IMHO. 'Kiznaiver' ~ Mazda for Matsuda...

The mission of saving the world is limited to middle or high school students in Japan. After all, it's only during this short period of life that teenagers are allowed to have their 'inner darkness', fall in and out of love for the first time, and behave in a way they want. After that, they're supposed to choose their future profession, enter a university, find a job and become a 'shakaijin' - a 'full-fledged member of society'.
Since it's a given, I wouldn't dream of blaming Japanese anime directors for creating one more anime about schoolchildren. I wouldn't complain that exploring the topic of pain, sharing one's emotions and interdependence could as well involve young people or grown-ups, not students.
However, I have to complain about the way it's done.
A bunch of students are kidnapped, used in a medical experiment without their consent, and ordered what to do by a kuudere gothic loli. They just go along with it, of course, demanding little explanation, because, well, how else do you make a story. The bunch consists of such generic characters and every new development is so predictable that I'm not sure if there isn't a manual called 'how to create a dramatic story about youth' circulating between anime studios in Japan. The characters conveniently wait for a new event to get angry or dissatisfied, and change their mind about things very quickly, because you know, they only have 12 episodes to show it. It's no less surprising how conveniently new aspects of this 'kizuna' interdependence are revealed, one at a time: pain - when it's necessary to explain the concept, frustration - when it's necessary to introduce more drama, mind reading - only when the characters started to get close, to make them realise it's not possible for them to become close. The pain from Hisomu, the secret 7th member, was only relayed to the rest when it was time to find him. No earlier than that. Sad things only happen under the rain and the umbrella is bound to be red. Ts-ts-ts.

Yeah, this is one wonderful 'sharing of pain' concept. All the connected guys felt it when Niko was lightly punching Katsuhira in the head. Still, they commented 'it does not hurt!' when Chidori and Katsuhira fell down from a height of several meters, without any time to brace themselves, on a jumping sheet. Which is of course an absolutely safe and pleasant thing to do.
If this were the only case when the concept of pain was misinterpreted by the creators, I'd understand, but it's impressive how much they managed to ignore the vast range of consequences of taking pain as the subject of research.
Is a good song used for the opening a guarantee that the anime will be good? Seems like not. At least not when the ending theme is less than impressive.
Actually, you know... I'm sorry BOOM BOOM SATELLITES' last song, and a rather listenable soundtrack, too, were wasted on this mediocrity.

Even the attempt to introduce some madness was wasted.

IMHO. 'Honzuki no Gekokujou: Shisho ni Naru Tame ni wa Shudan o Erande Iraremasen' ~ The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

Fantasy stories are stories that contain a fantastic assumption - some fable that has to be accepted as-is, while every other element in the story maybe far from fantasy. 'Dracula' assumes there are vampires. 'Star trek' assumes there are spaceships with warp function. What does 'Honzuki' assume? That a college graduate from Japan founds herself in another world confined in a body of a 5-year-old girl? Nope. The fantastic assumption of  'Honzuki' is that right after she gets up from bed, she begins her attempts to produce books. No acclimatization, no after-death shock, no troubles with establishing relations with people around her. The only problem of the new world is the absence of books.

'Another world', an 'isekai', should be either extremely fascinating, impressing enough to make the viewers forget all their possible questions, or stop pretending to be serious. It's all very nice that Main makes commercial deals, but while everyone around calls her a weirdo who behaves as if she's much older, in fact the problem lies not in her, but in almost all children around her, and nobody seems to notice it. I'm sure children were helping parents from a very young age in Medieval Europe, but I'm also sure they were children, and that they didn't make any philosophic conclusions like chibi characters in 'Honzuki'. At the same time, Main behaves like a real child with no trace of her former 20-something-year-old self, despite the fact she remembers how to produce things.

So I've been watching anime for something close to 20 years. And my parents have had enough chances to have a look at what I watch. And 'Honzuki', I must tell you, is one of the few anime series that my mother asked 'Is this an anime for children?' about. She also praised voice acting. And what this means is simply this: that the voice actors speak in a manner easy to comprehend, so that even my mother, a foreigner with no knowledge of Japanese, can hear where one word ends and another starts, can guess the moods of characters based on their intonation, and can understand that the speech is clear. In other words... this IS an anime for children. I mean, it's not supposed to be, but it surely looks like one.

Only after my mother said this I realised what bothers me so much in 'Honzuki'. Despite getting a rating of PG-13 for some serious topics and some violence such as killing a pig, 'Honzuki' is a children's fairy-tale-cum-textbook. It's no wonder Shou Hayami with his low voice narrates the beginning of every chapter like a local Drosselmeyer. Every character explains their actions and Main herself comments on everything she does. Older characters constantly remind her what she needs to do being a daughter / a merchant / a noble. Sit down and write down, children, this is the role model for you.

Sometimes there comes in a person into the anime studio who exclaims 'But this is a drama!'. Then the staff rush to make it dramatic. They add touching moments of Main suddenly remembering that she hails from another world... Twice in 3 years, huh?

Soon season 3 will come out and it looks like it may be far from the last. But I'm sure the ending of this story is like this: they lived happily ever after. What a pity I don't give a damn about it. I only give it the 3 out of 10 it deserves for the few funny moments there were.

Now that I think of it... I didn't even make a single screenshot of this series. I guess, this is as much as there was to capture.

IMHO. 'Suki tte ii na yo' ~ 18 volumes are not the same every time

I think I know several shoujo manga approximately 18 volumes long, sometimes a bit shorter, like 15, or a bit more than 20. I think I understand to some extent what the story would be like with such a length. And I know what one can make out of such manga creating a 13-episode or a 26-episode tv anime series.

In fact, the amount of situations to describe in every ark is not very big.

First, they get to know each other under awkward circumstances. After that, or parallel to that, the heroine starts making new friends.

Then a rival appears on her side. Then the heroine does something that changes the rival to a friend, and the former rival becomes such a supporter that she would even oppose our hero.

Then, a rival appears on his side. He also should be a good guy essentially and even though he proclaims his love to be sincere, he officially recognises the pair and this threat also vanishes.

Since the first female rival switched sides so quickly, there should be another female rival, but even she eventually starts crying and admits her faults and becomes if not a new friends than at least something bordering on a nice person.

The heroine starts doubting the relationship every now and then, but her new friends support her and persuade her to make some new step, which she does, consciously.

She also experiences moments when the problem lies not in the rivals but in herself.

The list of possible settings also includes an amusement park, a summer festival, a hot spring resort, school trip, going to his place, going to her place and some others.

Especially touching moments are conveyed through showing objects unrelated to the conversation. Every romantic dialogue happens as a flow of sounds put upon a

or

or

I've heard that Natsume Soseki translated a character in a book in English saying 'I love you' into Japanese as 'tonight the moon is beautiful'. Well, 'Suki tte' went even further and made it an empty street, a plane trail in the sky and a toy spade in a sandbox.

It is the more disappointing considering that the beginning of the series was fast-paced and promising. Instead, even though I saw a wonderful passionate confession as early as episode 2, every new dialogue was duller than the previous, and every new character set on the path of righteousness in a pretty predictable fashion.

I must admit there was some attempt to show the inner feelings of the characters who feel insecure

and hurt each other unintentionally, even though they meant the opposite

but all of these were done in the same fast way, leaving no time for me to sympathise and feel it myself.

There was also an attempt to introduce some comedy via blunt comments

 misunderstandings

 and hyperboles

but they weren't enough. Towards the end, there were more calm, nothing-special-is-happening-and-thats-why-its-so-special moments, than the original passion or humour.

There were some recognisable melodies in the background, but I did not enjoy them particularly. The mild opening theme by Ritsuko Okazaki reminded me of Yui Makino's songs for 'Aria', except that 'Aria' could be proud of the unique style it had, and this one cannot. The ending by Suneohairwas probably at least interesting. It possessed some quality and might be usable as a background for everyday chores or make-up time.

The art was sometimes fine

and sometimes obviously lazy (have you ever seen a person speak with such a mouth as Aiko, in pink blouse?)

Here is the most important point: I thought there would be 23 episodes, but after I watched the 13th one I realised I'd been mistaken and the remaining 10 are only a one-minute shorts. This is when my score for 'Suki tte' immediately dropped.

I realised I was waiting for something... For something to happen. I was waiting all this time, all these 13 episodes, but I got nothing rewarding in the end, and moreover, even if there were more episodes, there would be nothing new to wait for, and even if I started reading the manga, there would be nothing really worth reading so much for.

I think I know shoujo manga 18 volumes long, out of which good directors and anime studios make decent anime series. I think I know how they can be filled with characters to love and stories to follow. Unfortunately, even really good seiyuus couldn't save 'Suki tte' from being only average.

At least I don't have to fear that I need to read 18 volumes.