Instead of gaining love and acceptance from the rest of the cohort, the protagonist, Hikigaya, gains even more hatred and reject from his schoolmates, only with a few of his close friends who understands and appreciates his character. I have come to like his character compared to the rest because he always gives the most practical and cruel suggestions, yet producing the best results. From his conversations and the way he presents his view, I learnt a lot from it than any other anime. For example, from his conversation with Yukino at the beginning of the anime about changing oneself, Yukino speaks of a point of view where many people will agree to, the courage to change oneself changes everything around you for the better, making it seem like change is something you have to accept. But in the case of Hikigaya, he feels that change is unneeded, there is no need to change yourself, but the courage to accept yourself for who you are, to love yourself no matter what surroundings subject you to. Hikigaya's comment "I love myself.", is the evident representation that he accepts himself for who he is. His personality and stand towards friends, "helping each other" and the idea of "everybody" is one which resonates within me. Even though Hikigaya may feel that he is a loner, and that he is okay even if others hate him since he is so used to pain, I feel that he deserves better than what any other girl can give him. I have come to like his character and that is enough recognition for all he has done.
However, despite the good character development shown for Hikigaya, and also Yukino in a sense, the rest of the characters are seen with a sense of disapproval. Especially the popular group with Hayama and that bitchy girl, whateverhernameis. Hayama is a ultimate nice guy with his "one for all" ideals, to the point where it even seems fake. Primarily, I do not dislike his character, and I feel that his personality which seems to accept everything is commendable, I would have come to like this character even though he is the complete opposite of Hikigaya. But because of one line he said, that he would never come to like Hikigaya even if he knew him since young, and his apparent misunderstandings/unacceptance towards Hikigaya's behavior and character, I could not bring myself to like him anymore.
This is the magic of this anime, to feel that the norm of handling things may not be the correct way, and that the "ultimate good guy" character may seem irritating since it is too ideal. Like what Renge from Ouran Host Club would have said, " Too weak! There is no darkness in the character!!!" in the high-pitched and disapproving tone. On the other hand, Hikigaya would be a character with both light and darkness, making it a fully developed and attractive character.
Hence, I will highly recommend this anime to those who enjoy comedy as well as good character development. Since I am one who looks more at character rather than story plot, this anime has more than satisfied me in that sense.
