At first, it seemed like just another anime with weird (cringy) history, but it gradually turned into something special and amazing.

Throughout the episodes, many might have felt "frustrated" by how closed-off Ichikawa was afraid of making friends, disliking school trips, avoiding conversations, and keeping to himself unless absolutely necessary. However, this was actually a great move by the author, Norio Sakurai. Following this kind of character was something I really enjoyed, especially seeing his growth throughout the story. Watching Ichikawa interact more with Anna Yamada and eventually open up to other characters made me genuinely happy.

At first, Anna Yamada (protagonist) was introduced as this perfect character beautiful, outgoing, and smart. But as the episodes progressed, her "intelligence" wasn’t highlighted much. Instead, we saw her as a silly, impulsive girl who eats a lot and is genuinely funny. Seeing Anna and Ichikawa grow closer was wonderful. Despite being complete opposites, you could feel the chemistry between them from their very first encounter.

Ichikawa slowly developed feelings for her, like when she made a poster for a class presentation, only for her classmates to replace it because it looked "ugly" Ichikawa, thinking Anna was sad about it, got angry on her behalf, showing early signs of his feelings. Another touching moment was when he noticed her crying on the stairs after running out of tissues, so he prepared a bunch of tissue packets for her in the library. Those library scenes were where their friendship truly blossomed, evolving into something incredible.

From Ichikawa defending Anna when she got in trouble for eating snacks in the library, to him hiding her candy wrappers when the librarian was around, every moment between them felt perfect. The anime only got better toward the end, with their Christmas meet-up, their little "date" and them walking home holding hands. Anna even seemed more mature by then, it was beautiful. And let’s not forget when Ichikawa refused to give Anna’s contact info to Haruya Nanjou out of jealousy, amazing! Hahaha

The anime’s direction was also outstanding, gorgeous visuals, smooth animation, and the most important moments between the two were beautifully animated. The soundtrack, the OP, the endind, everything was amazing. By the end, I found myself crying, both because of the story and the sheer quality of the production.

It was a fantastic first season. Was it cringy at the start? Yes. But if you stick around, you won’t regret it, it’s a masterpiece.

Thanks for reading! This is my first review, so forgive me if there are any mistakes or if it doesn’t quite sound like a proper review.

Burouu