Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru.

Hachiman Hikigaya, a student in Soubu High School, is a cynical loner due to his traumatic past experiences in his social life. This eventually led to him developing a set of "dead fish eyes" and a twisted personality similar to that of a petty criminal. Believing that the concept of youth is a lie made up by youngsters who face their failures in denial, he turns in an essay that criticizes this exact mentality of youths. Irritated by the submission, his homeroom teacher, Shizuka Hiratsuka, forces him to join the Volunteer Service Club—a club that assists students to solve their problems in life, hoping that helping other people would change his personality.

However, Yukino Yukinoshita, the most beautiful girl in school, is surprisingly the sole member of the club and a loner, albeit colder and smarter than Hikigaya. Their club soon expands when Yui Yuigahama joins them after being helped with her plight, and they begin to accept more requests.

With his status quo as a recluse, Hikigaya attempts to solve problems in his own way, but his methods may prove to be a double-edged sword.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru. placed first in the Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi! ranking in the best light novel category in 2014, 2015, and 2016.

The series was published in English as My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As I Expected by Yen Press under the Yen On imprint from September 27, 2016 to October 18, 2022.

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Characters

Hikigaya, Hachiman

Main

Yukinoshita, Yukino

Main

Yuigahama, Yui

Main

Isshiki, Iroha

Main

Hiratsuka, Shizuka

Supporting

Totsuka, Saika

Supporting

Hikigaya, Komachi

Supporting

Kawasaki, Saki

Supporting

Yukinoshita, Haruno

Supporting

Yuigahama, Mother

Supporting

Reviews

Sep 20, 2020

cchigu

Recommended

"Yeah, I'm being stupid. I know that it's out of question. I know how this will end. I'll be left with nothing. Even so, I want us to think, writhe, struggle... and find... something genuine." - Hikigaya Hachiman

Oregairu is a pilgrimage destination for people who set out to quench their thirst for finding something genuine. It takes its characters, and you, the reader, on a journey to explore the themes of self-realization, inferiority complex, cynicism, and social awkwardness.

The seasons have changed. Compared to my teenage-self, I have gotten better, become more open-minded, met new people, found people that I love, and have stopped hating ... myself. But one thing that has remained the same, is my love for Oregairu. Its bittersweet aftertaste still lingers. Even though, sadly, I no longer relate to Oregairu.

[Story & Writing] The story and setting of Oregairu is a simplistic high school club-themed slice-of-life, which is good, considering what it is trying to achieve. The story is just a device to dig deep into the psychology of teenagers, in order to explore its themes. Going in expecting a prioritization on romance will disappoint you, but for me, it is the least important aspect of Oregairu.

The novels are written from the main character's point of view so that the readers can see and judge the thought process behind every action he takes. Additionally, Oregairu is written in a roundabout manner, the monologues and the dialogues are all very vague and open-ended which means that the reader is free to form his/her own opinion on them. So even if you think that it is all bullshit, it doesn't mean you are wrong, it just means that Oregairu is just not for you.

That being said, Oregairu did not know where it was headed for the starting 3 volumes, and hence these volumes feel disjointed from the rest of the series. Mind you, they are still entertaining but they certainly lack the true Oregairu essence. Needless to say, they could have easily been compressed.

[Art] In the author's own words-- "The story is penned by the author of the light novels in order to create cute scenes for the illustrator to illustrate". Luckily, Oregairu had the pleasure of being illustrated by Ponkan8 (also drew Shirobako's character designs). Their art kept on improving with each passing volume and is certainly an eye-candy. Although, the last couple of volumes suddenly saw a huge downgrade. I still wonder what happened.

[Character] Oregairu's characters follow the basic archetypes that you will find in similar light novels, but what differentiates them is the layer upon layer of characterization the author has put with each chapter. The way the characters grow throughout the series is nothing but a sight to behold, it is subtle and yet significant enough.

Hikigaya Hachiman is my teenage-self. He is a pessimist, a hypocrite, a coward, an edgelord, cynical, anti-social, and a loner. Until high school, he tried to be a normie but failed. Now, he has completely given up and has ended up deceiving himself in believing that his current self seeks and needs no modifications. He performs actions in a way that, even though produces the outcome, ends up sacrificing himself. He is adamant about not forming new relationships and maintaining the status quo but slowly by slowly, he comes to self-realization that he is the way he is because he is afraid of getting hurt.

Yukinoshita Yukino is another loner teenager, with a lack of self-esteem because of her exceptionally talented elder sister. Even though she herself is talented, she constantly keeps on comparing herself with her sister. She keeps people at bay because of the consequences of her own talents and beauty. Throughout the series, her self-esteem gets hit more and more.

Yuigahama Yui seems to be your typical normie teenager and has developed a crush on the protagonist. The novels do an exceptional job to flesh out her characters by guiding the readers through her actual personality.

Most of the side characters in the novels are given enough screentime and a proper characterization that separates them from the original archetype they were originally based upon.

[Enjoyment] Enjoyment is highly subjective. Personally, I was engrossed enough to devour two novels in a single sitting. Sometimes, the drama can get too heavy but honestly, that is the best part. A warning-- Initial 3 or 4 volumes might give a fake impression of what Oregairu actually is.

Oregairu might not be the greatest fiction on the planet, but for me, it is more than that. Oregairu is an easy recommendation for people who want to dig deep and want something genuine.

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Nov 1, 2020

cent1ent

Recommended

We all yearn for something genuine - relationships, emotions, feelings - but while doing so, we end up creating fakes.
The question that remains is - where is the line separating the genuine from the fake, and who gets to draw it?

Before going any further lemme say this - Oregairu is one of the most emotionally complex, deep, realistic, and thematically well-written story I've ever read.

On the surface, it seems to be a clichéd love-triangle (or even harem) romantic comedy, a stereotype further amplified due to the anime unfairly selling it as a harem-styled story, with skewed focuses on the characters. I expected nothing special when ... I started watching it, but I found something completely different and wonderful. Neither romance nor comedy is the prime focus here. The story is very deep and well-structured, and deals with themes that I haven't seen explored in any of the anime I've seen or manga / light novel I've read.

Story:

A simple and generic sounding plot it is, but it eventually grows much deeper and more complex. The progression and development of the story is steady and well-paced, things don't feel rushed or drawn out at any point. It has its fair share of anime and weeb-culture tropes, but those are now a part of the aniverse, and do not, in any way, jeopardize the quality of the story.

The most prominent theme here is fake vs genuine, the conflict the characters face when they seek something genuine in their relationships whose foundations themselves are fakes.

Further, questions arise as to what is it that you can call genuine, and what can be branded as fake? who gets to decide what emotions, feelings, ad relationships are fake? This theme is prevalent throughout the story, not only for the main trio's, but for many side-characters' situations as well. The ending (light novel) properly wraps up everything, and is a great thematic conclusion to the story.

Characters:

The characters are the highlight of this show, because they have many layers to them, and are very well written. The character motivations, thoughts, and developments are very well written - sometimes subtle, sometimes drastic, but always beautiful. These developments are in sync with the core theme of the story, which makes them much more endearing to watch.

Popular opinion out there is that this is the one of the most emotionally complex story in the aniverse, something I agree with, compared to others that I've read / watched. What the characters say, what they are thinking, what their motivations are, nothing is presented easily for the viewer to just accept, one has to to put effort into thinking about stuff to understand, comprehend, and appreciate it all.

There are many interpretations that can be drawn of some scenes and conversations, and there is plenty room for misinterpreting stuff, which I've seen many people do. There are also people who didn't understand the depth of this story, which is a possible reason for the relatively low score of the (insufficiently adapted) anime has on MAL, while the light novel is ranked at #15.

Overall, Oregairu has possibly the deepest, most intricate, and beautiful story out of all the anime I've watched or manga / light novels I've read. When reading this, keep in mind not to rush, and not to jump to conclusions. The story and characters have many layers to them, try to think about and understand them. It is a great experience, a very thematically intricate and wonderful story, one with pretty valuable life-lessons and an emotional impact that won't be fading away anytime soon.

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Jun 25, 2023

abystoma2

Not Recommended

I was promised a masterpiece. A novel full of well crafted dialogue and deep story with a social commentary. Needles to say I got none of that.

The whole time while reading this I was waiting for the breaking point, the part when it gets good, the big twist or something, as I couldn't believe this is what the huge amount of people are praising. Yet here we are.

Oregairu is a harem light novel. No matter how much it tries to hide that with pseudointellectual monologuing, it is still a harem LN. Of course, I'm not saying that anything harem is inherently bad (look no further ... than Monogatari Series or Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei), but Oregairu certainly failed to make the genre interesting.

In other reviews, you can see "this isn't your typical romcom novel" being noted a lot. That's a lie. This is your typical romcom novel. The only difference there is that the protagonist is (self)described as a loner and loser. A loner and loser yet he gathers supporting characters around and 2+ girls hinting theirs interest in him (this is a romantic comedy after all). You guessed it, it's just a self-insert character at his core. A character for the unpopular folks to identify with and to fantasize how they'll get surrounded by girls too. And Hachiman is self-insert not only for the reader, but also for the author, as the author himself even mentioned that in the afterword. Everyone else is just a background character for the MC to interact with, really. Yes, even the secondary lead consisting of the two girls. And have I mentioned considerable chunk of the whole content of the novel is the MC fawning over a trap? If that is your thing, good for you, but otherwise be beware you might cringe a lot.

I suspect that the reason for mostly positive reception is that almost nobody who didn't like this from the start is going to stick around to actually finish it. And it is the right decision, there is no improvement or reward for forcing yourself through the novel even though you do not like it. The only reason I haven't dropped this is because of my personal no drop policy, and even then I was tempted to just drop this numerous times. It's not outright awful, but it is boring most of the time.

The social commentary, the beloved philosophical and psychological aspect of this franchise. It just turns out to be a shallow "people are bad and people in a group are even more bad" rambling. The philosophical level of Oregairu is unironically on par with "We live in a society" memes. It brings nothing new to a table for your understanding of society if you made it through a highschool. As mentioned above, all of this really feels just as an excuse for the reader themselves to feel cool - "Those normies don't even understand how cruel society is", "I'm actually totally smart and capable, I just hide it because I'm a lone wolf", "Girls would totally like me if they got to know me more" etc.

As usual with light novels, unless I'm reading an official translation, I'm unsure if the writing style is a fault of the author or of the fantranslation, but I'll have to make do. The writing is bland and there are almost no descriptions, just a string of dialogue and inner monologue of the protagonist - even more than usual with light novels. Contrary to what their recommendations might try to convince you of, the style is in no way similar to Monogatari series. If anything, it's more Hyouka-tier, and that is no compliment either. Popculture references are sprinkled over the novel in attempt to make it more interesting, yet (especially in the first few volumes) the references follow the pattern of "What am I, X from Y?!" or "I see, you know about X as well". This is not a hyperbole. The beauty of references is that you get them only if you know what it references, this is just smashing them in your face. Thanksfully this reference "humor" is used less in later volumes.

The illustrations are amateurish and unimaginative. It's mostly just the characters, well, standing there. As if to complement to writing, the art style is also bland. And just a little pet peeve and again mostly in the first few novels, the boob physics are hideous and on a level of bad ecchi. Though to be fair after finishing the series I can say that the art actually improved, so at least that's something positive.

Overall, there seems to be a lot of readers enjoying this, so you might very well become one of them. Just be warned that there is a chance you might be unpleasantly surprised.

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Did the anime version cut Yukino x Hikki moments? Ghost_Davo - Oct 21	1 replies	by deebosamuel »» Oct 21, 12:34 PM
How many volumes or chapters have been adapted in the anime? o_reki - May 2	2 replies	by o_reki »» May 2, 8:16 PM
Does anyone think the anime is way better, or am I just crazy? Eggs_Dee - Feb 20, 2023	10 replies	by Playcool »» Sep 10, 2023 11:39 PM
Poll: Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru. Volume 14 Discussion Playcool - Feb 25, 2023	3 replies	by TitanInsane »» Jun 27, 2023 2:24 AM
Poll: Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru. Chapter 168 Discussion Revanzz - Jun 26, 2023	1 replies	by The_Holyone66 »» Jun 26, 2023 5:25 AM

Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru.
My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As I Expected
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Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru.
My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As I Expected
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