Now, YJSSK isn't exactly... bad? (I suppose). It's definitely not the worst basic LN adaptation I've seen, but that's not exactly a merit considering the standards. It suffers from pretty much the same issues any of these LNs suffer: it's set in high school. Now, I know that the target demographic are the teenagers, and this cheesy stuff is written for young boys & girls, but it always feels just... wrong, especially in terms of dialogue. How old is our MC? 14-15? And the very first time he speaks, he says "Is this world equal?". I mean...
Furthermore, another issue that shows of the similar nature share is that there is no story. There is no 'ultimate goal'. Now, that would be fine if it was SoL (that way I would have just skipped it), but it's not. It wants to have a narrative. It wants to have a narrative so bad it can't help but keep beating viewers over the head with pointless exposition, 'mysteries', and attempts at some profound, epic storytelling that just goes nowhere.
Besides the basic set-up, it doesn't have anything unique to offer (well, to be fair, even the set-up has been done before). It just feels like you're watching a bunch of pretentious kids live their daily lives in uninspiring fashion.
The drags of the story just keep on coming, as it tries to branch itself out far too much to the point that it all just loses meaning. What's MC's goal? Help MG get to class A? Look, if you're going to make it that bare bone, just don't have the ultimate goal in the first place. What's the MG's goal? To get into Class A. Why? 'Cause she's insecure, I suppose. There's no coherent narrative to glue all the things that are happening together, so it just feels like a bunch of events strung together in a somewhat chronological order.
While pace isn't absolutely atrocious, it is far too slow for the type of a show it wants to be. It wants to be a flimsy comedy. It wants to be a mystery. It wants to be a romance. Thing is, ALL of those genres thrive on thrills. Comedy requires constant movement. Mystery demands constant thrill of discovery that leads to more questions. Romance needs constant banter. Yet, this show has none of that. Comedy is rare, and it relies on your basic anime formula. Mysteries are thin and are left hanging for no reason (ex. 1 'mystery' is introduced in the 3rd episode, and it is referenced maybe 3-4 times until ep. 8. By that I mean that MC just reminds us it's there, but it moves nowhere; that's absolute garbage way to do it).
Suspense is lost, light mood is as rare as days when I don't hate people, romance is absolutely nowhere to be found (well, if we exclude like 2-3 cheap moments that ONLY viewers can witness and understand), absolutely nothing of importance happens. And then we get to ep. 7 and 8. Pointless fanservice episode followed by half an episode of fanservice and half an episode of something random that has NO tie in to whatever narrative they were going for. Going to the island to survive? Wtf? Where did this come from?!
In terms of characters... eh, I suppose it's not as bad as the story. Although no character has an actual, normal motive for doing anything (well, aside from 1 guy who wants to play basketball but can't 'cuz he's dumb; and the general motive of 'we gotta study cuz points). In the end, we're left with a bunch of holier-than-thou teens that keep shoving ideologies onto one another, and we're just asked to side with whatever character we see as 'right'.
MC is your basic edgy-teen that's as big of a hypocrite as you can find. He keeps saying "I just want to remain passive and pass these years", yet he keeps meddling into everyone's business like there's no tomorrow. Yeah, sure, he has that 'cool' factor about him (again, mysteries that go nowhere and are barely mentioned), but cool isn't = good character.
MG is just a girl with bro-complex. There you go; that's her 'thing'. Every character in this anime just has a 'thing'. MC is 'cool'. MG is 'insecure'. 2nd MG is... eh, that's kind of a spoiler. That basketball guy is loud. These aren't characters, just basic templates. At least, save for MC, most other characters stick to their template. Until... 'plot'... demands otherwise.
In terms of enjoyment, I guess the anime is passable. It's average, at best. I felt bored during some episodes, but for the most part it managed to keep me interested somewhat, which is why I managed to finish 8 episodes, and will most-likely finish the entire show. Can the last 4 episodes change my view of the show? Probably not. Without even seeing them, I can already imagine it'll play out similarly to the show's previous... arcs? Some classmate gets in trouble, MC swooshes in to save the day, everyone's like 'whoa, pay attention to MC, he's really, REALLY mysterious'.
It doesn't help that episodes 6-7-8 all feel like completely different shows. Absolutely NOTHING connects ep. 6 to 7 or 8. It's as if they just skipped an entire volume of LN and left the viewers to connect the dots themselves. Sure, whatever.
Thanks for reading.
