*Story*: 6
Like most Rom-Coms, there is no particular story or end goal. I'd say Yahari is unique in that it literally has none at all. No crush that the main character has, nor a crush that is explicitly stated on the protagonist either. There are hints towards romantic feelings between characters, but there is no explicit statements made, so it wouldn't be far off to call this anime simply a comedy, instead of a romantic comedy (as stated by the title).
The story follows the school life of Hachiman Kikigaya, a loner who is forced to join the Volunteers Club. Essentially, the entire series consists of him and his two club mates helping others in the school, along with witty banter and incredible monologues performed by the protagonist. The instances of aid from the club are unrelated among one another, so other than character development and introduction there is no real concrete story LINE per say, but simply smaller stories of little importance to the overall picture.
In the end, like most Rom-Coms, this series has a laid back story. However, the fact that there is little romantic development or correlation between 'mini-stories' almost makes the story of this series lacking in a sense. There is little conflict in the series, which is a shame considering that Hikigaya's approaches to said conflicts are the best parts of this series. I finished the series feeling as though it was entirely uneventful, and so much more could have been done with it. It's sort of a shame, really. Maybe the manga has more substance than the anime did.
*Art*: 7
The art was pretty standard for an anime, especially of the Rom-Con genre. The cover page used for the anime makes it seem like the anime has a particular style that differs from most, notably the faces and the coloring, but the style of the cover art is not carried over into the anime. The animation was very smooth and fluid, yet certain parts felt like work wasn't put into them (such as scenes were lips didn't match voices, or scenes were recycles or simply stills with an effect on them). The artwork isn't bad (in fact, it's good and modern), it just doesn't have anything to differentiate itself from all of the other animes.
*Sound*: 8
The tone of the series can get very dark as Hikigaya goes on his rants or internal monologues, and the songs played during, or to lead up to, these points are very well chosen. They also have very uplifting songs during the lighter moments. All the songs were well chosen, however I feel as though certain dark songs were used to lead up to points that, in the end, were not all that dark. On a scale from 'white' to 'black', the scenes in question were 'light-gray' at best, but had songs with the same tone as a scene that would be 'black'. It would have been nice to see a little more variation in it.
*Characters*: 9
The most important part of any Rom-Com is definitely the characters, and Yahari is no different. In fact, Yahari's characters are the one of the most noteworthy aspects of the series.
Hikigaya, Hachiman: The protagonist of the series, yet arguably the antagonist of the entire show. He is a loner, and proudly proclaims himself as such. He understands the depths of loneliness, and the trivial formalities and recurrences of society better than anyone. Therefore, his character becomes very relatable for obvious reasons. Hikigaya's internal monologues and rants are pretty much the climax of the show, and the best parts. They are what make this show so unique, and pretty much why it is regarded so well by most viewers, regardless of the lackluster story.
Yukinoshita, Yukino: One of Hikigaya's club mates and also a loner, although for different reasons. She is a complicated tsudere who is regarded as perfect, and is pretty much portrayed as such. She is unusually relentless in her jabs towards Hikigaya, yet she is shy towards her other club mate. In the end though, she plays no role other than to be a perfect tsundere, and there is nothing necessarily wrong with that except for the fact that her character doesn't really develop much more past that.
Yuigahama, Yui: The final of the trio within the Volunteers Club, and Hikigaya's classmate. She is an upbeat and lively girl, who is actually friendly and not a loner. However, she has the 'loner' type personality, and such characteristics are displayed when she interacts with other characters with difficulty. She is pretty friendly towards Hikigaya, calling him 'Hikki', so her presence is pretty much necessary as a main character; otherwise, Yukinoshita would just trash on Hikigaya all day.
*Enjoyment and Overall*: 7
Overall, I have to say that I'm a bit disappointed by this anime. It was a good anime, but its set up had the potential to be great. The characters were pretty standard; I enjoyed the supporting characters and the roles they played very much, such as Hayama Hayato or Saika Totsuka, but there could have been more development amongst the main characters. Instead, Yuigahama and Yukinoshita seem more like supporting characters than main, due to their lack of character development. The characters in this series were great, but the lack of character development is where this series seriously falls off. The biggest let down of the series is the lack of development of Hayato, even though they continuously hinted at it; however, this disappointment is pretty much the same for all characters. In fact, development as a whole is something that this series lacks, and as I watched it, I felt as though the series was locked in time, because it was never actually progressing. There was little conflict, and issues are brought up that are not addressed or resolved later on, so they feel as though they are in the series just because they HAD to be, and not because they had any relevance toward the story. There could have been so much more done by this series, yet in the end it failed to deliver.
I think the series was pretty decent, so I round up to 'good' and give it a 7. However, this series is one of the few times I would ever say that it should have been SHORTER than it was, instead of longer. This is not because the series was 'bad', but the series felt drawn out and bland, and would have benefited more with a more conflict oriented story; compacting this series' conflicts into a shorter episode span would remedy this.
