Save the date.
As is tradition, I’ll be spending the first part of this post providing a spoiler-free review of the orange anime series, and then the second half chatting about the (perfect) finale itself. I’ll let you know when I’m moving into spoiler territory so anyone who hasn’t yet seen the show will know when to stop reading.
The Josei Next Door 
Overall, would you recommend watching this over reading the manga?
(I mean obviously it depends on a lot of things, but I think I’ll leave the question intentionally open-ended to see what you think)
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I think the manga is more polished in terms of art quality, and you don’t notice the slow pace because you’re able to control how quickly you read through events. Since those are the anime’s two major weaknesses, at this point I’d say the manga gets the edge in terms of my personal overall enjoyment. But I also read it first, so there’s implicit bias there. And that’s not to say the anime doesn’t do some great things. It preserves the story and characters very well, and at its best it enhances the source material through really excellent framing, voice work, and music.
…I’m giving a non-answer, aren’t I? It’s just that they’re both good, and manga and anime are such different mediums that unless one version is noticeably better than the other, it’s like comparing apples and oranges. So I guess my recommendation is: The story’s worth experiencing twice, so if you can, do both! And if there’s a particular way you prefer to enjoy a story – reading vs. watching – then do that one first.
Does that help at all? ^^;
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Perfect
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Anime and manga are inherently different beasts. I enjoyed the manga tremendously, and read the entire series in about a weekend. I noticed that I reacted more emotional to the anime, I don’t know why. Maybe because I can put down an manga when it really gets to me, but I rarely pause an anime.
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