i jumped into this show at season 3 and got the gist immediately: it's about the humiliating and demoralizing cycle of relationships and the failure to communicate between men and women. the lead character allows his obsessive, unrequited crush to degenerate him into true sociopathy, exploiting a rental girlfriend's family trauma so he can force himself into her most private, vulnerable moments. his sexual pathology - which drives this concurrent deification and objectification of his crush - is sketched out through racing, overanalytic thoughts ruminating over her every move, her every word. this brilliantly exposes the tragic and dangerous trajectory of unchecked, obsessive psuedo-love.
as a show, the experience can be mixed. sometimes it gets boring and you forget the main guy can be a full blown sociopath. sometimes the show devolves into sentimental speeches that make it difficult to discern how self aware exactly its creators are. the quirky supporting cast of "cute girls" come across as totems of fan service rather than actual characters and, while funny, the dialogue can be atrocious and corny, although this is likely a side effect of my needing the dialogue translated (i am not a speaker of the japanese language).
the show is at its strongest when it indulges in excruciating cringe comedy.
