Came for mind-reading ESP girl, stayed for the surprise of the season!
The first half of the episode was brilliant directed in the same way the opening minutes of "UP" was. That dramatic prologue/montage of Kotoura's life, that slow deconstruction of her life and the change from her cheerful nature to that cynical personality was one of the most heartbreaking things I've seen in recent memory.
Which made her interactions with Manabe in the second half so amazingly heartwarming as he wormed his way into her heart. The interactions between the two of them are just so charming.
Definitely going to stick around for a couple more episodes and see if this will deliver. This first episode showed a lot of promise.