They are proclaiming the Nico turnaround already, with some choice analysis:

Oto. [...] This reminds me: I kinda like Nico now. Not because of anything the show has done, but because of what you’ve been saying about her off air.

Pon. Yeah, in the posts I’m just saying what the show does with her. I’m not ready to unroll the Unified Nico Theory yet. Last time my suggestion was that not liking her in the beginning is part of the effect. It’s something I do a lot … I’ll dislike a character, and then they’ll become my favorite.

Oto. That’s weird. You’re weird.

Pon. Fuck you. One thing I like about this show is the blocking, or, I don’t know what you’d call it … the positioning of characters relative to other characters, especially when there are several on-screen. That part where Nico’s inexplicably in the closet or in a classroom or something is pretty good.

Oto. It occurs to me that the show has done one thing to make me like Nico. She’s the joke character. We’re supposed to like when “funny” things happen to her. Like how her position on stage is the closet. Well fuck you show. I tend to feel bad for those characters and thus start wanting to protect them.

Pon. They got you. No saving you now. Gonna have to leave you behind.

Oto. Oh god. It was all part of their twisted plan all along.

Pon. It’s a pretty normal plan. Par for the course.

Good times. However, they are only on 07. It's much too early to like Nico! At that time, I (ani-)noted "My problem with Nico is that she's ballast. Her otaku sense was not terribly useful thus far." That was the focus. Yet already they're talking about a turnaround. But not to spoil too much, Nico's stature is going to grow from now on. I wasn't as receptive, so only I changed my mind about her at the time when her love of the idols was put to the test and was found greater than Honoka's, way in the final arc. What are these two going to do then? Declare her the Best Girl?