PLOT SUMMARY: two teenagers (Yuuta Asamura and Saki Ayase) become step-siblings when their parents remarry. Will they become a romantic couple?

...and that's about it, really. It's slow-paced. I like romance anime, though, and I liked this one too. The biggest thing that makes it different is the nature of our two heroes. They're autistic. High-functioning, but yeah. That's an armchair diagnosis rather than anything explicitly stated and I'm probably wrong, but bloody hell.

1. Their sex drive is so low that it's subterranean. Their reaction to discovering attraction is to be bewildered by these things called "emotions" and to analyse them intellectually. Is this an instinctive human response to suddenly acquiring a sibling? Maybe, probably, perhaps. Let's try to ignore it, then.

2. In episode 4, Saki asks Yuuta for help with modern literature. It's the only school subject she can't handle. Yuuta diagnoses that she can't empathise and she's impressed that he guessed so quickly. She hadn't grasped even the basics of her assigned novel. "I can never really understand how the characters feel and all that stuff." "I don't understand what Sanshiro is thinking, or what Mineko is thinking, or their motives for any of the choices they both make."

"You understand that Sanshiro's in love with Mineko, right?"

"He is?"

Saki also doesn't understand people who hide their feelings and don't say what they mean. Good grief. If this pair get married, you'll worry about the children. (Incidentally, the show gives both of them a lively friend who's more fun. Yuuta has a flirty colleague at the bookshop where he works part-time, while Saki's friend is a classmate.)

3. Even after discovering attraction, they're still capable of autistic-looking responses. (Saki gets there before Yuuta, although you'll realise before she does.) When Yuuta asks for a friend's contact details, Saki responds like a textbook on aliens without social skills. Mind you, there's a bit of jealousy buried in the mix.

So, is this show any fun?

It's slow, introspective and thoughtful. Our heroes analyse themselves, their feelings and motivations. There's not much plot or heavy drama, instead being mostly a detailed examination of two intelligent, nice people who respect each other's boundaries and like having thought-through reasons for everything they do. Nothing's ever sleazy or dodgy. There's also no idiot plotting, unless you see that in the genre staple of our heroes getting hung up on the step-sibling thing in the last few episodes.

Viewers have had different reactions to this. Some got bored. It's not trashy! You might expect that from a "STEP-SIBLINGS!!!" anime, but it's not. After all, sometimes you just want a steaming pile of trash... but not here. The pace is slow, the drama's understated and our slightly robotic heroes have less charm than a maths textbook. I liked them, but this is definitely a show that expects you to meet it halfway.

Some of the show's fans, though, adored it. If you get into its vibe, you'll find a serious-minded show that's not afraid to ditch anime's usual cheap tricks. It makes intelligent use of silence and long pauses. It's directed almost like arthouse cinema, not a cartoon. The writing has maturity. It's thoughtful, self-aware and in many ways a breath of fresh air in the modern anime industry. There are people who've called this the best anime of the Summer 2024 season, which isn't an absurd claim.