Even before the anime premiered I came to know this series because of its massive score in absolutely every aggregator site the consensus about it seemed to be extremely positive to the point of being called one of the best romance manga of all time. I always thought that that must be an exaggeration after all I know I dont agree with what most people say a lot of the time but there surely must be a tangible reason as to why this series gets such praise right? So when I sat down to read the series I noticed how it was a failure even going by the basic premise. Im not even disappointed by it as I never expected it was going to blow my mind but seeing that its just another stupid Romeo Julietesque setting I couldnt help but roll my eyes. I mean can I really take your show seriously when its just Romeo Juliet but with an even stupider plot because the school conflict looks and feel so fabricated that it hurts? It was pretty easy to come to the conclusion that Kaoru Hana wa Rin to Saku wasnt just overrated but that it is shit. The praise from this series feels like Im living in a different dimension it seems to be because of the fact that this series is the safest shit youve ever seen to the point that the dialogue is extremely artificial like have you seen how much they apologize and thank for every minor detail? I know that if I call it unrealistic and it is people will say that a series doesnt have to be realistic and I can see their point but this dialogue is not something that will keep you interested they feel like robots programmed to not say anything bad to each other and if they do theyll bow down and apologize 10 times in a row some conversations will go as far as saying Im sorry x3 and then the other person will say you dont need to apologize Im the one who is sorry for worrying you its exhausting seeing how much they apologize. In fact just for my satisfaction I decided to count every time they apologized Episode 1: 9 times Episode 2: 13 times Episode 3: 12 times Episode 4: 7 times Episode 5: 6 times Episode 6: 19 times Episode 7: 13 times Episode 8: 9 times Episode 9: 6 times Episode 10: 9 times Episode 11: 5 times Episode 12: 10 times Episode 13: 6 times As you can see they apologize a whole fucking lot it got a little better in the second half but its still stupid I know the Japanese are known for apologizing a lot but this is a ridiculous level at some point I realized that I should also have counted the amount of times they thank others but I leave that work to someone else. Some seasons ago I thought that Ao no Hako was boring as it seemed to be an extremely safe romance show because it is but this show makes Ao no Hako look like White Album 2. Thinking that just because there arent love triangles or not relying on tropes makes a show more believable is simply not true this series is painful in a unique way as the author and the fans seem to think that mature and realistic communication is done by apologizing about everything series that rely on a whole lot of misunderstandings and stubborn people are more believable than this just because a series is le wholesome chungus doesnt mean that it isnt bad. I have seen people say that there is subtlety in this series which is a blatant lie nothing in this series is subtle this isnt something exclusive to this series most romance series will tell you everything the characters feel and this one is not an exception. The funny thing is that as time went on more people seemed to notice these cracks in their dialogue and grow tired of it too while theres still a lot of praise coming from people who only watched the anime you could see how the apologizing became annoying to more and more people. The setting isnt believable at all either the girls from Kikyo treat the boys from Chidori as if they were the scum of Earth but when you look at them you will see that they behave like these cute little kids who also cant do no wrong there arent conflicts even inside the school you dont see them behaving badly or like delinquents they are pretty normal if stupid. You can say that theres preconceptions about how Kikyo girls perceive Chidori guys but theres no reason for these to exist and if there are the series doesnt say anything about them. The protagonist Rintaro is scawylooking and has blonde hair but actually hes a gentle giant he may be awkward but he has no mean intentions towards anyone at any point in time he thinks he has no friends yet he spends all his time with 3 other guys. Speaking of these other guys you can tell the author is a woman because of how they behave with each other at no point they have a portrayal of male friendship that makes sense even less with the given setting they keep praising each other getting embarrassed saying how glad they are to be friends they can sometimes tease each other but then they will say a hundred of different praises too as if teasing your friend was this horrible thing to do and you have to ask for forgiveness the more you see and pay attention to the setting it only becomes more nonsensical. Nothing in this works the characters arent even believable to their own setting and the praise just confuses me do I really have to believe this is one of the best romance anime ever made? The answer is a no given CloverWorks track record this season deciding to vomit 3 anime at the same time and even putting them in the same promotions means that you have to expect something of the quality of the other two and in fact thats exactly what you get but unlike Sono Bisque Doll that had a nice first season and Bunny Girl Senpai that while it started awful it actually got a little better with time you have this thing right here which was easily the worst of the three. The story wants to have its cake and eat it too the source of all the drama is the opposite of what we see on our screens and the only thing that could stop their romance is a conflict that makes no sense. Theres nothing here that makes me want to support this romance because everything here feels fake manufactured illogical and unbelievable its the opposite of realistic in every possible way. Thank you for reading.