I am admittedly very torn in regards to how I feel about this series. Is it bad? No. Does it try to be profound? No. Did I enjoy it? Yes. Would I consider it well-written? I'm afraid not. My definition of "good" is loosely "shines or stands out in one or more aspect whilst upholding an adequate amount of quality in others." That said, allow me to elaborate on my respective opnions on each of the aforementioned aspects.
The premise and concept of the story is by and large fairly generic; it's a playful banter-like twist on your average slice-of-life/romance/high-school trope wherein the main protagonists are portrayed to be if Light Yagami was essentially a tsundere. That said, though lacking in originality and substance in terms of concept alone, the series does deliver in terms of execution, and more impressively production quality.
One noteworthy aspect of the series, I feel, is its application of monologues and a narrator. Though I personally felt as though the latter was often times overused and , this isn't to say that the voice actor did not deliver; quite the contrary, really. Especially for a comedy gag series, the show does
Now, the actual "mind-games" the overall premise of the show revolves around and two main characters relentlessly subject each other to might turn off those who walked into the anime in search of an actual Death Note rom-com, as it admittedly feels more like a humorous parody of it than anything else. Comically enough, it feels very much like a poorly made fanfiction of said series. Mind you, the show does not actually TRY to be clever; it is very easy to digest and the aforementioned "mind-games" which govern the structure of the show itself is more so a comedic tool than anything else.
Due to the relative nature of humour and comedy, I'll attempt to minimise my say on the matter. Though I personally find the formulaic humour the show presents to be a sort of a hit-or-miss, the general consensus seems to think otherwise, and this is perfectly normal. Again, humour is relative, and I think it'd be wise for me to avoid saying any more than this.
More remarkably, I wouldn't be unfaithful to the truth in saying that the anime owes most of its quality to the sheer amount of time and budget invested in it. This is easily the best animated series of this season. That said, it is a notwithstanding easy-to-digest, concept-wise somewhat interesting, and entertaining show that although didn't have anything besides gag comedy tropes to offer, executed it quite exceptionally. Though I can't justify giving this series a score higher than 6/10 for not bringing anything more than comedy gag tropes to the table, it was able to execute them well-enough for the majority of fans and viewers to enjoy, and as such excelled in it.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
