Okay, everything about this series is absolute perfection EXCEPT for the two random subplots that make no sense to me whatsoever. Which would be the brothers whose names I can't remember, and the football team captain and his little brother's classmate or something? THEY COULD HAVE REMOVED THESE ENTIRELY AND FILLED THAT TIME WITH THE COMPLETION OF FUCKING TIN AND CAN! I'm not even going to go into why these stories are unnecessary. They are confusing and half-baked and out of place. Also, the latter of the two is HELLA NOT OKAY. And I normally don't mind me some fictional lack of consent here and there, but it just wasn't okay in this case. Let's just erase these two from memory and focus on the rest which is entirely made up of PERFECTION.

Gosh, it started so long ago I'd almost forgotten what happened at the beginning. Ae and Pete literally collide in front of their school, and then become fast friends. Pete is gay, and is being blackmailed by a jerk guy, and when Ae finds out he gets fiercely protective of Pete and saves him from the situation. They become closer, and while Pete already knows he is all gay for Ae, he knows he can never act on those feelings because Ae is straight. Or he thinks so, although Ae has never actually been in a relationship or had feelings for anyone before... Until now. And I love that it is him. That Ae goes through all his confusing feelings and is the one to pursue Pete. Their relationship develops so well, and it establishes itself solidly in the middle and they just love each other so wholly throughout the remaining episodes.

And then we have Tin and Canteloupe. Oh. My. Goodness.

Healthy, mature relationships are always going to get a ten out of ten from me, but for some reason my poor fujoshi heart just can't stop doki doki-ing at a toxic tsundere pairing. ESPECIALLY this one, because it takes it to a new level. Can hates Tin right off the bat, and Tin just loathes everyone, so it's like tsundere times ten up in here and I've already died. I love that they come together through so much negativity. And I like how it happened. There is a moment when Can let's his hatred get out of hand and he essentially cusses out Tin after Tin tells him a story about his life and then pulls back and pretends it isn't true because he doesn't trust people, and then Can feels so guilty and goes out of his way to apologize to Tin. I really liked this because it was so much character development in one scene, and was the turning point in there relationship. Literally, Can had to childishly become the villain in order for them to become friends, and then more. It was just well done, overall, and even if it wasn't finished and will never be finished, obviously they were intended to be together. I like how uncertain Can was, even though he agreed to be courted, consented to kisses, and even got jealous, and I like that he was so overwhelmed by all of those new feelings that he broke it off in the last episode. I know he just needs a minute to sort it all out because the feelings are there and they are strong and unfamiliar, and that he would have pursued Tin relentlessly in season 2 and that they would have been together forever.

I hope that whatever drama happened between whoevers managers can be put aside and they can do a second season, or at least that they do a spinoff series to focus on Tin and Can and maybe even explore the other two storylines, make them less useless. It would actually work well, because Ae and Pete are as established and as solid as they would ever be at the end of season 1, their story could easily be closed there. Here's hoping.