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Up till now I've always thought of Takagi-san as a non sequitur, each episode a known quantity without any big surprises in store. Season 3 doesn't turn this dynamic on its head, but it's a big step forward in many ways.

The bread and butter of Takagi-san is still there: Nishikata seeks victory over Tagaki, and his hastily-concocted schemes are quickly and repeatedly undone by her superior intellect. But the game is altered in season 3 by such innovations as losing on purpose, declining to play, and only pretending to play. As always, the most heartwarming bit is watching Nishikata put his feelings for Takagi ahead ... of his desire for victory as he slowly comes to understand what those feelings are.

The side characters are fantastic in season 3. While they still exist primarily to put Nishikata and Tagaki's relationship in context, most of them have settled into their respective friend groups by now and we see them chatting with classmates they seemed to barely notice before. Seeing the new classroom dynamic emerge was a real joy, and I'm excited for what the future holds.

The direction for this season is also top-notch. On quite a few occasions I had to pause the show and ask myself "What show is this??", and I wish there were more of these unexpected scenes in the second half. More broadly, the show is very stylistically consistent, and the full-episode arcs bring out the best in Nishikata and Takagi's relationship- I hope we get more of them in season 4.

Chii Nishikata's existence is a matter of dire importance. I feel like I may have jumped the gun by looking at some of the manga covers on this season's website so I would avoid doing so if you haven't already.

All in all, this season's a solid 8.5/10. It's not perfect, but it never failed to make me smile, and you can bet I'll be watching the movie as soon as it airs.