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I'm going to cry. I wrote this all out and then accidentally refreshed when I was just about to hit publish. Can't remember what I even said.

😭😭😭😭, oh well I'll try again.

Spoilers ahead

Firstly I'll say I really enjoyed this anime. I picked up the manga shortly after starting and thought the adaptation was solid.

I really like the animation. It's playful in the characters expressions. It kind of reminds me of the comedic expressions in Monthly Girls Nozaki Kun.

For the emotional beats, I really enjoyed the Animation. It to me does something very similar to Horimiya with the color splashes during ... emotional or pivotal scenes.

Here, this show does color behind still stencils of the characters faces during those moments and it made the feels hit harder when those would happen.

The OP and ED to me I kinda passed on. The rest of the soundtrack really again underscored those very sweet or serious moments in a way that made you feel them so much.

Okay onto the characters but first a note about the characters.

There is an age gap. The age gap is 1-2 years. Either Yamada being 18 or 19 and Akane is 20, I'm not fully sure, sources were inconsistent.

Yamada is a high-school senior and Akane is a first year college student.

Personally I did not find this age gap egregious or offensive. To me this age gap is close in a way that I don't feel like they're in such separate places in their lives. Like Yamada will be in university soon. It feels to me like a common and normal age gap.

Had it been say 18 and 26, I'd have issues.

I think also the way it's handled is well. Like the anime doesn't obsess over it. Like it doesn't feel creepy. Yamada doesn't feel infantilized or overly mature and Akane doesn't feel like she's creepy or leering at him.

It's really up to your own taste, if this age gap makes you uncomfortable, no judgment, I would skip this anime then.

Okay onto the characters.

Our main protagonist Akane is so enjoyable. She felt so real and relatable as a character. It was hard not to like her.

I appreciate that she's mature and has a good head on her shoulders. She's a well rounded character who is very open about her emotions, and she's open about all of them. While she is a very kindhearted character, it's clear that's not all she is. She is allowed to be sad and cry, she gets frustrated, she gets to experience joy and silliness.

I relate to her so much. There's a scene in which she describes feeling rattled to the fact that Yamada and Rurihime might be dating and I felt that hard, the feeling that your crush (even if you haven't acknowledged or realize they are your crush) might be with someone else is a stomaching sinking/soul crushing moment, it was honestly a bit too real.

I also appreciate that she isn't a punchy punchy tsundere. I don't think I could've continued watching. I also like her interactions with the other characters. Again she just feels like someone who is navigating through a tough break up along with falling in love again.

Next Yamada (afro). Okay I will fully admit that his trope is something I enjoy. Cool headed/cold demeanor type of guy with a heart of gold, totally my thing. So I very much enjoyed his character as well, super likeable. There's not much else for me to say there. I'm very biased here.

I also enjoyed his progressions in understanding social cues here and there and I liked watching his slowly but surely begin to care about Akane without him even realizing at first.

On the otherhand I can see why people say he falls flat and feels like he is only there to serve the purpose of being a heart throb though. Like he's just there to stand around a look pretty. Which is kind of the whole point of the trope. Pretty guy, seems not super emotional, turns out to be a very sweet loving and kind guy.

So if you're not into that trope, definitely not the vibe here.

Next Eita, he's the theatric and comedic supportive friend. He gets to be a wise supportive friend to most of the character. He also has moments of trying to get Akane and Yamada together. He also has a bit of a sister complex. He does fall to the wayside here and there, but it makes sense in the context to give more space to the main characters. He's enjoyable to watch.

Runa is Eita's bratty and possessive little sister. She is very possessive of not only her brother, but Yamada, and the guild as well. She's pretty typical in the whole dislike the MC, but I'm just glad she doesn't stay that way for long. She Warms up to Akane quite quickly and then they're able to hang out and enjoy each other's company. Akane seems to become a bit of an older sister to Runa.

Kamota is enjoyable, not super present. He's kind and caring and I'm looking forward to the next season if it follows along with the manga.

Momo is Akane's supportive friend who wants to get married that's it.

Lastly, Tsubaki, I enjoyed her as a character. I never really thought that she would be any competition to Akane, but I definitely empathized and sympathized with her. I can understand the whole "if I stay by their side they'll eventually notice and recognize my love without me confessing to them" bruh that's real. Saying how you feel is fricken hard and sometimes it truly feels better/safer/more comfortable to keep it in.

I also appreciate the friendship she creates with Akane and that through their interactions she becomes unsure of what she was even doing in the game for other than selfish reasons.

Lastly that rejection scene brutallll...but I am glad that she took the rejection well, they didn't set it up for her to become am antagonist or anything. They didn't do the character dirty.

Onto the relationship. I so enjoyed the relationship progression within the show. To me this is an example of slow burn romance done well. What I mean here is that every interaction Yamada and Akane have feels like a necessary to step to getting to their confession and developing of their relationship. Their development didn't feel to fast or too slow. I enjoyed each interaction they had, it never felt wasted. The tone also felt really balanced between serious and comedic moments. Each had their time and didn't feel overshadowed by one another.

Look I'm already a big softie here. This type of anime is right up my alley and it reduces me to a squealng into my pillow, crying, and fist pumping in the air type of person and I really enjoy that. Basically I turn into a more emotional version of my already emotional self. It's for me one of those anime where you root so hard for the two characters to get together and your heart aches and quickens in the places the characters do as well.

I do acknowledge it doesn't reinvent anything, but it was still refreshing for me, but also to be honest healthy adult relationships in anime seem to always feel refreshing at this point.

So to summarize here, would I recommend this anime, absolutely. If you're looking for a good cutesy romance anime I would definitely watch this one.

Spoilers ahead.


So I'm going to try a different format to my review, it's a bit less organized, but I tried.

So to me, firstly the anime doesn't exactly portray insomnia super accurately. It feels more playing it as listlessness.

It kinda takes a more simplistic take on it, and honestly as someone who suffers from insomnia, I don't really mind. I don't think the anime was going for a hyperrealistic portrayal of it, does that then make the name of the anime kinda pointless, maybe. But honestly if they portrayed the dark and nitty gritty aspects of insomnia we'd have a totally different ... genre of anime and it would clash with the tone of the anime. All I'm saying is insomnia is literally in the title and what I watched felt like insomnia lite.

If I were to say anything else about the way insomnia is portrayed, I'd say the way it affects the characters kinda seems to be missing, like all the main character really does in school is sleep. So I feel like they could've gone a bit deeper into the impacts and how the characters lean on each other despite the impacts.

Lastly, despite my gripe here, I will admit while inaccurate, it's a very adorable meet-cute type thing, like I enjoyed how insomnia brought the two together, they make it very cutel.

Okay that aside, what the anime does well is its tone, characters, relationship, visuals, and most of the music.

The anime has this very calm and warm vibe. Like a warm cup of tea on a rainy day, it kinda pulls you in and lulls you to sleep in a very comforting soft way. They nailed that kind of tone.

The characters to me are really likeable and don't feel cartoonish, they don't feel overdramatic, but also not stiff.

I think the romance/relationship bewteen the main two characters doesn't feel impossibly slow, it just feels like the anime takes the right amount of time to show us the developing relationship between the two main characters. We even get a confession and a kiss towards the end of the series, so that's nice, didn't feel like I was waiting a million years just to hear them say "I like you"

Like it doesn't feel meandering. I'm just enjoying watching these two dorks bond.

I really like the ED and I think the overall OST has a very nice soft and intimate feeling. Very slowed down. To me the OP is hit or miss.

So before I applaud the visuals, I want to say I'm a bit sad that astronomy takes kind of a backseat, like I was really looking forward to them using the observatory and learning about the stars together. Though it ended up being more about astrophotography and even then it didn't really feel focused on that, which is fine I guess, the anime is mostly focused on the characters and their bond and use astronomy as more just the thing that brought them together versus having it as a really vital part of the anime. This works for this anime because the characters are likeable, if not it would've brought the anime down. That being said, the visuals of the photography are absolutely gorgeous. The sites they see have this really amazing atmosphere.

Okay here are some gripes for me.

1)It kind of reminds a bit of Your Lie in April and/or I Want To Eat Your Pancreas(which isn't necessarily a bad thing, I enjoyed both of those), but I'm kinda getting tired of the sick girl changes guys life and then dies trope, not saying I definitively know that's going to happen, but I'm not exactly looking forward to it if that's what happens. It makes the girl seem like she doesn't actually matter and is just there to open the guy's eyes to some major epiphany about life, like how precious or beautiful it is, or returning to something he one loved. It's just getting to a place where that story line isn't my cup of tea anymore, but that's my personal opinion.

2)I wish that they would've gone more into Nakami's backstory. There's scenes after events where he's profusely apologizing and I'm guessing that has to do with the whole "I feel at fault for my mom abandoning me, so when things fail I 100% take all the blame" which makes sense, but also I believe it could've been delved into a bit more, cause that apology scene felt jarring and without really further discussing why he felt that way.

3)I feel in general the show overuses montages, but I get it, you can cover more ground quickly to get back to the main interactions between characters. Again the ending episode is really up to your taste, it takes its time.

4) and this is about the ending of the show so spoiler warning

4a)The ending episode definitely takes its time, personally it's slow to me. I kinda felt it dragged on in a way where nothing seemed like it was happening. I know I got more of a confession, but even that felt lackluster. So again toned down episode not necessarily a bad thing, just not my cup of tea, the ending felt very underwhelming.

4b) Regarding the end of the episode 13, why did we get a memory flashback of the show? It honestly doesn't feel earned like why are we being reminded of their adventures, we're not fat enough away from them to be like oh I need a scene where they look back on it.

5)here's just something I'm legit confused if I missed it.

Did Ukegawa at the end say Magari and Nakami won a contest with a photo? If so unless again I missed it, they didn't show the photo? Unless he was referring to the previous club member who owns the lottery place.

Summary
Overall, the show I'd give it a 7. It's got some pretty nice warm feelings. Like I said before you don't have to wait forever to get relationship progression. The pacing felt a little bit off at times and at the end much slower which to me took away from the show. It's got pretty animation for sure. It doesn't reinvent the genre, but I wasn't expecting it to. It's by no means a bad show. If you like the slow and soft vibe with gorgeous visuals and a cute relationship then this could be right up your alley.

Okay, I am going to split this review into two parts. First part just general overview thoughts and the second part will get into spoiler territory, so be warned, though not really sure how much there is to spoil with a very typical isekai formula. Either way I will make it clear about which section is which.

THOUGHTS ON ISEKAI AS A GENRE
First and foremost, I am someone who really doesn't have an issue with all the isekai anime, personally I like them and like to see the variety of what each anime does with the concept of transferred to a new world and to ... see what tone the story takes (i.e. slice or life or more dramatic, or even romance).

I also like isekai anime because more often than not, it kinda allows me to power down my brain. They are usually really easy to follow and don't involve a lot of emotional investment. It's really just turn off your brain type anime and go along with the silliness or repetitiveness. And none of this is to say all isekai are amazing, some of them I definitely drop and have taken breaks because sometimes the repeat plot gets kinda old if I watch too many consecutively, but otherwise like I said I like the often predictable set up and can just have a no stress anime in the background.

NON-SPOILER THOUGHTS
This is hands down a very generic isekai. I saw a lot of reviews talking about Mushoku Tensei and how it is a blatant rip off, I can't really say. I haven't seen that anime yet.

Having said that I thought this anime was fine, the general tropes: An overpowered main character, a harem, the whole "i just want to protect everyone's smiles" type motivation, and the general misunderstanding shenanigans.

For me an annoyance is the dumb misunderstandings of MC with his harem. Its one of the tropes I could do without, verbal misunderstanding leads to the MC getting berated by everyone and it gets old. Like it's overused and unnecessary. The whole it sounds like you did something dirty with another let me get upset without just clarifying"

I think the anime got a few chuckles out of me, but most of the jokes were overused and typical, like the shock of how overpowered the MC is. It doesn't get any funnier the more they use that joke.

The characters are pretty standard and bland, there isn't any major character exploration, it is very much just filled with stock characters. They aren't particularly likeable, they honestly just are.

The animation was pretty standard, it was nice looking.

The soundtrack was pretty forgettable for me.

OVERALL THOUGHTS NON SPOILER
So to summarize, the anime is really not doing anything new. It wasn't offensive by any standard either though. It's literally just an isekai with every trope there is. If you have seen isekai anime before and you know the tropes, you can totally skip this one. If you are just looking for a typical isekai to turn your brain off to then this could be an option.

To me this anime isn't really a recommend or not recommend, it's not ground breaking, but it's not horrible, you get exactly what is advertised. I probably wouldn't recommend to someone looking for a good isekai, but if they wanted to just see a very standard isekaiand trying to look for something incredibly formulaic then I would consider passing this along. But even so, I feel like there is better "typical isekai" than this one.

Truly take it or leave it.

SPOILER THOUGHTS (which is really just one gripe from me)
So one of the things I was pretty disappointed by was the ending. The black dragon only ingested a shard of Aaron, so I thought after Cain defeated the dragon he would also have to go find the other shards. It was implied the other shards are out there, so in my brain it didn't make sense that just destroying this shard would completely defeat Aaron. It was really underwhelming and I was hoping for a bit more, it just left me wanting more. Granted what did I expect here.

Spoilers ahead
Initially, I thought this anime looked super cute when I saw the trailer, I really liked the look of the characters and at first the anime had me and I was like oooo a super cute romance with adults, yessss! I am so starved for adult romance that show cases a light hearted and healthy relationship. I really like Wotakoi and the budding romance within Saint's Magic is Omnipotent (which granted I had issues with, but that is not the point).

I was actually disappointed by the end of the anime, it felt like a romance tease all the way through with no payoff. ...

Art 8
I really enjoyed the art on here, the characters were all so beautifully drawn to me especially Himuro and Fuyutsuki. I think otherwise the non-human characters stood out more, except the president of the company, she honestly matched the color scheme of Himuro despite being a different non-human creature.

I also really liked some of the scenes with Himuro's ice involved, I thought in some places it was cutesy in other places it was beautiful.

Sound 7
Okay for real the OP fucking goes hard, that shit slaps so much. It is truly a vibe. It feels cool like the main character Himuro. Like the intro just feels icy in a good way. The ED was fine, it was a little jazzier, with less flashy animation, its cute and simple.

Character + story 4.5?
I am mixed here, because honestly everyone felt a little lacking in depth. Honestly the only person we really get background on is Fuyutsuki and that is only a snippet of her and what she was like in school, which was cold and stoic. I feel like she was the typical shy girl who doesn't recognize her feelings for Himuro.

Himuro, the only note I have here is what is up with him turning into a literal child when he gets too warm, that felt weird and out of place and kinda creepy. Like he internally had an adult voice, but externally he had kid voice. It was weird, and even weirder for him to crush on Fuyutsuki while he was in kid form and her just be like oh he was adorable, like what? When he was in that stage both times Fuyutsuki had to take care of him, and not like in a romantic way or it felt weird to even think of it in a romantic way because h was literally a child. Like she literally had to buy a kid ice cream so he could age back up to himself. Or take care of a kid when he got a fever. She literally even tells him that it is not safe for kids to walk alone at night?!!!! Like wtffff, and these are the people I am supposed to be rooting for to get together, also there is a moment where he falls on top of her in kid form and she blushes, shr fricken blushes and it's supposed to be this awkward cute moment, but he is a literally a kid??? So I am just like this is creepy and not romantic at all. nuh uh I am weirded out, this is not it, not even remotely it or cute. It felt like she was his mom or older sister caretaking in those moments and not in like a romantic way because he was in literal kid form, I am sorry I cannot get over this fact.

Otherwise he is a good looking guy who gets very bashful and reacts to things depending on his emotions with varying types of snow, snowmen, blizzard, icicles, etc.

I like Himuro and Fuyutsuki's dynamic besides the whole kid thing which honestly put me off and kind of ruined the anime the character rating would have been at least a 6 had there not been this whole weird kid dynamic. It's otherwise cute and I was really looking forward to seeing their relationship progress, and we got little snippets of a budding relationship, but then by the end not even a single confession. It felt so dragged out with no payoff. It got slow and kinda old, I felt very strung along by the last episode.

Other characters/coworkers
Honestly everyone else fell kinda flat. There is the running joke about their chief being like Buddah and (I had to look up the other characters' names because they were kind of forgettable besides design). Saejima and Komori are another pairing that seem to be hinting at a potential romance but that also goes nowhere. Katori is actually memorable as he is the descendant of a phoenix, so he is constantly bright and outputting fireworks, I enjoyed him as a character.a Him and Otonashi are a senpai and kouhai relationship and Katori is chasing after Otnoashi, but it seems Otonashi has no interest at all, and so if there is a budding relationship between the two at first glance it seems a little bit forced and like it isn't going to go anywhere. It feels more like she treats him like a baby bird she needs to look after.

This anime really had the potential to be a cute romance story between coworkers, but it really went nowhere. So the story was meh.

By the end I was like I really sat through this hoping for anything and got nothing, it wasn't even like I was left with a warm cozy feeling, just bruh type of feeling and like it felt pointless to sit through. Like slow burn romance can work, but some payoff needs to occur, like as the viewer there has to be more than just tiny morsels of romance, and as the story goes along substantial progression within the relationship. This show was literally barely breadcrumbs. It felt more just like hints, sprinkles of something that lead to nothing. I ended up bored at the end, questioning again why I sat through this anime. At the end they were like I am glad I met you and have grown because of you, which felt more like a friend confession then anything romantic

Conclusion 4
Again I have mixed feelings about this anime. The characters are likeable enough and I was really rooting for the main two characters to get together, but at the end of the day the story went nowhere, their romance went nowhere, it leaves something left to be desired. Also seriously that whole turn into a kid was absolutely unnecessary and just weird and creepy, so be warned. Like I said earlier had the whole weird kid thing not been introduced this anime would have been rated at least a 6, but I really couldn't get past it and it was so off putting that the rating went drastically down. But if you can get past that and also like slow burn romance then this is for you? Either way I definitely won't be watching this anime again .And I probably won't check it back out if there is a second season.

Okay I am going to keep this review short.

I really enjoyed this anime, it fit perfectly into my ever lasting need for slice of life. I think if you're looking for something easy to pick up and not have to remember too much if you put it down, this is the anime for you.

It's nice to have anime where it's just about friendship, I think also it's nice to just see dudes get along in an anime that is not a sport anime or in a dramatic BL and this is not me dumping on BL, I like my BL's, I just don't ... want them all the time.

The plot is very simple, it's about five dudes, each one good lucking yet has some level of awkwardness. The difference between each guy is how they respond to their being awkward. And by awkward I mean forgetting to plug in your headphone jack and playing music out loud, getting lost, leaving your items places. They all meet each other and you get to watch them interact and just live their lives and their friendships develop, how they help each other, how they joke with each other, etc.

It all feels very relatable and I like the way that their friendship develops. It's all very wholesome. It doesn't feel overly cute and moe, it just feels like a very chill low stakes friendship anime.

I think each guy is also relatable in how they react and while I wasn't dying laughing, I chuckled and related to a lot of their awkward moments. ADHD brain has me making all the mistakes they have. Can't say how many times I have caught myself wearing my shirt inside out and backwards all day.

Art 8
The art felt clean and simple and I liked that a lot.

Sound 7
I think the OP fell a little bit flat for me, but I liked both of the ending songs especially the second ED, I thought the ending songs matched the tone of the anime really well.

Character 8 + story
As said before all of the guys are really likeable in their own way, they all fell like real people I know and have been. And in regards to the story, there isn't really a major arc going on, like I said it is really chill and low stakes, sure each guy has their thing and learns about themselves, but it really is more about their friendship and how they help each other, lift each other up and just have fun together.


Conclusion 8
Overall I really liked this anime, I picked it up and put it down multiple times and I never felt like I couldn't step away or had to memorize every little detail. I think the episodes are also very digestible with the run time of a little over 11 minutes including intro and outro music. I would definitely recommend this anime if you are looking for something super chill and also somewhat cutesy and relatable. It's literally just cute/cool guys who are awkward and get together and are friends.

So simply put I enjoyed these two episodes. It was a very pleasant break from the general structure of training/test arc to big fight arc then one-two lighter episodes. Personally, I get somewhat fatigued over between and within arcs, especially when the fights and training lasts up to 8+ episodes. So if you're needing a bit of a break from all the tenseness you're in the right spot. Both have enough low stakes action that it feels okay to get invested without committing to months of watching. Just one hour investment.

The first episode is the classes playing baseball. Baseball is definitely not a sport ... I watch, and so at first I was getting ready to hit the skip button, but I was actually able to sit and watch the episode. It was fun to see how the students would use their quirks and it gave screentime to class b and some of the less seen characters. It did take til after the rules to really be able to settle, though that's only because I personally seem to space in shows when they start explaining rules to a game, but it was short enough of an explanation.

The second episode I enjoyed, it felt much more villain of the week type of show versus overarching plot that the regular show goes off of. It wrapped up very neatly. I enjoyed the villain, he wasn't this super complicated guy with all this really tragic backstory, just a guy doin what he loves. The villain kind of reminds me of what if the Joker's quirk was literally just emitting joker gas except not deadly. Either way it was fun to see the different characters laugh, definitely got a chuckle out of me, though I was not expecting Deku's laugh to be that way.... but otherwise no complaints.

I am writing this review kind of late, because I have thoughts, but then I really just forget to put them together beyond just notes. I also then forget to publish them (not that this really matters, I am just rambling a bit).

So I go back and forth on this anime, I was expecting a really wholesome story, but what I got kind of felt really lack luster and without substance. I was expecting a story about the relationship between an adorable child and someone who eventually becomes her trusted caregiver.

First off what did I like, well I really loved the OP, the ... OP gave me such a cozy warm feel. Seriously, this OP is fricken great, it felt like warm apple cider to my ears, just perfect change of season music. I think the animation was smooth and soft in the right ways. I really enjoyed looking at the animation of the Japanese sweets.

Now what I didn't like:
Maybe its just the difference in culture, but I dislike family dynamics in any media where the parents just crap on their child, even if the child is an adult. Like the passive aggressive digs. I mention culture because I know Japan is a more collectivistic vs where I am from which has a very much individualistic culture. Family has a different importance (yes, I am aware family is important in many places and to many individuals) and so maybe my disconnect is that the MC not staying to continue the family business and running off to be a musician would be impactful in a different way due to culture? I dunno, maybe its not that and this is a common occurrence in family businesses?

Either way I have never liked when parents or just family members verbally beat up the MC (or just mistreat the MC in any way), and I especially dislike this played off as a joke. I just don't think its funny and it kind of just makes me sad in regards to the MC or any characters that are on that receiving end. It overall just turns me off from any show or movie beyond anime as well.

I went in expecting that kind of adorable child like in Sweetness and Lighting or Yakuza's Guide to Babysitting just aged up a bit? And maybe that is where I went wrong? I also recognize this child was abandoned by basically both her parents so that for is a direct contribution for her mistrust of the MC and people around her.

This anime felt both rushed and slow and the metaphors using the sweets felt forced and kind of just like talking to sound super deep but it was just filling space. I had more questions about her actual dad and his relationship with the MC. I think it would've been nice to see the MC and the girl's relationship expand further.

Also why did the ex see the highschool girl as competition for MC??!! Like the MC is dense and does not see the highschooler's feelings I get that, but why do they show the ex almost competing with the highschooler. I could see the reversal making sense (highschooler seeing the ex as a love rival for the MC, also she's a highschooler, vs a grown ass woman).

Overall for me the plot just feels really unfocused in what I would assume is the showing of the MC becoming a caregiver to the little girl and eventually taking over the family business. The characters were kind of bland or dislikeable. I kind of had to drag my feet through this anime. I kind of bounce back and forth about this anime being 4-6 rating. It's definitely not something I would rewatch, but I do enjoy relistening to the OP.

Warning for spoilers in CHARACTER section
So this anime, I noticed that one of my MAL friends had added it, and I was curious about what it was and decided to watch it.

I think the concept was interesting and I think there were some genuine moments towards the end that I would have wanted to see more of, as I will get into later the story felt really rushed. There were some cringey characters moments mainly coming from the main character though, but also growth. I think for me this anime has its downfalls in the other main character and their likability as well as rushing ... the plot.

Story 6
So I thought the concept was really interesting. You have this loner high schooler who is the top Japan gamer at not* Super Smash Bros and isn't really socialized or has very cynical views (bordering on incelish views) on the way the "normies" interact and how he could never be one. Then comes along another character who is very good at pretty much everything, sports, academics, at the top of her social game, but cannot beat the main character at the game. They meet up, she realizes who she is and decides to help him be socialized through having him see life as a game.

Regarding how this story was actually executed felt stunted by the characters and how they were written which I will get into later. So basically my main view of the story is the story was too rushed which then impacted the characters and how they were written. The writing of characters brought down the story, and we really only got to see the development of the main character, but not really the progression of others. So it was kinda a domino effect here. Even the ending felt like the payoff needed more, like it just needed a more rounded out arc for multiple characters, especially the second main character.

Really the story has the fault of being really rushed, but slow to get to the really hearty moments of the anime.

Like I said in my intro the last I think two episodes were where I really enjoyed the show and I wished a lot of the rest of the show was like those last two episodes where we do see heartfelt moments and the result of the main character's growth.


Art 6
I feel like the art was fair, I don't think there was anything that really stood out to me about the art in either amazing or awful ways.

Sound 6
I actually kinda liked both the OP and ED because of how they tried to incorporate gaming into the lyrics, it felt creative. The rest of the soundtrack felt fine.

Character 5

The main character Fumiya with his first monologue I was like woahhhhh are we on some incel garbage? I was super worried about how it was going to take on this issue, the writing for some of his dialogue felt super cringey, and definitely felt like an older person wrote it.

Although I can't say I don't know people who have felt like that, I think at its core, his feelings are relatable in the way that so many of us have felt like outsiders and unable to fit at some point in our lives. He does express his disdain, and it is a bit overwhelming to hear, it sort of feels a bit like animosity which can be a bit uncomfy and almost giving a school shooter vibe.

It was also kinda unfortunate that with every failure, Fumiya would reason that it was occurring because he was a bottom tier character, I say unfortunate because failure is part of life and part of gaming and I think in those moments it would've been cool to see some pushback to his doubts and beliefs that it is just who he is and to even frame it in gaming.

I do know though that in general it is pretty realistic for one to internalize failure, and that is basically what he was doing.

I liked that in his growth we see his develop care for being genuine and authentic, and as I put in my criticism of Aoi, I wished we could've seen more pushback to her on pushing him to complete the tasks and goals regardless of how disingenuous the action would've been for Fumiya, or regardless of how much he truly wanted to do that goal. I like that we see him still awkward even as he is getting more and more used to his interactions, I also kind of wished we got to see him actually enjoying being around people instead of solely viewing the stuff he was doing as the tasks to complete and then reporting it back to Aoi. Like it would've been cool to see him do more and more social interactions on his own and because he wanted to.

Throughout the show, we see the second main character Aoi or Noname(her gamer tag on Tackfam) guiding him through social challenges to help him socialize.

She was not super likeable, first off why does she help him, that is never really answered, like if they are going for she helps him because of her wanting to live up to the expectations of Nanashi (his gamer tag) then it could've been expressed a bit better, because I feel like I spent so much of the anime like, "dude why are you helping him?" Like there is no really hint that they would be romantic with each other, especially with how she criticizes him in their first meeting as Nanashi and Noname. Also there is the argument that they are friends, never does she ever really treat him like a friend, the only times we see them interact is for Fumiya reporting on his tasks and progress and when she is around while Fumiya is doing his tasks. She treats him as a project.

Second off she is so mean to him, like yes does he have stuff to work on, and some of the stuff she criticizes him for are true, BUT she does it in such a harsh and demeaning way. With the way she talks down to him in such a cutting way it makes her come across as just like she doesn't actually want him to succeed.

You can give constructive criticism while also being genuinely encouraging, but truly she never really is encouraging without also being incredibly cruel. Also noting she has this arrogance about her, as though the way she perceives the world is absolute, towards the end, she casts Fumiya as a loser and a coward when he actively refuses to force a confession when he is trying to avoid being disingenuous and trying to figure out what he "truly" wants.

In that she is a hypocrite, because she herself cannot face herself for who she is and is wearing a mask, and I get that this is a flaw of hers, but it is only pointed out towards the very end of the anime. Throughout the anime, she is treated like this untouchable being, and I will acknowledge I absolutely know people like this who always have their mask on and there are for sure people who's mask is being that all around good at everything person.

Fumiya does point out and question her a few times throughout the show regarding her suggestions being inauthentic and seem deceptive and she writes him off.

Now I think she gave him some legitimate advice, because we do actively see Fumiya grow, but he is also doing reflecting over what she is asking of him, but I would've been so interested to see him give her more pushback and both of them realizing where they are wrong in their perspectives and both growing. Like I believe this occurring for both would've provided a satisfying arc.

She is also incredibly push on what she deems what will give him the growth he needs, despite not showing her having had the same things, like a part time job, does she have that or experience, a girlfriend, where is her partner? Like to an extent she does explain why each task can be helpful, but she also doesn't back really why she believes this is crucial to experiencing high school.

Like yes in so much media about high school it is about getting the guy or girl, or being popular so maybe it doesn't need to be explicitly stated why it is productive to the high school experience (which it seems like so many stories are trying to actively get away from and not make that the main focal point of the story and focus more on individual characters), and at the same time not everyone needs the same thing to enjoy high school, not everything needs to revolve around dating, one can learn to be more social without having to date, one can get the high school experience without having to date. None of this is to say that there is anything wrong with wanting a partner either. In this anime, the goals just didn't feel introduced naturally.

Regarding Mimimi and Tama.
I think it was really cool to see Mimimi wanting to help Tama socialize and that was cool to see AT FIRST.....BUT Mimimi actively sexually harasses Tama and occasionally Aoi, and this is played off as a joke.....yeah I wasn't really down with that. It was uncomfortable as hell. It is even said that Mimimi was no longer really competing with Aoi, but her harassment of Tama increased by like three times....and that's okay?!!

Fuka-
So I thought her character was cute and she did act as way for Fumiya to further develop and she did play a role in his development, BUT her character was pretty hollow and surface level. Like she didn't feel like her own character, she really did just feel like exactly what I said, written only for Fumiya's progress, like her whole character is writing and observing others to help writing, and liking this one author...how stereotypical can you get and base level character, like she deserved more depth.

I would've loved to see him make more progress in their relationship and see it naturally progress and get to know her more. Like maybe we find that they are better off as friends, and that is okay, or maybe they do end up together.

Takahiro and Shuji
Kinda forgettable, it was cool to see Fumiya and Takahiro get close and bond though.

Yuzu-
Also kind of forgettable, was there to help Fumiya socialize and as a potential romantic interest, but then it ended up she was interested in Shuji and her arc was interest in Shuji and the rest of the characters trying to set them up. After Fumiya helped her with a birthday present, her character kind of faded out, and was only there a bit.


Conclusion
Whew, so after all of that I'd say overall the anime is fine, those heartfelt ending moments I wish were more throughout the anime.

I wouldn't say this is a complete throwaway anime, but if you are watching be prepared for a rushed story while also being slow to get to the best moments, and also in my opinion a dislikeable second main character, also an at first very cringey main character.

If you don't watch it, you won't miss out on too much and if you feel like you are short on patience I would not recommend this anime. Overall it was fine, nothing great, nothing horrendous.

Spoiler Warning for plot ahead.
Alright, before anyone crucifies me, here me out here. I feel like this anime had a lot going for it and then really just didn't do anything with the potential.

I watched this anime because all I kept hearing was how absolutely amazing it was and how realistically it captured what it was like to be a teen. I was told it was refreshing, I ended up being pretty disappointed, its not to say it isn't at all realistic, but I definitely don't see that it is this groundbreaking anime that I was hearing it was. Honestly the romance ended up ... being a lower tier romance for me.

Art 8
Honestly, I really really liked the art, I thought it was super beautiful, and the color schemes behind each character felt really gorgeous.

Sound 5
Personally, I thought the sound was just alright, I liked the ED more so just because I thought the animation was cute.

Character 3 + Story 4 (because I kind of started talking about both here and it was hard to separate after writing)
So the main two characters Hori and Miyamura.

Firstly, I do want to point out, they did have some cute moments, and their first meeting felt really interesting and I got excited for a potentially super cute romance, some of their conflicts were relatable, and just the awkwardness of the relationship was bearable and understandable.

First to start off with Hori, her character to me just wasn't super likeable.
For a few reasons, firstly it just seemed she was constantly upset at Miyamura, and it was obnoxious to see her get upset at him so often for things that really weren't his fault.

There was a lot of yelling at him, or hitting him. Often, her being so upset was a direct result of lack of communicating, and not just on her end all the time, on both.

There is a bit of understanding there as communication can be hard at all ages, and communicating in relationships is really hard and stuff can get lost and misunderstood.

I will say the bulk of their issues stemmed from lack of communication, and when you're not even communicating about the issue of lack of communication or communication styles not working well, the problems are just going to keep arising and eventually get old.

Honestly Miyamura and Ishikawa had more chemistry than him and Hori.

Secondly, while I get Miyamura going out of his way to do things for Hori is nice and cutesy, I really was uncomfortable in Hori pressuring Miyamura to take part in her being a masochist. Like sure Miyamura does try just to make Hori happy (and nothing necessarily wrong with pushing yourself out of your comfort zone for your partner once, BUT with the expectation that if you don't like it, you do not have to do it again and this is not applied here). Like really just not cool to continuously make him uncomfortable.

It's played off as a joke, but I don't think its funny, I mean she had him hit her in public in broad daylight and Miyamura's previous bullies saw, like Miyamura could've totally gotten in a lot of trouble from outsiders looking in, like his bullies could have reported him, for people not in the know about their dynamic, Miyamura could've really gotten in serious trouble and someone could have assumed he was physically abusing her.

Look no kink shaming here, and I also hardcore believe that no one should be pressured into partaking in a kink, and if a kink is that important it might be a sign that there is incompatibility and it is time to find someone more compatible.

Consent is very very very important and pressuring someone to do something just because you like it is wrong.

It was just incredibly uncomfortable and it made Hori super unlikeable to me.

I also think we just breezed through too quickly about her being a bully? Then the class president blackmailing her into doing their work so he doesn't reveal how much of a bully she was, therefore ruining her image??? Like what?

I am not saying people can't change, just the way this was introduced was weird and played off as a joke in a certain way.

I digress that Hori did have some relatability, getting jealous can be normal.

BUT it did seem to step into controlling territory to where she was jealous of everyone, girls complimenting him, him getting close with his guy friends, like give the dude a bit of a break. It just felt like she kept him on a leash.

Regarding Miyamura's guy friends, what's with the biphobia here, Miyamura never denied attraction to dudes or when someone was making a joke about him dating Ishikawa he took it more seriously. 1) it made Hori more jealous, 2)it was treated like a joke and like it was gross.....same with Ishikawa

Not really sure how to feel about that.

I also can relate to when I was younger and being immediately worried if someone didn't respond, worried about their wellbeing.

Hori overall fell into the trap of being a character in a relationship who could never be pleased, jealous, possessive, pushy, etc and her likeability and my ability to root for their relationship suffered and had completely disappeared.

Regardining Miyamura, he was incredibly likeable. He does so much for Hori and genuinely just wants to make her happy.

BUT this also has a huge issue of really not making him feel like he has agency or the ability to be his own person. One thing that kind of irked me is how the whole plot hinged on was "oh wow, he's this initially seeming loner, but now he's actually an edgy dude and the popular girl meets this version of him, how scandalous and what will happen," but he changes himself for Hori because he is worried about affecting her popularity after some people make comments.

Like his whole attractive point of having piercings and tattoos and long hair is almost pointless, because he just goes and cuts his hair, and spends most of the time hiding who he is.

Like his whole personality is dating Hori and yes they do go into his depression and what he was like when he was a kid, so its not like he has no backstory, its just after that his whole thing is really just about Hori.

And I could see how in high school sometimes the person you're dating does feel like your whole world, and can really change your world. There is truth in being grateful to your partner in the new experiences they bring to you and the friends you meet through them.

I also want to mention here, there is nothing wrong with being submissive in a relationship and I don't just mean in the kink sense. AND just because you are submissive, it is still important to communicate your needs and wants in a relationship, there is a difference between being submissive and being a doormat, Miyamura unfortunately fell into the latter category.

I also believe that Miyamura needed to have more depth and to see more of who he was versus just "he is Hori". A relationship where all you care about is catering to your partner can be unhealthy in certain situations.

So overall regarding their relationship, it initially seemed like it could be cute, but just felt very toxic and unhealthy, and felt even grosser to romanticize their relationship.

Ishikawa, Sakura, and Yuki
I quite enjoyed Ishikawa.

Alsooooo I believe that it made more sense for him to end up with Sakura. We see Yuki being the type to never voice her feelings and then get upset for not getting what she wants, which then leads to her getting what she wants. She has really low self confidence and beats up herself a lot.

We really get to only see a few interactions between Yuki and Ishikawa and I guess I read their relationship as more like family versus romantic, though at the same time from the way this anime was structured, and seeing Sakura pursue Ishikawa, it was obvious there was going to be conflict in the form of a love triangle.

While I don't necessarily think Sakura had more chemistry with Ishikawa, I could have seen more likely that they could've built a relationship, versus Yuki and Ishikawa starting their relationship through lies and deception.

Even if Sakura and Ishikawa didn't work out, it would've been nice to see natural progression, versus forced relationship between Ishikawa and Yuki. Really there was no indicator outside of necessary plot that Ishikawa was even interested in Yuki. Dude just got over being rejected by Hori, this isn't to say it doesn't make sense he'd move on, there was just no indicator he'd move onto Yuki.

The other side characters kinda fell flat, the president and his girlfriend, like what was with the way that Sakura and the president (Sengoku) treated her, like they would look down on her and scold her, it felt more like he treated her like a child than his girlfriend.

The bully was kinda confusing and his whole plot was kind of confusing on why he didn't like Miyamura, and it took me a sec to figure it out despite it feeling kind of like a throwaway plot point.

So overall I had a good amount of issues with the characters and the way the story was then carried out.

The story like the side characters fell kinda flat to me.

Conclusion 5
Overall, I find like I said in the intro, this anime had a lot of potential, but ultimately didn't make much of what it had going for it and did not in my opinion live up to the hype.

It's not totally unwatchable, there are some nice moments, the animation is beautiful, its kind of a watch it don't watch it, one could go either way.

If you enjoyed it, I am happy you could enjoy it, this is just my personal overview.

Potential warning for spoilers
Monthly Girls Nozaki-Kun is a really fun anime, its incredibly lighthearted, and quite hilarious, I found myself laughing a good amount and really hard throughout the show.

Story 7
The story is really easy to follow, and it follows Sakura Chiyo who is in love with a guy named Nozaki Umetaro. She tries to confess to him and he gives her his autograph, she later finds out that he writes a pretty popular Shoujou manga, and when she tries to confess again, he takes it that she wants to work with him on the manga. She becomes his assistant. Other characters get involved ... with different aspects of making the manga.

The story is pretty typical, but I find nothing really wrong with that, the story knows what it is and doesn't take itself overly seriously, it makes fun of itself and all the tropes that go with this genre.

The story really shines in its comedic beats, the story is written to really play out the comedy and constant misunderstandings of the characters, both in trying to work on the manga, and the other classmates misunderstanding what is going on as Nozaki doesn't really talk about him making the manga.

The only thing for me that I wished to see more of was a little more romance or show of a romantic potential between Sakura and Nozaki. We spend much more time watching the shenanigans of Sakura working with Nozaki on his manga with the other characters helping too which isn't a bad thing, because it is funny, but it really does feel like the romance/ is a complete after thought. Nozaki and Sakura do get close, but at the same time they don't.

Art 7
The art is nice and clean, I really have no complaints at all, the characters designs feel pretty standard for the tropes they are portraying. I think the characters are also very expressive and paired with the comedic timing and gags the art works really well.

Sound 6
Personally, I thought the music was fine, I didn't really like the OP or ED, but otherwise the OST was fine. The music was passable, just not really my taste. I usually just skipped through it after watching them both once.

Character 8
The characters are all really fun to watch, they interact and play off each other well. Their interactions are really funny, there are so many misunderstandings and the comedy created from that works really well in this anime.

I really found all the characters likeable, while they could be a bit tropey, I think the anime did a really good job playing that up to a degree that wasn't annoying, while also making those tropes incredibly humorous.

I will say there really isn't any character progression in this story, one plot I wanted to see through was for Hirotaka to learn about Yuzuki, but that never came to fruition, which was quite disappointing.

Conflict resolution isn't really much of a thing in this anime.
Conclusion
Overall I really enjoyed a lot about this anime. The characters are likeable, the anime is light and fun, and its downright hilarious at times. If you're looking for a more romantic anime or super in depth characters I might veer away from this one, this one focuses a lot more on the comedy, and at the same time you might like their take on a romantic comedy.

I would definitely recommend this if you're just looking for something fun and easy.