Now blow everything out of proportion. Take every conceivable archetype, the ice queen, the bubbly girl next door, the flawless handsome captain of the soccer club, the Prom Queen, the anti-social, anti-hero protagonist, and give them depth. So much depth that nothing is ever what it seems to be.
That's Oregairu in a nutshell.
Before we get into the review, I'd like to start by saying that Oregairu is NOT realistic. In fact, it is hyper-realistic. The anime doesn't just strip all the fantasy away a typical Rom-com harem story. It instead cranks them up to eleven, to a point where these high school kids talk and act like people who have lived a thousand life-time. Even the shallowest of character like Miura (who is inspired by the typical "popular blonde hot cheerleading bimbo) possess the wisdom of a sage.
Every character has some ulterior motive, wants something and struggles to get what they want, and when they realized they can't have what they want, they turn to the service club for help, hoping that Hachiman, the residential batman ("the hero we need, but not the one we deserve") can solve their problems by doing what has to be done - often at the expense of himself. ("because he can take it. because he's not our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. A dark knight.")
At first, the people around him thought nothing of it. He was just a weirdo who has a reputation for being an antisocial freak. However, as the story progresses, it becomes apparent that helping others by hurting himself is taking a toll on those who care for him. In other words, by sacrificing himself for the people around him, he ends up hurting them in different ways. People who care for him can't bear to see him do these horrible things to himself. People who he helped can't bear the thought of being in debt to a guy like him (Hayama). Then they try to make amend by either asking him to stop (Yui), do things differently (Yukino), or try to stand up for him (Hayama)...etc.
None of this is realistic. None of the characters feel like high schoolers. Most people will never come across such complex social dynamic in their entire life. Hell, they don't even talk like real teenagers. It's like watching a show full of ageless vampire pretending to be teenagers. And that's what makes it so fun.
In anime, there are two types of masterpieces:
One that establishes an entire genre by being completely original, inventive (Ghost in the Shell)
One that takes a pre-established genre and cranks everything up to 11 (Hunter X Hunter, Oregairu)
Of course, in order to be considered a masterpiece, all anime have to be well animated, well acted, flawlessly executed, but the one thing masterpieces cannot do is play safe. Oregairu's concept could've easily blown up in its face, but it doesn't. It takes every trope that's associated with rom-com, twist them, amplify them andd add new layers to them while maintains a degree of believability by giving every action a realistic consequence, while at the same time maintains a consistent theme (You should never burn yourself to keep others warm) throughout that by the end of the second season, you'd laugh at those early episodes when you thought you were watching a typical, high school Rom-com.
Oregairu is a well-constructed masterpiece worthy of in-depth analysis and should serve as a staple of how anime should be.
