Yumemiru Danshi wa Genjitsushugisha

So, there's this guy who initially behaves like a stalker/pushy towards the FMC. However, his perspective changes when he gets hit by a ball. He realizes he has been acting like an asshole and becomes frustrated with the tsundere FMC's constant rejections. As the story progresses, this frustration, coupled with the realization of his stalking behavior, leads him into a serious depression. The FMC, being a tsundere, notices the change in his behavior and becomes curious as to why he's no longer clingy. This sets up the storyline for Episode 1.

This is a tale about finding healing through love and affection. Both of them lack ... friends (the FMC, for instance, has been unable to make friends due to the MC's clinginess, as explained in EP1). As the show progresses, the FMC will came to realize that she desires the attention of the MC. (Stockholm Syndrome?)

This story revolves around the realization of one's mistakes, accepting and overcoming them,
and striving to become a better person through the power of love. If you have an affinity for tsundere characters (which I personally love) and enjoy romantic comedies (another favorite of mine), then it's definitely worth sticking around for. Despite the cuts in monologues and a faster pace than usual, this anime will be entertaining and highly enjoyable. (for me)

(Although I'm somewhat disappointed that they didn't show the extent of his stalking behavior, his character growth will still be rewarding.
Perhaps the decision was made to avoid frightening away the audience. Nevertheless, his journey of overcoming depression remains the most crucial aspect.)

All in all, this is a less complicated Oregairu, a romcom with drama and psyhology if you like that. (like i do) i recommend this anime for you.

As of ep3, its a 7/10

After watching the first episode I thought it all sat oddly with me. The conversations and events did not go the way you normally expect them to. It was just kind of weird and off. I was going to chalk it up to bad writing, or inaccurate translation, or poor execution, but thought I should look at the next episode or two and wound up looking at all that have been simulcast on Hidive so far.

What got me thinking to look at it some more was a certain kind of consistency of tone in the personalities and in the things that were being said ... by the characters, that were not "cartoony". I think what we have here is a story that's not giving you all the tropes that you expect of the school life genre comedy, but something more like a real slice-of-lie based dramedy based on someone's life experience--like watching a foreign language movie, not intended for a USA viewer like me.

To defend this position, I'd have to go back and look at everything and dissect all the scenes and analyze the dialogue, and i don't want to do that. I get why this series is being given a lot of negative reviews here. But, I think if you change your frame of reference in how you view this show, you may actually enjoy it more. Pretend you're watching a live action Asian drama instead of a rom-com anime show and it may land better on you.

I'm committed and all in now, so I'll watch it til the end. If it plays out like usual in this genre, you expect the main characters will get together at the end. But to me it's a toss-up given how this has progressed. My prediction is that the MC will truly become a realist, get over his crush, and move on beyond infatuations since he has started to have meaningful platonic relationships with other girls. We'll see.

This show really ticked all of my boxes at first. A classic Rom-Com plot about unrequited love with its own twists. A protagonist that isn't denser than a brick and doesn't avoid his feelings. A bit of good writing and, realistically, this could have been another hidden gem in an already stacked Summer 2023 season. Unfortunately though, The Dreaming boy is a Realist tries to be something it isn't, losing its audience early in the prologue. 

While the overall production quality being about average it definitely wasn't unpleasant to watch. The problem all boiled down to lazy directing and screenplay. Most of the dialogue felt incredibly forced with nothing ... of substance being said. After the main point of a conversation is established, the dialogue seems to suddenly shift gears into endless mumble mode. Overall it felt like the director was adding gibberish so the characters had something "profound" to say, ignoring the fact that no real conversation flows like that. This could have been avoided if the characters genuinely had something meaningful to say and if not, decent humor could have done the trick. However, the direction wasn't good on either regard. The comedy doesn't meet the mark and the characters are becoming more and more confusing as the show progresses.

The story and the motivations behind it are also questionable. To summarize, the protagonist is trying to discover what "love" and "care" truly mean to him, but he's going about it in a peculiar way. It has already been shown that his behavior prior to the prologue resembled that of a stalker. None of the characters minded that for some reason, even though it was clearly a problem. Nevertheless, the protagonist eventually distances himself from his crush, realizing his approach was unhealthy and decides to instead admire her from a far.  That by itself is fine; it's the execution that matters. After he does this the main girl suddenly fades out and other girls are introduced. The protagonist now has to solve their problems, which leads to the dialogue problem and the lack of substance that I mentioned. By episode three nothing has happened that validates the significance of "stalking = bad," which is the main theme of the show.

TL;DR - The Dreaming Boy is A Realist is definitely not the tragic romantic comedy it tries to be. It is full of forceful dialogue scenes that have no substance, comedy that doesn't meet the mark, and an over all lack of focus on the shows theme. Despite my rant here, I acknowledge that I'm probably overanalyzing and that the show is pretty lighthearted in nature. If you want to enjoy it, my advice would be turning off your brain first. Personally though I wouldn't recommend it.