Have you ever watched an anime that speaks to that experience?
Have you ever watched an anime and gone "Oh lord, I know exactly what he/she means!"?
Do you enjoy seeing dissections and deconstructions of social dynamics and
Do you love it when all this happens, over and over again, sometimes to an uncanny degree?
If so, then Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Come wa Machigatteiru (My Teen Romantic Comedy Snafu), or OreGairu as it shall be henceforth known, is your kind of show.
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The show is centered around the three main characters:
- Hachiman Hikigaya is a truly cynical social misanthrope of a student, who believes the Japanese parable of youth is a sham and a farce. Faced with constant rejection over the years for his looks and somewhat awkward demeanor, Hachiman has learned the hard way that reality doesn't play nice, and neither should he. This has taught him to be incredibly socially conscious, always aware of what he needs to do to minimize his profile and prevent himself from being hurt by others again. He serves as narrator for much of the show, and is constantly belittling and disparaging others...in his head, at least.
- Yukino Yukinoshita is the smart, beautiful, responsible yet incredibly icy second daughter of a national politician. Her model record and cold demeanor has led her to be unapproachable and friendless - not that it makes much of a difference to her. She has a twisted sense of "noblesse oblige", and believes that it is the duty of the exceptional (in other words, herself) to help the "lost lambs" of the world. She doesn't think particularly highly of Hachiman, but is much more accepting of Yui, who isn't as afraid of her demeaner as most other girls she's encountered.
- Yui Yuigahama is the resident dunce of the trio. Cheerful, popular, outgoing, but not the brightest, she tries to get along well with everybody. Unfortunately, her accommodating and somewhat passive personality makes her prone to following the whims of others, and she doesn't assert herself well - a problem she acknowledges. Her bubbly exterior covers an extremely empathetic personality. She's envious of people like Yukino and Hachiman, who both make and follow their own decisions without hesitation.
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Whether by their own will, or forced to join by Hiratsuka-sensei, the three all become members of the school's Service Club, tasked with helping the students of the school with their problems. These kinds of characters, while not exactly common, aren't that rare either. What is rare, however, is how absolutely realistic and brutally honest their portrayal is. They are all, in some way, broken and damaged people - who better than they to help others? In doing so, they are all forced to re-examine who they are and decide whether that's who they want to be, or if they want to change...or even if they can change.
Don't let the title fool you - this is not really a romantic comedy, at least not in the traditional sense. RomCom anime has a tendency towards wearing rose-colored glasses with regards to high school, as if it were a magical place where hard work, friendship and romance are around the corner; reality is, unfortunately, far from the truth. There is virtually no fanservice of any kind (sorry ecchi lovers, you ain't gonna find none o' that here!). The show isn't about the plot, so much as it is about dealing with the fact that Hachiman, Yukino, Yui and everyone else around is just like them: insecure, awkward teenagers who haven't fully figured things out. There is no guarantee that at the end of an episode, the characters will be happy with each other, or even happy with themselves. When was the last time you saw that in anime? But you know, life isn't always happy. I myself had a great high school life, but its frankly scary how close some of Hachiman's experiences match my own and how realistic they are.
And that's where the main appeal is: how realistic everything is. How realistic their interactions are. How realistic their individual solutions to problems are, and how realistically they bounce off of each other. How realistic the pacing is. How realistic their growing friendship is.
And despite this realism that can often-times border on straight cynicism, this show still has this unique hopefulness to it. Somehow, it will turn out alright. The quirky nature of each character makes you love them, and all of them feel like real people that have their own strengths, weaknesses and problems. You find joy in seeing a simple victory, like one of them making the other smile, or watching them make fun of each other less frequently as they go. You become elated when you watch them begin to accept others into their lives, or to finally stand up for themselves, or to come out from the shadows of others.
OreGairu is about listening to Hachiman tell stories of his past shames and cringe-worthy rejections by others. It is about watching Hachiman and Yukino's verbal sparring matches. It is about Yukino, Yui and Hachiman trying to prevent someone else from going through what they've gone through. It is about doing something as simple as watching Yui burn some cookies, and learn the true meaning of hard work vs. talent while Hachiman and Yukino grudgingly help her.
It is about watching them sit down in their clubroom, lit by the sunset, after another successful but harrowing job, trying to figure out what to do next.
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To summarize, OreGairu is a sorta-romantic comedy slice-of-life, with incredible dialogue and deeply incisive observations on the realities of life, friendship, family, romance and high school. This is my personal favorite from this Spring 2013 season, and probably one of my favorite shows of all time. If you want something sweet, happy, or action-intense, with great visuals and sound, this probably isn't the show for you. But if you enjoy watching a portrayal of teenage life that is closer than you might expect, then I think you know what you need to do:
WATCH THIS SHOW.
