Ore wo suki na no wa omae dake ka jo

House M.D. said it perfectly, "everybody lies!", and I would add that everybody is cheating, pretending, and only pursuing their own selfish interests, which may or may not change according to outside influences, however, they are only pretending that it has changed. Nothing is as it seems, no one is as we think, however, everything always have a reason... Do you think I am paranoid? This anime series made me paranoid! This is not a classic romantic comedy, however, it is rather a parody that subtly plays around with all sorts of rom-com clichés, and takes an objective look at the issues concerning the worst type of protagonist in rom-coms, and inconspicuously opens them up (like the whole idea of the character Hose being “perfect”, who is at the same time absolutely “run-of-the-mill”) and downplays and variously arbitrarily distorts all sorts of typical romantic storylines. So therefore it rather surprisingly succeeds to the point that some are going to get lost in working out the deep, interesting, psychological, and social implications hidden in all the deceit, dishonesty, lies, and pretense, as well as in all the silliness and childishness the harem genre offers up. Is the main male protagonist a villain pretending to be a good guy, or a good guy pretending to be a villain? Are all those silly, childish girls really that naive, or do they actually really know exactly what they want and are going about it in an inconspicuous manner? Is our own happiness more important than the happiness of others, or can the happiness of the one we love also bring us happiness, even if that person has to be with someone else? There are so many intriguing questions and a few satisfying answers, all subtly wrapped up in an insane spoof full of hilarious and silly scenes, excellent scenes plus mostly surprising and insane twists. The concept behind the show is good, the ideas are excellent, although the execution is often too loose and crazy, i.e. it did not leave any lasting impression on me, which is a shame, because the ideas are quite good, they just were not executed in a way that fully resonated with me. Plus, if the bench is the first thing you think of regarding this whole anime series, instead of all the deep plots and supposedly complicated characters, then there is probably something a little bit wrong, don't you think? 6.3/10 (although I am going to watch the next season)... (26/12/2019)