Alright so I just read this entire series over the last few weeks and here's my take on the state of things while the entire story is fresh in my head:
It's remarkable how little progress has been made over 4 years & 200+ chapters of this manga, it's crazy to me that people have put up with it for this long. I mean I've enjoyed binging it for sure, but to follow this story for years must have been rough.
You get hooked into the premise and the deliquent aspect of the school with the girls screwing with him in the beginning, getting saved by Kuzuhana & the mystery around her, and each of the girls warming up to him over time due to his 'basic kindness protag rizz'. It's an entertaining read for the ridiculous situations, fanservice, good cast of personalities, harem rivarly being established, special moments with each of the girls, etc. However it is now being dragged out to the point of it being ridiculous with some heavy-handed storytelling and taking advantage of the reader. With more and more characters getting added needing screentime and the already slow-paced panel style, it takes longer to get to pivotal romance moments and when they happen it's always cut short/blocked.
Hodaka is the weakest link in the story due to his "unreasonable self-doubt in spite of the evidence debuff" which keeps the story rolling at a snails pace. The author tries to emphasize how much he has changed, but when it's convenient to stall the plot the character is regressed two steps backs so no romantic progress is made. Creating a harem manga around an MC who displays no interest in relationships appears to be the "cheat code" to milking the series to its fullest. Hodaka displays basic teenage awareness of the girls around him by getting flustered at their bodies/scent/behavior, even remarking at some of the girls' attractiveness (Kuzuhana in particular), but his internal monologues about potential love interests/relationships are shallow and infrequent (despite all the shit that happens to him with the girls). The closest he gets to any semblence of romantic thought is acknowledging that Kuzuhana is special to him, but he downplays it as being due to her saving him in the beginning of school and 'owing her for all the things she has done for him'. I can't count the amount of times there have been resets or repeated "MC forgets the girl's aren't joking" moments that erase progress, or Kuzuhana confessions getting interrupted by something, or one of the other girls' obvious actions/statements being downplayed/misunderstood. The explanation of it being his low self-esteem just doesn't add up anymore since he's adored by so many friends and has built such a supportive social network. He's been told essentially verbatim that YES THEY ARE INTO YOU yet defaults back to "but none of them would ever want me to be their boyfriend" from his forced inferiority complex. To be fair to him though the girls also mostly fail to get their feelings across clearly which doesn't help, a fact pointed out blatantly by Kujako who gets major points in my book for actually making moves while being brave enough to be direct with him and face the possibility of rejection.
The conclusion of the school festival arc with Kujako's rejection was a massive disappointment. She was a great character add, in fact one of my favorites, and her lighting a fire under the other cast members to motivate them was exactly what was needed. But then the author decides "NOPE, TOSS WATER ON THAT FIRE I JUST LIT" by forcing the bullshit explanation by Hodaka of "I'm too focused on fashion for relationships" as his rejection reasoning. First of all, you're a high school kid, grown ass adults with real jobs and much less free time can manage dating/relationships, you're supposed to be enjoying your youth and can make time for a gf if you two care about each other. In fact, she could have been a motivator and supported your pursuits like she quite literally told you. Secondly, whatever happened to his thought process of "I want to get closer to these girls and know them better" (esp Kuzuhana) which requires him spending time with them? Author forgot about that aspect of his character development I guess? Now don't get me wrong, I saw the rejection of Kujako coming obviously. She was too powerful of a rival coming on strong too quickly and we all know who the main interest is supposed to be. However, the way the author handled it was a cop-out designed to reset progress and stall out romance for the next election arc. If Hodaka's explanation had come about from introspecting on his feelings (while being demonstrated to the reader) then explaining to her that either: 1. He doesn't think of her as a romantic interest after their date, 2. He finally realized he has eyes on another girl so he can't pick her right now, or 3. He honestly doesn't know what it means to have feelings for someone so can't reciprocate honestly... any of those I could accept because it shows emotional growth. However "I'm too busy designing dresses at home because Inukai made me feel insecure about my fashion ability" is insulting to her while being unreasonable within the context of this story - especially since he agreed to the time-consuming task of running for Stuco Prez.
Anyways, with of that said and done I'm still in it for the long-haul so lets hope that this election arc doesn't take 50 chapters and for the love of god let Kuzuhana make some progress without getting cockblocked.