It had so much potential to be a great anime remembered for years, but halfway through, it lost its identity and charm. This led to a very muddy and disappointing ending. I have no idea how the main two leads of this series DID NOT INTERACT for the latter half of its runtime. Genuinely, what was the thought process here? Probably none, as they ended the production early and focused on the marketing instead. What a shame. Instead of trying to create something genuinely great, they decided to create an appealing product and market it really well.
Credit is due for handling Kiui's and Kimura's characters appropriately. They received a satisfying conclusion and remained interesting flawed characters who are proud of themselves. However, the same cannot be said for Kano and Mahiru...
A single 5-minute segment helped Kano overcome a decade-long trauma, mend broken friendships, and move past a one-sided love (girl love relationships teased for marketing purposes, lovely).
Then there's Mahiru, who turned out to be genuinely evil? Left an "important" friend's music group to work for a competitor's company because she wants to grow? But hey, it's fine. The last episode revealed it was a secret ploy to get JEELE an important event spot, hahaha... It's just so painfully obvious that the writers had no idea what to do after writing Mahiru out of the story like that.
All in all, a very well-animated and colorful anime with great potential that broke its legs in the last half of its runtime. I'm not even angry, just disappointed.
