UniLang

it managed to stay clear from most if not all problematic yaoi tropes (although it could really do without the gratuitous fanservice by that Swiss figure skater).
I think we can even say that YoI is the first non-yaoi that had male same-sex couple as the protagonists.

At the penultimate episode I was ready to praise this anime for a wonderful deconstruction of chūnibyō, and generally being a good romance anime without the hyperbole and most of the problematic cliches that you expect in anime.
The boy who recently recovered from his delusions meets the girl who's still living them out. He's awkward about how to interact with her because he's both out of this mindset now and he finds the delusions embarrassing, but also he understands that she needs help.

For me that part was very important, because ever since I managed to break the loop of my own depression, I haven't found how to help my own peers who are where I used to be emotionally. It's not enough to tell them that there is something in the other side of what they are experiencing as an abyss.

And they also make the very real mistake of entering a relationship as a coping mechanism for her trauma.
And indeed, what starts as a romcom turns into a deconstruction. The girl's chūnibyō is uncovered a reaction to the unexpected death of a parent, and how the rest of her family failed to support her effectively when she needed to mourn for her loss.

And at the penultimate episode the couple decide to have the serious discussion without using their delusions of super powers as a proxy. Perhaps a little too quickly, she starts making steps towards accepting her loss, dealing with her depression, and trying to build herself up again.

If only the anime just ended there. But no. There was one more episode, in which the boy realises that by overcoming her chūnibyō, the girl would move away from him and they would have to end or re-base their relationship in new terms. And boohoo, the protagonist who for 11 episodes prior to this one was actually not an asshole decides that he wants the girl after all, plot progress be damned. When he learns that she decided to move back with her family, he rides his bike to the next prefecture, climbs up her balcony, tells her that all her delusions have been real all along and they elope. His excuse to her family is that people all mourn in different ways and her delusions are her way and they should accept that. Which would be a valid plotline to develop if that wasn't the last episode, and if it wasn't there solely for him to get back together with the girl.

They even then unveil that her imagined persona was inspired by his own former chūnibyō lore, that she happened to overhear in a contrived coincidence years before they actually met.

Oh fuck off. One episode of concentrated shoujo cheesiness was enough to ruin this anime for me. Now I noticed there's even a second season where they are still together and she is still going through chūnibyō. And on one hand, I really want to know if they manage to rebase their relationship on healthy grounds after all, but on the other hand I am almost sure I would be disappointed, and it's easier to forget about 1 terrible episode than to erase an entire season from my memory.

If I was writing this anime. I would end season 1 with them parting ways, heartbroken as they might both be (watching the anime does make you want to see them together, even though you know it's harmful - that makes it very real). If a Season 2 had to happen, it could perhaps focus on the boy working out his feelings in turn. Understanding the importance of clean breaks. There could still even be a happy ending if that's necessary, perhaps with them becoming professional actors and meeting again some years into the future (another ex-chūnibyō side-character takes up acting as a way to build herself up again).

I don't know. I was disappointed. A cheesy happy ending is worse than a sad, open ending. That's almost an obvious thing to say.