[Kaoru Chujo]

This show far exceeded my expectations. I think I'll give it a nine, but give me time and that might climb to a ten. I didn't think it was a classic, but it is so memorable that perhaps it was.

For me, the characters were strong all round. And I'm not sure what kind of "development" we can get in a show that is essentially plotless, but I felt that these were fuller characters than the vast majority you see in anime. I got to know them better and better each week. As I've said before, I'll have to watch more of AzuDai, since for me this show was much more enjoyable than what I recall of that one.

And of course I agree with all the praise for the seiyuus. Hirano Aya's Konata was a total revelation in ep1. Several episodes in, people were still posting that they only just realized it was Aya. Tsukasa (Fukuhara Kaori) and Yutaka (Hasegawa Shiuzuka) were deeply moe. Kagami (Katou Emiri) was such a lovable tsundere. And Patty (Sasaki Nozomi) was one of the most interesting "foreigners" I can recall.

The references pleased rather than annoyed me, and I found them funny even when I didn't know where they were from. As for the humor, I'll go back to what I said after episode one: this is not laugh-out-loud humor, but the kind of humor that has you smiling inside from start to finish. They did tend to deemphasize the punch lines, and that was a good thing, in my opinion.

By the way, I completely disagree with rating methods that sum up marks for various aspects of a show, such as animation, voices, story, etc. (e.g., AnimeNfo). That is the way to rate bland but workmanlike shows highly and downgrade shows that make their points by being outstanding in one aspect or another. I also disagree with methods that start with an overall rating, then add or subtract for specific strengths/weaknesses. That method is subjectivity pretending to be objective. I'm actually not so keen on ratings at all, but in any case I rate on overall impression, period. I think of it as being honestly subjective, lol.