Xeiros posted:

I'll likely end up editing this post to nothing too. Oh well. Vague manga spoilers ahead.

The basic logic behind the fear of poor pacing comes from a particular character who has not been confirmed to appear in the anime. This character is Iruru or the third dragon to eventually join the main (not supporting) cast. Manga readers already know specific chapters will be adapted due to the confirmation of certain side characters. For example, Georgie Saikawa is confirmed to appear. She debuts in chapter 29 so we know that's getting covered. Another supporting character Shōta is also confirmed who debuts in chapter 27 so we know that chapter's covered as well. So we already knew as far in as chapter 29 was going to be covered before the anime even started airing.

The character who has not been confirmed to appear first shows up in the manga at the very end of chapter 30 just one chapter later. She continues to influence the story up until she permanently joins the main cast in chapter 38 which is the first double length chapter or the equivalent of around half an episodes worth of content not that it matters. From then on she's a consistent part of the cast and from her initial debut on can't be written around without butchering the source material. Even chapters like 34 that focus on Kanna and Kobayashi have this character playing a key role before she fully joins the main cast.

Remember that 4 chapter an episode pacing? The one the first two episodes had? If they avoid reaching the point where THAT character debuts they WILL have to gut the pacing and ramp up the anime original material by a significant margin at episode 8. In fact that episode on will be pretty much nothing but anime original material if they keep up the 4 to 1 pacing for the first 7 episodes and aren't going to include said character. Either that or the padding and filler will begin to slow down much sooner due to trying to pad out 29 11 page chapters over 14 episodes with the remainder being only perhaps half filler/padding instead of entirely so.

It all comes down to whether or not Iruru is in the anime. If she is the 4 to 1 pacing can remain intact save for the whichever episode covers chapter 38. If she is not, well ... yeah.