After having finished the series, I find myself having enjoyed it remarkably. However, I don't believe it to be overly special. Let's start with the good, then go to the bad.
Good
All the main characters have good personalities that seem much more than stereotypes. I won't spoil anything but early on I was very pleasantly surprised by a minor twist in a character's personality. What was originally a bland, basic character become very much so 3D. However, minor characters are often very bland, able to be described in one word.
The action scenes, while imaginary, are wonderful. It seems like the studio making these decided to say "Heck with it" and fully animated the pretend fighting, which later in the series provided some incredibly powerful imagery.
The romance, while I'm sure some would disagree, I personally very much so enjoyed. As I only watched the first twelve episodes, but I feel the "ships", or relationships, weren't bad. The main two character's relationship in particular is very easy to root for, but it IS a romance anime, so that's a necessity.
This anime captured day dreams and imagination impeccably, which only made it funnier when it's played for laughs by showing what they're ACTUALLY doing.
The jokes where definitely there and I had to stop myself from laughing too loudly sometimes, pausing the video so I could actually hear it.
Bad
One main character was a very big miss for me, so any scene with her in it was made worse. She wasn't the worst, she just struck me as unnecessary and detrimental to the plot.
The message at the end of the show seems to get confused in itself a bit, and I'm left wondering whether or not I actually agree with it, seeing as it brought up a good argument against itself
Mixed
This show occasionally suffers from "The Rule of the Status Quo". What I mean is, the show will ignore events sometimes just to have the characters all still meet up at their hang out place. It feels a bit forced sometimes, leaving me asking "Why did this character come back here at a time like this?" The answer, because the story demanded it.
This will sound strange, but I think there shouldn't have been anymore. Sure there's more story to tell, but that ending was fine be me. Yet I'm not sad there's more as I really enjoyed the characters and wanted to continue this journey with them.
7/10
Summary/TL:DR: I had several complaints, but honestly, what got me through were the two main characters, and that's what's important here. Overall, this was a very good anime. We're not reaching Log Horizon levels, or, dare I say, fullmetal alchemist, but this was incredibly enjoyable. Now, I'm going to go start the second season as I'm craving more, however it is it's own beast, I'm sure, so I'll save it for another review.
