(There will be some SPOILERS in my review)
[Story]: (7/10) (SPOILERS)
The story is basically simple. Ryuuji goes to school, bumps into a girl, this girl hates his guts, he gains feeling for him later on in the series then you pretty much know what's going to happen and who the male protagonist is going to end up with.
The story in my opinion, is good but not great. The show uses comedy most of the times to escape the weak plot and I guess it worked. However, the plot became somewhat stronger in the last 5 or 6 episodes of the series. By the way, I'm not saying that the show had a stupid plot. I just thought it was weak. There were some strong plot but there aren't a lot. The show still has a good story but not the very best.
Uggh, the melodramatic moments. It just became annoying. I'm not saying all dramatic moments were annoying but there are scenes that I found annoying like Minori and Ami fighting or where Yuusaka broke down in a state of depression. How about that scene where Taiga (or was it Ryuuji who said that) said "let's get married" out of the water(They were in the water at this scene so no pun intended). I literally facepalmed so hard. Dramatic moments is not really the show's strength to begin with. The comedy does make up for the weak(but good) plot and horrendous dramatic moments. This is, by far, one of the funniest animes I have ever seen. It doesn't always resort to cheap violent moments just to make us laugh because the show also uses other tactics to make the viewers laugh.
The pacing of the show is kind of slow but that didn't really bother me because I'm used to slow story pacing anime. If you make it past the 20 episodes then the last 5 episodes will be rewarding.
The series ended on a satisfying note. I'm not saying it's a great ending but it's at least satisfying to me.
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[Art/Animation]: (8/10)
The animation is beautiful and colorful but wasn't expecting better since this is from J.C Staff. The character designs are well drawn and they also look glorious. The character motions are ok and the "girl fight scenes" are fluid.
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[Sound]: (9/10)
I absolutely love the soundtrack for this show. The background themes fit so well with the "slice of life" and "rom-com" theme. There are 2 OP and 2 ED used for this show. I thought the 1st OP is ok but the 2nd opening is better. I can't give out my thoughts on the ED since I just skip them and watch the preview. I watched the show in Eng. Dub so I'm going to give my thoughts on the English VA. They all did a terrific job with their characters and their voice fitted so well.
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[Characters]: (9.5/10)
Ohh, the characters. One of the show's main strong point. This is one of the reasons why I love this show. The character's are not stereotyped and they don't usually play their tropes at all. In other words, their actions are somewhat unpredictable.
The main protagonist of the show, Ryuuji, is not your typical annoying brain-dead main protagonist that you see mostly in Rom-Coms today. He's actually a likable character with likable personalities and he's also smart (Thank God). Taiga, a likable tsundere character of the show, may be annoying at the start but she starts to show her redeeming qualities later in the series. Kitamura, a friend of Ryuuji. At first, I thought that Kitamura is just going to be thrown aside while Ryuuji gets all the girls but thank god that didn't happen. The show sometimes focuses on him, giving him a character development. Minori, a cheerful high school girl. What I like about her is even though she's going through tough times, she faces it and gets through it instead of complaining. I wanted to save Ami for last because she's now one of my favorite characters. Ami is a teenage modelling girl that transferred to Ryuuji's school for reasons that I don't want to list because of spoilers. One of the reasons why the show is funny is because of Ami. She makes up 80% of the show's comedy.(I came up with this percentage and is not accurate). Hell, she even points out the cheesy drama moments that these characters are going through and she likes to break her trope a lot.
All of the characters got a character development. Even the side cast. Well, not a lot but still. They didn't get thrown aside like some useless characters. As you watch the show, you'll see how the characters changed from the start of the series to the end of the series. Especially Ryuuji, Taiga.....You know what? All the main characters changed from start to end.
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[Enjoyment]: (10/10)
Easily a perfect score from me. I enjoyed this show from start to finish. The jokes weren't being re-used, the characters are likable, the show is hilarious as hell. What more do you need?
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[OVERALL]: (9/10)
This is one of, if not, the best Romantic Comedy Anime out there. While the show does suffer from melodramatic moments, the show also has a lot of great moments like a good story, a new and fleshed out characters, likable characters, and extreme hilarious moments. The show is obviously not for everyone so if you're not a fan of Rom-Com anime or you don't have a sense of humor then don't watch this show. If you're one of the above then give this show a try and I'm positive that you'll fall in love with the show, no pun intended.
Pros:
+Good story
+Great Animation
+Great Soundtrack
+A lot of funny moments
+Jokes aren't re-used
+Likable fleshed out characters with great character development
Cons:
-Slow pacing
-Melodramatic moments
