As much as I hate the spineless wimp that is the protagonist, his wimpiness makes sense in the grand scheme of things and it pushes the story forward. If he wasn't such a beta male the anime would've ended a lot sooner.

^this

MN is one of the few animes where a slack jawed MC makes actual sense. In most contemporary shows though, that kind of archetype only exists to justify sexy girls not getting some (so to not make a hentai) or for NTR purposes.

welcome to media in general..

Because Japanese people need a protagonist with something that's common with its viewers

recommendations for similar anime/manga?

This is the first anime I can say I was disappointed with... too much wrong with the show for me to really get into it. I managed to finish the series, but definitely wasn't anything too memorable

Yuno Gasai was pretty memorable for me.

I suppose as an individual character but the story wasn't anything spectacular.

I enjoyed it! Just need to start the manga.