Regardless of whether this should be in your Trainwreck/Dumpster Fire watchlist, this anime adaptation has a mixed bag of straightforward cringe, 90% of romance elements being predictable, romanticizing gender stereotypes, outdated tropes of each major character and unnecessary melodramatic clichés in the form of misunderstandings caused by a dystopian concept where each Japanese teenager must take the mandatory Couples Practical course.
I sometimes wonder if this series is really meant to be enjoyed as "so bad, it's good" just because the teenage characters are acting over-the-top and being wishy-washy in confessing their feelings. It turns out that this series is a romanticisation of wish fulfillment for single male (allo) readers since it's obvious that Jirou is a self-insert male protagonist who has become my most hated character from this series. In fact, the toxic behaviors of Jirou & Akari manipulating each other unconsciously can be a turnoff given how the sparkly color coordination is an obvious sign that their romantic development is being romanticized to superficial, unhealthy levels. Also the writing development on Minami makes him become a plot device instead of him being an actual character.
More Than a Married Couple, but Not Lovers may not be to your liking if you're unable to stand the features I've mentioned above, and/or if you feel upset that it somehow directly insults that being a virgin, especially written as an otaku stereotype trope, is a childish thing to be; not to mention, the "teasing the virgin" joke gets repetitive and tedious.
The only good thing is that it doesn't feature ace characters which I'm glad this doesn't apply to the male lead's best friend whom you won't like his voice screeching vibes of a persistent busybody, and that he would be a misrepresentation of being an aroace.
I believe this anime series is recommended for those who want to experience "a rom-com made during the Y2K era", or those who want the kind of escapism where the stupidity of falling for the wrong person who happens to be the OTP and misunderstandings keep on happening like it's the most natural thing to do. The only thing that I could think of as its salvation is the animation quality being made with a "good enough" level.
More Than a Married Couple, but Not Lovers can only be enjoyed for an allo audience who desire to watch for the fanservice of the female lead being a sexy, cute waifu and a bumbling otaku male lead who tried his utmost best to figure out why he's falling for the female lead instead of his cute childhood friend. For an aro/ace audience, I recommend this series to them if they want to watch a Trainwreck that is "so bad, it's good".
