It's good. I enjoy Seto and Anjou as a pair. They bounce decently off of each other and Anjou is engaging to see work. Seto is weak in that he lacks any agency of any kind and allows people to just drag him wherever they want, usually Anjou. The clothing shop was a good twist but seeing as Anjou showed up anyways it kinda fell flat in my opinion. It's boring to see a character like this work, though. Especially given that he still doesn't really do anything by himself and has to have Anjou do it for him. But, again it's not the biggest problem the manga has and it propels the "story" forward, whatever that means in these sorts of stories. I also really like the focus on Seto as a person, his lack of desire to really do anything with his life and inability to push himself towards a life that would make him happy. That sort of character arc connects with me for obvious reasons and I really hope that it continues to be this interesting.
All that being said, I do want to make it clear that I do not think this manga is particularly strong. It's not weak by any means but it's far from the strongest series of this genre that I've seen, Nagatoro sitting atop her well earned throne of "gyaru hangs out with a nerd" romance manga. What separates this manga from Nagatoro and why Nagatoro is the stronger of the two, in my opinion, is that in Nagatoro, the couple bounce off of each other and serve some sort of role in each other's character development. Nagatoro is, like we've seen in previous chapters, sullen and quiet when not around Senpai, and is happy and energetic when she is. She's also hot headed and impulsive, which almost gave her heat stroke before Senpai dragged her away under the shade and got her water. On Senpai's side, he's antisocial to a fault and doesn't have any friends, instead deciding to spend his time reading manga and projecting himself into the shoes of the heroic protag of said manga. He's clearly miserable but content in that misery until Nagatoro arrives and pulls him out of that room where he paints to actually spend time doing things and having fun. Nagatoro even gives Senpai legitimate criticism on his writing and helps him improve his writing. She makes him stronger and he makes her stronger.
In Anjou, that's clearly not the case. Anjou is the one making Seto stronger and Seto is just along for the ride. Like I stated in a previous post, the sign of a strong fictional relationship is one in which both characters make the other stronger and they become better people for having known one another. That way, even if they do break up, they are still better off for having been together. With Anjou, she's clearly not affected by Seto in any significant way. She's happy, comfortable in her social role, and clearly confident in herself with no visible detriment to her well being. Seto is... not. He's seen as a loser by his entire class, is picked on mercilessly by his classmates, and is often handed the work they need to do because they can't be bothered. Anjou serves as the person to drive him to be better than that and eventually grow into a much more well adjusted person. If Anjou suddenly decided to stop hanging out with Seto for any reason at all, she wouldn't be affected. Seto would revert back to his old self, but Anjou would be indistinguishable from when we met her in the first chapter. Anjou knows that she wants to be a hair stylist, physically excels at sports, doesn't mind her grades aren't so hot because of her "go with the flow attitude", and is what I can only describe as 'at the end of her arc.' She's done, she doesn't need to change herself to better fit into society because she's already found the place that she's happiest in. She doesn't really need Seto in the slightest. Hell, even when the guys in the subway were hassling her she looked like she was clearly in control of the situation and she's obviously able to take care of herself in a fist fight, we saw that with the molester chapter earlier on. Seto's presence in her life is just... unnecessary, and the same isn't true for Seto. He needs her more than she needs him. That's not compelling, that's frustrating. She has all the power of the relationship. Without more give on Seto's side and take on her side, it's just not that compelling a relationship.
I will say this though. To all of you who thought that I didn't like the manga because Seto wasn't fucking Anjou are a bunch of jackasses. Read my comment before you decide on what I'm thinking. Otherwise you just look like douchebags writing off my opinion because of opinions that I clearly don't have. Fuck off, the lot of you.
