But at least it isn't as bad as BL anime used to be, so that's progress. Nobody is actually getting outright raped! We just have to put up with the never ending dubcon and the obnoxious stereotypes. The stories are contrived, but at least hang together by a thread, so that's something else to be grateful for. I had trouble with the pacing -- we get 4 episodes with couple A, then 2 with couple B, back to couple A, then 2 episodes with couple C; I felt like story coitus interruptus every few episodes. I think this would have worked better as either distinct parts A, B, and C, or much more interwoven. The latter would have required a lot of authorial skill.
Story: Nakamura Shungiku is actually writing about something she knows here, which is the manga publishing business, and that's a pleasant surprise; it adds verisimilitude to the otherwise typical BL story style which isn't realistic or believable. Sure, high school lovers fall out over stupid misunderstandings, and heck, maybe they indeed meet accidentally again 10 years later in the same workplace, but please -- do they also have to end up living right next to each other? In Tokyo, of all places? You'd win the lottery before that would happen. Onodera doesn't even recognize the love of his life, which I also find not very believable, especially since the art makes them look pretty much the same, only a little younger. Story B features the densest childhood friend ever (childhood friendship leading to love being a trope I admittedly love, but not in this incarnation). Story C is more believable (Kisa falls in love with any pretty face after all, and Yukina certainly is pretty), but I can't say I liked it much because that's so damn superficial. In all three stories, misunderstandings drive the plot. I hate that, it is the laziest writing. There is no good ending here; they must have known they were getting a second season, because the first one just petered out.
Art: Nakamura has gotten better over the years, but I don't think I'll ever like her art much. Her guys all look too much alike since she has basically only two types, uke and seme, and they fit all the standard stereotypes: Seme are taller, dominant, forceful, usually older, with stoic faces, while uke are much smaller, submissive, usually younger, with bigger eyes, rounder faces, wishy-washy but tsundere to cover up their insecurities which are legion, who blush constantly, and cry at the drop of a hat. The backgrounds are fairly nice. The animation is standard for BL; gotta keep the budget down.
Sound: I like the Japanese-flavoured BGM, and the OP and ED are upbeat pop which is always fun to bop along to even if it is forgettable. Voice talent is a nice collection of good seiyuu who do BL, and I think they do a decent if not inspired job -- well, the material isn't inspiring.
Character: Oy. I tend to prefer seme to uke, and that's no different here, especially since the uke are such whiny stereotypes. The disadvantage is that we're never in the head of a seme, so we get them only second-hand, while for the uke we get their entire inner monologue, which tends to make me want to kill them. I wonder if the seme would only grunt if I could hear them think, they have such caveman tactics. I kind of like Onodera because he is actually hard working, wants to make it on his own instead of resting on the family laurels, and he has somewhat of a legitimate reason for ditching Saga/Takano in high school. I always enjoy the times when those two work together, because that's when they both shine, and when one can see a decent relationship. It's when it comes to interpersonal relationship skills that they both suck. Yakazawa makes an interesting spoiler, though we know of course that his obvious love for Takano isn't going anywhere (he's a seme, after all, and that would be seriously transgressive).
Hatori is too bloody stoic, and Yoshino is an oblivious moron whom I despise because he is also selfish and a lousy friend, and since Hatori has to know how dense he is, it's his own damn fault he doesn't get anywhere with him. I don't care about this pairing at all, I would hope Hatori finds somebody better. Heck, take Yanase, at least he has more than two brain cells to rub together.
I don't really care for the third pairing either, though Kisa doesn't bother me quite as much as Yoshino because he isn't as dense, but his resigned tone is depressing. Yukino, on the other hand is a great guy, incredibly mature for his age (more so than Kisa), and hey, here we have Nakamura getting as transgressive as she ever gets -- he is a younger seme! These two have the least dubcon, but I just can't like Kisa enough. His story also seems inconsistent, what with how he acquired a stalker.
Enjoyment: I enjoyed this most for the workplace and the information about publishing; Marukawa Shoten has got to be the gayest publisher ever. ;) Takano x Onodera was somewhat interesting, but I got eventually tired of them and the neverending protestations of Onodera, and Takano's rough handling of him. I am not sure why any straight man would be interested in this anime; maybe there is enough humour in the misunderstandings to get some laughs. There isn't a whole lot of fan service here (watch "Free" if you want near-nudity nearly all the time), and nothing graphically explicit.
