Romance progression entwined with the character's vulnerability? Holy shit, am I sleeping on an A-tier series this whole time?
i know right? this series was fun when it was just "bitchy ojou-sama vs. mr. stick-firmly-inserted-four-feet-up-his-ass:
FIGHT!" but the fact that there's been legitimate progress and logical character development really pushes this up a few tiers. it would've been real easy for them to be doing the exact same things they did before (except slightly less often) when they started dating; that's the tried-and-true formula for most shonen romcoms (
extremely loud coughing nisekoi
more extremely loud coughing). but the author made a real effort to have both MCs try to change, and alternately succeed or fail in ways that make sense for their characters.
in conclusion: this mangaka knows ball