However, in Season 2 her cluelessness about their feelings for her was no longer excusable, cute or silly; it was extremely frustrating, particularly since some of them started getting much more forthright in their wooing. The "who are they going to fall for?" plot device cannot be stretched this thin without breaking. By episode 10 we were ready to throw things at the screen every time she said, "Huuhh??" or did not understand what a character meant even by an outright declaration or clear demonstration of romantic love. This is a person who loved otome games and romance novels so there is NO WAY she could be this clueless. And even if she was, did either of her moms not teach her ANYTHING about sex or relationships? She's 17, for goodness' sake. The excuse the writers give her is that she thinks so little of herself that she can't imagine anyone would love her that way. Oh how noble, she's so humble. Nope, it makes her look like an absolute idiot the entire season. And her reactions when someone went 'further' than she was comfortable with was not cute or funny but just weird.
I actually enjoyed the first arc because the new "love interest" she meets is the first one who is immediately up front with her about his attraction and she also expresses more open admiration for him as a person than I recall her doing with any of her other friends. And she doesn't recoil at his advances. So I actually kind of got my hopes up that maybe he was "the one" she would end up with. But nothing went anywhere with that the rest of the season and it focused on the other people, and he became just one more groupie.
There is almost zero story progression. It takes the entirety of season 2 (instead of the first few episodes as we expected) to even progress to the point where two of her suitors have finally gotten Catarina to realize they are in love with her and it's only because one of them said it loudly in her face, understandably frustrated at her complete cluelessness, and the other kept 'wooing' her with gifts and clear advances. And even AFTER they did this, she went into one of their rooms to show him her new PJs and the guy did the best thing in the entire season: exhorted her to realize they're all now adults and that people are sexually attracted to her, and not to put herself in situations she's not ready for. (If you've seen Ouran HSHC, he used the same tactic as Kyoya did.) When he asked her how she could still not realize he was in love with her after he actually outright told her, she said, "I thought it was a dream." That is the laziest possible writing right there.
And of course they ALL still love her and want her to 'choose' them, not just the two whom she finally knows do. So they're all still at square one in the relationship department. And now for Season 3 there are even MORE characters being introduced who, in her previous world, show up in the sequel game, so of course the same thing happens in the game world. And we're supposed to be excited for the harem to get new people in it? Definitely not at this point. The plot device is dead and needs to be buried and the characters need to move forward!
