The anticipation of being in highschool's a big deal in nearly every country of the world. In such a school buildung exists it's own environment consisting of almost any type of people, the un/popular, un/sporting etc. and every here and now you encounter, from the perspective of the rest, the absolute weird and all-time negative loner people. Meet Hikigaya Hachiman ( or 8man, 'hachi' => 8 ), the protagonist of this anime and the reason its worth to watch the story unfold. As for others who have dreams and aspirations of becoming someone in life Hachiman just wants to be nothing and let his existence pass by the couse of time. As this fact's public to the rest of his class and his often bad test results his teacher "punishes" him by forcing him to join a club, The Volunteer Service Club.
Now back to the usual patterns; the club named The Volunteer Service Club is about helping people out with requests so that he has to work and do something while being in school. Strike one. The club president is Yukino Yukinoshita, easily considered the most beautiful girl in the school and now the loner has to deal with the lovely girl. Stirke two. In a little progress another girl named Yui Yuigahama joins the club making the obvious love triangle complete. Strike three and we're out. But the setting and characters won't behave like it's that simple. Yukino's a cold hearted and serious character with no sympathies for Hachiman as she teases him most of the time. A lot of great sarcastic humour resides in the conversations of these two. Yui's a lighthearted spirit and likes everybody, but it's not that everybody will like her back just because of that reason. Also there're several side characters contributing to the overall ambiance with different and fresh personalities.
The story's neither too far away, nor too easy to catch. Oregairu takes place in school, but it's not based on episodics. Slowly parts of the past're revealed while the characters interact with each other and gradually connect to a bigger puzzle. The atmosphere and pacing turns like a tide in the middle of the storytelling, but it's so smooth and unpredictable hence the viewer'll experience a change of his emotions and that's whats makes this anime pretty different from the rest, in a good way. The methods used by the characters and their conversations're one of a kind, because they won't always do the obvious thing and think outside the box. A real inspiration.
Don't expect a typical shining MC in Oregairu and don't expect a savior helping everyone out with their problems. Especially Hachiman has his own problems to deal with and doesn't even want to be dealt with by other people. Though in the course of action he takes a lot of effort to do something only he can do, something to change other people, because he's the hero this school desevers, but not the one it needs right now. So they'll hurt him, because he can take it. Because he's not their hero. He's a silent Loner. A watchful Student. A Hachiman.
In the core he doesn't even want to fall in love with anyone and get out of highschool as fast as possible. What happens, when someone else falls for him and his unique personality ? Exactly this and so many other aspects make Oregairu an overall nice watch. If you can't relate to sarcastic humor you shouldn't pick this up, otherwise everyone else can happily begin to watch this. What are you waiting for ?
