Sakura is a short artistic student who has had a crush on Nozaki-kun since she met him on one of their first days of school- but when she confesses she (for some reason) says she's a huge fan. He gives her an autograph and she finds out he writes extremely cute shoujo romance manga despite being oblivious and masculine and haha, what a twist and blunder. Now she has to work with her crush on the manga, something she is more than happy to do as she gets to be near him. Meanwhile the people around Nozaki-kun and Sakura are drawn together, pairing off into equally cute, funny and unexpected couples.
Sakura and Nozaki-kun (SPOILER) don't get together, none of the couples do. Understandable when the manga is still dragging out this painful dynamic. It's because of this that I'm thankful the anime is only 12 episodes, or the comedic "Sakura confesses and Nozaki doesn't get it" moments would get far away from endearing and into painful. While the manga has always had some suggestion that Nozaki has at least a fleeting interest in Sakura, the anime gives no such hint. This can make the ending extremely frustrating to a person who watches it expecting a cute romance with a happy ending. Personally I don't mind this ending as there is a blank space in the final scene of the two where you can assume Nozaki does say something about his feelings. But again, this is a personal opinion and is only made off of my vague memories of the manga.
Honestly, I'm torn whether to recommend this to people 4 years down the line. Since 2014 there have been series that also reach an open/ambiguous ending that have been praised. But my feelings are also soured on this as it's impossible to say- if you want that happy conclusion read the manga. Gekkan Shoujo essentially built itself on the premise that the author is big on the will they won't they chemistry of it's characters, however it's become so dragged on that the negative bias I have has seeped onto the anime. I would say, however, that if you enjoy fanfiction of comedy you should watch it, because at least the ending doesn't hit such a sour note in that case.
