well, i think >>2 is dead serious. when >>6 said he was being trolled, this is what i thought he was getting at:

kujibiki unbalance being animated, and all the merchandise being made for it, is the japanese animation industry trolling otaku. shimoku sort of does it by looking at kujian entirely in terms of its merchandising and doujin and extraneous shit, but the animation staff took it to another level. it's got haruko momoi and everything!

kujian is purposely shitty, but it's not going out of its way to do so. it's just being a typical example of the genre with really nothing to distinguish it. it's plainly shitty in the way that most high-school harem comedies are (which says something in and of itself about what WE watch, i think). even so, though it's comfort food for the fanbase. it's not outright parody, though, because if you comment directly, the whole thing falls apart.

the people making it are aware that they're churning it out to make money off otaku, and frankly, it's rare that they're so honest about it.

that it's been so popular only proves the age-old rule that any collection of cliches, provided they are the right cliches, will at the very least sell respectably, if not become a cult phenomenon.