Because for starters, there are no actual characters in this show other than the main character, Oreki. I've got to assume the creators saw themselves in him, because they treat this cowardly, self - impressed little jerk like he's the coolest guy to ever breeze into school. In reality, he makes no impression whatsoever on almost anyone at their school and accomplishes very little, given his dedication to putting as little effort into anything as possible (something else the show treats him like a hero for, instead of the rather pathetic copout it is).
Also, he is depressed, and for good reason: too scared to put himself out there, which he covers over by pretending he's just too cool to care, he has isolated himself (which the second cour credits acknowledge), dug himself into a hole he'll never get out of. Seriously, I know this guy in real life. My friend is so much like Oreki that if the show had come out before he was in high school, I'd have thought he modeled himself on this character. Now, decades later, surprise surprise, my buddy has never had a girlfriend, doesn't have friends really, no hobbies or accomplishments in decades. But he still has his precious "cool," which no one ever actually thought was cool but him. There is a way the show wants you to see Oreki, but it is a far cry from what he really is.
Then along comes his manic pixie dream girl. She's nice to him, as she's nice to everyone, but in HIS mind, she's tempting and controlling him with the overpowering desire HE suddenly felt from the moment he laid eyes on the first pretty girl who would give him the time of day. I guess it's good that this sickening phenomenon of some loser too cowardly to actually engage with his reality developing delusions about himself and some love object has been thus so accurately animated, only the complete lack of self awareness of Oreki and his creators lets his pathetic delusions stand, preferring, of course, to pretend he really WAS that cool and all things he didn't have the courage to take responsibility for really WERE all her doing. Obnoxious.
Like all such guys, to him, her feelings, desires, and personality are irrelevant. As far as the show is concerned, she exists only to help define our hero and create motivation for him ... which I suppose helps explain, along with the bad writing, why she doesn't have a consistent character. The other two members of their club are simply "Good Anime Boy A" and "Ordinary Anime Girl B." I'll grant that these two are consistent in that they're consistently boring and irrelevant -- so boring and predictable and contributing so little that there's no reason for them to be there.
Chitanda, the object of Oreki's obsession, however, has a character so inconsistent that she may as well have been portrayed by four different characters, each the cliched embodiment of the usual archetypes applied to women: the ingenue, the temptress, the ditz, and the matriarch. In one episode, she's first incapable of getting from point A to point B because she's distracted by every shiny thing she sees along the way, and then is all but incapable of engaging in some very basic negotiation once she finally makes her way there because she's (dumb and) shy and awkward. A couple of episodes later, she coolly solves a complex, longstanding feud in a community no one else can make any headway on, including adult community leaders, thanks to her brilliance and charisma, and it's implied she does this kind of thing all the time with grace and ease. Like, could you put some effort into making her character remotely believable or realistic? Nah, because she is only whatever Oreki or the plot need her to be at that moment.
Okay, and their "club." One of the show's few strengths is its simple slice of life - ness. Nothing bad ever happens ... but this is because nothing ever happens, period. A club that solves mysteries has to be interesting, right?? I thought so too, but turns out not! These are the most tepid, half-assed mysteries imaginable. Trying to figure out who left a glass of water on a table would be absolutely within the general level of challenge and importance of mystery they might investigate. Now imagine what they end up discovering has no relevance to anything else that has ever or will ever happen on the show. Assume that the person who did it is someone you've never met before and will never see again. Rest assured their reason for doing it will be nothing out of the ordinary, and nothing will come of either the glass being on the table or the investigation, except that our hero will once again get to pat himself on the back for his brilliance (since everyone around him is far too dumb to contribute much to such sleuthing), while pretending he's too cool to care whether anyone's impressed.
With a wildly disappointing, albeit realistic, ending, it's hard to understand why anyone would want to watch this irritating trifle. Basically, it's the incel's idealized self portrait.
