Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru. Kan

As someone who had their fair share of drama and romance during my high school days, I’ll provide my two cents on this finale season.

What initially drew me to this anime was the comedy and wittiness of the MC, Hachiman, and his little funny monologues. I watched the first season maybe four or five years ago and I went through a kind of “edgy,” nihilistic outcast phase, so I found him funny and somewhat relatable. In this season, Hachiman still has that vibe, but he just doesn’t seem as funny as before. Comedy-wise, this season is greatly lacking. I think the the biggest portion ... of humor is usually derived from Hachiman’s internal quips, but they feel very misplaced due to the nature of the plot.

Speaking of the plot, this season is 100% drama. I think that’s my biggest issue with this season. There is virtually no comedy. I guess Isshiki is comic relief, but her whole “wait, are you actually trying to hit on me because I’m your cute kouhai” thing gets stale. There’s the ironic “siscon” between Hachiman and his sister too if that’s supposed to be funny. Oh yeah, the hands guy was pretty neat I guess, until the weird rap battle. The rest of the characters are practically irrelevant.

The “plot” generally revolves around making a prom, with the subplot being the trio in the Volunteer Service Club trying to express their feelings to each other. And man, is it slow and boring. There are some cute moments between Yui and Hachiman sprinkled in. But most of the time, I feel like the dialogue and storyline are just complicated nonsense that would make most viewers confused. We have the Yukinoshita family drama intertwined with the prom drama, which is also intertwined with the drama between our trio. It just seemed like a huge overblown mess and it made me feel confused and nearly indifferent to times when the plot actually moves. I was not drawn into the plot whatsoever and the whole “story” being ambiguous did not help. Like at certain points, I was thinking, “oh, is this supposed to be a good thing? Was this important? Am I supposed to care this happened?”

As a casual viewer, I approached this season mostly expecting some cheap laughs, a nice story, and a little drama, which made this anime very difficult to enjoy considering how nearly every dialogue between characters is ambiguous and convoluted. I understand that high school is a very confusing time and it’s hard to properly comprehend and express feelings to one another. But this anime takes it to another level. Nearly all dialogues have confusing nuances and are left inconclusive on purpose, probably to let the viewers understand them on their own. Which is fair. But realistically, normal people don’t talk in metaphors and deliberately leave things ambiguous. Even if you were to understand every subtle nuance in the dialogues, you’d still be in the same place as most confused viewers: nothing really important was said, right? Even the characters’ internal monologues are ambiguous, which doesn’t make any sense. If they’re going to give audiences internal monologues of characters, it should at least be clear exactly what they’re thinking and how they’re feeling. But it’s not clear. Which makes it hard to get attached to the characters and storyline, and ultimately makes it pretty boring.

One thing I did appreciate was the development between Yui and Hachiman. I feel like she had the least confusing monologues and it was much easier to at least feel some sort of attachment to her compared to the rest of the characters. She was the only character I feel like I could truly understand and empathize with because her feelings and thoughts were clear. The animators did a good job on her facial expressions and reactions which would convey certain things, whereas the rest of the characters felt like watching dead fish. Her voice actor did a stellar job too.

The anime also redeems itself in the final two episodes when the characters stop beating around the bush. Meaning, there is some romance. Even then, the dialogues are still fairly ambiguous, but it should be clear enough to understand what actually happens. The first ten episodes are generally just pseudo-complicated filler made to appear important. But thankfully, watching until the end wasn’t a complete waste of time.

If you’re just looking to turn your brain off, get some laughs, and watch a cute romcom unfold, I suggest looking elsewhere. In general, this is just a slow-burning high school drama.

Finally. This is the last season right? I hope so because I'm bored since S1. Here's probably an unpopular opinion but I'll try to point out why I don't go with the flow of all the praise this anime gets.

STORY:
It picks up from the horrible ending of S2 (even fans would probably agree). Well first few episodes in, I've never placed my full focus watching it. Why? It's boring. I didn't bother reviewing S1 and S2 because so many already flooded it with 9-10. Here, however, I'll comment on the anime as a whole. OreGaIru is correct with its title. Never once did I feel ... that it was romcom. It's more of drama with very little romance progression on the first 2 seasons. I'd rather rewatch something like CLANNAD for a school romcom + SOL + drama or Ore Monogatari (and I don't even like shoujo). The story of OreGaIru is just their club helping out people, that's it. The drama and all that just drags out everything like people who cause drama Irl do. And I'm watching anime to get out of all that unnecessary drama real life throws at me, but here it is again, only much more exaggerated. Some people say the issues are realistic, but Idk man, I've never experienced such drama Irl. So that's probably why it didn't appeal much to me.

ART:
It was bland. Color is too. It fits if I think it's a drama trying to be real-life. This made it more unappealing for me though.

SOUND:
Aside from an okay OP/ED, I barely hear music. Well again if it was trying to be real, obviously it's not going to be a musical. And comparing it to some drama animes which emphasizes the dramatic scenes with music, will just show how quiet it is. It's not bad, but I wish there was more.

CHARACTER:
This is where a lot of praise went to, saying something like they are not generic. They say they are realistic, and that Hachiman is unorthodoxed which makes him funny and self-insertable. Compared to other anime, yes they are more real. However, there are 2 types of loners I've encountered Irl, one who literally is alone and is quite anti-social, and one who pretends (deliberately or not) that they're loners but actually have friends. Hachiman is the latter so to me, ihe feels fake. Like man, how often is there a love triangle with a loner + 2-3 more potential backup. Even a non-loner doesn't get that Irl. Some characters are superficial and are between realistic and anime level of exaggerated. And it's like trying to chase two rabbits - you get neither. tl;dr I can't relate and self-insert and I even tried being apathetic and all that but I still can't.

ENJOYMENT:
It was a drag. But then, why did I watch the first 2 seasons? I enjoyed first season somehow then I wanted to see it through. Not for the romance, or comedy, but for the plot that the MC's club help out others. I am so close to dropping it everytime though.

OVERALL:
It feels overrated. It has good and bad points. Sadly, if you can't relate to them, the bad points will weigh more with you. I know it did for me. I'll try my best to see this through but I have my fingers crossed that:
1. This is the last season.
2. The ending will have closure, aka he picks a girl.
UPDATE: I dropped it.

I was quite surprised how high the score of this title is here. It feels really overrated. The visual part is nicely done, but when it comes to content ...
It is extremely boring. I can't remember what I liked about the first 2 seasons, but this one just feels wrong. If previous seasons had some action, like helping others and stuff, now it's just endless talking. And all the conversations are too smart-ass and full of innuendos for me, I'm not sure if I'm this stupid or script writer put too much effort into making the story seem psychological.
Imo, there's no point watching this ... unless you're a fan. I'll just finish this 'cause it's the last season.

I am conflicted, I can't give this show a good rating because of the plot and ending nor can I give a bad one due to how strong it's beginning premise and previous seasons was. I am going to have to rewatch the previous seasons because season 3 threw me so hard that I am left wondering "wth happen and did I just remembered stuff wrong?"


I am deeply disappointed with this season.

**Spoilers ahead**

The reason why is because of how it ended, with Hikki dating Yukino like it's normal. Hikki became the very cliché MC rom coms he set out to destroy. The entire show became ... the very thing it was trying to be different from but in a very bad way. I get Hiki can't be an edgelord forever but I was expecting mob psycho 100 levels of growth, not a forced "MC goes with 1st girl" ending like so many rom coms before it. Especially Yukino of all people, the ice queen who I personally feel like did not change at all and was forced to change to give a very hollow happy ending. That is what this ending feels like, a ending to please shippers and gush how cute they are but the soul of this show was never about that. Or at least I was lead to believe it wasn't. I thought finally a show that wouldn't pander to the waifu wars and their armies and be more realistic with a MC who clearly was not popular with girls. Only for him to be quite popular with girls to have a typical love triangle that just does not fit the characters of this show. Where do I even begin?

The Plot: How the fuck did we end up here?

Coming from season 2, I was excited to see where the story was going to go. It made it seem like the major problem with the trio was Yukino was realizing she was relying on Hiki and Yui too much and if she wanted to be a independent person who could be respected, her solution was to cut them off to prove her worth. Typical of her character. Yui being the type of girl she is, would of course want to stop that but also suspects she won't be the one to stop yukino because she is also in the same boat of relying on Hiki to fix everything and gets where she would be coming from. Not to mention also clearly being in love with Hiki and feels terrible at the idea of Yukino not being there would actually put her in a great position to get closer to him regardless of what Hiki and Yukino's actually is. Hiki, being a disillusion guy, knows the group would have to end at some point, but being a edgelord loner for so long only to become codependent on these two girls who actually want him to be around, it would be understandable for him to be scared of losing these relationships and would want some excuse to continue it. Especially after helping another group of friends prevent that same end in a way that pisses of the girls who actually care about him. This was what I was expecting to get resolved in season 3. Instead we got Yukino's big sister making shit super confusing with her meddling only for Yukino to go, yep I do love you lets date. I just don't buy it but more on that later. I thought the show was joking when Hiki said this was a love triangle only to go wtf at the ending episodes because it turned out to BE a love triangle. The only serious love triangle involving Hiki, I would have believed was from Yui and Iroha. (More on that later) More importantly, I loved the character dynamics and was expecting the drama to come from Hiki and Yukino learning to evolve from their methods of approaching problems and learn it's ok to want and make human connections and don't have to act in extremes. Instead of...whatever this is.

Romantic Relationships: Why I don't buy Yukino has romantic feelings or the Hiki x Yukino ship would even last.

Yukino, is a very driven woman despite her flaws and her problems with her family. I highly doubt she would be the type to even think about romance until at least college and would see that shit as distractions towards her goals. Hell it took so much just to make friends who she just tried to cut off due to interactions with her family. Add this with a guy who has become so disillusioned with rom com ideas of romance and the show is trying to tell me they make a great couple? Get the fuck outta here with that bullshit! These two are friends for life at best. Their personalities match well for that but as a couple, yikes! Romantic relationships take work, effort, and time and these two would just make shit exceedingly difficult than it needs to be. Sure you could say they challenge each other, but I say they go way too far with it. Ron x Hermione from Harry Potter are the gold standard of that type of dynamic and these two don't meet that at all. As an adult, I know the look in Yukino mom's eyes when she looks at these two. They won't last, the work involved for their relationship will be too high, and they will just wear each other down. And because their communication skills suck ass with barely any improvements, if any, they will slowly drift apart like they did during the season. Because that is their base nature, and the anime did nothing to show they will be able to prevent this when problems arise. Sure Hiki's key plans worked liked always, but the scary question this season hinted at is what happens when life calls his buff. Them going with the 2nd prom anyway showed it was very close to becoming a disaster. Making one think what if his other solutions were actually followed through till the end and a outcome different than what he predicts happens. (I was hoping season 3 was going to play more with this idea too) Their friendship was almost destroyed quite easily in a very realistic way so I find it very hard to believe their romantic relationship would fair any better, especially when hard times come and Hiki CAN'T gary stu his way out of it.

The believable love triangle: Yui and Iroha

I get why Hiki doesn't choose Yui but their dynamic is far more realistic. Simply because Yui puts in the effort to turn their relationship into a romantic one. On the surface, it looks like a typically rom com cliché plot with them, but Yui knows her flaws and greediness is what sells it. She truly gets she can't have her cake and eat it too but tries to screw the rules anyway. Which is why it would have been spicy to have Iroha to be her competition.

Hiki and Iroha dynamic unexpectedly works. In fact Hiki's little sister puts it best by saying a girl as trashy as her brother could be the girl for him. I say this because Hiki not falling for her bait/manipulation but helps her anyway and Iroha's disrespect for him as a potential partner but accepts his help while not bothering with her façade, I can see naturally leading to romance. I find their interactions just more natural. I can also see Iroha put up a serious fight against Yui more than Yukino who kind of just, did nothing to improve her relationship with Hiki this season. In fact she was gone for nearly all of it so I am even more baffled on how this happened and why it seems a lot of people are happy with this.


So yeah, I need to rewatch the previous seasons because with this ending, I just don't get how such an awesome series turn into this and it be ok.

Maybe it is a realization of me growing up and growing out of this series, but I really do not like this season. I have watched 6 episodes before it dawned on me I am not really paying attention, and just want this week's episode to end so I can move on.

The problem with this series is that it is not a story that benefits from having more episodes. While SNAFU 1 & 2 were slow burns when it came to pacing and how the story unfolded, it still had the benefit of being something new, and breaking from the conventions and tropes of ... the RomCom genre. Now that we are into season 3, that benefit is gone, and we know exactly what kind of show SNAFU is.

The big climactic moment for a series like this has already occurred, twice if you want to get technical. It is basically spinning its wheels, and do not be surprised if you find yourself bored with the absolutely painful pacing that season 3 has.

"My Youth Romantic Comedy is a Lie, as I Expected" is very subtly an anime that lives up to its name. Its true nature is one of a critique; a show aimed at deconstructing a genre and its common tropes. Nonetheless, the author sacrifices anything, and everything, to showcase his views and ideas, as thought-provoking and creative they might be.

In the past seasons, the main character was known for unveiling the lies people told others and themselves. He hated kindness, for someone who is nice to one out of this is not so because they actually care. It is told to us he longs ... for something "genuine"; a gentleness born out of true, deep love and concern. His family situation almost screams his current social condition, and his past did him no better either.

Nevertheless, in this one even the storyline becomes his bait. His entire "youth romantic comedy" is a lie, as he told us from the beginning. There's no happy prom where characters can kiss themselves and enjoy their teenage years. There's no drama queen or lonely nerd either. He doesn't give the audience anything of what would be expected from the last season of an anime of this sort, but only "the real thing".

As a consequence of his determination though, the plot starts to suffer from its (real) premise: everything feels painfully inconsequential, the lies are obvious to everyone but the characters, there are no big surprises or turn of events. The narrative also becomes barely enjoyable, for it sort of martyrs itself for the sake of proving "youth is a lie", as Hikigaya's final speech. It's all about characters who try to fix themselves into something meaningful. In a sense, one might argue that's what adolescence really is about.

And as plainly beautiful the show's message could be, it doesn't measure the trade-back of sacrifice for actual delivary. It ends up being as unphilosophical as Hikigaya's words for the near entirety of the show. It sort of parodizes itself, thus Oregairu can be said to be an anime which accomplished to be both genius and braindead at the same time. It's certainly art, but not one that can be to everyone's tastes, surely.

Yahari Ore, in sum, does sort of gets near to its premise's level, but accomplishes it through proving the audiance it was wrong from the beginning. It's a work of art that defines itself more for what it isn't than what it is, telling us mostly what a romantic comedy shouldn't do than what it should. It ends up as a (self-)destruction almost more than really a deconstruction, for it barely leaves itself room for rebuilding from what it criticises. Two lies don't make one truth.

Neon Genesis Evangelion and Konosuba are much better examples of series which aimed to be different from their genre (despite my own criticism and skeptism towards the latter), for they believed in what was better for them, got attached to their ideals and kept going with it despite what was popular in their time. Yahari Ore, in the other hand, does in fact a lot, but conveys comparetively little with its narrative. It'll be intriguing enough for many people, but for others, just about lackluster.

If you want to watch teenagers struggling to organize a prom bal, it s the anime for you.

I m at episode 10 and nothing else happened really. The original plot from previous season, setting Hachiman as an outcast and how different student manage their emotions and relationships, is completly forgotten in this new season. It s all about the prom, which has literally zero interest. It could have been done in only one episode. The pace is so damn slow

So people told me that i didn t like this season because i don t understand the themes. I fully understand the themes in season 1, ... the themes in season 2 are just weak teen drama related to high school, i ve seen these in every slice of lice school harem shojo. And they all resolve around the weak "prom bal" plot. Every issue could have been solved in less than one episode, but here each character makes zero progress throughout the whole series

Story : 2/10
Art : 7/10. Art is okay but i mean basically characters never move in this anime.
Sound : 6/10. Music average, voice acting a bit boring.
Enjoyment : 2/10
Overall : 5/10

This anime is for teens looking for school drama without action.

Oregairu season 3 is the disappointment of the season. It has its ups and downs, the ups being the final three episodes, and the downs being the rest of the season. Only the last two episodes provide any sense of progression, be it for the characters or for the plot. Yukinoshita’s long awaited character arc was freaking fantastic, but the same can’t be said about the other characters'.

Even after 36 episodes have aired, many of the characters are as bland as they were in the first episode of the first season. I was able to overlook this in season 1, and 2 because I don’t ... expect the author to be able to completely characterize and develop the personalities of four main characters in the span of 12 episodes, but I do expect that, or at least half of that, to happen within 36 episodes. If I don’t even know or understand the characters, and if I’m not even the least bit acquainted with them, how can you even expect me to give two shits about their romantic feelings for each other?

All the female characters (and I do mean all) are basically reskinned versions of Yukino. Yuigahama is a dumb-dere, Iroha is a chad-dere, Yukino is a fucking stupid-dere and Komachi is an annoying-dere. The female characters have no personalities of their own, but have inherited their dispositions, if you can even call them that, from stereotypes. Yui's character is just to be “cute”; I prefer the phrase obnoxiously irritating but whatever. The entirety of Yukinoshita’s character revolves around Hichigaya; if we were to remove Hichigaya from her life all that would be left is an empty husk of a high school girl. Indeed, if this is what the anime intended for her character to be, then I would’ve had no qualms with that, but that is definitely not the case. She’s supposed to be one of the leads, and all we know about her is that she loves Hichigaya and has mommy issues. Do we know what caused her mommy issues after three cours? Nope.

Yuigahama has been YukinoSHITa’s friend since ep1, and that’s her character done for the series. I did feel myself liking YukinoSHITa initially when she was introduced, because she was actually given a purpose, a purpose that wasn’t relied upon any other character, until that very purpose was "distorted" into oblivion. She was an interesting character and her struggles – CODEpendency – were well established. These are complications that I’m sure most of us could related to at some point in our lives. I was invested. I wanted a resolution for her character, not some sort of catharsis but something that would be satisfying and relatable, but all we got was a 5-minute scene where she overcomes it all through nakama power. I wish I was making this up.

A small pep talk from Hichigaya is all it takes for her to overbear her fear of Code pendency, fear that has cultivated in her mind since her elementary school days, and all it takes for her to overcome it is a debate about why why you should not code pendency. Yeah, BS.

That episode made me question something. Does this show want to be a romance with cool moments, or does it want to be a cool show with romantic scenes; because neither of the two seem to fit the show’s agenda, yet the show still tries its hardest to juggle the two topics. The coolness is all miss. They are predictable, 90% of them rely on some sort of cringe misunderstanding between the characters, and frankly, though not a chore to watch, were a bit out of place at times. The scene about Hikigaya being not very good at communicating, and Yuigahama having to teach him tirelessly worked in Season 1, but here that very same premise is repeated two different times; once with seaon2, and once with seaon3.

There would be a moment or two where it feels like the show is actually trying to progress the characters’ relations, but then out of nowhere S Y K E, nothing happens because Haruno walks in on them. The actual witty Haruno moments of the first few episodes were lost somewhere on ep 10 where she just break her character and decide to be dumb.

The side main character, Hayato are what carry the show because he actually have friends. The show WANTS us to believe that the main quad are friends but shows nothing to instate said relationship between the characters. Let me give you a rundown of how the characters treat each other –
1. Hichigaya, with
a) YukinoSHITta – nothing
b) Yugahama – nothing, but with titties
c) iroha – nothing

Zamazuka (white hair fat guy) is the same with everyone because she’s got no personality. Hayato and Haruno are the only ones who show some sort of realism in their emotions. I know that it’s an anime and all and it doesn’t need to be that realistic, but what gets on my nerves is that the show tries to conceal the lack of depth in the characters and tries to swindle the viewer, using poorly constructed recurring codependecny joke, into thinking that maybe the characters aren’t just ink droplets on a piece of paper.

There’s a scene in this season where the Service Club is disbanded and the characters may never get to spend much time together, but the only thing I could think about is how much I don’t give a shit. The author tries to employ various techniques in order for the viewer to feel sad, which include but are not limited to – crying characters, other characters joining in on the crying, walking into the sunset and more crying. The characters also keep reiterating about how “nostalgic” the past year was as if to convince the viewer to feel the same. If you need to explicitly ask the viewer to have a poignant feeling during a scene, then you need to redo that entire part from scratch.

Show, don’t tell. That’s one of the main philosophies in writing, but unfortunately the show believes in “Dont show, dont tell”. The show doesn't tell, nor it show anything

The highlight of this season definitely was the handling of Iroha’s character. The way hers character arc was structured is praiseworthy. All the foreshadowing for her character, in Season 2 and the first half of this season, are finally compiled into the last episode and they were magnificent. The resolution was fantastic, the build up was fantastic, everything was fantastic. If only the author cared as much about the male cast as he does about the female counterpart.

The animation is as mediorcre. We have Yukino, Teacher Yukino, Sister Yuikino, mother yukino, all doesn't look at good. There is not a sense of fluidity in the characters’ movements which go hand in hand fantastically with the poor lighting and directing of the skits. There is never something in motion, be it in the foreground or the background, and if we get a still shot it’s usually accompanied with bad music and bad lighting. In terms of animation, there are plenty of corners cut and there is always a dull moment.

The music is meh. I just skip the new Opening and Ending songs this season, so I don't know how it sounded.

I said it at the start of the review, I’ll say it again, “Oregairu (I forgot the long name) Season 3 is a disappointment”. It has 1 high (ep 12 when I was high on weed and finally was able to understand what the character is saying), the rest are lows. This is probably why people say this show is deep

I heavily enjoyed the first two seasons because the character development was unmatched by other animes. The characters grew steadily over time in a way that works toward the group dynamic as well as blossoming individual growth.

For starters, what this season has done so far is counterproductive to the past 2 seasons character development arcs. Oftentimes, I found myself thinking that there's no way X would say this to Y because they've already gone through this; they've already learned from it. In other animes, I'm totally used to recurring mistakes due to a character's nature, but this anime prided itself in it's character growth, ... as we the audience see their changes turn into choices and turn into great arcs.


Furthermore, the over-dramatization of minor themes just get too blown out of proportion. The focus on "codependency", for instance. Sure, codependency at a certain level is unhealthy. But for it to be the primary obstacle of the 3 protagonists? All because Yukino took his advice once verbatim? Just because she took her friend's advice, now she can't think for herself at all?

It shoots their previous arcs in the foot; we had two people, depending on no one, finally learning to depend on people. It was marvelous to see them learn to make friends and depend on one another. To make them struggle with codependency after all of that is just counterproductive and thus frustrating to watch as a viewer, because it's unnecessary by now. There are other elements worth fleshing out; this one didn't need to be blown out of proportion.

When I first came across Oregairu I felt like the Jesus of introverts has descended upon us. And some of the problems in season 1 and 2 felt like personal and philosophical problems to me. As someone who gets along with the bystanders and go-getters at university I felt like this show presents the reality as experienced by reserved or unconventional but forgotten people. I've seen friends being ridiculed at their face because they are focused more on academics than the party people. Though people who don't like this show think this is hocus pocus, in my view it shows an unfortunate problem hidden at ... plain sight, the problem for which the victims are named as their own assailants by the society and its majority.

For example the MC thinks he'd rather not have any relationships than having a superficial one. There is a concept about friend's friend in season 2 which I have some experience of myself. After seeing all these themes I thought this show would face those hard questions head on. But now, it goes cringe and superficial in the end. It does a disservice to itself by becoming what its not supposed to become. A story which escapes from the questions it created in the easiest way.

Problems in this season may seem superficial but if faced head on, they would have had a bitter-sweet but well deserved ending. One show like that is 'March Comes In like a Lion', and I daresay that it's 100 times better than this season of Oregairu.

As an Introvert with a passion for character driven stories, you can't imagine how much I waited for this season. To see how Hachiman faced his circumstances. In the end I was thoroughly disappointed, which turned to sadness and hatred. I hate this season that turned everything into superficial, rose-colored b000hit. Even now I still feel like I am waiting for season 3, and with time I forgot it.

People might say this is anime, so chill. To them my only argument is as a storywriter if your goal is not to write the best you can, in the way you should it is sad and wasteful. And without proper stories we'd be bored af. Image the show that bores you the most, and imagine a world in which all stories are like that. That world would be truly hell for me.


The only part of the season that I truly enjoyed were the Hachiman and Komachi scenes. Truly a sibling relationship you can only dream of. And that is the only reason I am giving this season a 6.

Oregairu, for a while anyway, was the darling of many a video essay dissecting something or other about the anime’s main character Hachiman, who many people find to be relatable, I guess, because, I don’t know, he’s cynical. It starts off as what seems to be a satire of a romantic comedy, which then turns into a sort of vague critique of youth and Japanese high-school society, before ending as a kind of tragedy. If this type of story progression makes no sense to you, its because it doesn’t make sense. The second season rolls around and the story’s about as aimless as ever until ... the introduction of Hachiman’s underclassman Iroha; from there, the story finally manages to assume some sort of identity as something you may see in the harem genre. A revolving door of love interests come and go Hachiman’s way and spend time with him one-on-one while the thin, bare excuse for a plot plods along: a story where nothing seems to happen and everything seems to take up far too much time. There is still a service club, they still apparently help people, but now it appears as though Yukino is against wanting to spend time with Hachiman. There’s something about co-dependency, but it is never outright explained why the relationship between Yui, Yukino and Hachiman is viewed in such a way, especially by someone like Yukino’s sister, who anyway, for an adult, is taking an unbelievable interest in the goings on of second year high-schoolers. I get that the threesome are all too awkward to outright express their feelings for one another, and that it’s trying to be subtle instead of outright explaining everything, but since the whole situation is so unrealistic it’s impossible to tell most of the time what is specifically being implied. I’m sure it’s not helped by the fact that the anime cuts out portions of the light novel, regardless, it’s a baffling amount of needless complexity that’s never really fully explained. This isn’t helped by the characters who are all also needlessly complicated and unnecessarily abrasive, and the situation certainly isn’t improved by the ending, which ties up no loose ends aside from who wins, something which was already apparent from the start.

So much of Oregairu is so muddled that’s its difficult to find a place to start. The plot, which was always non-existent, remains non-existent to the point of irrelevance, but then if I were asked to point out to you what is relevant in the show I’d have a hard time coming up with good examples without defaulting to Hachiman, but even with him, there doesn’t seem to be much going on. Hachiman is apparently looking for something genuine, but what this genuine thing is, even the author doesn’t know. I assume that the genuine thing is a genuine relationship or a genuine friendship, or something like that, but he was friends already with Yui and Yukino before, and remains friends with them after his speech, so it’s difficult to tell what exactly he means and how this differs from merely being in a romantic relationship with either Yui or Yukino. Yukino, the primary love interest, is curiously absent for a large majority of the story. What happens with her doesn’t ever seem to be very relevant unless it relates to Hachiman, and when she predictably wins against Yui, it happens without much effort on her part, despite Yukino doing almost nothing all season to win Hachiman’s affection. Apparently this has something to do with a Yui bias within the studio adapting the light novel to anime, with them choosing to include scenes with Hachiman and Yui rather than with Yukino. Supposedly, this is true, but I don’t really see it as a relevant criticism against the adaptation, since anyway, between the two, Yui always struck me as the better written character.

Wataru took his sweet time writing Oregairu and I don’t blame him. I had a hard enough time trying to finish watching something so boring, so I could only imagine how boring it was to write it. The story’s main issue is a lack of a driving force propelling events forward. There is nothing to latch onto: no direction forward towards a goal, and no direction home towards a satisfying ending. The lack of focus ends up making everything feel aimless. Events happen, but they don’t go anywhere. Storylines start and end, but they never connect to form a whole. Hachiman and Yukino fall in love, but despite everything they’ve been through, they could’ve just as easily have confessed their feelings in the first episode, considering their circumstances at the start and the circumstances at the end are more or less the same. Despite making friends with Yui, Yukino remains an outcast. Yui remains friends with both Yukino and Hachiman despite basically being rejected. You’d think surely, at least, Hachiman has changed, since people treat him kind of differently, and that his personality has sort of taken a turn for the better – and at the end, he rejects his essay, the introduction to the first episode of the first season, he rejects his belief that youth is a mistake – but there’s nothing else offered in return, there’s no counter-argument to all the things he’s said before, no alternative view-point. Hachiman’s assertions still stand, more or less, and he stands at the end with Yukino, despite never really changing, despite never really maturing, despite nothing ever happening at all.

I kind of just get the feeling that past a certain point there’s no one who actually likes the show and that everyone who says they like the show are just saying that because they want to believe it themselves, they want to like the show despite the show resisting any and all attempts at enjoyment. They want to like Oregairu because they see themselves in Hachiman, they think Wataru Watari is a guy just like them who has gone through the exact same experiences as them, has been maligned, bullied, neglected, so on and so forth, they’re looking to him for a solution, a resolution to their problems, closure of some sort. So in a way, though I don’t really care, it is sort of a shame that things end so tepidly, because if there was more of a solid conclusion I think it would’ve made a lot of fans happy. Obviously I was never one of them, not because, as I wrote earlier, that the author’s worldview is wrong-headed, it was always more so because it was written without a clear aim. The story is essentially entirely filler, stalling for time until the necessary events have supposedly taken place for something of true interest to occur, but what ends up happening is that the narrative ends up stalling forever, or what feels like forever, trapping the viewer in a sort of fictional purgatory, where they mistakenly assume that eventually something of interest will happen in the future, despite nothing of interest ever happening in the past. At one point I tried to remember why exactly I was here, watching an anime I had no interest in, watching a medium I’ve long grown tired of, when I realized that, much like Hachiman, I too, was searching for something genuine: a genuine waste of time.

It was beautiful in the end but a lot of the time I was just bored and wanting them to get to the point. I skipped over about 8 episodes from this season because of how they just kept restating their problem without much progress. Even though for all of that the ending was enough for me. It doesn’t feel rushed or forced. I’m still not sure about how hachiman feels about that one boy but it’s alright. It seems like it took them 3 seasons to get past their flaws of communication with a little rest in-between of honesty. I didn’t try to predict ... what was going to happen because of all the problems and changes that occurred. This does seem more realistic than a lot of high school romance animes except for it taking this long

Review in brief:

Oregairu’s long-awaited conclusion is hardly noteworthy, going out about as mildly as it could have without tripping over itself. For all Kan could have done with its well-established cast, it does little to even justify its 12-episode length. If you weren’t already a fan of Oregairu or rom-coms in general it’s nothing worth prioritizing.

Review in full:

I don’t suspect many people thought Oregairu would see an anime conclusion after season 2. It thematically closed itself off about as cleanly as was possible, the light novels stopped being translated in most languages, and studio feel. moved on to other projects. Perhaps ... it would have been better for things to remain that way, because other than structurally concluding the romance, this slow-paced season has very little going for it narratively (and said narrative was the main appeal for many fans in the first place). Kan was capable of bringing plenty to the table, but stuck way too hard to basic rom-com conventions and bungled its clear potential.

See, when it comes to character drama, Kan mostly maintains the prior framework of purposeful characterization and reactive development (or in simpler terms, the characters act pretty darn human). Kan’s new romantic focus benefits greatly from this, as it naturally allows the characters to display their thoughts and emotions when they matter most. Unfortunately, it also makes the stretched, uneventful plot that much more of a problem, as there aren’t enough new meaningful developments for many emotionally developing scenes to come forth. In foregoing the character-focused drama of the previous season to highlight the series’ main love triangle, the plot largely forgets about the characters themselves unless they happen to be a key part of the love triangle’s current development (and sometimes even if they are). There would have been little issue with filling the emptier portions of the season with events following other plot threads, and yet it almost never happened.

Instead, Kan decides that a combination of dragging its feet and reopening old plot threads is the ideal way to pace its story. We already know there’s a love triangle, yet the first three episodes are mainly dedicated to re-introducing it, its players, and its spectators. The likely result of that love triangle has also been quite obvious since the end of season 1, yet such a large amount of time is spent and ultimately wasted on building up a case for the other outcome that it just makes the idea look even more suspicious. There is still ample time left over even with all of this padding, but all Kan can think to do in the name of hammering that love triangle down is to recycle the plot structure of prior Service Club tasks under the guise of a different event and to repeat a conflict between Haruno & the main trio that was effectively resolved last season (and contradicts with the tone of this season). What’s that, there’s still two episodes’ worth of time? Dedicate it all to fanservice, what else could people possibly want?

While the previous season was a great thematic conclusion, it left much more than the love triangle open for further exploration, little of which Kan utilizes. Hayato and Haruno were heavily implied to have some unresolved, undesirable, and possibly related social issues, yet the entire potential subplot only sees the slightest sprinkling of loose implications brought up, and only when it ties back into the love triangle. Meanwhile, Yukino’s precarious and mysterious family situation was seemingly being reserved for most of the series, but it barely goes anywhere, even with her mother playing a key & direct role in the plot and her older sister’s frequent appearances. Heck, Yukino herself practically disappears for half of the season, despite events almost never failing to involve her. Even the series’ hallmark witty dialogues and monologues are spread thin thanks to that and Hachiman being strangely quiet in many important scenes, relegating much of the classic bantering to quick jokes and other trivial pursuits.

All of the above, in the name of giving Oregairu a fairly standard rom-com setup. In spite of everything good and bad it had and did, the romance is just kinda okay ~ mediocre for the most haphazard reasons. Oregairu’s standout cast isn’t any less wholesomely developed than it was earlier, so no matter who is on screen or how many characters are absent, there is going to be ample emotion on display, refined by prior developments and well-defined relationships. Typically this alone is all a good romance really needs, but the writing is at odds with such a result. As mentioned earlier, it focuses heavily on just one possible outcome, removing much of the dimensionality a love triangle naturally relies on, but even worse is that it also drops huge hints towards the real outcome throughout, making it look like a twist gone wrong for the unfortunately attentive.

Now, a more casual anime watcher (and I say that in a neutral way) may be wondering why all of this matters, perhaps why someone would want more than tugged heartstrings, silly humor, and raw emotion from a simple rom-com. The answer has more to do with Oregairu itself, as it drew in a lot of people with its thought-out wit and potential for incredibly deep theory-crafting. The simple fact of the matter is that Kan decides that these analyzers are not a primary audience anymore, as it offers far less of those qualities. Such viewers will easily see themselves spurned by this anime if they aren’t satisfied by some quick feels, something someone who doesn’t study their anime is much less likely to be concerned over.

Despite my earlier statement, this sentiment is further reinforced by Kan’s fanservice-heavy episodes, which manage to give the word a good name for once. In particular, the first and last episodes utilize goofy comedic escapades surprisingly well. The first episode uses its lightheartedness to cool down after starting right where Zoku left off, while the last episode provides an effective buffer for what could have otherwise been a whiplash ending. The light enjoyment of such fare isn’t what everyone wanted, but managing these more simplistic moments successfully is what keeps this season from being a truly bad outing in spite of the myriad of problems someone might see in it.

One last place this anime succeeds is in its production values. While not quite spectacular, it’s beyond what the average rom-com requires. The art style is similar to Zoku’s, but slightly looser, making the whole show less rigid when in motion at the small cost of a few odd shots. The color balancing is also more vibrant and consistent. Combined with some small but nice touches like improved framing and frequent parallax with a touch of character animation during panning shots, Kan is generally pleasing to the eyes. The audio work is quite good as well, with overall solid voicework, some nice callbacks to previous seasons in the soundtrack (even if individual tracks are difficult to recall), and memorable OP & ED songs (though their visuals are the least inspired of the series). Something that was greatly appreciated were the handful of flashback scenes to both seasons 1 & 2, all touched up or even redone to fit Kan’s production standards. While studio feel.’s writers and directors have drawn the ire of source material purists, few could argue the genuine care the artists & animators put into this project.

Verdict:

Calling this season “Climax!” is a misnomer, as the real climax came and went in the previous season. The slow burn to reach that point is mirrored by a slow cooldown here. Despite its shortcomings, Kan isn’t notably bad, other than the fact that there are plenty of other high school rom-coms that tell pretty much the same story at this level of quality without needing two seasons of build-up to lean on. Pre-conceived expectations are the biggest obstacle to enjoying Kan, but does that argument defend it when any other mediocre rom-com would scratch the same itch just as well? Your answer to that question is the answer to whether Kan is worth your time or not.

If I didn't pace myself watching this, I probably would give this a lower score. The reason for that is I would be more aware of the nothings going on throughout the majority of this season. That said, it also speaks to the enjoyment of the anime that I couldn't force myself to watch this continuously. I put this off in the midst of watching it numerous times... at least 4, either because I was bored or a bit peeved by the lack of progress that started mid-season 2 and continued almost all the way to the end of this season. But, I feel there's ... something different that the show is at least trying to do, even if it is a slog, that makes it decent. Now that it's over I think I'd summarily describe it as a more cerebral version of Kaguya-sama, in that it's about people dancing around the simple fact that they like each other. In terms of story and pacing, I think the first 10 episodes could've been honed down to 1-3 episodes, while the last 2 could remain as they are since compelling things actually happen in them. Overall, it's okay.

This is an example of what can happen when a studio demonstrates unfair and one-sided bias. If you are a reader of the light novel (LN), you would notice that they clearly exaggerate Yui's character, while neglecting important parts of Yukino's development, making her appear more like a side character rather than a main one in the anime adaptation.

If you are a fan of Yukino, you would understandably be frustrated by the significant and detrimental cuts made to her story arc in this season. Her character has suffered greatly as a result.

Furthermore, the studio has also made many other important cuts throughout the season, and ... the pacing is terribly flawed, which diminishes the overall viewing experience.

However, one redeeming aspect is that they cannot overlook the ending depicted in the novel, which I personally appreciate and enjoy

Quick Thoughts:
Expectedly disappointing

Story:
It's a direct continuation from the previous season, both in timeline and thematically. There remains a heavy focus on the relationship between the main trio, and it's addressed alongside the subplot of prom-planning. Outside of the ending and another scene that's also towards then end, I feel like just about everything story-wise was handled poorly. There was way too much of what seemed like filler in a season that was already strapped for time. There's too much time spent on purely prom related issues as well. It seemed as if the staff realized late in the season that time was mismanaged, and then ... attempted to cram any remaining key points in the last couple episodes. Needless to say, I found the plot uninteresting and the pacing poor.

Character:
I think they botched most of the characters as well. Hachiman is still same overanalytical protagonist, but I think Yui regressed heavily, and Yukino lacked the screentime for us to see her development. I found the influence of many side characters annoying as well. They're a large part of the reason why what should've been basic love triangle and a basic prom planning got stretched into a season long ordeal. I was fine with the overthinking and overcomplication in previous seasons because it mostly Hachiman's doing and related to his development, but it felt like nearly ever character was doing it this season.

Enjoyment:
I think what kept me interested in this season was my enjoyment of previous seasons and my desire to see the ending. I kind of enjoyed the ending; I thought it was fitting, but one episode wasn't enough to make up for the all of the melodrama leading up to it.

Unpopular (personal) opinion - the climax of Oregairo was not as good as the previous seasons. Before I explain why I didn't like it as much, let me get this out of the way first, I'm an Iroha fan. If that was more than enough for you to stop reading my review then that's fine, but if you're interested as to why I think the last season wasn't as good as objectively as possible, then thank you for reading on.

Oregairo was a fascinating anime during seasons 1 and 2 as the main theme was about building relationships. Hikki, the protagonist, was a loner and ... felt that he didn't need human connections because it was too much of a chore. The other characters, Yukino, Yui and Iroha, to some degree also felt similarly isolated, albeit different circumstances. Yukino was similar to Hikki and just couldn't jive with other people; Yui has insecurities with her relationships with people and to avoid conflict simply agree with them even if she's not comfortable, and Iroha hides her true nature behind her cute gestures despite being really conniving and manipulative. You could consider these people as "rejects" of society that can't fit in, which was a dominant theme way back. It was entertaining to have these people find comfort with one another, but due to their past experiences, question the authenticity of what they have, which led the famous "I want something genuine" line of Hikki.

Now, we go to season 3. The first part of season 3 for me was extremely boring. This is just my personal preference, but I found the prom dilemma too juvenile for my taste, especially when the previous seasons were a lot more mature (i.e. even adults have issues deciding whether their relationships are "genuine"). Then, for the latter half of the series, it became a typical romantic comedy. Yes, I'm aware of the title, but because seasons 1 and 2 were quite different from season 3, I never really considered Oregairo a rom-com. Finally, we move to the last part of the show, where one girl was "chosen" and became the official partner of Hikki. Yes, a part of me is salty about the choice, but I'm much more concerned about why he chose in the first place. I find it extremely odd that a loner for how many years, with barely any idea at how to handle (platonic) relationships and even questioned the authenticity of such a relationship, decided it was alright to pursue a romantic one. It just felt out of place, especially since there were never any major hints (at least to me) that he valued any particular relationship over the other.

Even though I didn't enjoy most of oregairo s3, I have to applaud the ending. I liked that the relationships they built over the course of the story didn't just crumble because a girl was "chosen". Moreover, it ended the story in an open manner and the viewers are more than welcome to tailor their own ending depending on your own preferences.

Overall, Oregairo 3 just didn't click with me as much as the previous two seasons. A part of it is because my ship didn't "officially" sail, but more so because I felt it deviated from what it previously established, which was building and strengthening relationships. Either way, I appreciate the author for giving us a predominantly good story and I congratulate the people that enjoyed this last season.

MY REAL Rating - I literally dont know what score should I give Because MAL doesnt have this setting…so I left it BLANK
PLEASE IGNORE THAT RATING I SET… BECAUSE ITS NOT MY REAL SCORE

I dont know how to rate this show… Its good & bad at the same time… I just dont know what score should I give…

Sometimes I like certain parts of the show like the story & the characters… it is kinda interesting… but I feel like something's up with this show, something funny with this… I just dont know whats wrong with it TO BE HONEST… Like everytime I keep looking ... at the timestamp and tell myself, how many minutes left to end or UGGGHH FFS END THIS EP ALREADY… Its like an average Reaction…

There are times I said…
"Hmmm… story looks interesting and unique" and "Why do I feel like i've wasted 2 seasons and 11 episodes just to get to this part, S3E12."

Yeaa I understand this is a "DIFFERENT KIND OF ROMANCE" anime… I UNDERSTAND. But do you feel like NOTHING romantic HAPPENED during these episodes? Like Sometimes around S2 or Wherever episode on S3 you're waiting any romantic stuff to happen? Its just like… god i dont know how to say this, its like Just TALKING… with some psychological sense as if they're confessing and shit… You might not know what TF im saying but you will…

After I finished this series, my mind was completely FKING blurred for like 10 MINS…like i said… ITS GOOD & BAD at the same time… Yeaa you know anime shows Have this Kind of CLICHE thing for example… Shows like "Classroom of the elite" and every HIGH SCHOOL ANIME SHOWS you get a Narcistic MC guy who has a dead looking face, A Long haired girl where viewers will ROOT FOR HER as their waifus & of Course the SHORT Haired Girl who has a crush on the MC and at the end she NEVER WINS… Get IT!?! SHORT HAIR GIRLS NEVER WINS????

Yea… I just dont know What score to give so I have no choice but to DO THIS Where NOBODY HAS DONE IT BEFORE… Leaving IT BLANK! There's no need for me to waste my time Thinking about the score, its completely POINTLESS… SO Please again…IGNORE That fake ass rating I put. I HOPE THIS SHOW ROTS IN HELL along with its CREATORS or I HOPE IT GETS SEASON 4 (which most likely it won't i think)

I was a very big fan of Oregairu Seasons 1 and 2 (2 especially). I liked the main cast and the supporting cast. The show was funny and it was emotional too.

Fast forward 5 years to Kan. Strong start, loved the Komachi episode, made me weep. Every episode was entertaining. Then we get to the prom arc. I hated this arc. And when it comes down to it, I think the core concept of Oregairu soured over the course of Kan, leaving me to stick around purely because I was invested in the series. The issue snowballs rather quickly - what on earth are the ... characters even saying to each other!?! Lots of roundabout nonsense that others might praise but I will certainly complain about.

I used to think Hachiman was an interesting enough protagonist, he had his own way of seeing the world and through the course of the series he sheds this pessimistic attitude through the power of friendship. In this series, Hachiman is a moron. Not only does he know both girls like him, he just decides the best way to deal with this is to pretend its not happening. His supposed character 'growth' is learning to express an emotion, and even then he needs someone to teach him how he feels. Basically he just treats Yui like trash, Yui cries, you feel sad, Hachiman is already figuring out how to maybe indicate he cares about Yukinoshita as a side effect of organising some stupid fake event and Yukino is trying to disappear. Frustrating to watch and hard to care about.

I always think the worst arcs in animes are the organising a festival or whatever arc. Its boring, there has to be some serious character/relationship development happening to make it worth it. Its even worse if there is some kind of conflict in making decisions. "Now what if I took the conflict during organinsing something... and spread it out for a whole novel!" - is what Wataru Watari surely said to himself when writing the climax for his popular series.

Remember that one time Hachiman said he wanted 'something genuine', what if you heard this 3000 times an episode? Still cool? What about Haruno and her 'codependence' shtick? Did you enjoy that? Well you're going to get to enjoy a whole lot of it over this series. Its purpose? Oh just to give the plot some fumes to run on. It's really annoying, totally uninteresting and you just wish they'd shut up about it. What about the bet made at the start of the series, what about every girl having a wishy washy wish that is just 'ask her not me'. Now once we have these 7 'issues' we can have the characters trying to perform mental gymnastics just so they can help each other out. It goes like this:
Yukino doing dumb BS and trying to do all the work -> Yukino encounters difficulty -> Hman thinks 'hmm maybe i should help her' wait a second CODEPENDENCE -> Hman decides not to help her -> But then! Hman thinks he will help her -> Yui starts crying -> Hman sort of kind of maybe helps Yukino out

Giving it a 6 maybe seems generous from the tone of my review, but I'm sure many others are conflicted about their feelings from this anime. It is enjoyable but oh so grating too. In the end, the characters and the humour push this into being above average. If it didn't annoy me so, this anime would surely be an 8, perhaps even a 9.

By its climax, the wheels of Oregairu are about ready to fall off. The beginning seemed to promise character development of the entire cast, that at the very least, was not the case.

Overall, I was a little disappointed in this season.

It has been 4 - 5 years after the second season released (which I believed to be the high-point of the series) so I had high expectations for the final season given the acclaimed source material and the 4 - 5 year gap.

The result is a conclusion that left me a little unsatisfied. To clarify, I liked how there was a happy ending and the confession scene was really great (it probably bumped up the rating by 0.5). But the route that the anime took to reach that conclusion was not executed in the best way.

For most ... of the season, the characters have almost 0 chemistry between each other. There is just a sad and awkward vibe between the main characters up until the confession. Now, you could make the argument that this was intentional given how the second season ended. But the fact of the matter is that this is a romance, drama, comedy anime and making 3/4th of your final season depressing is not something anyone watching this anime is here for.

On top of that, we do not get satisfying conclusions to any of the side characters. All that build-up with Hayama and the others is just forgotten for no other reason than the studio wanted to quickly wrap-up the series in 13 episodes.

The only side character that gets a proper conclusion is Hiratsuka-sensei (which I felt came on a little strong, but she’s my girl so I didn’t really mind). I guess my critiques could best be summarized as this season feeling rushed and messy, which should not have been the case given the source material and time gap.

Aside from the ending, I also liked the art and music of this season. It is pretty similar to the previous season which gave it a nice sense of consistency. I also think the voice actors did a good job, although Hachiman’s voice seemed a little different than it was in previous season. I’m not sure if it was just me who thought that, but everyone else’s voice seemed to be like I remembered.

To sum up my review, I am just a little disappointed with the execution of the season as a whole. Nevertheless, it does give a great confession scene and a satisfying ending for the main characters, 7 years in the making.

It’s closer to a 6 than a 4.