...The anime starts as that. And I loved it when it was only simply that. The anime is full of references from other anime that are just fun to spot, like famous scenes, quotes or characters. Often it's just enjoyable to see a mention of Ru:Zero, Anosuba, or Guden Daran.
But as the episode numbers reaches the end, it becomes much, much more. A masterpiece. Well, that might be an exaggeration, but it just really clicked with me perfectly. These creators made a casual anime, broke it into little pieces, embraced the stupidity and created a unique, unafraid, and wonderful ending. This ending is so stupidly enjoyable that it made the anime one of my top favorites of all the anime I've watched. But this is just coming from someone who really loves comedy and stupid fun stuff though.
Sometimes a studio decides to do stupid stuff... and they end up becoming a pile of garbage, like Haruhi's Endless Eight. And sometimes, a studio decides to create stupid stuff, and do it well, make it something enjoyable, and something that directly speaks to anime fans... And you get Anime-gataris.
I don't want to spoil much now. But still, no matter how amazing the ending episodes are... Remember that for majority of the anime it is just otaku students enjoying being otakus in their little otaku club. If you dislike that (because it feels somewhat like a slice of life), you might still be interested in the fact that this anime has a lot of otaku meta and references to other anime. If you still somehow dislike that... At least watch the Episode 10 opening because it just shows how much of madmen the creators of this show can be.
Throughout the regular part of the anime, they play around tropes of other specific genres, like the club-ruining student council in the main description. There are a lot of this in the anime and they made all kinds of references to club anime, ecchi, harems, idol anime, anime-creation anime, slice of life, mechas...
For the characters, the only really relevant character that has development is the main main character (Minoa), and the creators really wrote her character to the whole anime's story well, I'd say. The rest of the main characters are pretty bland and one-dimensional but you're not supposed to find development in them, they're references to the multiple kinds of otaku that people can relate on; there's the know-it-all who watches all genres, a guy who's unashamedly into anime idols, a girl into light novels, a girl into cosplay, an eccentric awkward chuunibyou (hey they exist in real life though otherwise that Chuunibyou anime won't exist), and, well, the main character is new to anime (who only newbies can relate on and for most of the anime, is mostly a plot device so that the others can explain to her some otaku references). The rest of this whole anime club, as a whole, though, manages to bring her development well and makes a good anchor for the final episodes' storyline.
The animation... I don't really particularly care about that (along with the sound). But let me just say this, when they want to reference animation itself, they do it right. All the references about animation, even those that are older ones, are just enjoyable to see.
Garnidelia's Aikotoba is the shit, too. It's upbeat and cheery, and really suits the anime well.
Finally (somewhat). You see those characters voiced by popular voice actors in the character list? Rie Takahashi, Inori Minase, or Kana Hanazawa herself? All of those are minor characters so don't expect much. :) Most of the main characters have voice actors that don't have much listed in their characters voiced list, but they're not necessarily bad at voice acting though, so don't worry. Just be disappointed like me that Rie Takahashi's character is limited to that running gag of mostly being involved in a 5 second fanservice shot, or Kana Hanazawa's character being the "character of the episode" of one episode.
Overall... this anime is amazing. I started it because of the character design (and Rie Takahashi). I stayed because of the otaku meta and show refences. I ended with it becoming one of my most favorite anime of all time.
Don't dismiss it as just another regular high school club comedy slice of life anime. Its main appeal is in the meta references to other shows and the otaku culture. And if you stayed through that... You'll get an stupidly amazing, unique, and lovable ending, a masterpiece that is created by a bunch of madmen creators who embraced the stupidity and crafted something incredibly enjoyable.
P.S. Seriously if you decide to drop it somewhere in the middle... At least watch the Episode 10 OP. They took the show's running gag to the next level.
