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It's kinda difficult to express my dislike for Saakeno, without sounding like a total snob, but I will try. So, here it comes. BEING SELF-AWARE DOES NOT MAKE YOU A GOOD PARODY OR SATIRE.
Yeah, Saekano is one of those. The kind of work that pokes at some over-used trope or cliché and then loudly proclaims "Isn't that totally a cliché, huh, guys?!". Yeah, it is, but so what? Are you going to expand on that? Maybe in some way subvert that trope and bring about something new? You just poke at it. Okay.
And that's the main problem with Saekano. It tries to be a parody ... simply by being self-aware. It keeps saying that characters are "Tsunderes" and "Yanderes" without even trying to expand on them. It keeps saying how given situation is "Totally out of some harem anime" and then proceed to play it out exactly like that. Nothing is expanded upon or subverted, just acknowledged.
And that's the root of the problem. Well, that and the protagonist, who was made by combining all the annoying traits from other romance protagonists. He's oblivious, obnoxious, doesn't have any talents except "HIS FORCE OF WILL!", has only two voice settings (boring and YELLS RIGHT IN YOUR FACE) and for some reason all of "The most popular girls in the school" are hopelessly in love with him.
I'd say the only redeeming quality the show has is Megumi Katou, the "Boring Girlfriend". She is stated to be incredibly boring, bland and generic. And she is. She genuinely is, but precisely because of that she is the most interesting character in the entire show, because she manages to be original in the sea of over-used tropes and generic characters.
For me Saekano is an example of great wasted potential. There were so many instances where I hoped it'd go to a different, more original direction and become something more. I was hoping Kato would get fed up with Aki's obnoxiousness after he forbade her to go out with her cousin, because majority of rational people would draw a line there.. I was hoping Eriri would accept other circle proposition, because it appreciated her talents, unlike Aki. I was hoping it would go deeper with Utaha's backstory to explain why would she fall in love with Aki to such a degree, that she was willing to compromise her career and artistic integrity for his sake. I was hoping it would expand more on girls' relationship with each other, probably even showing that they don't really need Aki to fulfill their own ambitions. But no. That didn't happen and all we got was some self-referential humor and a creepy camera operator who kept focusing on girls' different body parts for no reason during casual conversations.