Reddit. The best approximation of Bloom Into You condensed down to one word is Reddit. Redditors rave on and on about how this show is one of the best Shoujo Ai shows they've ever seen and have nothing but praise for the show. I'm here to say that all you Redditors are satisfied by the most mediocre shows and honestly have no weight in reviewing shows critically and probably hand out 10's to every show you've seen.
Story:
This show had a semi decent premise but quite literally fumbles the bag in the end, and overall falls flat due to poor execution. The fact that you can actually SKIP episodes and arrive to the same conclusion with minimal to no loss to the comprehension of the story is mind boggling for a 13 episode show. This is typical of longer shows, typically shounen like DB, Naruto, OP, etc, not of a 1 cour show. The biggest issue of the show in my opinion is the ending, where the story is being set up to end on a certain sequence but the show PHYSICALLY does not get to this sequence and instead ends before the sequence is animated. This is completely unacceptable due to the amount of borderline filler episodes present and is honestly baffling how the studio could even think about how the ending was an acceptable place to leave the series off on. It goes without saying that the overall pacing is all over the place with nothing happening in some episodes and the story suddenly getting episodes worth of plot progression in a short sequence. 4/10.
Art: The art is quite literally the redeeming factor of the show, as the show is animated quite well and at moments can be wallpaper worthy. There are no obvious faults in the animation, and the character designs are fine, albeit a bit unmemorable. The real complaints with the art however lie with the opening and the ending, however, as they have no actual substance, and simply exist to eat up the studio's budget. Visually appealing, but dont hurt yourself trying to read into them. 7/10
Sound: The sound design is a step above average, and in the context of the show is a good thing. Both the OP,ED, and insert are fairly generic and have nothing to stand out as a "good opening. The sound effects of the show are what one would expect out of a 13 episode show with this budget, and while is nothing to write home about, one can hardly complain about it.
6/10.
Characters: This is where I have the majority of my gripes with the series, is the poor development of the characters and their backgrounds. I found the MC's quite unbearable at times and often contradicting their story and personalities. Side characters are almost borderline unimportant, and one can genuinely get by without paying attention to them as all but one (who is introduced quite obviously in the final few episodes) is placed out of the way of the story and has no meaningful impact on the story. Bloom Into You quite literally cannot properly develop the main characters to save the studio director's and the mangaka's life. Only 1 (one) out of the 2 MC makes any semblance of sense throughout the show, and that's judging it loosely, only because the other MC contradicts herself left and right throughout the show and made me actively yell out loud "Why are you like this?" Their relationship has its moments, but overall is extremely underwhelming and is at times outclassed by that of one of the side characters. 3/10
Overall: Before watching this show, I unfortunately had taken the blue pill on this show and expected this show to rock my socks off and be "one of the best Shoujo Ai's" of all time. As the show progressed, I increasingly became more and more unimpressed with the show and liked it less and less. My experience can be at best described with the show as slightly below average, which at the end of the day is all what the show is, and anyone who believes otherwise is blowing smoke out of their ass. I watched Citrus before this show and actually had to increase its rating after viewing Bloom Into You, because I have realised that I took Citrus for granted. This show is painfully average at best, and honestly is not worth the time investment, even for the most diehard fans of Shoujo Ai. 4/10