I enjoyed the show and found it very likeable, but it fails to overcome its own self-imposed contradictions. Two people who hate each other are bulldozed into marriage by their overbearing scumbag grandparents.

1. Saito is an arrogant nerd with super-memory skills and a lazy streak. He thinks it's sufficient to throw out the rubbish only once a month and even questions the need for baths.

2. Akane is fine, except for some tsundere hang-ups that stop her from being honest with herself. Otherwise, I don't see the problem. She's short-tempered and capable of saying weird things that suggest her brain was idling on standby, but also diligent, hard-working and sympathetic. As far as I can tell, Saito's only arguing with her because she argues with him.

They're pretty funny. Saito and Akane are an entertaining duo and the show has some good jokes. Unfortunately, the stubborn remnants of their hostility soon become implausible. They've agreed to this marriage. They're serious about making it work and at home they're both considerate and trying to be a good spouse. (Except for sex. That they avoid, despite their grandparents' pushing.) Even as early as episode 2, they're already being sensible and human, showing much faster progress than I'd expected. Whoah. They're being nice. They build a genuinely good relationship, albeit sometimes a silly one.

Unfortunately, this is a harem anime. The only named female characters without romantic attraction for Saito are grandmothers and great-aunts. Thus, implausibly, our idiot heroes go on pretending to be hostile at school and on some level still believe it. When Akane's buxom friend wants to go on a date with Saito, there's no opposition even though both Akane and Saito are determined to maintain their marriage. How does that work? What are they thinking? I couldn't read that as anything but (a) cruelly jerking around Himari or (b) attempts at a threesome, both of which are clearly a million miles away from the show's intended readings. I cry bullshit.

Meanwhile, Saito's strange, sardonic cousin acts like his devoted "little sister" and likes being touchy-feely and mildly inappropriate. Akane's sister joins the harem too.

The sexual angle is equally silly. Saito and Akane aren't having sex, which is an odd genre contrivance so that other characters can make him explicit sexual offers and push them pretty hard. One girl enters his bath and presses her naked breasts against his back. Nope, sorry, piss off. Again, this is eye-rolling. The fantasy being sold is implausible. An honest version of this story would have explored how Saito and Akane tackle the physical side of their marriage, but that would have been incompatible with the unwritten rules of harem anime (bar the sleazy ones). Actual sex would have locked down the show's relationships and killed the failed attempts at sexy ambiguity.

Incidentally, Saito's photographic memory is so superhuman that he can learn a language from scratch in one day. From zero to fluency. Sorry, no. I've studied languages. Hell, I've taught them as as a teacher of English as a foreign language. Theoretically, you could argue that he's looking through dictionaries and textbooks and memorising all their pages... but no. I'd find it easier to believe in dragons, elves and fairies.

Apart from all that, it's a good show.

Akane and Saito become an adorable couple. Sure, they're idiots at school, but I still loved them. Despite their eccentricities, they're admirable and trying to make their relationship work. Himari is the sweetest character in the cast, particularly impressing me in how carefully and sensitively she checks that pursuing Saito won't tread on anyone's toes (particularly Akane's). Shisei the space case is always entertaining. Maho is the least sympathetic core cast member, but there's a lot going on with her too.

If only they'd ditched the harem angle, I'd have loved this. Akane's tsundere issues make sense in context (up to a point). I even like the theme music. As broadcast, though, I liked the show a lot while being unable to buy its genre-locked plotting and silly bone-throwing to an otaku audience. I might still give it a mild recommendation, but only with big, loud warnings about the show's wrong-headedness.