Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru.

Warming this review may contain spoilers.

First impressions, ok to be completely honest I only originally checked out this show because it had a trap it in and I liked all the memes that where coming from this series was what originally got my interest, but of course once I started watching it there was a lot more than to the series than I first thought.
(Also quick Side note i will be covering both seasons of the anime in this review)

Story, 6/10
So in today's modern anime where half the series that are coming out are about ether about high schools or cute girls doing cute ... things how dose a series My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU stand out in a market which at this point has already reached peak inflation, besides being about a bitter, anti-social teenager named Hachiman forced into a school club called service club, the that help people fix their problems, totally haven't heard about this before a seruies about a high school student being forced into an excuse for plot club with cute girls and sarcasm aside.
The story is basically the three of them trying to fix poor, poor Japanese high school students problems and there some sort of love triangle forming because light novel. which at first thought I figured this is just going to be another generic school romantic comedy that I would forget in a week, and considering my experience with the medium you can't exactly blame me for having that viewpoint.
But i was very surprised in how even though this series is mostly about high school bullshit, i did find it interesting that this series actually talks and criticiszes human society. Well to be more specific it's more aless socal commenty and the problems that can arise which i find very interesting and the fact this series trys to more thought provoking than your average romantic school comady with teenagers is really impressive to say the least.
The ideas of don't always go with the crowd, be yourself and some people are going to be two-faced assholes. the fact it doesn't devolve into otaku culture to get it point across just adds weight to the commentary because whoever wrote this dose has this understanding of how people tick and doesn't use it for an excuse for edgelord bullshit, but more a less is telling you this is normal human behaviour and it isn't perfect, but that's fine because even if problems do come up there are ways to fix them to get around them.

But the major prolem is even though it's a lot more thought provoking and actually trys to be interesting with its messages and etc, it is sadly constrained by the fact that at the end of the day it is still a teen romantic comedy in high school and you can only take it so far intill it implodes on itself, and another prolem I have with this series is that it has this meta commentary asspect where its makeing fun of the tropes and cliches of its genre, but also realays on sied tropes and cliches for its plot beat.
So comes off more like its mocking itself rather than any meaningful commentary on the subject and I for one hate that kind of humour in anime with a passion because it just isn't funny. When Hachiman is being an asshole that's when I find the series funny because I find his brand of no fucks given just comedy gold and this meta humour or references to other series just feels very forced.

Speaking of forced the love triangle in this series between Hachiman, Yukino and Yui is the most forced thing In this series, because even though I find the "friendship" they forms together really sweet and endearing. But at the same time, I feel the romantic dynamic to there relationship feels tacked on for the sack of waifu wars or stretching out the story longer than it has to.


Characters, 6/10
When it comes to main charter Hachiman, he is a breath of fresh ear if you are used to the generic Japanese high schooler template that may series use nowadays. Becuase What makes Hachiman so great as a character is that he has a personality that you can define and isn't a just a blank self-insert.
He is this cynical, anti-social asshole that just doesn't give a fuck, and what him really interesting as a character is that despite the zero fucks personality. There is a part of him that does care for people, it's just most people misunderstand his intentions. Becuase Hachiman is basically an anti-hero in a way because he is willing to shower the burdens of being hated in order to shit done.
I feel as far as teenage characters go Hachiman is very feel written for what he is, at times he feels almost human in a way instead of being this cardboard cutout.

When it comes to the other members of the service club Yukino and Yui.
Even though their personality is kinda standard fare, there is a lot more depth added to them and a lot more thought put into them so they come off charming than anything else. But besides that there not really that memorable when compared to Hachiman.

Side characters are in the same boat as Yukino and Yui but worse.
Their personalities are really watered down even if there is a tad bit of depth to them. I don't remember their names and I will forget they even exist within a week because I found them so boring.

Now I will say that the dialogue and interactions between the charters are a lot more intriguing than the actual charters themselves. Because this series likes to dive into social interactions into more depth and thought than most series of its genre. For an example, there is a scene where characters could seem happy on the outside, but inside there really angry and are dropping this passive aggressive comments. Which I liked.



Art, 6/10
The animation runs quite smoothly and the art keeps up a decent quality,
But background looks like they were painted on at times. Of course, the second season lessens these issues I have to a degree with everything looking a lot more polished and slighty more detailed.
Art style is basic and the character designs are pretty standard fare, but I will say that the main charter little sister would look really great in some doujins though.



Sound, 5/10

The first oping song was pretty good, but everything else hoping and ending wise was kinda lacklustre at best. There nice to listen to i guess but they didnt really get my interest. The ost was done my some japanese music studio named MoNaca who have some very fumous people under them like for example keiichi okabe, satoru kosaki and kakeru ishihama who from who i can gather so far was the main dude behind the ost for this series. Its not that bad of an ost to listain its just nothing really got my interest and make me feel like woh i need to download this and listain to it over and over again.


Enjoyment, 6/10

So when it comes to enjoyment, i enjoyed this seruies for what it was and i have even got 10 volumes of the light novel. I think what really got me into this series it that it actually tries to provide some sort of thought-provoking content, which is very impressive for a series that is about high school bullshit.



Overall, 6/10
If you like romantic comedies I would say that my romantic comedy snafu is worth at least checking out, because it tries a lot harder than most of its genre. Which I think the effort alone should be prised to some degree But that doesn't mean it is the masterpiece that some people would claim it to be.
Because it is highly limited in what it can do because of the high school setting, if its setting was in college or maybe the Japanese workplace it would properly have a lot more impact in its social commentary and it could talk about more things.

Oregairu is a pandering mess that disguises itself as a show with actually interesting things to say by having all the main characters DESTROY libtards with facts and logic exposing the facts and logic. I hate every single character except for pink haired girl because they're either self-righteous aholes (like the 2 mains), aholes for no reason (yellow haired thot and annoying perfect older sister), or completely irrelevant to every important story point (gray-haired trap and orange-hared klutz). The show just seems like it's jacking itself into a corner by taking a couple somewhat awful characters and having them point out that obviously awful characters ... are obviously awful and then using that as a justification for being kinda awful.

To be honest, the main characters reminded me of what I hate about myself from like two years ago. They're blunt, inconsiderate, self-righteous, and unnecessarily cynical, refusing to see the good in others. The show seems to address this for a moment and then decides that it'll just settle with "Haha be yourself you don't have to change" which I found lazy and unhelpful.

Also, the humor's the type of "hahaha I'm so self deprecating" humor that gets stale faster than bread in the desert.

All in all, half the time I found the series really boring and the other half of the time I wanted to stop watching cause I disliked the characters so much.

5/10

I did find the situations and solutions interesting, though. I have to concede that they were very interestingly constructed.

It's interesting to see how your own opinions of a show can change as time goes on. I probably hadn't watched the first season of SNAFU since high school, and just recently decided to re-watch it anticipating the release of season 3. I originally rated this series a 9, but after re-watching it I could only think that it was just okay. Keep in mind this is just my opinion on season 1.

Story: 5

I have similar feelings about the first season of SNAFU that I have about the first season of Free!. There is a lot more slice of life and it honestly ... is fairly boring to watch. I feel like in the first season it's trying to set up the characters, and to let us revel in Hachiman's way of thinking and how he deals with problems, but there are plenty of moments that I just feel don't add anything to the story.

Characters: 6

In my opinion, the show lives or dies based on Hachiman in season 1. He has such a cynical and unique way of viewing and dealing with the world around him that even if you can't relate to him, there is a small part of you that revels in his cynicism. I find it hard to talk about Yui and Yukino, because while there is obviously some depth there, they also don't feel unique. Maybe that's the point though, but who knows?

The supporting cast is a mixed bag, ranging from archetype to archetype, though some of it I'm sure is intentional. The way some of them act though feels so disingenuous that I have a hard time seeing them as anything but caricatures and not real people.

Art: 4

This is the only comparison I'll make to season 2 in this review, but I'm so glad they changed how the characters look in newer seasons. In the first season Hachiman looks very different and all of the characters have this flat quality to them. The animation doesn't stand out in any respect, though I do think it's serviceable.

Sound: 4

Not much to say in this respect. I can't remember a single track besides the opening, so make of that what you will.

Enjoyment: 6

I feel like where you are in life will vastly impact the enjoyment you get out of this show. I found myself wondering why I liked this so much the first time I watched it as a teenager, and honestly I feel like I've lost those feelings a bit.

Overall: 6

I recommend you watch this season, despite my overall low score for it. Season 2 I feel is where this show really turns into something special, so while you might have to trudge through season 1, I'd still recommend the series nonetheless.

"My teen romantic comedy is wrong, as I suspected" more commonly known as Oregairu follows the exploits of a socially inadequate high school student Hachiman Hikigaya. The story revolves around a club Hachiman is forced to join and the two other members of the club: Yukino Yukinoshita and Yui Yuigahama. The club is a Service club where students can ask for help on anything.

The story is a pretty standard slice of life plot which heavily relies on the banter between Hachiman and Yukino to keep the viewer interested. For the most part, this works. Hachiman and Yukinon have ... contrasting philosophies on life and a mutual dislike for each other which makes each scene interesting. Unfortunately, the ending of the story leaves a lot to be desired and while the show does have a sequel, I am reviewing Oregairu as a standalone piece of work.

Along with Yukinon and Hachiman, there is a third member of the Service club, Yui. She was not really that important but she kept the Service club together when Yukinon and Hachiman were arguing (which was always). Unlike the other two main characters, Yui was not as interesting. Unfortunately, not a single character character aside from Hachiman and Yukinon were developed beyond a single defining trait or stereotype. While that was fine as they were able to carry the show, what really brought down the show was the horrible art and animation and mediocre sound.

There were many episodes were the art was plain bad, stills were used too often and animation was recycled and it got annoying fast. For the sound, it was completely forgettable. There was nothing that made is stick out, either good or bad.

Overall, Oregairu is a show that started off with potential, but quickly died due to bad characterisation, crappy art and an unmemorable OST.

Score: 5 (Average)

I wont write a long review of this since despite what other ppl might say,this anime is not that special.

The story is nothing great,but it dosent need to be either.

The characters are the strongest point of this anime ,Hachiman being the best character.The other characters are Yukinon, the red hair chick and the rest of their class who all have personalities and their quirks and feel a bit real which is good for a show where nothing important happens so u might as well make the characters feel real.

This show never heard what music is.
NO MUSIC at all......(there is music but it might ... as well not be any)The show has an oppening and an ending song ,but i dont care and neither should anyone else.
I gave this category 3 for the voice actting and nothing else(since there wasn't anything else)

Art&Animation:Average and it dosent matter.

This anime is the most lifeless anime i have ever seen.This anime is soooooooooooo lifeless it makes Spice and wolf seem like Tengen Toppa Gurren Laggan.

Conclusion : Just watch Hyouka its basicly the same thing but charming,the MC is allmost the same whit the same ideals in life and it is not cynical as fuck.
Or.....just dont marathon it cus it will make u depresed..........yeah watch it slowly,let your life be depresing for a longer period of time.

This show is worth watching only for the MC, his thought process and the witty dialogue but that is not much.

5/10(and i am being generous since a show that u watch only for 1 character is not worth watching)

Yahari proved an anime quite overrated, not that the anime itself is bad, but a lot for your disregard for your plot, you can not expose the maximum of their potential.

Another fact which marks quite the anime and that made me quite angry are his characters, it's amazing how I can still feel not any charisma of the great majority, especially the male lead, which is boring and quite annoying.

Yahari my view was nothing more than an anime above average bastate overestimated where all that to feel his muddled plot is a vague feeling of boredom and monotony of the desert, and still and incredible ... as it may seem the same with these problems, it is an interesting anime.

This show starts out promising but it can't grow out of it's own limitations and expectations, bringing the entire show down by the end.

The story is generic, stale and never developing. The show starts out by mocking these kind of forced scenarios but then uses the very same generic tactics to keep a false sense of suspense. The author doesn't want to commit to any changes or development in the characters which leaves a bad taste as you reach the end without any kind of fulfillment, and stuck in square one, as the show mockingly tells you.

The characters are as typical as you get. ... Aside from the one or two excessively flimsy characters, the rest are as paper-cut as they come. The show attempts to dive in and explore some of these further but at the cost of the main cast being pushed out, so it leaves it mid-way again. The side characters can be summarised into one or two words, and I swear, in one scene, I was unable to distinguish between four female characters during a singing montage.

Overall, the show wants to tackle issues neither the characters nor the author, for that matter, know anything about. The talk and long speeches about humans and their behaviour are delivered in a condescending way with a very dim, plain and unoriginal nihilistic view that suits a 12-year old. Alas, the comedy when it came up was enjoyable enough and the side-stories are sufficient to keep you invested towards the end. So it's a Fair-class of enjoyment.

I mean its obvious how the anime will go it was so obvious that I felt like just watch the last ep from 3rd season and yes I was right , these love triangles in animes are hella boring for a simple reason, they are easy to predict who the mc will end up with and it doesn't matter if you add 50 or 100eps of character development the author will make it so he ends with the one it was always planned since the start of the anime. Thats the big problem with animes who want to portray real life situations, they do ... it poorly in general. I just feel sad for people who waited 4 years for the 3rd season hoping for a different ending. Happy for me who never watched this until recently so I could skip to the end to confirm my theory.

I really wanted to like this anime, but sadly it made me very disappointed.
I get what's the general idea behind it, but some reason I couldn't enjoy it that much.

Story: If I want to be completely honest, I don't think this anime has any story at all. Yeah-yeah we have a boy who has lots of bad experience (nothing very serious) and nasty nature. We can listen to his monologues mainly. He actually a very nice person deep down and blah blah blah. I had this blah blah blah feeling all the time during the whole show. I really started to feel bored ... after two episodes. So what's the story? Is he will open up to the world and will be a nicer, more opened, but still a nasty tempered person? yeah probably. I don't' know as I didn't feel the urge to read the manga, but I can guess the whole story without reading it. 4/10

Art: Nothing special here too. Not my favorite kinda drawing, but the animation was okay. 6/10

Sound: Once again, nothing special. I can't even remember any of the music so probably it was okay but not good enough. 6/10

Characters: I have to admit that the makers put some effort into the main male protagonist. However, I really didn't like him. He is a wimpy kid. I usually like cynical characters, but he was very unsympathetic to me. Maybe I'm too old to empathize with his emotions. Even though he has some good points, he always gets the wrong end of things. I could not come to like him till the end. I hate people like him in real life. Self-pity one of the worst human trait that can exist and he is the king of self pithiness. His whole personality builds around victimizing himself and then make cynical comments in his head about society and people. He says he doesn't care about others and he is happy as he is...even a blind person can see this is a huge fat lie.
All the other characters lack original personalities. I have seen them all in different animes.
Despite I didn't like most of the characters, I do understand why people like the main guy. I get his personality and as a negative "hero" he is not too bad. I don't like him anyway, but I appreciate the effort that the writer put in him. That's why I give a 6/10 for characters.

Enjoyment: I watched it...I rarely smiled, but I never managed to laugh. I got bored after a few episodes, then about halfway through it got my attention and then slowly died away again. 6/10

Overall: I think this anime could be fun for someone who can sympathize with the male protagonist, but if you don't like him, this show has nothing to offer for you. I give a 6/10 purely because I think my own dislike towards the main character is too strong so I'm not able to give better. If I judge by just my feelings it would be a 4, but I don't want to put this anime under the same score that I gave to some others which were actually really bad.

I finally got around to trying My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU after multiple people recommended it to me. I’m not entirely sure I understand the hype yet, but there are definitely some strong points to be found here.

Story & Characters: My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU starts us out with Hachiman Hikigaya, an apathetic student who never shows his emotions, writes an essay at school that essentially mocks social norms. His teacher gets enraged by this and forces him to join the school’s Service Club, a club that aims to help students reach their goals. When he gets there, he meets Yukino Yukinoshita ... who shows just about as much emotion – though she lets her intentions be well known. It’s not much of a storyline, but the trouble they get themselves into leads to some pretty magical plotlines.

Hachiman is a really hard character to get attached to, at least to start. He doesn’t care about a thing and has such a dry personality. That being said, he has some very impressive thoughts about social norms. While this is all and good, he monologues entire way too much. We’re talking more than we’ve seen in something like Your Lie in April. It’s excessive and makes the series feel way slower than it actually is. He does go through some impressive development as the series carries on though. This is in part to Yukino, who, while also kind of dry, is much more of a do-er than anyone else. She has a strong work ethic, even though she has some details about her family that she’d rather not get out in the public. She acts like she hates everyone while, to herself, seems rather caring. This is an anime trope that’s sadly pretty common and really grinds on me. Yui Yuigahama joins the Service Club a little later on and gets heavily involved with the plot. She’s probably my favourite character here, as she has a much more outward attitude that helps bring out Hachiman and Yukino’s personality much more. She’s straight forward and tries her best, someone I’ll be rooting for if she continues to be involved in the story going forward.

Side characters are a mixed bag. Komachi is Hachiman’s sister and like Yui, is way more outgoing. She’s a fun character to watch. Saika, despite being male, has a remarkably feminine personality. There’s a lot of jokes around this and after the first time, they really didn’t hit for me. Hayato and Yoshiteru are seen sporadically and are also included for a bit of comic relief. They’re fine, but nothing special. Hina is another classmate that is seen every now and then, has a bit of a confusing personality, but she had some great moments – mostly with regards to watching the boys being in close proximity to each other.

Predictably, the plot centres around the Service Club going through their various requests – some more wider scale than others. The really strong thing that holds the plot together is the ability for our main trio to solve problems in a bit of a roundabout way. The best example of this is when Hachiman helps out Minami at the tail end of the cultural festival. Sure, it’s not conventional, and may come back to bite him, but did it help solve the problem? Yes. It keeps the series unpredictable, something that a lot of romantic school anime has issues with sometimes.

The messages that this series brings are really strong, many of which are free of any kind of malice or ill-intent. It fosters students being much strong together, than apart, and to always try and seek help from your friends if you feel you can’t achieve what you’re after if you’re alone. This is solid, though I wasn’t always on board with the execution. Sometimes it just didn’t feel impactful, even if they went for more unconventional methods.

The best moments are when the characters are all on their own, or at least without multiple other characters are in the vicinity. There are some really good character interactions and moments that are really light and are basically the reason that I like the genre so much. I wish there was more of it, but it makes sense why there’s not more. After all, there are two other seasons after this. You do have some inkling about where the story could go, but I’ll be prepared to be wrong. (Story: 7/10, Characters: 6/10)

Art: Brain’s Base is not a studio I’m familiar with, as this is literally my first viewing of their work, but it looks fine all-around. There are some moments where the camera zooms in on a strange angle and it makes the rest of the shot look a little wonky, but you really don’t need over-the-top animation for this kind of series. It’s passable, and fine for the most part. (7/10)

Sound: Similarly, the OST also doesn’t need to be terribly impressive and it was also fine here. Nagi Yanagi seems to do the OP for all three seasons in the series and she’s a good choice – her voice lends very well to the light mood that this series keeps. The ED, Hello Alone, was fine, but not terribly impressive. It’s sung by Yukino and Yui’s Japanese VAs. Voice work was unsurprisingly strong, as any work ADR directed by John Swasey tends to be very strong. Adam Gibbs (Hachiman) isn’t someone I’m terribly attached to, but he seemed solid, even if his character’s a bit flat. Cat Thomas (Yui) was likely the best of the crew, bringing life to Yui’s outward attitude. Andrew Love (Yoshiteru) always makes me laugh in these roles and Natalie Rial (Hina) was equally strong. Melisaa Molano (Yukino) was fine, but seemed awkward at a few moments. (8/10)

Overall: My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU has some sections where you can see a strong story starting to blossom, but the lack of multiple exciting plotpoints, along with some subpart characters really doesn’t make me jump out of my seat. I heard it gets significantly better, so that’s an encouraging thought for someone always seeking more in this genre. (7/10)

(Watched with Japanese audio/ English subtitles)

You know... with the word "Comedy" in the title I kind of expected more comedy.

Finished this thinking that the Divine Comedy had more comedy in it than this show. And I want to make it known that because of that, it hurt what I thought about the show IMMENSELY.

Branding is important, and everything from the title to the genre tags attached mislead you into thinking this show is a romantic comedy.

It's a drama. Plain and simple. Throwing a joke in once or twice an episode does not change the genre. It's like ordering a steak and getting ... a hot dog. Sure, there's beef in it. But it's not a steak.

Rant over.

Setting aside the misrepresentation from the show AND community, there's nothing else really wrong with the show. The artwork is good, the music is good, and the character designs are good (they accomplish what the story sets them up to be).

I do recommend this if you want to watch a romantic drama. Just don't expect to be clutching your sides in laughter.

this is an O.K anime:: the protagonist and yukino, besides being charismatic, gave me inspiration and made me think about sincerity, transparency and being who you are, but the anime is full of "repetitive" and annoying (yuigahama herself) personas and characters who don't add anything to the work (the old guy with chuunibyou), clichés, unnecessary situations (that arc about the older sister who was working in secret so she could afford her little brother's course), anyway.
but there are also some interesting and memorable things that give this anime some personality, like the protagonist's personality, which i really like, and the girls' music presentation at ... the cultural festival, in which they sing a song that's probably dedicated to hikigaya
p.s.: hikigaya is a good character for, at the same time he seems to think he's superior and tries to make himself believe that, having also a kind and vulnerable side, that watches and thinks about the people around him a lot

EM PORTUGUÊS:
é O.K:: o protagonista e a yukino são carismáticos, me deram inspiração e me fizeram pensar sobre sinceridade, transparência, ser quem você é, mas o anime tem muitos personagens "repetitivos" e irritantes (a própria yuigahama) e que não acrescentam em m*rda nenhuma (o velho com chuunibyou), lugares-comuns, situações desnecessárias (aquele "arco" da irmã mais velha que trabalhava escondida pra pagar o cursinho do irmão, por exemplo), enfim
mas também tem coisas legais e marcantes e que dão certa personalidade à obra, como a própria personalidade do protagonista, que eu gosto muito, e a apresentação de música da yukino e da yuigahama no festival cultural em que elas cantam uma música provavelmente dedicada ao hikigaya
obs.: o hikigaya é legal por, ao mesmo tempo que parece se achar superior e tenta se fazer acreditar nisso, ter um lado vulnerável e gentil, que pensa e observa muito as pessoas ao redor

A demonstration in the folly of the edgy mind-set that many young boys today exhibit.

Story Writing

From reading around, viewers of this show typically fall into two categories, those who see Hachiman Hikigaya as the hero of all lonely teenage boys and those who see him as nothing more than the glorification of edgelords. I don't think either of these interpretations are what the author intends for.

Hachiman serves to demonstrate the absurdity of the mindset that many young boys today adopt. Whilst I would not call Hachiman an ‘incel’, many young boys who might be labeled as such, likely shared a very similar mindset to ... Hachiman at one point in life. You are not meant to like Hachiman; you are not supposed to idolise him nor are you supposed to sympathise with him. I feel that many viewers have completely missed this. In my opinion, it is made obvious through how the show puts Hachiman at the butt of all jokes and insults. Though his methods are effective at achieving the goals he is set by others, he personally circles the drain time and time again, always ending up as the loser in whatever situation he finds himself in. It could not be clearer that the show does not promote or endorse the methods or mindset of Hachiman. It is actively trying to demonstrate that his attitude is futile, immature and that his refusal to acknowledge his own faults is the reason he is stuck in this cycle of humiliation. It’s too presumptuous to say that the writer may have once held this mindset himself, but it certainly feels that the message he is trying to convey to his viewer is “Hachiman’s way of thinking is wrong, don’t be like Hachiman”.

I said that I think the way most people interpret this show isn’t what the author intended, so it might logically follow that the author did a poor job of conveying his message. I would disagree. I have my theories on why so many people interpret the show the way they do, but won’t expand on these here at the risk of digressing severely. Suffice to say that I do not believe it to be the result of poor writing on the authors part.

While I think this demonstration is worthwhile, the story writing overall is not particularly strong. The setting is cliché, the forcing of Hachiman into a club and the willingness of the female leads to deal with him requires some suspension of disbelief. Episodes 1, 2, 3 and 5 are the biggest culprits, as all of the scenarios that play out here feel not only contrived and ridiculous, but boring. Beyond this, the writing of the mini-arcs that make up the second half of the show is passable. Each follows a path that feels believable enough, while being considerably more interesting than the first half, even if how Hachiman finds himself in each of these situations still feels contrived.

The show leans on the typical clichés of the swim suit episode, the fireworks episode etc. which is eye-rollingly disappointing. I have seen the show criticised for a lack of story progression. I acknowledge that the ‘story’ does not effectively progress over the 13 episodes. I feel that this is a direct and intentional result of the nature of characters we are dealing with, those who are so deeply ingrained in their own shortcoming that they cannot effectively grow or advance, rather than a writing gaffe as others have interpreted it. I’ll touch on this again later. One element I found particularly painful, was the 'secret' shared history of the main trio, which feels totally contrived and included solely to make you believe these 3 would hang out together. What baffles me is how late this is revealed, as you are already required to suspend your disbelief in episode 1, so the effects of this inclusion are too late in the game to mitigate this suspension of disbelief.

Character Writing

The overall cast does not feel particularly strong to me. There are plenty of characters that just don’t stand up on their own, characters like Zaimokuza and Saika are just cliché gimmicks inserted into the show to tick boxes. Even from the main cast, Yui and Yukinoshita are not very interesting alone.

The obvious standout is Hachiman. A cynical, bitter young man who is simultaneously highly aware of the social dynamics and behaviours of his peers and utterly blind to their personal feelings. A walking contradiction, Hachiman projects an outward image of satisfaction with the way that he is, while internally viewing himself as beneath others and unworthy of their concern. Hachiman is a wounded, flawed human, who believes himself to beyond redemption and that his best course of action is to isolate himself from society. Yet the way he willingly throws himself under the bus for the benefit of others, betrays his longing to be valued and appreciated.

Whilst I don’t rate the cast overall, I think that the dynamics between the characters are where this show really shines. Hachiman acts as the centre point of these relationships, in spite of his own belief that he is on the outside. How they interact with one another, the way their shortcomings brush up against one another leading to conflicts feels like a genuine representation of high-school teenagers. The show quietly establishes a web of interconnected relationships, even pulling in and involving side characters such as Ebina and Miura, who I really expected to amount to nothing more than background characters based on past experiences with the genre.

These dynamics really lead the events of the whole show, as interactions between characters send ripples through the web that build tension and eventually result in situations where Hachiman resorts to his gross methods of social suicide to resolve the tensions between other characters.

Though I was not impressed by the cast as a whole, I was impressed by the portrayal of the 'popular kids'. Many shows typically portray these characters as unsympathetic, hateful, stupid bullies who behave like Saturday morning Cartoon villains. However Oregairu doesn't resort to that at all, which honestly surprised me. Instead the show paints them as flawed human beings, who are still capable of caring about one another and are smart enough to keep up with Hachiman. This feels like a far more realistic and genuine portrayal of the character type relative to the real world, than the standard Anime approach.

There is not a huge amount of development here, but as I’ve previously explained I believe this to be by design and as a result of the nature of the characters. This is a cast of characters who want to maintain the status quo, some out of a fear of what may happen if they rock the boat, others as a result of deep seeded defensive behaviours.

Art / Animation

There is really not much to say here. The animation is ok to substandard, there are plenty of lingering still frames to go around which can get a little grating. The only positive thing I have to say about the art style is with respect to the main character design. The art style really draws out the ‘lifelessness’ of Hachiman and the ‘dead fish eyes’ comments he receives don’t feel out of place at all. It feels like the entire decision to use this art style was made solely on portraying Hachiman in this fashion. Beyond him, the art style feels generic and uninteresting, characters are constantly drawn off model in wide frames, the backgrounds are dull, the costumes are bland. I could go on but I think I’ve made my views clear enough.

Sound

The OP and ED are catchy enough that I don’t skip them, but once we’re in the show itself, I really couldn’t comment on the OST. I don’t recall a single track or the use of a soundtrack within the show. Utterly forgettable is the only comment I can make on the soundtrack.

The voice acting is decent with a few good performances, but nothing notable enough to specify.

Conclusion

Oregairu is a show that feels simultaneously under and over rated by differing groups of viewers. I feel like the show is too easily dismissed or written off as unoriginal, boring and lacking any value by some and massively over hyped by others who appear to idolise Hachiman and Yukinoshita. By my estimation, this is a decent and worthwhile show, but it has plenty of shortcomings. Overall I would say that I enjoyed it more than it annoyed or bored me, but not by a particularly large margin.

Teenagers are the worst.

This is an anime that focuses on the uglier aspects of youth. Petty drama, exclusion, and outright bullying are quintessential to growing up and being forced to attend a public school. However, there is no problem or situation that is so bad that complaining about it won't make it worse. Our protagonist is one of the most annoying "woe is me" victims I've seen committed to the medium. I know I did my fair share of being left out or being bullied in the past, but I'm self aware enough not to throw a pity-party every time it's happened. He's decided that ... the world has treated him bad one too many times and so he's going to skulk and angst and treat everyone around him like shit and make himself out to be the bad guy.

I get that that's supposed to be the point and that they're trying to paint him as a jerk with a heart of gold but he comes off as such an arrogant asshole. Pretending to be above everything because you lack the social awareness to be a part of it is peak immaturity. It makes me so mad because I see so much of my past self in that mentality and it makes me want to go back to when I was in middle school and kick my own ass.

The whole plot about the student council and all the catty female drama bullshit was just painful to watch. I really didn't find myself enjoying much of anything this show had to offer, it just made me mad. 6/10

Plot - Hachiman hikigaya nicknamed "Hikki" by yui, is a anti-social high schooler who thinks full of himself and thinks he is better than these humans.... is the casual mind set of most "quiet" type" students it's basically a slice of life anime it doesn't have any grand coherent storyline we basically follow the daily misadventures of an anti-soical teenager and his club, like most SOL animes it's something interesting but i liked the way it was represented here i'll explain my likes very soon overall, 6/10

Characters - what i like here is the realistic portrayal of teenagers they constantly joke that they don't live ... in some fictional rom-com it's simply a real world were real people have real actions cause real consequences just a bunch of realism and reality check? hikki and yui and yukino may seem like 1 dimensional characters but over the series they gradually grow to open up to one another which is how friendship actually work and i'm a sucker for a well written slice of life animes.. nonetheless none of the characters are a wow level of interesting but they are decent enough to watch although the first afew episodes were boring, 5/10

Production - The animation is an average early 2010s anime kind of vibe overall Production-wise it was average at best, 5/10

Speciality - the anime didn't bring up anything unique other than it's accurate real portrayals of high school life which i already explained in the characters section, 5/10

Enjoyment - it was okay i have high hopes for season 2 and interested in seeing the characters growing relationships, my final rating is 5/10

I'm going to start this review off by stating how I know there are tons of reviews for this series already so I'm not going into too much detail of the actual plot.

TL;DR:
It was very hard to enjoy this show as someone who isn't a shut-in neet who is only concerned with their own feelings. I'm a weeb, but not an antisocial dork who is the epitome of "nice guys always finish last" or incel activity.

Not saying that if you like the show you're someone who fits that description, but if you truly relate to the self insert character that is 8man, you probably do ... fit that description.


In my opinion Oregairu is nothing more than a self insert story. It is a fairly well executed story as its so widely loved by losers who "Live in a society." But for an introvert without a superiority complex, I found it hard to get through the first season of this show.

-BIG FAT SPOILER-

I truly predicted the outcome of the show from the first episode, and was right. This isn't something great for a romantic drama that is supposed to be super deep and well thought out. If it were super deep and well thought out, there should be opportunities for the viewer to question a character's feelings towards another in the same way Hachiman does, but you can't, there are no seeds of doubt to be planted as everything is predictable.

-END OF BIG FAT SPOILER-

All of the character's main intentions are laid bare in front of the viewer, and then painstakingly elaborated in ways that counterract previous statments and often sound comically pretentious.

The humor in this show isn't something that will make you laugh out loud and it typically sticks to the same format of "witty" jokes and situations you've seen in plenty of other typical Rom-com animanga.

Most of the characters as I've already stated, are pretty devoid of realism to actual high school actions, this show doesn't accurately portray highschoolers, mostly exaggerated character tropes that seem to be tried and true for both japanese and western audiences

This is pretty good, just with the asterisk of there being two more seasons. You can have great seasons of shows that, in the grand scheme of things are incomplete but feel as though there's a general conclusion that has been reached. This show doesn't tick those boxes for me at all. These 13 episodes do a really great job of doing a lot of the heavy work, introducing characters, motivations, ideals, etc. Besides that, however, I feel it's reasonable to call most of this filler.

Don't get me wrong, there are some really solid moments in here, particularly with the development of characters' worldviews. ... Even though Hachiman remains this jerk dweeb throughout the run in a way the show doesn't back down from, you still end up liking him by the end because his intentions are clearly defined and not based in malice, whether or not you agree with his antagonistic methods. It ends up being interesting given the contexts and not innately tropey.

This strong, character-driven storytelling that I quite like, however, is only present a handful of times, as the rest of the show is devoted to 'problem of the week' type antics, serving to introduce new characters more than anything. By the time these problems start asking anything interesting of our characters, the show's run is over.

Ultimately, however, I think that's fantastic. Season one had to walk, so two and three could run. While it doesn't grant this first showing any pity points in my book, its existence means the setup of these characters can fully come to fruition later on since all of the hard work has already been done. The fact that the second season is able to open and within the first couple of episodes hit the peaks of the first season numerous times says to me that this was a success.

This is great if you're watching with the intent of going through the whole series but I fail to understand how one would find this good on its lonesome.

Oregairu

"My Teen Romance Comedy" Yes and No.

The first season is mostly comedy, short until the end. The following two seasons, however, are an enormous accumulation of half-hearted drama elements and character problems, and internal conflicts between the characters.

But this is about the first season, which is still colorful and focuses on the comedy genre. What comes after that doesn't matter at first.

And first of all, the humor is mostly average. What actually gives the series its charm are the conversations between the characters. These involve a lot of irony, sarcasm, and cynical jokes. I've rarely seen an anime where the characters' conversations have been the ... strongest point for me, but here it is.
It should also be noted positively that the personalities of the characters are reflected well by this.

This season has very little actual content and is mainly used for character introduction and various comedy elements. As a result, she hardly has any strengths or weaknesses in the following seasons.

The collection of characters almost corresponds to the usual stereotype format. You have the class teacher, the clever dismissive student, the hyperactive classmate, and all aspects of a class as well as the "popular clique" and the outsiders.
Wherever you are with outsiders, this is where the protagonist comes into play.
He is a word literally the definition of cringe in this anime, even though I can fully understand his reasoning. He's an introvert through and through, and many introverts would understand his perspective. Unfortunately, he presents himself enormously exaggerated, which leads to one embarrassing situation after another. While this is somewhat amusing to look at, the cringe cuts worse than paper. But this is not a negative thing in itself.
The protagonist has a subtle personality, which is built up further in the course of the series, whether positively or negatively set aside. I have to admit that I really liked him. His forced "anti-hero" self-sacrificing manner was poorly implemented.

According to this, the female protagonists would be the hyperactive and the clever loner. In the sense that they couldn't be more boring. But they were given an enormous personality so that they actually pass through as very realistic and understandable characters. Yukino at least had her delightful conversations with the protagonist. All of their development in the following seasons was mostly weak, but at least there.
Yui, which I initially considered the plague of the series, developed to my greatest surprise. She was by far the most profound female character of the entire season. Or frankly, the most profound character in the series in general. You got a lot of insight into their trains of thought, personality, and problems, and how everything intersected. Even if I don't particularly like her character, she impressed me in the course of the plot.

Most of the supporting characters are mostly extras or for the comedy scenes.
That usual trap Saika was by far one of the most boring characters. I can understand why he is so popular based on his enormously feminine appearance, but that's about it. He's on the same level as the sidekick stuck in his eighth-grade syndrome.

The first season is well worth seeing if you are curious about future events. In general, I like the whole series very much, but you have to be prepared for a very sluggish build-up. Future events will go around in circles forever and will hardly get to the point.

Story 3
Art 5
Sound 5
Character 5.5
Enjoyment 6.5
Overall 5