Direction : The directing is great, the people knew exactly when to blend boredom with music and drama, the love drama is nicely done the characters know how to properly hold a conversation between each other and provide maximum boredom for you plebs who don't get the visual aesthetic over dialogue.
Presentation & Storytelling : Life has never been portrayed as dry as this. When you start to watch a show, you want to escape reality, not be thrown back in it damn it!
Why are the better shows so boring?
Because they are a representative of human consciousness, something this show presents very well. The watercolor blend between actual animation to change the sense of feeling and atmosphere before/mid episode or the actual characters feeling like ACTUAL non-otaku perfect characters, whether it'd be Rina's smooth talking twoards her brother and MC, or Haruka's tomboyish attitude and cry for help because the sense of loneliness hits her hard. After all, she's just a girl that doesn't get any attention.
- EVEN EMOTIONS/CHARACTERISTICS REPRESENT SOMETHING MEANINGFUL THAN -
Ever wondered what if being too kind be presented in a harem make more than just baits? Just were you ever curious how boring reality is? Well.. _This is for you_.
Most anime portray 'realism" simple and straight forward happiness, families cheering each other or Depressed over the fact someone close to them died, in the most cartoony and unbearable way. When in actuality, reality is much MUCH harsher then what most think. Kindness here is presented as, suffering because it is just that. It is not suppose to be funny, entertaining or happy. Hence the dry presentation in thematics and characters compared to most works, using style and silence over dialogue and narrative. Everything is methodical, thus being slow.
There are no inner monologues, just text to present feelings. Characters suffer from identifing themselves as anything else but "Goddesses" of the day for the MC, because they'd help him in some way or form. However, there are certain characters which take advantage, I'll explain later. The story telling, as mentioned before is extremely dry. In a sense of characters make the progression, while it is adapted from a Visual Novel, the obvious taking ALL character routes is there, turn off for some. But in retrospec it's handled properly, fitting in all character reactions and outcomes to the fullest. They have their fair share of problems, but overall show progression and not cut out with time resets, it's not perfect. But it's solidly done.
Characters & Thematics : The thematics aren't special, but they're hidden. Through obscure reactions.
example : Yuki singing the song "White Album" while the text portrays words of sadness and emptiness, she shows her true emotion. And as an added bonus snow falls down on the stage, giving more sadness and emptiness to the scenary. Or when the MC gets fired he runs in despair crying, throwing his angst on a black and white rough sketchy background with 0 to no animation. The watercolor opening/endings present also some spoilers for the series, but they present at the same time alot of character understanding. And their character reaction, emotion.
And now for the characters, they're pretty simple. But have a weird mindset they're never straight with each others, they lie deliberatly to hide themselves from the audience. The characters may suffer at times from an identity crisis. You'll just be like GET MARRIED ALREADY JEEZ! When, it's not that simple. The characters are in a state of depression and resent themselves and others, so they need something to "bring" them together. And that is, those who completely understand each other something that may seem typical. But it's hard to execute, because no one have eyes for each other until they realise their mistakes.
Our harem Protagonist may seem like a typical VN character, but unlike most of them. He is the polar oppisate, in otherwords he doesn't understand at first but gradually gets what the characters mean, what he has to. What he can't do, as I stated above, not everyone is kind hearted. There are some characters that want to take advantage of him, they do so. He gets confused, but in the end, he can't do anything about it because of his kind personality, the rest of the cast question his sanity and reactions hence he get gets angrier and angrier, even after being told the truth by his boss before getting himself fired, he realizes how bad he messed up. He slowly grows throughout the first season and gets developed.
Yuki, the cheerful moeblob tries her best to be with her boyfriend Touya, (The MC) but sadly is forced to become a cold and forget about him so she can succeed, but her innerself wants to be with him. So they are constantly mislead in a game of cards, you never know for what they're aiming.
Misaki and Akira, they have oppisate way of percieving and doing things. In other words they are the main couple but their personalities are the other way, Akira isn't cheerful as Touya, while Misaki is cheerful as Touya and does not do anything outside of being the character to mentally connect Akira and Touya's friendship from turning into nothing.
Yayoi, oh my this character is the equivalent of oberstein, you can't get her motives until the very end, she shows no emotion in her words and actions, and tries to be something more than your typical female, she succeeds. But is on a level of annoying. In the good way of course.
Eiji and Rina, Brother and Sister, they have a playful and arrogant way of doing their things, but they are for the most part. A duet, they are the balance between Yuki's inner sadness and Touya's depression from not knowing how to handle stuff. They affiliate themselves with the MC's even if they're not directly connected. They strive for being themselves, don't try to go beyond that. So far, they are the most playful out of the cast.
Sound & Animation/Art : The sound track in WA is beautiful, the piano pieces properly synced with the setting provide maximum level chill and sadness when the time is right, something alot of shows nowadays seem to lack. They're used properly, and play little, but when the time is right.
Animation is pretty slide show-ish there is little to no animation when characters do something and the scene in EP 13 oh my, the budget completely died there.
Most of the time it's standstill and basic movements such as talking or sewing nothing substancial and hard to understand.
Art design is okay, the designs are basic but do the job, the backgrounds are nice to look at and its over all well polished.
Production Values : Very solid. No issues there, hard on the eye sometimes with lacking animation or influence. Overall good, dry, and hard to swallow but its great.
