Given the nature of a review I'll include spoilers, but for a quick spoiler-free rundown/synopsis: It's your average highschool romance with a dumb MC and a tsundere "ice queen" type love interest. The catch is that our hero used to be bullied by this girl who is now essentially the queen of highschool and he plans to win her heart, then dump her, to exact his revenge for the bullying of days past.

That out of the way, a quick breakdown of the story; aka spoilers.

Masamune = MC; Aki = main girl; Neko = secondary love interest; Maid = Kowai; Fatty = Kanetsugu

It starts out about as you'd expect. Initial rejection, yet still slowly melting her heart a bit with genuine affection that glimmers through the moments of "I have rehearsed how this should go from shoujo manga". An unexpected help arrives in the form of Aki's maid, who is aware of our MC's past with her. So together they pursue different approaches to turn them into a couple, with the maid assuring that she also wishes for the revenge to come true. This is a bit bumpy, but after a few episodes we genuinely arrive at a point where actual romance could ensue, but that gets broken up with a new character introduction.

This "first arc" if you will is pretty much just fun. It has your typical tropes (angry tsun punches, weird quirks like her eating a ton, tiny flashbacks that foreshadow)

The second "arc" handles the second girl Neko, who comes onto the MC pretty aggressively. She seems to hide something, so you're already super wary of her as a viewer. It all peaks when she finds a picture of him as a kid, nicks it and they almost make out, before the MC actually turns her away. This is where one of my gripes with the story starts: The MC clearly recalls Aki again, but this time less about the bullying and more about the time they spent together and how precious it was, which ultimately motivates him to pursue Aki and not enter a relationship with Neko, who seemingly just likes him regardless of what he looks like.

This leads into something I certainly didn't expect, which is a total tonal shift. The heartbreak Neko experiences is undoubtedly real and so all ideas that she was just pretending go out the window. Turns out she knows him from childhood days and has actually been looking for him. But that's not all, the actual thing she was hiding was debilitating sickness. All this turns into a tense chase through the city to find her as she runs the day after the rejection. She's found on the school roof, playing out a scene in the books MC reads to learn more about romance (shoujo manga), before passing out. In the hospital we get a genuinely touching scene between two surprisingly levelheaded teens.

This is kinda what redeemed her character completely. She wasn't just butting into the plot for no reason, she was trying to experience what love was like before whatever weird illness she has can kill her. Something MC picked up on, when he mentioned her "not being someone he is sure has feelings for him". Which is of course only half-true, given she did know him from before and so her emotions aren't clear either way. Regardless they both agree on being apart.

But and that's a big one: The takeaway that MC has after this conversation is the real problem. We flash through all the scenes: Him seeing Aki before kissing Neko, him seeing the flashbacks of her being there for him back then, Neko in the hospital mentioning if he plans to end in the same emotional dead-end she maneuvered into; and what does he decide on? STILL exacting his revenge on Aki. Which is painfully stupid, because the avid viewer will already know how love stories like these tend to go: Revenge happens, Boy finds out he's actually in love, drama ensues.

A few other key scenes would've also made you believe that this goes into a faster couple direction: Neko actually speaks to Aki first and assures her the rejection was completely final. Aki should go and pursue him, since he's a sincere guy.

Oh and this scene deserves a solo paragraph, because wth anime: MC actually confronts Aki about the nickname she gave him in front of the school. Literally the axle the entire premise rests upon is that she doesn't know he's the fatty from years past. She most definitely heard him mention the name, looks at him puzzled and after all the commotion of rescuing Neko this is NEVER brought up again. She doesn't mention it to him, she doesn't think about it, she doesn't reflect on the scene. It's like it never even happened.

After the Neko drama is over and the arc turns out to be actually quite good, we go into the last arc. And the main gripe that took this otherwise kinda fun anime down a few points: The NTR arc.

Out of nowhere a fat boy shows up, claiming to be getting married to Aki due to familial reasons (both affluent families). Aki thinks this is who young MC grew up to be and henceforth treats him like her long-lost love has come back. Immediately warm to him, defending him etc. However we find out a bit later, that this little shit has simply made use of a misunderstanding and acts the part so he can mooch off their wealth. He's introduced as a nice character, who is smart, never brags, great at sports, beloved by everyone... you get the gist. It's essentially PG NTR.

The arc culminates in a culture festival play (Class A vs Class B; Aki and MC are in different classes), where Fatty and Aki are playing Prince and Snow-White. Complicated by MC having a fever and getting locked up by Aki's closest friends, while our best wingman maid locks up Fatty. Both plays are almost doomed, but MC gets out of his room just in time to actually help out and star as the prince in the other class' play and kiss Aki before collapsing. Aki obviously being moved in multiple ways, once by her idea that young MC has "abandoned her again" and then by current MC showing up.

Then the arc rapidly cuts to an afterparty/karaoke moment and we get a quick throwaway "seems like Fatty and Aki aren't as close anymore" moment. Which doesn't resolve the marriage issue or establish their new relationship status. Hell, MC asks for a kiss and Aki is actually about to comply as they're both alone, but then stops in the last moment. Which makes the whole situation even weirder, because where the dickens did Fatty go? They live together and she was with her maid alone, where'd he suddenly go? If the marriage is still on the table, why'd she go for the kiss, but say nothing more?

And that's where the season actually ends, so you're just left completely in the dark as a viewer. I'm kinda glad I only now watched it, as the second season is currently airing, but in terms of satisfaction this must've been horrible back then. The most complete story we got were the few moments of romance between a "couple" that was doomed from the start to the viewer and handled in a few episodes. The relationship between the MC and Neko is actually really nice to look at, because she obviously hasn't let go of her feelings, yet still helps and supports him, even if it'd bring him and Aki closer.

Story aside

The anime's pretty filled with your standard tropes, some of them endearing, others tired. The MC literally standing in place for 30 seconds to think what to respond is probably always gonna annoy me, but at least the dialogue's pretty funny. The anime doesn't take itself all too seriously in these moments and knows when to let emotional moments linger a little for effect. The soundtrack's genuinely pretty nice and does a good job of setting the tone. Art is great, even if animation is pretty weak, but kinda expected for the genre. MC is smart at times and desperately dumb at others to keep the plot going. He's emotionally mature enough to own up to the rejection of Neko, but then relies on shoujo manga and men's style magazines to learn more about women. Which is just kind of an annoying combo and doesn't make much sense.

The other characters don't stand out too much. MC, Neko and Aki are pretty much the most fleshed-out, while the rest are just trope support (femboy, fujoshi and yuri club). They get a tiny bit of shoehorned emotional development, but immediately forget about them the scene after. Also MC's mom is a loli for some reason? It's never played in a provocative sense or anything, she's just a kid. Like, even in the flashbacks. A little out of place, but therefore actually kinda funny.

Conclusion

All in all the story's fine. The premise is intriguing, the main cast are fun to watch and their interactions are pretty cute and enjoyable for the most part. The pacing goes a little haywire. The Neko arc comes out of nowhere, but it hits hard and earns its stay. The NTR arc is pointless and annoying and it further infuriates viewers by having that be the end point and the real romance essentially having not moved further than in the first few episodes. The flashbacks are almost always the same few shots, the connections aren't made, despite being brought up by the characters themselves. Hints are made that don't fully pay off or are ignored. It's tough to say if the expected (not a manga spoiler, since I haven't read it, yet) ending is how this'll be handled, but I sure hope it ends in something fresh.

All this being said, I was hovering on a 7 at the start, then a 9 after the Neko arc and the NTR and insanely unsatisfying "end" of the season knocked it back down again, so it's somewhere between 7-8. I'd say it's enough fun to watch if the romcom itch needs scratching. It's not a masterpiece, not by far, but it's entertaining enough. And it certainly has you rooting for the two idiots to put aside their differences and just get together as they clearly both want to.

Turns out this was maybe more of a synopsis than a mere review and the formatting's of course pretty lackluster, but I guess it'll do. I'm off to read the manga and see the real conclusion of the story.