Now, usually when shows are hyped up, I don't make the mistake of expecting a lot from them. People watch these overhyped shows as their first, second, or even 20th anime, while I'm on my 250th. I've seen all the tropes done before, I've seen other anime in that genre I like better, etc. That being said, usually overhyped anime has something about it that makes it special, something about it that makes all the suffering in boredom from overused tropes worth it. This show... Didn't really.
You can go as far into the themes that the show expresses as you want, but the reality is, everyone in this show had a deeper and more meaningful bond than the two main characters. There wasn't anything to hold the tension throughout the show; they basically ignored the fact that there even was a time limit. There was nothing more to the romance than "I like you because I like you," which is typical for a romance anime, but it's still a bit of a letdown that they never got more development than that, especially since there was plenty of space in the action part of the anime for some deeper development to happen.
To make matters worse, the main guy really doesn't have any good reason for liking our heroine. Their relationship is extremely surface-level. All the guy says is that he likes that she's clumsy. Short. A scardey cat. Typical anime guy behavior. You can make the excuse that he couldn't think of anything better to say at the time, or that this is how normal romance goes and that's what makes it special because it's so normal, but... That's it? Really?
The main character is also bland. Really bland. He has no past other than being late to his entrance exams for appendicitis, and I guess that makes him a little more relatable because he's "realistic" and doesn't stand out at all and has 0 motivation or goals other than to work so he doesn't disappoint his parents that are never brought up again after episode one but... He's got no embarrassing secrets, no tragic past, nothing. Just a plane dude. I'll admit, that does work when the show is based in a normal everyday life school setting. It just wasn't doing this story's dystopian sci-fi setting any favors.
When you first hear about the concept for this show, you'd think it's an angst, right? Nah. Not even close. There was this whole aspect of "let's spend our days like normal" that took all of the angst right out of the plot. Their job retrieving gifta's (the robots) from other families was a lot more depressing than the end game because you could see the bond those characters had built up over time and how impactful their time together was on the human's life, and how genuinely lonely they'd be once their robot was gone. I won't write the amount of time because I guess that's a spoiler, but I'll just say, the main characters weren't together long enough for the endgame to feel impactful for me.
And finally, the secondhand awkwardness was tough to endure. I'll just leave it at that.
Overall, the show was fine. It wasn't great, it wasn't bad, just a typical anime romance with a little twist to add a sense of urgency that was never really used other than to rush the confession scene. But there is a market for this kind of plain jane romance anime, and if that's your thing, I think you'll really enjoy it.
