These
two articles from Colony Drop are very much relevant.
Excerpt:
"Operation British, Phase Five: Within Our Lifetimes, Key Will Have Destroyed The Nation of Japan
<snip>
The Key setup is always the same: an antisocial young man not unlike the player meets and forms relationships with a number of sad, mystically doomed girls, all of whom who are somehow deeply connected to, and hopelessly dependent upon, him in ways which become clearer as the story goes on.
<snip>
They haven’t a shred of humanity to them: they are entities consisting only of moé. And then, as it must, tragedy strikes. In Air, heroine Misuzu– the one that says “gao"– is doomed by various supernatural factors to a terminal condition I and many Internet commentators have dubbed “Space AIDS.” <snip> he Key heroines are all in varying states of suffering, illness or death: indeed, this is the crucial moé point. It’s not enough that the girl is mentally unsound, physically weak, dependent, and perpetually shivering in pain: it turns out that for otaku, the most desirable woman is actually dying.
PS.: if you want something romantic with actually somewhat realistic characters try
Kannagi, or
Kare Kano if you want a tad of drama (and navel gazing) to go with your romance, or check out
Fruits Basket if you want something genuinely funny. Heck, if you just you *gotta* have something with Kugumiya Rie (read. immature girls with temper issues) in it check out
Toradora, at least that titles eventually manages to step out of the genre bounds and go somewhere.
Post-post script:
It could be that I'm absolutly off the mark. For all we do know this title could be a wonderful satire with a setup so over the top that at first glance you can't belive it could be any good...
There
are, examples to the contrary though, like
Seto no HayanomeThese are titles so over the top, that they can take refuge only in audacity. Most of the genre sucks, but every once in a while a title comes along that just "clicks" and you can't believe you haven't watched anything so funny in so long.
