When it stops being so damn entertaining.
Imagine an absolute failure of a human being. A twenty-something, college dropout, no job to speak of and no plans to get one anytime soon. Rude, perverted, antisocial. Doesn't leave his house, doesn't even bother to clean up after himself. Probably stinks of good old man-smell.
That, my friends, is the protagonist of this show.
Sato is a "NEET", or "hikkikomori", whose life is stuck in an increasingly fast pitfall of self-isolation, until a strange girl offers to help him. This alone seems like a pretty contrived premise. A morose manchild stuck in a rut being renewed by a Manic Pixie Dream Girl; we've seen this all before, right? Wrong.
First off, the comedy is usually spot-on. It thrives on this aura of perverse cynicism. The protagonist, who believes everything wrong with his life is a conspiracy as some sort of defense mechanism, is constantly having these wackjob fantasies that blow anything and everything way out of proportion.
The characters are nothing less than a fucking riot. Sato isn't the only one in the cast with a fatal flaw; almost everyone he meets has something that they desperately need to overcome. His otaku neighbor, and his bitter misogyny. His high-school love interest and her neurotic pessimism. A brief encounter with a young man rotting alone in his room. Even our supposed Manic Pixie Dream Girl, who's supposed to be 'fixing' Sato, has skeletons in her closet.
But Sato has the most grueling journey of all. Just when you think he has happiness in his grasp, he backpedals away from it. HARD. Despite how despicable and pathetic he can be sometimes, you want him to resolve his problems. Because like it or not, you will see yourself in him. His fears are fears that the viewer can identify with. We want him to find his happiness the way we wish to do so ourselves.
And I won't give away the ending, but let me just say this: it's realistic. It isn't a fairytale bullshit ending, but it isn't some downer ending that's tragic just for the sake of being tragic. Which is a proper way to describe this anime in general: real. Because no matter how utterly outlandish it is, it deals with issues we see in everyday society.
Now, I hate to harp on technicalities here, but let me just say. This is a Gonzo production, people. Don't expect outstanding animation here, because you will not find it. At some points it reaches Higurashi-levels of sloppiness. The music is decent, if barely noticeable. The opening is rather standard, and filled with gratuitous Money Shots.
However, that never really got to me. I was in it for the story, and in that aspect it certainly didn't fail to deliver. I give this a 9 with full confidence, and I strongly recommend it for people who liked anime like, say, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei.
But who's going to take my word for it? After all, this could very well be a conspiracy.
