I was fine with Shiori and Jirou doing their silly dance around each other before this. It was par for the course for this kind of manga. But now it just seems like out and out satire, which I can only hope was the author's intent. If him and Shiori ever got together they'd form a black hole...
I don't think I've seen a situation where it hasn't been effective. It has the right level of intimacy to go just beyond an implication into something meaningful. And that's really helpful considering 99% of romance in manga is just "JESUS CHRIST JUST TELL THEM ALREADY! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO...