If there is a manga reader reading this review... I'm not saying you specifically, but yall really doomed this show before it even came out. The claims that this show would match My Dress up Darling in terms of quality and that Shikimori would be the biggest obstacle for Marin to overcome to for best girl of the year and that kind of stuff... yall did this to yourselves. I try my absolute best to keep my expectations out of shows and to not get hyped leading up to their release. But with SO many manga readers claiming that it was on par with My Dress up Darling (Which is my #2 favorite show and arguably favorite manga), I couldn't help myself. I will admit, I didn't give Shikimori a fair chance within the first 3-4 episodes because I expected something else. And to be fair to the show, when my friend started watching it, I rewatched the first 6 episodes to deem if I was just being overly biased or if the show was just boring. Even with a rewatch of the first half, the show still has a complete and utter lack of character development, story, romance, comedy, and basically anything else to deem it as a proper romcom (hence why the quotations are there in the little paraphrased review sentence)

Story Lets start with the story. Okay, the story summarized as quickly as possible: Shikimori and Izumi are dating. That's really about it. Okay fine, they have backstories... that you don't get to see until episode 11. I'll get to my thoughts of the characters in a second, but the backstories are okay. The problem is that they are so late into the show which by that point were extremely episodic focusing on a different cliche high school event like a festival, beach episode, etc... The most story it has is the little 2-3 episode long "arc" between Shikimori and Kamiya. However, that takes the most predictable route possible so while it was a breath of fresh air in the show rather than just... throwing cliche slice of life event/scenarios at you, it still didn't really add anything.

There really isn't a story, it's mostly episodic, and that's okay. I might make it sound like it's not, but as long as the character interactions are solid, I would be fine with this story, if it was presented as solely a slice of life and not a romcom, as it serves it's purpose to put the characters in different scenarios and to see their interactions.

Comedy There is none. Okay fine. Hachimitsu as a character is comedic. Other than Hachimitsu, there is no comedy in this show. That might sound a bit harsh, but I don't think a single joke made me even smile or chuckle a tiny bit. Hacimitsu and her dead inside eyes and weird... fourth wall breaking and short moments (like her bending her arm backwards all the way) was this show's saving grace, especially in the first few episodes when it really floundered around.Romance For a show centered around a couple post confession, you would think this show would have some meaningful romantic moments. It has like two. The fireworks scene and the final episodes kiss scene. Besides that, it barely felt like there was any romance in the show at all. Shikimori and Izumi feel so disconnected from the entire cast in my opinion. I think the concept of a show being focused on a couple that already exist before the show even starts is great, I haven't seen a show do that... I think. The closest show I can think of is Horimiya where they got together in what? 2 episodes? The problem is that we are given zero reason to care about their relationship. Episode 11, their backstories, give us a tiny sliver of a reason to care and that's about it. Shikimori made Izumi a much happier person and he helped her achieve her goal of becoming more girly/pretty. Okay. That aside, the viewer is given nothing else to care about. Besides being happy (Which of course in a real relationship is the most important thing, but for an anime, I want more), how do either one benefit from their relationship? Izumi is still the same person he was before basically and Shikimori is just more assertive. That's really about it. The romance doesn't add anything to either character and at that point, why aren't they just friends instead? It would make more sense for the story, at least to me.Characters Here lies my main problems with this show. Let's go through the characters one by one and I'll start with the side characters.

Nekozaki: There really isn't anything to be said about her. She's fine. She doesn't get any meaningful screen time, development, etc... She's just kind of there. She has a backstory with Kamiya but I think even within her own episode, she just takes a backseat to Kamiya. Nekozaki is good, but she's nothing memorable.

Inuzuka: Once again, serves no purpose other than to be a nice friend. Even compared to Nekozaki, he does nothing.

Kamiya : In my opinion, the best character in the show. Which is a shame because she's pretty basic too. She just kind of has that mature vibe that every other character is missing with a pretty decent design and her VA also did a great job. Her backstory is good and her introduction was the starting point of the show getting good. We finally got to see SOME conflict and a different side to Shikimori as a result. Kamiya simply existing made Shikimori better as a character. Kamiya just kind of leaves the show after episode 9 though and doesn't come back. Like, they do her backstory, have her wrap things up and then shes gone.

Hachimitsu: The most consistently great character before episode 10. Episode 10 ruined her by giving her an actual character/personality of some kind. She should have stayed as this eldritch being that just existed within this universe or something. She is the only constant comedic thing in this show. She didn't need characterization, she played her comedy role really well.

Izumi: I'm going to be upfront. I hate Izumi. I just despise him. He is SO annoying and sounds so whiny. He NEVER says anything of value or ever adds anything to the show. He has his moments with Shikimori and that's it. His best moments where the fireworks scene of him carrying Shikimori around and the final episode of kissing her on the cheek. Other than that, he contributes nothing to their relationship. He is simply a burden on everyone around him which I get it, is his character, his horrible luck, but the problem is that he makes absolutely zero progress towards bettering his luck. He simply finds a group that is willing to tolerate it. They briefly touch on it in his backstory of how he isolated himself because he didn't want others to get hurt due to his bad luck but his backstory got shoved to the side because this show is so intent on shoving Shikimori down your throat that 90% of the episode was just her backstory instead. Regarding his luck, I think it would have been a much better idea to have him overcome it in some way. But he's just content with being a burden on everyone around him for 95% of the show, and Shikimori encourages him to remain a burden by saying that she'll take care of everything. You can try to say, "well he did try to beat his bad luck by doing XYZ". To that I say, every attempt he made was played off as comedic relief. There was no genuine attempt to show him developing as a person.

Shikimori: And here she is. The show's ENTIRE selling point. The very character everything is based around. Anddddd, you can literally take any nice girl main character from any other romcom/slice of life, slap them in this show to replace Shikimori and you would barely be able to tell the difference. Shikimori isn't bad. She just has no character. Her backstory makes her go from literally the most basic anime girl in existence to... barely passable. But once her backstory is over, she has 1 episode left to show the viewer that she's grown from it, the viewer doesn't get to see this. And leading up to that backstory, besides just wanting to seem cute, she never shows anything to would lead you to suspect that she had that kind of backstory at all. Or at least, the show never plays it that way. Let's use this example: she did karate. You would think that episode 1, her kicking the sign out of the air might be a clue that she did martial arts. But the show instead just jumps to, "Oh, Shikimori's so cool, just look at her, she can do anything!". Just make a small blurb, something like: Izumi saying "Oh, that was a really good/cool kick" and have her respond with "I used to practice karate". BOOM, set up a part of the backstory for later. I know that the original source material was a bunch of extremely short chapters (I've dropped the manga like 3 times because I just can't get through those starting chapters) so a backstory probably wasn't even in the works or in the author's head, but the adaptation could easily add a line like that. But basically, Shikimori does nothing wrong. She is simply put into a spotlight where she HAS to shine but is given none of the development or characterization to do so. Because of this lack of character, Shikimori is in fact, just a cutie and nothing else.

Interactions: Okay so I stated above that I didn't care if this show was a whole lot of nothing as long as the characters were fun and they had good chemistry. Here's where I say that they didn't. This cast of characters, except Hachimitsu and Kamiya, all have the most bare bones basic interactions possible. Something weird happens? You can 100% expect Inuzuka or Nekozaki to make a quick comment on it and then move on. Shikimori gets embarrassed? You can expect Izumi to say something to comfort her or Nekozaki and Inuzuka to slightly tease her. Izumi is a burden on society and can barely function as a human being? Shikimori will tell him that he's fine and that she'll take care of whatever problem he's having. Almost all of their interactions are just bland. It also doesn't help that Shikimori and Izumi's interactions are just disconnected from the rest of the cast, I kind of mentioned that earlier as well. And the show even acknowledges that at points saying that they're in their own little world when they're "flirting", if you can even call it that. You're supposed to believe that Shikimori and Izumi have been dating for a year when they can barely be around each other without getting embarrassed in some way.

Conclusion

This show is just too focused on Shikimori. Everything else gets completely neglected to shove her down your throat. The show succeeds in a few small aspects, that being wholesome and relaxing. It's a good show to just sit down and watch when you just want... nothing. There are plenty of shows like that and they have a place in the medium of anime. However, this show tries to play itself up as something more. Every time it attempts to take itself seriously or to portray the romance between Shikimori and Izumi, it just fumbles. This show was just nothing short of disappointing and honestly... a waste of time. The first 6 episodes were essentially completely useless. Episode 7 when Kamiya got introduced, if my memory is right, is when the show started to become decent. I'm giving this show a 40/100, one point for each decent episode: The backstory episode (11), the two episodes focused on Kamiya (7 and 8). Episodes 9 and 10 both give it half a point, 9, only the second half with Kamiya was good imo (can you tell that I have a favorite character and biased?), and episode 10 was great until the end where they gave Hachimitsu a personality.

So yeah, that's the review. I know I was probably too harsh at times and too long winded, but this has been building up since the show aired back in April. I can't think of a single reason to recommend this show over any other romcom that exists. This show can barely compete with even the most average romcoms out there. This show is TOO wholesome for it's own good. None of the characters ever have problems with one another. It makes every scenario and piece of dialogue so easy to predict and therefore, it's a very boring experience as there is no story, no romance, no comedy, and the characters just fall flat. If you want wholesome or relaxing, there are dozens upon dozens of better shows. Just go watch Yuru Camp instead for that. If you want a good romcom that still has wholesome vibes, My Dress up Darling, My Senpai is Annoying, Wotakoi, or Horimiya are all better options.~~~~~~