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After the first season, I expected, if nothing else, more of the same. An enjoyable show that was funny, witty, and occasionally harsh. A sequel to a show that felt like it stepped outside of the expectations of the "love comedy" shows that we've come to know, love, or loathe.

This, on the other hand, felt like a combination of a standard love drama and something that just wasn't really that good. It dragged on for half of it, and its message just wasn't clear a lot of the time either. While the point of the show is that its characters are "real," or so some ... say, when there are points where the love interests are made out to be completely lacking in empathy or common sense multiple times over, yet the narrative insists they are in the right, we have a problem.

The first bout of drama was the result of one such event. One love interest encourages the protagonist to take action, knowing full well what he's like. She says she's relying on him. He takes action in the way he does, and she proceeds to tell him she hates how he does things and leave. This is followed by the other love interest telling him to think of the feelings of others (a tad hypocritical really) and also leaving, and then half of the show is spent slowly dealing with the fallout.

Whereas the first season made sharp commentary, this one chooses to be pointlessly and annoyingly vague far too often, and avoids addressing what's going on too much of the time, leaving viewers to wonder what any of the characters are talking about or feeling more often than a show has any right doing, much less one that's following up this one's first season.

The worst part of it is when it's not dragging out and forcing this drama is that the cast of characters really can be a breath of fresh air - with the exception of the main heroine and the drama the author insists on packaging her with and forcing on us, that is. I can't help but think the story would be much, much stronger if it could be written without the fear of cancellation, as many Japanese works so clearly are, because that love triangle and tease to keep begging readers and viewers to keep coming back could be scrapped for something more focused and genuine.

And that's pretty ironic when you think about it.

The core problem of Oregairu that rears its head in the second season over and over again is that it's trying to do two things simultaneously that conflict a lot with each other. The first is that it's trying to have a flawed, human protagonist that is coming to terms with his issues and damages. It's showing us a person who is cynical and who doesn't understand and can't work with people, but is getting there.

The second thing is that it's still trying to abide by a lot of stereotypes of stories within this genre/setting. In the end, the narrative is set up so that this protagonist can still be a hero and save these girls and be there for them. In a way, it's pandering to the mindset of the viewer/reader that wants these girls to be their "waifus" in this respect. It's not inherently a bad thing to do that, but as it's presented, it conflicts with the first thing it's trying to do somewhat.

For a lot of the show, the protagonist himself is clearly someone in need of helping. Towards the end of this season, a point is reached where the protagonist owns up to how he's done a lot of wrong and comes asking for help.

This results in a reminder of how another character also needs saving, some drama, and eventually what seems like a resolution. In itself, this would have been a good way to close the series - but that's not how things work. Despite the show's commentary on the status quo, these types of shows are all ABOUT the status quo, it seems.

Immediately after this event, the next episode opens with "that was so embarrassing I want to die" from the protagonist, and the genuineness of that resolution is called into question throughout the rest of the season and never even really resolved. This is the third problem with it. Unlike the first season, this one seemed very intent on getting viewers more invested in the source material than just being a standalone product, and it shows.

All in all, this leaves something that can very easily leave viewers unsatisfied. It does create a "real" seeming story, but the show doesn't pace these things nearly well enough for it to be effective - and that's assuming this story would work if paced well to begin with.

Four episodes in, and things actually got to a pretty explosive and fantastic start - the first three episodes are devoted entirely to closing up what the third season left hanging, and it does so EXTREMELY well. New characters are introduced, but they don't take up too much time in favor of action and plot. Those first three episodes on their own could have made the entire season, to the point that if they had been released as an OVA on their own, I wouldn't have been surprised.

... And perhaps they should have. With the fourth episode, we're treated to the typical cliches and ... gags, with Louise wanting Saito on her own time but being her nasty, violent excuse for "tsun" the rest of the time. Admittedly, in the first episode, there was an argument that was fairly petty, but it was resolved surprisingly well for this series.

Furthermore, the fact that Siesta, who was a fairly enjoyable character in the first season, and now even Tabitha, have been reduced to, essentially, characters that just cling to Saito just to cause an issue for Louise, not to mention the fact that Louise constantly takes THEIR affections out on Saito, almost as often as he's pledged his devotion to her (he does, admittedly, ask for it sometimes) just makes things all the more ridiculous.

What's more, there's a plot device used to keep Siesta around, in that the queen asked her to be Saito's maid, but thinking about it - Wouldn't the queen know better than to do this after observing them for, oh, five minutes? Especially given that Siesta's self-proclaimed "love rival" is the queen's best friend, and as of season three, sister?

Ultimately, the flaw with what follows the great first three episodes (or perhaps just great THIRD episode - the first had its share of these problems as well) is that this series is trying to be a harem when it's got an established romance, and isn't letting its characters develop like they should in order to keep the harem aspect going when it's been clear (and even canon) from early on that there is no point to having a harem here.

Our protagonists have been saying from as early as the second season they love each other, we should not be arriving on the fourth season with the relationship still acting in a standstill, and with Louise acting in the same, petty way she has been all along, guided by shallow plot devices.

Aside from the romance/harem aspect of the series, however, the plot seems to be shaping up to be as good as always, and development outside of Louise has been decent. We've seen how Saito has grown since he's come to this world, and even how side characters like Guiche have taken to being warriors in their own way.

Overall, I'll be watching to the end, but unless things improve drastically in regards to Louise and her relationship with Saito this time around, I think I won't be too sad to see this one end here.