Story: 6/10
The story told here is for the most part, quite generic. That's not to say it's bad, but it's nothing that I haven't seen before and reuses a lot of character tropes seen in...well, every other slice-of-life anime that takes place in high school. It's a retelling of a story likely every anime fan has seen played out numerous times, depicting a cast of teenagers as they deal with the troubles of youth while slowly dealing with their transition to adulthood, the process being rife with romance, conflict and the making of memories. And so in that vein, it does its job very well. This iteration is different from others in the sense that I feel the author is more aware of his target demographic than others who also write similar stories. The story largely focuses on the experience of youth from the perspectives of three people, different in their unique personalities but united in their common issues dealing with the outside world. The protagonist will be instantly relatable to large segments of anime's male demographic I think, as he is a stoic, asocial teenage guy distanced from his common man and alien to youth itself as it is experienced by seemingly most people his age. The story in that sense, is very much his, as it perceives developments from his lens. Friendships, relationships, the opposite sex, competition, happiness, wisdom, this is all examined from his end which separates it from other slice-of-life anime and makes me respect it more. A lot of anime with a high school setting that involve a male protagonist usually offer an unrealistic depiction, having him be a jack-of-all-trades as regards dealing with the side effects of adolescence but the main character here is flawed, and will likely polarise the viewer with his perspectives and dialogue. Admittedly, being a spectator to some of his social pratfalls throughout the course of the story was difficult to sit through and I did feel antipathy towards him at times but I suspect this is merely the evolution of the character as a message from the author to the viewer. The story's side characters are very diverse in their perspectives and all play off each other to help their own character progression, mainly the protagonist's two friends-in-the-making who each have their own youthful struggles and deal with them as the story carries on. As far as side characters are concerned, I was somewhat disappointed with the lack of meaningful time spent on them. This first season mainly focuses on the main character Hikigayama, as well as drama that unfolds between him and another member of the main trio but in total retrospect, that's about all the significant character exploration done in this first season. I felt that the story mainly focused on trivialities that didn't matter much and spent far too little time on character building. As a result, I got the impression that the change in the characters' perception of each other wasn't totally natural and almost forced. That's not even mentioning the cast of side characters who were pretty much ignored, save for comic relief or when they were used as stepping stones between the viewer and the main trio. Comparing the work the story put into developing its characters to that of other slice-of-life anime I've seen like My Little Monster, which also only had 13 episodes to work with but adequately fleshed out its roster of characters to the point where I can remember what made them all unique years after my first viewing of it, I can only say that it fell a little flat. The best way I can explain it is that I walked away watching too much filler and not enough actual story. For the second season, I would appreciate if they spent more time building up other characters, both the other two in the main trio in addition to the side cast.
Animation: 5/10
The animation work done here is quite average, which is why I'm awarding it half marks. Certainly it looks as it should, the visuals being on par with many other slice-of-life romcom anime, utilising similar character outlines, facial features and such. Nothing out of the ordinary or commendable. I will say that in several scenes, the animation was quite sloppy with the outlines of characters either blurred or missing outright but this is balanced by the background of scenes being very colourful and pleasant to look at. Like I said, it's average. Having watched my fair share of anime and knowing what exceptional animation work looks like from titles like Garden of Words as well as having seen animation work on the opposite end of the spectrum as regards quality in other titles like the 2016 adaptation of Berserk, I can comfortably say that the animation does its job at creating a world to be immersed in but not without its flaws here and there. At the time of writing this review, I have not yet seen the second season but I have heard that the animation studio involved with the production is swapped out and as a result, looks very different.
Voice acting: 8/10
The voice actors and actresses do their job very well at putting a voice to the characters they play, and excel at differentiating from each other as a result. It's challenging to put into words, but tropes are used in this story to define certain characters and the voice actors/actresses jive with this well. The stereotypical popular girl sounds like one, the introspective loner sounds like one, the extroverted self-conscious girl sounds like one also.
Music: 9/10
A high point of this anime is almost certainly its soundtrack, which boasts a fresh opening and a melodic ending song with three variations of it played throughout its runtime. The music played in the background of each episode is also well done, with some tracks I enjoy listening to on their own, outside of watching the anime itself. When a soundtrack has me listening to it that way, it has definitely succeeded at its job. I can only hope the second season has similarly good music.
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Overall, my feelings towards this anime were positive. Points of critique would land on the subpar animation and insufficient character exploration but with the defined voice acting, exceptional setting, good music choice and comic relief, it does a good job in my eyes. I would recommend it to people who enjoy a good old high school slice-of-life story focused on themes of alienation and learning to deal with the outside world.
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