Typically they greenlight a season and then see how that does. If it gets good numbers, they might offer another season, but it isn't a sure thing. As such, the writers tend to plan the first season so that it has a satisfying ending even if they don't have another season.
The writers, working with Nakatani-sensei, have almost certainly structured the season on the assumption that this is their one shot. Incidental plot elements and side arcs are likely to have been cut down. I doubt we'll get, say, the bit where Koyomi goes to meet her favorite author. Some things will be cut, other bits might be expanded or changed. And that's good! An anime is digested differently from a manga. It shouldn't be scene for scene.
If we cut the plot points down to a bare minimum up to the play we got:
-Sports Festival
-Training Camp
-Summer break date
-Changing the play's script
-The play itself
If you say any of these can be cut out, you are wrong. At least if we want to keep the integrity of the source material up.
I dunno where everyone got the idea that this will be 13 episodes even though it was announced as 12, so I'll stick with the more pessimistic number for now.
We are on episode 6. Halfway done. If we had to spread those most important plot points over the remainder it would have to go something like this:
Ep.7: Sports Festival
Ep.8: Preparation for the training camp/miscallaneous stuff
Ep.9: Training Camp
Ep.10: Summer break and date
Ep.11: Yuu changing the script with Koyomi/Akari getting rejected for good (they set her character arc up so I doubt it will be ignored)
Ep.12: Somehow stuffing the entire play into one episode
This is ridiculously tight and cuts out a lot of stuff I'd like to see (Yuu vs. Sayaka confrontation, the rain chapter and Sayaka's side-quest with cafe owner and Riko-sensei), but it isn't terribly rushed. Some things like Sayaka's past or Koyomi's author date can be added in a potential second season or OVA without any connection to the timeline.
I just think that cramming it all into season 1 reduces the chances for a second season significantly. I'm one of those people who doesn't mind an open ending if the source material is there to finish it. I'd rather have a well paced and accurate first half than a crammed whole.
Touko: “If I love her the way she is now, then it means I would stop feeling that way if she ever changed. Right?”
Answer: Wrong, shithead. It doesn’t mean that in the least. Sure, she might change in such a way that you would love her less, but she might also change so that you loved her the same amount or (get this) even more.
For such a smart person, Touko, you’re really kind of an idiot.
[Sorry, just watched episode 6. Touko didn’t seem scary or sinister to me (despite the setting of The Railroad Crossing and Nearby Culvert of the Apoclypse).
She just seemed like kind of an idiot.]
That's the thing with insecurities and mental afflictions... they aren't reasonable.
It's less that she was scary and more totally detached and lost all of her sympathetic appearance, something we never saw before to that point. It's more about being uncomfortable and foreboding for the future of the story.
I'd be surprised if anyone could've said it better than you already have.
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