God, this show did not age well. Honestly, I wished that I watched this show during my teens, maybe then I could've bypassed all the toxicity and find giddy in the superficial old-fashioned romance.
Story:(4/10)
The story is a no-brainer, basically it's one of the typical romance shoujo wherein a ditsy, talentless, dimwitted girl falls in love with an intelligent and handsome guy, who by the way also possesses all the red flags and toxic tendencies that you can imagine. Yes, it's an old show so these types of plot aren't a big deal back then, but what I cannot forgive about is that there's no character development from the main leads at all. It's like I'm watching a parasitic relationship of a sadist and a masochist, which is one of the unhealthiest relationships of all. It's painful, depressing and infuriating to watch how the story progresses knowing that the dynamics between the two is supposedly showcasing the viewers that what they have is "Love." Absolutely disgusting.
The only reason what kept me from rating this to a "1" is because of the unique timelapse of witnessing their relationship from highschool-college-marriage-career-kids. It's too fast-paced for my taste, especially how little romance was shown from Irie's perspective, but still it was brave of them to go beyond from the usual shoujo high school narrative.
Art:(5/10)
Personally, I didn't like the art of this anime, especially the drawing of Irie. Kotoko looked great, especially with the famously old bug-eyed drawing. Irie, on the other hand, looked too mature to be paired with Kotoko. The height difference was too much as well that I initially thought it was a romance between a highschooler and an adult. But I wouldn't be too harsh since this was basically drawn from the 90s. And watching this series now as an adult, it honestly feels nostalgic.
Sound: (5/10)
It was okay, not something that's memorable. Both intro and outro are easily skippable. Some sound effects were a bit over the top. Although, the VA did a great job in complementing with their characters well.
Characters: (2/10)
The characters are the biggest letdown in the series. As I've mentioned, there's no character development from the main leads at all, whether as individuals or as couples.
Let's start with Kotoko, who is by far the most unbearable character to watch in all shoujo animes. You'd think that she'd grow a spine by the end of the series, but unfortunately, she still remains the same airheaded doormat all throughout. She literally lives and breathes Irie. Her world basically revolves around him, even to a point where she chose a career path that complements with his. She's got no pride nor self-respect, and to make matters worse, her clumsiness is too exaggerated that it makes you wonder if she even has a brain.
Irie, on the other hand, is basically your typical heartthrob who has the brains and looks but zero personality. A genius with a photographic memory and a possible descendant of Einstein, but has an emotional quotient of a rock. Usually, the 'tsundere' and 'cool-badboy' trope is the usual trend in most animes, some were still tolerable despite the red flags in some scenes. But for Irie, he's like an abnormal case. He's insensitive, arrogant, conceited and the most boring character that anyone could have the misfortune to be in a relationship with.
And unfortunately, that victim is Kotoko. Yes, a victim. The poor girl is too love-struck by the superficial qualities of Irie that results to being blinded in acknowledging the mental and emotional abuse she had to go through to keep their relationship intact. Their dynamics became so low to a point wherein Kotoko could already tolerate and brush of his rude remarks and feels a surge of joy from a small attempt of sweet gesture, even though it's already considered the bare minimum (ex. rare date that she had to ask him for HER birthday). Some would say that Irie gradually improves throughout the series, but if you're calling someone, who only takes action when their 'admirer' finally attempts to grow a pair and look for someone else, is what you consider an improvement, then you need to wake the fck up! It's honestly a narcissistic behavior, especially when they are used to have someone doting on them for a long time, it becomes their badge of honor and settles passively thinking they'll be obsessed with them forever. But once the rose-colored lenses start to fall out and tries to find someone better, that's where they start to chase them, and it's not because out of love but rather for their self-serving ego. When you think about it, the only time Irie lost his shit is when he got jealous with the marriage proposal of Kin and when Keita fell in love with Kotoko. Once the situation got resolved with Kotoko blindly choosing him again, he goes back to being an asshole and continually takes her love for granted.
Honestly, the only character that I loved in the series is Keita, whom I strongly believe that Kotoko should've ended up with. She deserves someone who chooses her, cares for her and appreciates her as a person. He is the ultimate green flag in the series and I know that he'll be able to provide the love that Kotoko deserves without needing to beg for it like what she does to Irie. Hell, even Irie's mom would rather choose him than his own son. But of course, this show had to use Keita's character as a source of conflict to "develop their relationship." Which is such a waste because they had to portray him as a bad guy in the story when basically, he's the purest and most sensible character of them all.
Basically, it's the side characters who are saving this show. But the main leads? Pure trash.
Enjoyment: (3/10)
I'm all for "unrequited love-to-lovers" trope but this one is an exemption. Watching this show was painful and frustrating, the episodes felt too long that I just wanted it to be over. Personally, the reason why I feel so strongly disgusted by this show is because it reminds me of my own experience wherein I've been through a toxic relationship. It reminds me of the times wherein I was too blind by love to not notice all the manipulation and abuse that was happening. Fortunately, I managed to get past that point of my life and already found a healthy relationship whose character is similar to Keita. That's why ladies, never settle for less!
Overall: (4/10)
The timeline from highschool to marriage and seeing their appearance change throughout, was a unique touch to the story. It's only unfortunate that the main characters were poorly written as they did not develop maturely both as individuals and as a couple. Yes, they did have their moments, but the toxicity outweighed the good aspects in their relationship to a point where in all you feel is discomfort seeing them together. It makes you question if it's really worth it to stay since you've finally "got the guy" after chasing for so long, but the aftermath of getting to know the person and how they treat you as a partner is a different story. And unfortunately, this anime fails to deliver this aspect.