I understand the premise is ridiculous, and horribly contrived, but a lot of people are missing the point.

RomanRonin said:
Yeah it’s an interesting dynamic, and it’s the reason why I’ve been liking this show more than most this season. I just think that word “stalker” is what’s catching people up. It’s more like being clingy than anything else.

I will say, I tried reading the manga (this is based off a LN but they recently began making a manga for it) and there’s a lot of nuance that has been left out of this show. Even though it would slow down the show a bit, I think it’d be nice if they didn’t streamline it as much.

LostSpectre said:
As dumb as it might seem, Wataru and Natsukawa actually got along fairly well together. Sure, he was madly in love with her and chased after her constantly, and she naturally rejected him and told him off, because he was a fucking weirdo, but this was simply the dynamic they grew comfortable with. To everyone else around them they might as well have been a couple because they're always together, even if it seems like they're always in a "lover's quarrel". The word "stalker" gets thrown around, but it's never viewed seriously, no one views him as any sort of real predator or as if she's being harassed. 

So, what happens here, is that a rogue soccer ball nearly ends Wataru's life, and in that moment time slowed to a standstill, and for just a split-second he understood the nature of the universe. When reality suddenly sprang back into existence he was a changed person, he barely recognized the guy who endlessly chased after Natsukawa while completely ignoring the reality that she was "out of his league". Now that he's finally clear headed, he decides to distance himself from her, believing he's been nothing but a burden to her all these years. Of course, he's mistaken, and his new personality is mystifying to the rest of the class.

This hits one person the hardest though, and that's obviously Natsukawa. She became accustomed to their bizarre dynamic, and once he suddenly stops bothering her, she's thrown for a loop. All the sudden there's this huge void where something had previously been, and she doesn't really understand these feelings, she's sort of depressed and gloomy, but not only is she bad at trying to express these feelings, she also keeps falling into old habits, where she insults or tells Wataru off, and then instead of him "coming at her" like usual, he backs down, and this just gets her more frustrated with the situation.

LostSpectre said:
As dumb as it might seem, Wataru and Natsukawa actually got along fairly well together. Sure, he was madly in love with her and chased after her constantly, and she naturally rejected him and told him off, because he was a fucking weirdo, but this was simply the dynamic they grew comfortable with. To everyone else around them they might as well have been a couple because they're always together, even if it seems like they're always in a "lover's quarrel". The word "stalker" gets thrown around, but it's never viewed seriously, no one views him as any sort of real predator or as if she's being harassed. 

So, what happens here, is that a rogue soccer ball nearly ends Wataru's life, and in that moment time slowed to a standstill, and for just a split-second he understood the nature of the universe. When reality suddenly sprang back into existence he was a changed person, he barely recognized the guy who endlessly chased after Natsukawa while completely ignoring the reality that she was "out of his league". Now that he's finally clear headed, he decides to distance himself from her, believing he's been nothing but a burden to her all these years. Of course, he's mistaken, and his new personality is mystifying to the rest of the class.

This hits one person the hardest though, and that's obviously Natsukawa. She became accustomed to their bizarre dynamic, and once he suddenly stops bothering her, she's thrown for a loop. All the sudden there's this huge void where something had previously been, and she doesn't really understand these feelings, she's sort of depressed and gloomy, but not only is she bad at trying to express these feelings, she also keeps falling into old habits, where she insults or tells Wataru off, and then instead of him "coming at her" like usual, he backs down, and this just gets her more frustrated with the situation.

Liangshanhaohan said:

He didn't gain a new personality, it's just how he really is, it's the "reality". While the old personality was a facade he put up to gain Aika's affection, the "dream" version of himself. Hence the title.

Sekiro94 said:
And whats even more good that people around her started to talk to natsukawa more, something sacrifised to something gain. Thats our mc. I love him and at least natsukawa tsundere side is not annoying here tbh at least its caused by mc before he was almost hitten by ball. Thats why she is so confused about her feelings and cant express then well. This deserves higher rating

Kokoro_135 said:
Finally someone who understands the fucking show. Honestly, I don't see how its ridiculous or contrived? Its just people being accustomed to watching the same copy pasted shows with different names they became unable to differentiate Natsukawa from a tsundere and can't understand her character at all

Rafalga said:
Overall its just a very mediocre story with little to none likeable characters. Personally, after reading all 8 volumes so far, i just feel constant sorrow for the MC and nothing else.

LostSpectre said:
This isn't quite as bad as "Angel Next Door" because those LN are longer, but they did all of Vol. 1 in 3 episodes, that's pretty rushed. 

LostSpectre said:
You don't see how the premise is ridiculous or contrived? They basically had a "relationship" where he "stalked" her, and she insulted him and told him off, for years, but apparently this was actually cute bonding between these characters, and no one around them thinks it's weird or creepy, that they assume they're already a couple because of how familiar they act with each other. I mean, this is pure anime logic, the concept is sheer nonsense in reality. Don't get me wrong, it's a very interesting premise, I just don't have much faith it's going to make for a good story in the end. 

Lamp1009 said:

Hey look, someone realized anime isn’t real and pretty much every anime romcom is completely unrealistic

EdgyLord666 said:
Such a refreshing premise with an awful execution, man this is just disappointing, not even an older sis trope can save this anime because they casually butcher it in the 3rd episode.

Piromysl said:
So, she rejected him and then is pissed that he respected her decision, lost interest in her, moved on and started to talk with other girls? Sounds like a pretty good representation of how girls are in real life.
I can actually respect this more than generic wish fulfilment junk food type of romcom with "plain boi meets lovable angel"  premise we have abundance of lately.

maraviax said:
The fact you said this and then invoked sexism from a position of moral superiority is kind of rich isn't it? (though yes that was a sexist remark) The problem is you're 100% spot on with the intent of the story and its author. Your accurate summation of the plot, along with this exchange from the latest episode make it clear exactly what this story is about.



Excuse me? WHAT?! For the author (and possibly those who can relate to the story), the point is that women exist to be pursued (and should derive value/happiness from it), and you should disregard what they say if they say reject you because they may not know what they really want, despite that being what they tell you for "literal years". Its why you don't see anything wrong with it and think its cute. It's the way stalkers think. In the story, literally everyone recognizes and describes what he's doing as stalking, and yet treat it as a joke. The author, through the mouth of her friend, tries to paint the picture that its normal and she should like it. The author tries to normalize the behavior through the actions and blasé attitudes of the supporting cast. They even had the adults make light of the situation and relegate it to a joke. This is full stop stalker apologist propaganda. The fact is, given acceptable behavior, it never should have reached the point where such interaction via rejection became the norm in the first place.  Want a pattern of rejection that leads to eventual romance? Have the guy ask her out every so often, he gets rejected, he shrugs it off and goes back to his friends and everyone leaves it at that until the next time. You get the same base interaction, some comedic value, and for the most part everyone goes on with their lives. We've seen it successfully executed in this manner before. Except that's not what happened here. The story makes it explicitly clear that he followed her around constantly, imposing himself to the point of isolating her from pretty much every guy and girl in the school, which is now the source of her loneliness in his sudden absence. If this was really the world the author wanted to create, than what followed should have been a world where the stalker isn't the only one who can fix the problem they created. But that's what's happening. Its a world where there are no real consequences for poor behavior. This wasn't a story of a tsundere girl playing hard to get. This was a girl who legitimately wanted to be left alone until she got so beaten down and used to the abuse that it was easier to play along. As you said, her attachment at that point is purely conditioned, not as a result of her own free will.  It's Stockholm Syndrome disguised as romance. This isn't healthy in any sense, and no level of sugar coating is going to change that. If you took away a heartwarming and wholesome feeling from this anime, you should honestly do some self-reflection and re-evaluate yourself.

maraviax said:
The fact you said this and then invoked sexism from a position of moral superiority is kind of rich isn't it? (though yes that was a sexist remark) The problem is you're 100% spot on with the intent of the story and its author. Your accurate summation of the plot, along with this exchange from the latest episode make it clear exactly what this story is about.



Excuse me? WHAT?! For the author (and possibly those who can relate to the story), the point is that women exist to be pursued (and should derive value/happiness from it), and you should disregard what they say if they say reject you because they may not know what they really want, despite that being what they tell you for "literal years". Its why you don't see anything wrong with it and think its cute. It's the way stalkers think. In the story, literally everyone recognizes and describes what he's doing as stalking, and yet treat it as a joke. The author, through the mouth of her friend, tries to paint the picture that its normal and she should like it. The author tries to normalize the behavior through the actions and blasé attitudes of the supporting cast. They even had the adults make light of the situation and relegate it to a joke. This is full stop stalker apologist propaganda. The fact is, given acceptable behavior, it never should have reached the point where such interaction via rejection became the norm in the first place.  Want a pattern of rejection that leads to eventual romance? Have the guy ask her out every so often, he gets rejected, he shrugs it off and goes back to his friends and everyone leaves it at that until the next time. You get the same base interaction, some comedic value, and for the most part everyone goes on with their lives. We've seen it successfully executed in this manner before. Except that's not what happened here. The story makes it explicitly clear that he followed her around constantly, imposing himself to the point of isolating her from pretty much every guy and girl in the school, which is now the source of her loneliness in his sudden absence. If this was really the world the author wanted to create, than what followed should have been a world where the stalker isn't the only one who can fix the problem they created. But that's what's happening. Its a world where there are no real consequences for poor behavior. This wasn't a story of a tsundere girl playing hard to get. This was a girl who legitimately wanted to be left alone until she got so beaten down and used to the abuse that it was easier to play along. As you said, her attachment at that point is purely conditioned, not as a result of her own free will.  It's Stockholm Syndrome disguised as romance. This isn't healthy in any sense, and no level of sugar coating is going to change that. If you took away a heartwarming and wholesome feeling from this anime, you should honestly do some self-reflection and re-evaluate yourself.

maraviax said:

I think the only thing that I like to point out in these situations is that they are/were children in the context of the story.  I haven't been able to find an age or gender for the author Okemaru, but in a lot of cases these are adult men projecting their worldviews onto these characters as how they think children will or should act. That doesn't always end up portraying an accurate depiction of how people of that age would naturally think or behave. Even trying to imagine yourself at that age and and accurately portray how you would have thought or acted is nearly impossible, since your views are colored by the current sum of your experiences and knowledge. Its why stories written by grown men of teenage boys gaining harems of young girls throwing themselves at the protag can be so cringe. Often its painfully obvious its a fantasy being lived vicariously through a work of art with the excuse that it makes sense in the context of the world they themselves created. 

That issue aside, I agree the female MC doesn't feel like a real person. I don't think its controversial to say that women, especially teenaged ones, sometimes have difficulties with their emotions and knowing what they want. We all do. What makes her feel unreal is that this seems to be the entirety of her personality.  She feels one dimensional, like her sole purpose for existing is to be the object of the male characters affection. That feels unnatural because women of all ages are complex creatures and she is not a fully actualized character. What Aika shows can be one aspect of that complexity, but without the rest it just rings hollow. Then linking that concept of inner turmoil together with the whole stalking angle is just.....problematic.

Many of these depictions about how people should act around or interact with people they find attractive are extremely exaggerated. Its not new.  Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry, the Flintstones etc routinely had over the top reactions to seeing a beautiful woman ever since my parents were kids. And yet that's not how people normally act. Even as an awkward teenager I don't recall ever actually going completely dumbstruck by a cute girl. But I sure recall as an older teenager acting like I was, in a performative manner, thanks to seeing it in various forms of media where men and teenage boys did it express their interest. I sure didn't feel that way or understand it, but did it since it seemed like expected behavior in those situations. I know I wasn't the only one and these lessons became internalized. Eventually, some people would go on to create content of their own that drew on those internalized aspects of expected behavior and the cycle begins anew.  It took a bit of deprogramming as I got older to weed out some of the behaviors that were learned (including things such as cat calling). That said, Pepe Le Pew always seemed gross, but the older I got the more apparent that was. To me, this anime is like if the cat girl Pepe was always forcing himself on suddenly starts liking him. Gross.
 
I'd also agree that for the most part, the male MC is likeable. And that ends up being part of the issue. His likeable nature is a mechanism to help the viewer be more apt to overlook his less desirable personality traits and maintain the suspension of disbelief required to make this story work. But you're spot on. Its really hard to do that and the levels of cognitive dissonance required to do so are significant. If anything, if you wanted to end up at the same end goal of perpetrator and victim ending up together it feels like that subject matter could be handle with much more care. Take a look at something like  'A Silent Voice'. It has its detractors too due to the inherent messaging, I wont comment on that but its at least handled the situation more delicately. There is no doubt that the male MC did horrible things to the female MC. There was no in world attempt to make light of the subject matter or excuse it.  It was faced head on. It was uncomfortable, as it should be. The author here chose not to take that path and instead ended up with a stalkers manifesto.

Umi_no_Majo said:
Now that's interesting. I haven't actually thought of this story from the point of view of a teenage boy but I could say that, as once a teenage girl long time ago, I've had very strong crushes when I was younger. Mostly on teachers and childhood friends rather than random strangers or people I seldom have an interaction with, but you get my point. This does make me wonder if the author is actually female. This story would make a lot more sense if the genders are reversed Nozaki-kun style. This might seem like a double standard but it would also feel much less controversial. Normal girl crushes on the school idol for years and he keeps brushing her off but takes notice when she gives up.

Maybe I'll do a Dawson's Creek marathon this weekend :)