From my observations, one reason for the community reception behind this anime is because it came fresh off, and seems to have been seen as the spiritual successor to, Winter 2022's My Dress-up Darling, and this may have had set expectations a little too high. Now, i am not saying the criticism for this show is unwarranted, its just that i feel that the hatred for this has been blown out of proportion in discourse about the show.
Shikimori-san has a pretty blatant and on-the-nose way of reversing gender roles. It would put the couple in a position where gender stereotypes about masculinity and feminity come out, and would well... reverse them. Shikimori aims to act feminine in order to fit in with the school, but fails spectacularly no matter what. However this failings are not treated as failings, rather theyre validated as Shikimori choosing to "be herself". All of her decisions in how she behaves, especially when in cases when the action is not traditionally associated to be feminine are all treated as something that is "cool" and to be proud of. The female characters actually have agency, which should be the norm, but isnt something that the average romcom has. Izumi also has this one scene where he goes "Please dont tease me" and becomes all flustered and blushing, something that is typically associated with a female character in any other romcom. This reversal is what makes for this dynamic in their relationship which i will talk about next.
And so there is this interesting dynamic between Izumi and Shikimori, as Izumi happens to be extremely unlucky. The anime doesnt fail to hammer this point as it is one of the first lines of narration in ep 1. This is used to create situations where our mc ends up in trouble in order for Shikimori, to swoop in and rescue him. This happens over and over and over again and is probably the main thing that the show does, at least for the first half of the series, even the ED has this sequence where Shikimori is helping Izumi dodge and knock obstacles away.
This dynamic seems to have created this idea that this show is another one of those "waifu bait" shows with Izumi being an audience insert, but i could not disagree more. The conception of an audience insert protagonist is someone who the audience is supposed to project themselves onto, a blank slate, featureless, in a show meant for escapism. Well, when u consider the things that happen to Izumi, losing his things, getting his planned events ruined, it evokes laughter or pity rather than encouraging projection. Theres the other kind of audience projection, i.e. "this loser is you", but i find it hard to see Izumi as a loser at all. Izumi has a lot of qualities worth liking about him, his resillience to his unluckiness gimmick, or his ability to see the best in people, which earns him friends. It seems like any male protagonist who isnt straight up confident and upfront is suddenly a "generic loser mc" or a "self insert romcom protagonist" like what happened with Wakana Gojo last season.
Perhaps the most tenable criticism of Izumi's character is the unluckiness gimmick in itself. Its absurd, to the point that its funny (intentionally or not). However it becomes understandably hard to take him seriously at all. Any dramatic moments that youre supposed to feel sad for become comically laughable. Its also obviously a cheap way of creating situations for the wholesome interactions that we all expect out of a couple in a romcom. In this case, it manifests in the form of Shikimori saving him. If you can look past how contrived these situations are, and get over how repetitive the unluckiness gimmick (and it seems easier said than done for most ppl), then you'll probably be able enjoy these cute romantic moments more, and by extension the show too.
Shikimori-san is actually at its best when it... isnt focusing on Shikimori or Izumi honestly. The side characters, some of them pretty blatantly queer coded, are great too. Theres this introverted girl named Hachimitsu, who despises outdoor exercise, and she gets a whole episode dedicated to her and Izumi for them to train for their school's sports festival. I wont go into much more detail about it, but the experience was really heartwarming, and seeing them training hard together for the sake of the rest of the team, was easily one of Shikimori's best scenes. This is only one of the examples of Shikimori's side character episodes, and if theres one thing you should watch Shikimori for, its for the side characters.
The studio suffered from an outbreak of COVID in the middle of the show's runtime, which led to delays. Thankfully the end product is still of passable and servicable quality visually, and overall, it still looks decent, tho definitely not the best thing that Doga Kobo has made.
Easily the most overhated show of Spring 2022, Shikimori-san is a show that i recommend with significant caveats. Ultimately the appeal of the show for me was ironically Izumi, despite the repetitive nature of his unluckiness gimmick.
