I appreciate the "hard work doesn't (necessarily) pay off" thing the show is pulling off. First, it's realistic. Second, it goes nicely against the ideology of "everybody can make it" (again, in reality, this isn't true). Just like the pursuit of happiness makes people unhappy, the pursuit of individual achievement tends to wear people out. The mental breakdowns the characters are going through are realistic like that. I'm just afraid that, being an anime, the show is nonetheless going to turn things around in the end and propagate the usual workaholism like it has been doing so far.
On another note, I love the humor in this
