I quite liked the manga and I was expecting to enjoy its anime adaptation. I did. It's charming, albeit inherently predictable. A boy (Shiraishi) and a girl (Kubo) like each other and spend almost all their time together. How could this possibly turn out? Goodness me, let me guess. (Mind you, it takes FAR longer than you'd think for our romantically handicapped heroes to put two and two together.) Also, Shiraishi is literally incapable of spending time with normal people, because he's got so little presence that they don't notice him. Teachers think he's absent from school, even though he's sitting in front of them in his usual seat. He could become the world's greatest thief, although that's unthinkable given his irreconcilable distance from either personal desires or unconventional behaviour.

He's only visible to people whose surname is: (a) Shiraishi, or (b) Kubo. Mind you, this includes a four-year-old brother with whom he spends a lot of time. (Our protagonists are in high school.)

CLASSMATE #1: "I haven't seen Shiraishi recently. Is he absent?"

CLASSMATE #2: "I heard he's here."

...as Shiraishi walks past.

The second half of the last episode is a flashback. It re-establishes the show's basics and shows how Kubo initially noticed him. That's lovable too. It's certainly true that his oddness is compelling and you'll see why Kubo's fascinated by this inoffensive, gentle weirdo.

This isn't a realistic show, obviously. (Their schoolteacher is a comedy gnome, for instance.) There are definitely people like Shiraishi, but not to this extent. It varies for the purposes of individual scenes. Sometimes it's a superpower, or even the supernatural. Fortunately, though, the show never makes it heavy or depressing. Shiraishi's neutral about his condition. It's just the way his world is. He doesn't mind it, although admittedly he hardly reacts to anything and drifts around like an impassive ghost. He hardly ever changes his facial expression. He'd be shocked and flustered if an entire room looked at him.

Kubo's interesting too, though. "Girl teases boy" is an anime/manga genre, but Kubo's not just its latest instalment. She's paradoxically shy and modest. Compare her manner with Shiraishi with the more defensive person she becomes when being teased in turn by her big sister. See also how shocked she'll get if her own playfulness drifts into territory that could be seen as even remotely sketchy. (Kubo can be mortified by ordinary things that you or I wouldn't think twice about. When her big sister drunkenly unleashes cleavage, Kubo takes it REALLY badly.) She also doesn't have even the tiniest shred of sadism or bullying. She genuinely likes Shiraishi and is always keen to be with him. I don't think she realises how flirty she's being. There's a gap in Shiraishi's and Kubo's perception of their relationship, although fortunately not a damaging one. (Shiraishi has an odd view of the world and can fail to grasp forehead-slappingly obvious things, whereas Kubo understands Shiraishi and learns to cut him a lot of slack.)

Sometimes, this show made me laugh. Shiraishi is ridiculous, although sympathetically, and can be sent into incoherent spasms just by hearing phrases like "love confession". He also has a habit of teleporting to the other side of the room when startled. I'm fond of our heroes. Watching this anime tempted me to pick up the rest of the manga after all.