It has been 4 - 5 years after the second season released (which I believed to be the high-point of the series) so I had high expectations for the final season given the acclaimed source material and the 4 - 5 year gap.
The result is a conclusion that left me a little unsatisfied. To clarify, I liked how there was a happy ending and the confession scene was really great (it probably bumped up the rating by 0.5). But the route that the anime took to reach that conclusion was not executed in the best way.
For most of the season, the characters have almost 0 chemistry between each other. There is just a sad and awkward vibe between the main characters up until the confession. Now, you could make the argument that this was intentional given how the second season ended. But the fact of the matter is that this is a romance, drama, comedy anime and making 3/4th of your final season depressing is not something anyone watching this anime is here for.
On top of that, we do not get satisfying conclusions to any of the side characters. All that build-up with Hayama and the others is just forgotten for no other reason than the studio wanted to quickly wrap-up the series in 13 episodes.
The only side character that gets a proper conclusion is Hiratsuka-sensei (which I felt came on a little strong, but she’s my girl so I didn’t really mind). I guess my critiques could best be summarized as this season feeling rushed and messy, which should not have been the case given the source material and time gap.
Aside from the ending, I also liked the art and music of this season. It is pretty similar to the previous season which gave it a nice sense of consistency. I also think the voice actors did a good job, although Hachiman’s voice seemed a little different than it was in previous season. I’m not sure if it was just me who thought that, but everyone else’s voice seemed to be like I remembered.
To sum up my review, I am just a little disappointed with the execution of the season as a whole. Nevertheless, it does give a great confession scene and a satisfying ending for the main characters, 7 years in the making.
It’s closer to a 6 than a 4.
