Until about episode 7. Oh episode 7. This series legitimately starts getting good here, and the plot gets kicked up by about 20 notches. It's hard to say anything without spoilers, but there's a pretty big and unexpected event that happens in this episode that made the series a whole lot darker than it was before.
- Character -
The series is entirely driven by the two main characters: Yuuko and Teiichi. They're both cute and adorable, and I actually care what happens to them, moreso as the series progresses. I can tell you right now that how much you enjoy this series will be directly proportional to how much you like Yuuko, whose story is the main focus of this anime, if you couldn't tell by the title. Yuuko seems pretty air-headed and carefree, but even this becomes a plot device later in the series. Well-played, anime creators, well played.
Preface: I'm a girl. So the intense flirtiness that the main character Yuuko exudes isn't exactly a turn on for me. The main hook that this anime had on me was the story of this girl's past. The series did a pretty good job of making this anime generally light-hearted and funny, but dark enough to make me seriously concerned about some of the characters and the mysteries behind them.
Also Yuuko's voice actress is pretty darn amazing.
On the flip side, I would say the weaknesses would be the other characters. Nothing about their character stands out, falling mostly into the typical tsundere and always-happy characters. Neither of them are really truly developed, and they easily fall into the background until they're used as a convenient plot devices (post episode 7). Not to say that they weren't developed at all, or that they don't add enjoyment and depth to the series, but they weren't treated as being as instrumental as I thought they would be. But in the end, this is a story about Teiichi and Yuuko, so maybe that was to be expected.
- Plot -
The series is around a 6 before episode seven, and a solid 8 afterwards. Stick with it if you actually care about Yuuko's past, because it pretty much made me really respect her way more than I did previously.
*edit* Ok, the last episode made me cry. :'( This series was pretty good.
If your taste is usually high quality anime, if your come into this series with very low expectations, you may enjoy this more than you expect.
