The characters are the most flawed part of the story by far.
Our protagonist, Hachiman Hikigaya, is a character that leaned more on the pessimistic side of philosophy. Anyone who hates society or humans, in general, may have no problem saying he is a relatable character. And although a considerable portion of his philosophy brings justifiable points, a large portion of that comes off as pretentious. And when he does bring up good points, so what? It's nothing more than the basic philosophy we learn in high school. I often hear conversations about how Hikigaya is one of the most relatable characters in anime, but that is to their own subjective opinions where even they are fooling themselves. Hikigaya's character is flawed. His opinions contradict each other when given the situation. His whole character is constructed to appear what the author wants him to be when it only comes off as being, for lack of a better word, edgy. He tears down his image in exchange for nothing for the sake of the people he hates when, in reality, no one in their right mind would do that - a pretentious portrayal of self-sacrifice. His whole character is something no one will ever encounter, but you can find some parts of his character that are relatable to many people in our demographic (Weebs). So if you're reading this with your MyAnimeList account, chances are that you're an introverted otaku with no friends, so you'll probably find Hikigaya relatable - minus two hot girls slowly developing feelings for you.
Jokes aside, I think that Hachiman Hikigaya is the main selling point for this light novel and how it achieved its commercial success. His character as a whole is not relatable and anyone who says otherwise is lying to themselves. He is not someone who anyone can relate to, but someone who many people want to relate to, whether they're feeling existential angst or going through their edgy teenager phase.
And speaking of those two beautiful women, I feel like they are the most flawed among all the characters. Yui Yuigahama and Yukino Yukinoshita. First, let's talk about Yui. If I can describe her character with one word, it would be "convenient." She feels more like a tool than an actual character. An instrument to keep Hikigaya's and Yukinoshita's relationship from falling apart. She was there just for the sake of having a love triangle. On the other hand, Yukinoshita plays the role of our main heroine. A character so similar to Hikigaya, yet so different. Like our main character, she has no friends, but this time by choice. She was loved throughout the whole school despite her cold attitude towards everyone. A bleak and flat character. And despite receiving almost all of the character development in the story, her character is still flawed. She and Hikigaya, despite being heavily entitled to their ideals, were easily manipulated by a single word.
There are only three likable characters in my opinion, and one is Totsuka for totally non-gay reasons - I swear I'm straight (But seriously, he is such a lovable character). Next is Hiratsuka sensei who I honestly believe is a great role model. And the last one being Hayama. Now, if you're the majority of people who love Hikigaya's character, you're probably shaking your heads. But Hayama is the best representation in the show not only for a good character of a story but also for a good person in general. He is only disliked because his character is meant to serve as Hikigaya's rival. Possessing ideals and methods opposing the main character's. Wataru Watari placed too much weight between Hayama and Hikigaya's relationship to the point where Hayama is villainized. He cares about his friends so much so that he asked help from someone he hates. He didn't reveal what his plans for the future are so his friends can make their own decisions, and Hikigaya tried to ruin that just because of a request.
That's another thing I find flawed about the story - the service club, with a goal or duty to help students with their needs. The idea, in the beginning, was a breath of fresh air. A slice of life where the main character isn't part of a literature club. It was a great idea at first but it started getting out of hand. It was all just simple requests at first but then they started working with the student council. It was all logistics, logistics, and logistics. I could not have imagined that a span of several pages could be filled with vague logistics alone. It was one of the most annoying parts of the story, where instead of the story progressing, we are presented with several pages of useless information. If you were to read the story, I would suggest skipping over these parts as it holds nothing of importance to the story (Except the volume where their school collaborated with another to hold an event, where the logistics are actually an important part of that section of the story). They were working so much with the student council that the possibility proposed by the previous student council president of all three leaving the service club and moving to the student council was a more preferable turn, as they still have a duty of attending to the student's needs. And then we get requests that were too personal. This was something more convenient than logical in the story. Normal regulations would cause to disregard personal requests like helping with a confession or finding out what choice someone had for their future even though they have explicitly said they don't want to reveal it. Hikigaya was a reasonable person with intellectual competence, so he should be able to know when a request is getting out of hand. He should know that some of these requests were an invasion of privacy and plain out insensitive. Yet he still went with them. What for? To show the struggles of adolescence? To show that humans don't need anyone's validation to make their own decisions? If so, then the message is exaggerated and poorly executed.
The dialogue and situations in the story felt way too convenient. I know I've been using the word "convenient" a lot in this review, but it is one of the flaws in the story. Instead of being believable or natural, many parts of the story felt like it was just conveniently and weakly planned. All the drama in Orgairu was just the source of miscommunication. The author chooses words for the dialogue to conveniently create misunderstandings and conflicts. There were also times when the conflict came out of nowhere, where no reason was given on why there was stress in the situation (e.g. the reactions when Hikigaya faked a confession).
For clarification, I understand that many things within a story have to hold convenience to devise a plot as what makes a good story good is meticulous planning. Many aspects of Oregairu had devices that only hold importance to a specific subject and not the entirety of the story or part of the story's development.
As I've seen from Wataru Watari's work, he is no doubt a great author, but his mistake was putting too much of himself in his work. Getting attached to your story, especially your characters when writing is common, but sometimes, it can be too much. It is okay to put your feelings into the story but it is also important to not put too much of yourself into it as well. Looking forward to reading more of his works.
I still would like to recommend this light novel to people despite the criticism I gave. The majority of people seemed to like it, and I can see why this is a commercially successful story. So if you like your basic harem but with a little bit of edginess, feel free to give Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru a read.
