting cast. The deadpan delivery of lines and excellent uses of flashbacks give the series a great sense of humor as well as an interesting look into the surprisingly relatable philosophy of a loner.
