I thought it was solid but not spectacular.
I like the art style, it's pretty and well-animated. It's not a visual masterclass but for what it sets out to do, it does it well. I liked the more textured feel you could see on stuff like Hongou's hair.
For what it's worth, I thought this was going to lean into a Shimoneta-style of show where it'd be focused on sexual humor and thankfully, that's not what it's like (...I say, having Shimoneta rated higher than this), it's more of a character-focused show focusing on the different ways our "maidens" go about the blossoming of love in their hearts, which I do appreciate. That being said, it can be really funny when it wants to be.
The characters are kind of a mixed bag.
Kazusa is kind of a whatever main character. She's given kind of a "trad" relationship compared to some of the other girls and she doesn't have the personality quirks of someone like Sonezaki to make up for it. She's very "scenery protagonist" pilled to me where, like, she's kinda there and fades into the background, idk if that makes sense but I didn't really care for her. Her relationship with Izumi was cute, I guess, but it leans into a love triangle later on and it falls prey like many before it to the Losing Heroine curse where the Losing Heroine is much more interesting. I wouldn't say I wanted the LH to WIN per se but she was more interesting, Kazusa's kind of bland tapioca pudding to me.
Speaking of Sonezaki, I enjoyed her. Favorite character. I do dislike that they gave her the meganekko class president special for like 4 episodes and then they were like "yeah, just give her An Attractive Appearance for the rest of the show" and other than the OP, we never get to see it again. That gripe aside, I liked her role as the straight-laced club president who fell in love despite that. Her (platonic) relationship with the gyaru girl was actually kind of cool to see, it was surprisingly kind of engaging for a girl who could've otherwise been the "fake-ass bitch who gets pwned when the class prez turns out to be a hottie". I felt that where they go for the last couple episodes with her arc were kind of over-the-top and rushed. Since all the girls are more or less "maidens", it would've been interesting to see them tap into one of them dealing with the jealousy of having a boyfriend who has done stuff with other girls but it's just kind of quickly introduced and then glossed over in a way that makes me wonder why they even bothered. But otherwise, I liked her relationship and arc with her love interest, pretty good.
...I don't really have a good bridge for this, so let's go from my favorite to my least favorite. Momoko was such an annoying little pest. I like her arc in theory but it didn't work for me. Her "love interest" seemed, at least to me, to be a mostly stand-up guy (besides the part on the field trip where he came off as a little clingy) but then he does a giant heel turn in Episode 10 that didn't succeed at making me like Momoko more, it just made me like her "love interest" less. Not to mention she asks Kazusa "hey, would you rather fuck me or our attractive male teacher" and she crashes out when Kazusa goes "well... I'm kinda into boys so...". It made her look like a manipulative little creep, especially when they kinda push her more towards Sugawara in the end anyway. I do appreciate the attempt to add a lesbian into the story but making her such a standoffish prick towards him when he seemed to be an okay guy for most of the story just kinda made me dislike her, especially when she herself could be kind of pushy towards her own (actual) love interests at times.
Speaking of Sugawara, Sugawara! I liked her presence in the story but where she fails is her first "love interest". That creepy-ass pedophile made me want his bozo, clown shoes, no drip looking self OFF the screen in a visceral manner. And he's such a major part of the middle portion that it just made me sour a little bit on the show. She eventually gets a better arc but starting off with her former director (especially since he is explicitly NOT going to stop with Sugawara, he is still out there prowling for another little girl to creep on) was a hell of a wrong foot.
...although it's kinda weird, because they DO do a good arc featuring a student and her older love interest. Hongou's literature arc was only kinda okay but it does flourish into arguably my favorite arc of the 5 girls even if I do like Sonezaki better overall. Her love interest is an interesting character in his own right and gets, for a boy in this show, a pretty decent arc, his own love interest separate from Hongou, and a chance to do something in the story besides "be a love interest". Watching Hongou struggle to seduce her love interest in the way that she did, being a high school girl in the face of a teacher who wasn't going to swing that low, it was interesting.
I was kinda high on this show at the beginning, but I can't help but feel it's already going into that 7/10 territory where even by the end of this Crunchyroll AOTY candidate project, I'm barely gonna anything about the show.
That being said, I do think it's a decent enough show. I liked the majority of the arcs (it's really Momoko and, like, the first half slash 2/3rds of Sugawara's that I don't like), it's a well-produced show, it's not the worst thing.
