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Some minor spoilers, but nothing past the halfway mark

Nagi no Asukara is a compelling drama about a bunch of middle schoolers trying to beat prejudice and stop the equivalent of a nuclear winter.

No seriously.

Nagi no Asukara's main message involves discrimination between people. The two sides of the coin here are the people of Shioshishio, an underwater village made of fish people, and the people of Oshiooshi, a town above water made of non-fish people. They're fighting with each other due to the fact that the people of Oshiooshi stopped believing in the god that gave life to them and tensions have arisen since then.

Our ... main characters of the show are a group of Shioshishio residents that have to go to school above water because their school shut down. Hikari Sakishima is the "leader" of this group, a brash, short-tempered brat. With him are the innocent and dependent Manaka, the coolheaded and mature Kaname, and Chisaki, who has a crush on him (I honestly don't know a good adjective for Chisaki. I'm sorry). Eventually, they become friends with the almighty playboy (not really) Tsumugu, who I will refer to as Tsmooth-mugu from now on.

Eventually, the Shioshishio kids realize that there aren't that many difference between them and the surface dwellers, and many of the land people feel the same way. Well, except the adults. They're all stubborn tsunderes.

I want to get into the story, but it's very character driven. I'm just going to say a few things about the first half, in point form.
-A love story between Hikari's sister Akari and a land person
-The students learning to accept the ocean people
-Preparing to worship a water god to stop a nuclear winter
-Hikari becoming a likable character

Sure, that last one might not be an actual story point, but I still feel like adding there as an important point. See, Nagi no Asukara features some of the best character development in anime (I'm so sorry for this transition). While every character seems like a trope of something, they eventually blossom into actual characters. Hikari is a notable example, with him going from annoying in the first episode to a respectable person in subsequent ones. Characters change in NagiAsu. You see all sides of them, their dark and their light. Even Chisaki, who I didn't even bless with an adjective becomes a favorite of mine (I'm still really sorry about that). There is, however, one exception: Manaka. Manaka as a character doesn't really develop from her innocent and crybaby ways. Her character is very appealing, however, so she isn't left behind too far back to be a hindrance. While Nagi no Asukara is very character driven, Manaka, true to her character, is off to the side. To me, Manaka is an Absol. While Absol is a relatively powerful dark type with a very high attack stat that doesn't need to evolve, there really isn't much you can do against its horrible defense.

One final thing to this crappy review is one of the most interesting parts of this show

A love polygon.

See, this show deserves its romance tag for a reason, as it features one of the most complex love polygons I've ever seen (and I haven't seen much so don't look at me, I'm weak). The main five characters are put into a love pentagon. Now, you may think that it's pretty obvious who's going to end up with who, but then, out of nowhere, the midseason plot twist comes in and shakes everything up, including adding 2 more characters to the shape to make a love heptagon. Your ships will sink and new ones will sail. It's honestly the most confusing thing to look at as an outsider. Don't worry. Everyone ends up with a happy ending, so don't be sad if Chisaki may or may not win with the one you want(I'm so freaking sorry) because it all ends up okay. It's really satisfying.

So, final verdict. Nagi no Asukara is good. The ending is rushed but otherwise is a very good show. I've not spoiled or even hinted at the second cour story, so you just have to watch it. Music and Art are really good, but those are more subjective than your opinion on harem anime.
I'm sorry I've wasted your time with this. It's my first time. Good night