I suppose that I started watching Stella something-something C3 (-bu) because I really wanted to like Garupan, but could not, and this seemed like a less idiotic remix of the same. Only it's not. If anyone wants spoilers, Kuro and SDB have them (the latter -- in comments). But the important part is that everyone who scoped it in the new season was misled. At some point Nova's commenters thought it was going to be like K-ON!

Just one thing is left to add: I'm not down with any series, no matter how great, to take 4 episodes to blossom. Granted, Stella did not start as poorly as Manabi, but there we only had to survive 1 episode, not 3 here. Do I have to bring up Haibane Renmei, Shingu, RahX (and a bunch of other good shows that open strongly) every time this happens? I know that a competent director can do it!

On second thought, they did drag me along to ep.4 after all, so no matter how much I complain, the creators succeeded.