The show is overall fantastic with superb visuals and characters. A few standouts for me personally were Fuuka and Chiyu, but that's just me. While I do think the second half is a little spotty in terms of focus and pacing, it certainly sticks the landing by the end! There is a lot of character development that feels earned and well deserved, but I do warn that some of it can be a slower burn for some characters more than others.

Still, if you manage to make it all the way through, the ending will make that burn feel like an overarching accomplishment. There's many lessons for these characters to learn about life, but I think I disagree with the community's idea that it's just a coming-of-age story: it's more than that. Many of the lessons to be taken from this show, while dealing with passion and the general decision of where to take one's life next, can be applied to a viewer of ANY age. To me, that makes it more special.

There is an elephant in the room for many when discussing this show, and that is whether or not it is a Yuri show: It is NOT meant to be viewed as such, so going in with that expectation will most certainly set some up for disappointment. There's "evidence" to support the possibility of Yuri romance, but to be honest, it's nothing more than wishful thinking in the context of the show. Still, it is left ambiguous enough for shippers to have their fun, but be aware that the the show strays from that idea in most of the dialogue. At the end of the day, whether or not there's romance is entirely up to interpretation and is not necessarily canon.

I do have a little nitpick with one outcome for a supporting character of the second half, so if you're interested, spoiler's ahead! (Keep in mind that it's utterly insignificant, I'm just overly focused on it lmao)

Anyway, besides that miniscule detail that has no bearing on the show anyway, I still love the show! It was a fun ride, and I'll miss it going forward. There was a lot of enjoyment in waiting for the next episode, especially since each episode had relatively alright pacing. My Thursdays will feel a little more empty now haha