I guess the problem for me is Haru's characterization, again he doesn't really change much in this season, there not really any satisfying explanation as to why he is the way he is other than quick snippets of what happened to his mom and stepdad, his own trauma never was expanded upon and in some ways it seems obvious that his trauma was never dealt with healthily but we aren't shown to how it affects him now other than a vague health problem that is never mentioned after said episode even after we are told he's completely healthy. Strangely enough for a flat protagonist, his moods change in an instant almost like Jekyll and Hyde, in one moment he acts like a caring and concerning person who'd do everything for his brothers and in the next moment when nobody is watching he turns into a self serving jerk who only seems to care about satisfying himself and not about how his actions and words can affect Ren(an abused minor nonetheless), someone he claims to care about.
Here we're introduced to a *rival* Natsuo, but like the other characters in the story except for maybe Ren, he doesn't have a lot of development. He plays second fiddle to Haru, and we learn nothing about him until the last episode. Just as soon as he's introduced in the story, he kinda fades to back ground when he's served his role as rival.
Natsuo probably does better to do his own thing than be jealous, at least he seems more self aware than some people.
The major disappointment of the season was seeing how Ren, was essentially blocked at every opportunity to improve his life and perhaps deal with his own trauma and insecurities just because Haru was being selfish and petty. Haru gets mad at Ren's recklessness but takes no responsibility in allowing the situation to happen, it's no secret that teens who aren't properly taught about sex ed, tend to make mistakes, had Haru been honest I doubt it would have played out like it did. Course if Ren was taught proper sex education, then he'd know about consent, which is likely why Ren isn't allowed to learn said subject cause it's not in Haru's agenda to ever be held accountable for his actions cause he's perfect and pretty and never does anything wrong.
I like characters like Ren, and if he were in another genre, his story would likely be a lot different. But because this a romance show and characters can't live without each other without dieing,(actual quote). I'll feel like he'll never get the ending he deserves, because let's face it Haru is an abuser and he doesn't seem to feel much remorse because he does the same thing over and over again. Doesn't matter if Ren is 15 or 150, what Haru's doing is wrong and sets a tone for how unhealthy relationships start, especially in the LGBT community with the stereotypes of bisexual people being inherently promiscuous or that gay men are predators.
