Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru. (My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU), popularly known as Oregairu, is the 2013 anime adaptation of the drama light novel series of the same name. It is produced by the studio Brain's Base and directed by Ai Yoshimura, who directed Ao Haru Ride and worked on Gintama.
Hachiman Hikigaya is a loner, a fact he attributes to missing the first day of high school because of a car accident. After showing his hatred for high school life in an essay, his home room teacher sends Hachiman to the Service Club, which is responsible for helping other students in need. He is forced to enter the club and meets the only other member, Yukino Yukinoshita, the best student of the school and a different sort of loner, but a loner nonetheless.
Their first job together is to help Yui Yuigahama, a classmate of Hachiman, make cookies for the guy she is in love with. This is how the loner now spends his days, while also uncovering more details of the car accident he was involved in.
The one thing about Oregairu that is visible from its very first scene is that it is, mainly, a story of loners. It actually starts of with a monologue, actually an essay, of Haciman criticising high school and that sets part of the tone of the story. In that regard, it is hugely relatable to anyone who once was or even is a loner, with all the thoughts it brings.
Through the first few episodes, Oregairu assumes a rather episodic style to show what the Service Club does and present the characters in a proper manner, but it takes a more traditional approach after this extended introduction. The focus of the story then becomes the Club's own internal dynamic, while also presenting some other requests. There is a huge focus on the possible love triangle between the three members of the club, Hachiman, Yukino and Yui. However, this results in a huge dissonance between the comedic and serious moments, the first is always pretty light-hearted, while the second can be a bit hard to follow with all of its psychological analysis.
Hachiman is a very interesting and relatable protagonist that is also hugely unusual, in that he doesn't suddenly becomes sociable. His loner-ish antics continue throughout the anime, but he also starts to slowly open up to the other members of the club. Another interesting aspect of his is the way he deals with the problems posed by the students, which isn't always done in a nice way and frequently results in him being seem as a villain, which he kind of is.
The other two characters of the main cast, Yukino and Yui, seem to be much more stereotypical at first glance, but slowly have more of their personalities developed and shown. I won't spoil it, obviously, but Yukino's relationship with her sister holds some fairly interesting developments, while Yui's own thoughts are much more complex than someone would expect from her initial personality.
There also is a fairly big recurring supporting cast, some for drama, some for comedy and some for both. The ones only for comedy include a chunnibyou friend of Hachiman that is honest-to-god hilarious, while the ones for drama are the "normal" friends of Yui, who are constantly at odds with the Service Club. There also is the trap captain of the tennis club, that is present for both drama and comedy, which can be both hilarious and an influential to the story. The secondary cast's development is, well, secondary, but does receive proper care.
The art is average at best. While the character design is quite good, it is frequently messed up during the anime, with disproportionate bodies and general lack of quality. The backgrounds, on the other hand, are fairly pretty.
The voice acting is fairly good, specially Hachiman's. His voice actor gives a good amount of weight to his speeches so that they don't sound weird, while still having a degree of seriousness. The music is good, but not memorable.
I enjoyed Oregairu throughly, its comedy was brilliant and its drama was even better. Also, I could relate to Hachiman the instant I saw him and his manners. While there is a love triangle, it is not overdone to the point of getting annoying.
I recommend Oregairu to loners, both past and present, looking for a good drama. People who enjoy love triangles would probably enjoy it to, as it is moderately different from most.
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