Oregairu shifts gears in its second season, changing its primary focus from tropey comedy to the unexpectedly thoughtful character drama that was slow cooking in the background. With a clear purpose and a heartful drive towards it, a true step in the lives of its characters is taken. It concludes on its own terms in a manner that is thematically resonant yet still open plot-wise.
Review in full:
In season 1, Oregairu was a decidedly standard high-school rom-com. Its underlying quirks were enough to maintain an audience, but there were only a few standout moments to point to. In that regard, season 2 (Zoku) may as well be a completely different anime. It turns just about everything season 1 had on its head, from the balance of rom to com to the art style. It’s exactly what Oregairu needed at this part of its story.
Hachiman Hikigaya is largely the same person at the start of Zoku, but he has come to know himself better. Through his obligatory participation in the Service Club, he’s attained a stronger grasp on just what holds the ungenuine high-school society he’s surrounded by together, and has realized that he has a knack for fixing people’s problems within it… by ruthlessly attacking it. The sense of duty he’s made for himself in turn fuels the sense of purpose Zoku immediately puts at the heart of the story. As Hachiman plunges his unorthodox weapon deeper into the roots of the social circles he’s found himself cast into, the rippling effect it has on those who have drawn him closer to them brings out a rich character drama that had barely been poked at before, but was clearly a goal for the story from its conception.
Oregairu features a decent-sized cast, who up until this point were largely used to check off the list of tropes this type of story often has. Zoku gets to work rectifying that from the get-go, flipping a tropefest of a cast into characters with reasons behind their actions, secrets & goals behind their masks, and far more meaningful traits than the tropes they were first shown with. It helps that the comedy stops focusing so heavily on tropes and takes on a situational approach that encourages more natural interactions. Not only do characters previously hinted at having depth display it far more openly (such as Hayato and his own web of relations he’s found himself tangled in) but even characters who were little more than joke fodder beforehand are brought up to the same level (like Ebina who has a lot more going on with her now than shipping her guy friends).
Those two aren’t suddenly elevated to main characters either. Sure, they get their time in the spotlight, but it’s just the right amount to flesh them out to the degree a side character needs to play their role well. There are a few minor characters that largely fall by the wayside, but it’s a price well worth paying for what Zoku delivers with the characters it allows to flourish. The one odd note in the chord is the sudden addition of Iroha. She’s no less of an appreciable character than the others, but the way she’s inserted into the story and the quite political situations revolving around her make it hard not to think that she’s a version 2.0 of Sagami from season 1, that the author ended up unable to utilize Sagami in the story after her last appearance and just cut the character out. With Sagami’s experiences the character that is now Iroha would have been even more impactful.
The journey the characters go on in Zoku is largely thematic in nature, partially owing to it not reaching the series’ true endpoint, but also due to how much it puts into characterization. The Service Club members are faced not just with more difficult situations but answers they don’t like or want to accept. Virtues they had codified for themselves are put to the test, and even Hachiman has sleepless nights over what exactly he meant to achieve in all of this. For the most part the main cast slowly grow around the situations that elevate the side cast in quick succession, rather than their own underlying problems. Their story is effectively in the background for most of the anime.
In lighter episodes such as the initial Christmas event committee meetings it can progress a little too slowly as it gets caught in drier minutia, but these moments don't last for long. The wholesome result of this is that Oregairu is no longer just a rom-com, with its strong character drama encapsulating the rom-com and letting it grow. It doesn’t conclude in this season and a few loose ends like the continuing mystery behind Yukino's family situation and Hayato's precarious social position still linger, but its thematic closure is more than solid as the main characters come to terms with their main dilemmas.
Even the production values behind Zoku display growth. Studio feel. brought in a fresh director and swapped out much of the key animation staff, and it shows. The colorful but quick & dirty art style of season 1 is replaced with a much more consistent approach that is not only utilized better but also reflects the tonal shift Zoku undergoes better than anything easily imaginable with the old style. The characters look more worn out by default, and the stronger auras successfully give an impression that the rose-tinted glasses are coming off for much of the cast. That said, it’s the smallest improvement as the animation isn’t much to write about (it’s quite telling when the most impressive animation belongs to a minor character talking with his hands) and the auras come on too strong at times (sunset scenes made me think I forgot to turn off the blue light filter, and nighttime scenes made me wonder if it broke and starting making everything bluer). The soundwork is just a little more consistent as well. The music is rarely memorable but never sticks out for the wrong reasons, and the seiyuu involved got more into their characters overall, but some of them were already there. However, it’s all consistent enough to do its job, and after season 1’s unimpressive display it’s all the more appreciable.
Verdict:
Zoku takes Oregairu in the direction it needed to go in the first place, and it has the consistency needed to stick the difficult landing. The trek there is a tad bumpy and not every little issue is addressed, but as a whole it proves this story to be a slow burner that's worth the wait.
