And here's the thing where you give scores and write very long paragraphs for different aspects.
I judge every category according to how it affected the enjoyment of the anime perceived by me.
Story:
The story is essentially nonexistent, or moves at the pace of a crippled snail. This is truly frustrating to watch because of the lack of plot progression, and the lack of change in character or character relationships. The show mainly consists of uneventful student council meeting scenes that Hikigaya attends and teenage edgy emotional melodrama(Drama is great, but this can't be considered drama. It's more like drama between teen girls who repress their feelings and refuse to share them, causing some awkwardly tense moments). Nearly every episode ends up forgettable and unexciting as I always have to search up on wikipedia what happened in the last episode to remind myself of it. It's that forgettable. Since the story gets nowhere I end up having to drag my feet to watch this, which really isn't a good thing if this anime is meant to be enjoyed.
It feels like the author of the novels, or at least the novels adapted this season, chickened out of trying to create some meaningful form of romance which was not blushing, because that doesn't count. There is a lot of ambiguity surrounding who the male MC is likely to have romance with, which is annoying because this is categorized under romance, so I expect to see romance. The author also forgot about the comedy tag as well, because there is little to none. You might as well rip off the comedy and romance tag on this show, because they've completely left it behind for some meaningless melodrama which I did not enjoy.
(I can't judge the story in full however, cause it isn't completed.)
Character:
The character with the most screen time was Hikigaya as always, with his ever famous pessimistic monologues. It's a pity that they didn't give up more time to explore what other characters are thinking such as the cold Yukino and semi-happy Yui.
They all seek the mystical "real thing", like true friendship with each other or something. Their relationships are all broken and superficial. The characters always talk and talk, very vaguely about the "real thing" and it's BORING. Heck, they barely change until the ending, where I still don't feel that anything has been truly resolved. This leaves space for a 3rd season, which I hope brings more meaningful development so I can actually like the characters and enjoy the dang show.
A lot of the other comedic purposed characters we don't see much of, the nerd white haired fat dude, tennis gender ambiguous dude and stuff. Those guys were funny...
Art:
Art doesn't really play a role in this anime in terms of enjoyment, but it was good nonetheless as terrible art would make watching this more unbearable.
Sound:
Nothing bad to say here either.
Other Comments:
At the end of every episode, there was always this bitter and tense atmosphere left behind and it felt like it was getting nowhere. I really hoped there would be romance. I really did. The author probably chickened out because he was too afraid for there to be a love interest which would cause some backlash of dissapointed fans.
How it should have been:
(There's no point complaining if you can't suggest a way to make it better.)
The first season was a good season that drew many people in and introduced the characters, which some of the comedic characters should have reappeared in S2 to balance the always tense atmosphere of the anime. The second season had actual romance, keeping the mood of the first season. Despite causing fans to rage, the author should make some romance build up between Hikigaya and one of the girls about halfway. The other half could have been the other girl trying to win his heart, which brings about some proper drama, but eventually accepting it.
Overall:
If you like melodrama with vague conversations on self discovery and fixing broken relationships that get absolutely nowhere, this anime is for you.
If none of the above, don't watch it. But do watch the first season, I think I enjoyed it.
