The second season practically screams - character development!!! When I think back on how the characters were on season 1, I can't even recognise them anymore.
For starters, Yukino Yukinoshita. In the season 1, she was an ice cold beauty blah blah blah, with literally no friends and bad past.
In season 2, she still has bad past and still is a beauty but now she has friends (and even the 'cool squad' - Hayama and Yumiko etc talks with her) and she even talks about herself - seems like Hikigaya and Yui have finally broken her shell... a little. She even starts showing a tsundere side of her.
WHICH I DON'T REALLY LIKE. My opinion only but the 'real' Yukino sort of annoys me. In season 1 she was an interesting character with mysterious attitude (which she still has by the way) but now she's sorta... meh. Except for some weird moments (like Haruno pointing out that her 'trust' isn't trust at all).
Hikigaya has changed too. Like some people, I miss his 'lone wolf inner monologue' from season 1. Even so, I am really happy for his character development. The thing I like the most is that now he's able to speak up when he thinks something is wrong. In season 1 we saw him struggling to stand up for his friends and himself... That has changed now.
As for Yui - she's my favorite character in the whole show. She's sort of the 'social glue' for the group and same as Hikigaya, she can finally speak up and help her friends not keep quiet. I especially love how she sort of proves (at least with her words) that she's not the 'nice girl' Hikigaya thought she was.
AS FOR MY MOST MOST FAVORITE CHARACTER IT'S OBVIOUSLY SHIZUKA HIRATSUKA. She's wise and cool and UGHHH her advives to Hikigaya and the way she looks out for the group just gets me everytime.
Liked the way Komachi became important in this season. While I'm on it, I seriously hate Isshiki. She's annoying and gets in the way and ugh.
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As for the plot - it's no more a 'rom com'. I first got into this show while looking for rom coms. In the season one there was less rom and more com. In season 2 there's more tsundere rom and no com at all.
I loved the depth of the show and how it made me think. I lvoe that this show portrays completely realistic things and people and shows humans as they are - sometimes selfish, sometimes not, with a tendence to hurt each other and push others away. I think this show does a beautiful job of capturing ACTUAL reality and making you see it from different perspectieves. I won't lie saying that almost every episode made me cry.
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One thing I definitely didn't enjoy was the art. Ok, now I finally understood why everyone is in love with Hikigaya - the new style really makes him sorta hot. As fo0r the rest, Yukino looked 'too nice' and those pink cheeks really pissed me of... But that's just my opinion.
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Back to characters, I really love them all. This is one of few shows (actually only one so far) that show that 'popular guys' aren't all that bad. Yumiko, who has the 'classical bitch' atitude and looks is actually pretty nice.
Hayama suprised me the most of them all. At season 1 I saw him as a douche and then he proved himself nice. At season 2 he proved that he's NOT NICE AT ALL but he's polite enough and HUMAN!!! His hate for Hikigaya isn't because Hikigaya is a loner or whatever, but because he feels inferior to him.
Ebina also proved herself as really nice, so did Tobe and well, you got it.
Anyway, THIS ENDED WITH A CLIFFHANGER AND I HATE CLIFFHANGERS. I really hope we get an season 3, because I really need that.
Sorry for the review being mostly about characters, I really had to.
