Verdict: InoBato is held back a bit by fanservice and some occasional confusion but the great character writing and voice acting performances make it a delight to watch. The premise doesnt really do it justice. InoBato was an interesting watch in more ways than one. Like how I assume most people hear of the show I was exposed to Saori Hayamis infamous I dont understand rant which I maintain as the best bit of voice acting Ive heard. So I finally decided I wanted to watch the show and understand the context. The show spends the first 10 minutes convincing you that Jurai Andou is an insufferable person. His chuuni act isnt even genuine he knows that it isnt real. I was deadest on hating this show based solely on the first 10 minutes but I was wrong. I think if you take Anilist at face value that this is a fantasy/comedy/romance/sol/supernatural anime that youre missing out on what I think the best part is. InoBato is very quick to let you know of the harem elements and theres no immediate clear answer to why everyone would catch romantic feelings for Andou. That ends up being a recurring theme throughout the show that theyll give you the information before the context which does make for some awkward moments. However the shoe drops in the second episode and things begin making sense. Andou is far from being defined by his chuuni traits and instead proves himself to be emotionally mature beyond what you would expect from a typical high schooler. He is a great friend who knows what to say and when to say it often disguising a mature attempt at resolving an emotional dilemma with chuuni nonsense. He also knows how to take responsibility for his own actions and is quick to try and resolve the issues through communication. These positives extend to the rest of the main cast as well. The literature club in InoBato includes Tomoyo Kanzaki Hatoko Kushikawa and Sayumi Takanashi as well as elementary schooler Chifuyu Himeki. All of them are demonstrated to be great friends with one another and despite the inherent love rivalry over Andou have no issues going to each other with their own problems. The ability to communicate their issues and move past them together puts InoBato ahead of a lot of RomComs that are far more popular. If anything it feels more like a comingofage story than any of the designations it has. The dialogue is wellwritten and makes it clear that each character is trying to move forward in their own way. The fairy war subplot that tries to get the main cast involved isnt particularly interesting though it does provide a means to progress the character relationships. This does bring me to probably my only real issue with the show which is that the show seems more focused on impactful emotional scenes than how they should be laid out. Take the aforementioned I dont understand scene which in isolation is a phenomenal scene where Hatoko is calling out Andous chuuni nonsense for what it is. But there was no tension regarding his chuuni habits leading up to this point and the entire I dont understand moniker was based in him trying to hide a friends secret. By the end of the episode you understand where it came from but if I didnt know it was coming at the time it would have felt out of place entirely. But at the same time the ordering of events in the episode couldnt really have been switched for plot purposes. Its a dilemma where the author opted for the more impactful scene which I cant say I 100 disagree with. Aside from that issue and a good bit of unnecessary fanservice InoBato is a heartwarming watch that I could have seen myself truly falling in love with if I was younger.