The real problem is how painfully generic this series has gotten. I guarantee most won't remember this series within a year, and nobody will remember this within three years unless they own the LNs or something.

It started out as a series with some complicated and dynamic levels of relationships of the three female leads, and the unnamed emotional trauma of the singular female lead.

What it has regrettably devolved into is a generic "woe is me" story due to an internal family 'saving face' crisis. Where a parent saving face was more valuable than the lead's personal emotional stability after a personal crisis. About as generic as you can get in terms of Asian drama.

Her brother being so surprisingly supportive is another sign of the story's overall weakness. Her former scummy coworker just gives up after forcing a conflict that fizzled into nothing. Her brother has always been supportive. She has a cold mother (boo hoo~). The conflict in this story just isn't ever well crafted.

- Sayu is surrounded by supportive people. Asami, Yoshida, her brother.
- Mishima is supportive instead of attempting to pursue anything with
- They started to build up Gotou in a partially villainous role and then she and Sayu meet and she's also generally supportive and not driving a conflict.
- The internal conflict of Yoshida not being sure whether he loves Sayu or wants to keep their relationship wholesome is severely underdeveloped thus far, though maybe Asami just tried to give it some energy at the end of this episode. It's the only thing resembling any kind of conflict with depth.
- Sayu's issues with her mother are not really explained. "I never got along well with my mother." Okay. Show us WHY.

It feels like the only thing that this series has going for it is that they acknowledge that enjou kosai has sex involved. Or that high schoolers have some degree of libido. There's hentai with better stories than this.

I suppose I read too deeply into Gotou's character looking for a conflict that the story never had to begin with. This one is going to end up in the pile with Golden Time for "wasted potential."