Seriously, people like this show? This is well-regarded?

The characterization is just so hilariously unrealistic -- nobody acts in "real" or believable ways, because "omg 2deep4u symbolism." But the difficulty is that now the writing is "visible" -- that is, I'm aware of the authors as trying to construct symbolism and there's no "story" to mask it.
Such ham-fisted writing... perhaps people blame themselves for not understanding what's going on, but really it seems just like bad or obvious writing to me.
Shouma randomly shunning Ringo for practically no reason, and that whole "oh people are only kind to our family on the surface" comes out of nowhere and has been never referenced beforehand, so that moment was just hilarious. And Ringo doing the whole retrograde "blaming herself for Shouma's actions and turning into a powerless moeblob for no reason doesn't really speak well of gender roles or whatnot.
Plus Yuri inexplicably turning yandere for Ringo and having this huge character block that comes out of nowhere. I get why they were trying to mirror Ringo's feelings for Tabuki. Plus Yuri's father? Unrealistic as hell and comes out of nowhere.
Everyone just feels like a caricature. Red-haired girl with "THIS MUST BE CRUSHED," and everyone being obsessed with one character (Himari, Momoka, Mario).

So far, we've been able to predict that pink-haired girl is Mysterious Pink-haired Guy's similar self, because the trend seems to be for everyone to be one-dimensionally obsessed with a certain character.
So which would therefore make the penguin hat Momoka's soul or something or another.

Silvy called it just as I thought it, but we're betting that Ringo was a miscarriage or something and died, and Momoka in rewriting destiny sacrificed her life for the sake of saving her sister, perpetuating Ringo's "I am my sister" complex.

I'm still intrigued by the pink-haired guy, and I love the Garden of Eden/folktale mashups they've been doing (THE CONTRACT IS SEALED). And Himari as a character is still great, though I didn't really care when she "died" again, because it feels inevitable/scripted (as according to theme). Shouma and Ringo's interactions are usually great -- usually. >_>
Someone's going to make a wish in the diary and die to save someone else, that much is pretty evident. >_> It's just a matter of who.

But yeah... consider me skeptical, but we'll of course finish it. I hope that all my issues are resolved, rather than exacerbated by the ending. ^^;;

holy shit
the one highlight remains anything involving the penguin hat
>creeping outside the window
*Holds up sign and mouths "SURVIVAL TACTIC"*
"We'll be with our sister forever!"
"No. You won't." *om nom nom nom* "SURVIVAL TACTIC." (still not as good as Survival Strategy but whatev)

The supporting cast continues to be a shitshow
"this must be crushed" girl: have angsty and cliche backstory involving a huge father complex that has NEVER been mentioned before and was probably specifically made for this episode. The only saving grace was how ridiculous all the deaths were in her dreams, and then "Oh mario is now possessed by the ghost of the grandfather and here now eat pufferfish" is just
so [radio edit]ing terrible writing. You can tell you

And Silvy had jokingly said, while we were watching the next episode, "oh, here's where we suddenly get Tabuki's tragic backstory that had never been mentioned before" and lo and behold
You can tell the authors had no plot planned out, thought it was going to be comedy, then started trying to be symbolic and saying "oh, we'll introduce this character's backstory and make it super symbolic."

But it's sooooo overdone uuuuugh it buuuuuuuurns

The best part, and when I lost it laughing, was this:
*Tabuki is fifty feet or so above Himari, and she's down in a pit*
*Himari falls*
*cut to Tabuki, STILL FIFTY FEET UP AND SOMEHOW HOLDING HER IN HIS ARMS SECONDS LATER*

You can tell this show has just given up on consistency, eh?

But hey it's a great comedy anime