Story - 8/10
Given that it's a slice-of-life comedy, I wasn't expecting too much by way of story content, but I was pleasantly surprised to find numerous references to middle school, which factored into the current timeline of events for the anime. Throughout the season, the current events developed quite nicely as well, in terms of pacing and character development I felt. There were a couple of awkward cliff-hangers in places (due to scene length) though I felt, which brought my rating down in this area. It's also very good that despite the progression throughout the season, the story content managed to remain very light throughout, which kept me hoping for another season come the end.
Art - 9/10
The art is very good and contributes substantially to how fun Uzaki-chan wa Asobitai! is to watch. Generally-speaking, the fairly bright, yet balanced art style is fairly soft on the eye and not too harsh when things become a bit wild, which I appreciate. The art style particularly shows its strength through ordinary things, like Uzaki's wild laughter, through to less common things, like special moments, presented in contextually-accurate fashion, to draw attention to a particular significant development in a completely hilarious manner.
Sound - 10/10
Yes, there are soundtracks that get re-used multiple times throughout the season, but in all fairness, these sounds do work well in contributing to the setting and feel of the scenes in question. Voicing is also pretty strong; I mean, Uzaki-chan's laugh is utterly adorable. Voicing is very good for the comedic scenes but also equally strong for the scenes where other emotions come to the forefront, be it scheming, anger, upset or doubt, which contributes heavily to my high scoring in terms of sound. Moving back to music and the OP ED; another very strong area I felt. The opening music is by far and away my favourite opening music of any anime and the end music is not far behind it (I ended up buying both single albums). Personal preference aside, the opening music perfectly captures the feel of the anime; extremely fun, but not completely untethered from substantial emotion and also the music pretty much perfectly matches Uzaki-chan's personality. The closing music really captures the more substantial elements of Uzaki-chan's personality, which I really like, especially when combined with the various iterations of the end credit montage; I always watched through to the very end of the sequence.
Character - 10/10
I've already covered Hana Uzaki quite a bit, so focusing less on her, I have to say that Sakurai and the various supporting characters (the Asai family, Uzaki Tsuki and Itsuhito) are pretty well constructed, especially in terms of them being memorable, despite having less screen time. The role that the supporting characters play in developing the relationship between Sakurai and Uzaki make them particularly memorable, each contributing to the comedic value of the anime significantly. This section wouldn't be complete without a more substantial word on Sakurai, who is very well developed throughout the season and is actually constructed in a way that makes his character quite believable as an actual person, who becomes increasingly more balanced as the anime progresses. Sakurai, despite appearances does display a good range of emotions, which I appreciate, as it helps with the story and enjoyment of the anime.
Enjoyment - 10/10
Numerous times where I had to pause the anime, to get the laughter out of my system; this is a very good sign, coming from a comedy. The Ecchi content is pretty funny, without going too far (wafer thin line, but things stay just within, in my opinion). The awkward and more hostile moments are also very engaging. Other sections have already covered numerous other factors that contribute to my allocation of maximum score in this area.
Overall - 9/10
What do I look for in a comedy? Fun. Uzaki-can wa Asobitai hits that criteria near perfectly. Being very well produced across art, sound and character design categories contribute heavily to my rating the anime so highly. I'll be very pleased if the second season is just as good as or better than the first!
