My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU Climax!

To me Oregairu has always been the Rick and Morty of anime. It's pretentious, it's pseudo deep, it wants to be so intelligent and clever yet fails to do so. For the life of me I have tried to understand what people see in this series besides waifus and I really can't. Oregairu Kan offers no real change in that regard, other than more Yui, which for me is the only reason I didn't give this a 1/10. Everyone who reads my MAL reviews knows I am very generous when it comes to scoring and hand out 9s and 10s very easily. Yet, I've giventhis season of Oregairu my 2nd lowest score ever. Why? Simple. The main point of this season is the kids trying to plan a prom, which doesn't even exist in Japan in the first place. But, ok. I can see doing something fresh and original for your senior year. The PTA don't want the kids throwing a prom, and it's literally 6-7 episodes of this pseudo deep, melodramatic garbage about them convincing the parents to consent to a prom. On top of a weak story, I am incredibly petty. Meaning that if my waifu loses, I will lower my score of a series. I won't go into details on the winner for risk of spoiling people, but when a character with little to no development, characterisation or personality wins, I immediately become disinterested. It's not even just about who won, it's about them getting no real development. Oregairu wants to shove so much down your throat and the fans want for you to just accept it as good writing. Well, I am here to disagree with that narrative. I think Oregairu at best is a decent series. I feel most of what Oregairu fans think Oregairu is, can be found done better in other series. I am well aware that my opinion of the story/show will not be popular and people will be upset, but it is what it is. I'm never going to sugarcoat how I feel about something. Speaking of Feel, the animation, art and everything are all really well done as we've come to expect from the 2nd season. Overall, Oregairu-Kan was a very hard watch and painful experience for me. If you liked the first two seasons and or the books, you'll probably enjoy this one. I just couldn't and am glad it's over to be able to forget it. Oregairu-Kan gets 4 Yahallo's out of 10.

*** CONTAINS SPOILERS **** Ah, Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru (aka Oregairu), what a journey. For those waiting 4 years or those waiting a few days to finish Oregairu, the wild ride has finally come to a stop and we can sit back and enjoy the final moments of the fantastic trio of Yui Yuigahama, Hikigaya Hachiman, and Yukino Yukinoshita (as well as all the brilliant side character). To some, this review might seem like a rave of why I love Oregairu but I believe this show is a painful experience that all anime watchers should bear. Now let's cut to the chase,Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru Kan is masterful. No, not a masterpiece, but not yet as bad as an excellent show. Yes, I may have said it was a masterpiece last review, but that was swayed by the one Yui ep I fell in love with. Still giving a 10/10 :) Story: 9.5/10 The final destination of the Service club at Sobu High School. The last project the trio has to work with, a prom. Oh, how romantic. As the prom is the main focus of the show, tidbits of interactions show the development of the actions about the notorious final scene in Oregairu Zoku. While the planning of the prom progresses, their relationship is continually questioned by the side characters, influencing the trio’s thoughts on their interactions themselves. Doing so puts their current relationship in a tense position, sacrificing what is "genuine" for continuing their relationship, or ending it all. This question is constantly barraged into the audience’s mind through many of the characters and conversations. Unfortunately, the group realizes this fundamental issue with their relationship and attempts to break free of the entanglement they have landed themselves in. With a limit of 12 episodes and a lot of things to conclude for the audience, each episode is high intensity and filled to the brim with pain, pain constantly reminding the audience that this show must have a resolution. Sadly, some pacing is lost compared to the LN, but it is what it is. Fortunately, the resolution is as expected (at a sad loss to all Yui fans such as myself) and gives a fairly conclusive ending satisfactory to the majority of the audience. Even with its tidbits of consistent comedy, the adrenaline runs high during about 95% of the show. Yes some stuff is roundabout and they don’t always take the direct path, however, I think it is unbelievably unrealistic if there was no roundaboutness. Innately, humans are roundabout creatures and want the best for themselves and keep things "how they currently are", Oregairu does a great job of demonstrating that instinct. Episode 11 confession was not the greatest but represented the show’s core themes perfectly and was consistent with character interactions seen in the past. The finale brought closure to the show and I believed was exceptional, it is quite unfortunate something like this is coming to a close, however, it is a much needed one. TLDR: The depth of which both the story and the relationship progresses is phenomenal, thank you very much, Mr. Watari. Art/Sound/Animation: 8.5/10 Didn't expect too much from a smaller studio like Feel., but I got the gist of it from last season. Art is pretty clean, honestly like it more than the Brain's base variant. However, the jawlines seem a lil sharp and the art seems rigid, which makes sense for this season though. The sound was amazing. Loved the op loved the ed loved the special little changes put to the beginning of almost every op. Ops that do that create an extra sense of development and allow for the audience to go "wow they're moving forward". I listened to every op and every ed sound in the actual show was quite exceptional, same good ol vibes from every other Oregairu season. The animation was also quite decent, there isn’t much to expect from Feel., however, they were able to pull off a good job of doing so. Characters: 9.5/10 Wow. Where do I even start? I think there’s an argument to be made that every girl in this show could be the best girl in another show. However, the best girl in my eyes is undoubtedly Yui Yuigahama, so I shall start with her. Yui Yuigahama, an eccentric, dumb, fun girl that is the third official member of the Service Club. The distance Yui goes to keep the relationship of the trio is phenomenal and extremely representative of how people want good things to stay good things. The unchanging nature of Yui slows the development of both Hikigaya and Yukinon but is also the glue that keeps the three of them together. The issue with Yui within the series is her incapacity to deal with issues, ultimately either stalling or forcing the problem onto another. I lied, Yui is probably the smartest of the trio. Why? She knows the issues and she knows the solution but due to her unchanging nature, she does not present issues as issues nor solutions as possible solutions. One could argue Yui is the antagonist of the series and holds back the trio from finding something genuine because Yui doesn't truly desire to be genuine. But she is also the catalyst for the relationship, taking steps and pushing both yukinon and hachiman to move on. The actions she takes specifically contradict the developments Hikigaya and Yukinon strive to make and that brilliance is why she is the best girl. The pain she takes to keep relationships between the three of them is depressing yet very needed. She is the essence of oregairu. Easy 10/10. Hachiman Hikigaya, the protagonist of the series. An isolated, seemingly self-centered, and generally deprived boy. Depressed on the all over with a small amount of care left within his heart. The essence of every rejected high school boy on the planet. As the story progresses, Hikigaya grows out of his shell of isolation by maintaining the Service Club. He is the one who provides all the solutions to the problems, at the cost of hurting himself and creating a sense of reliance by many of his classmates, including Yui and Yukinon. However, when he is confronted by Haruno, he starts questioning his own ways of solving issues. The rapid growth of Hachiman then begins, breaking apart his rotten outside and letting the caring side of him flow into the show. I know, I know, sounds like Hachiman is a generic tsundere, however, the way Hikigaya expresses his care is undeniably satisfying. By opening up, Hachiman is able to reveal his true nature and his desires that he would only be able to get out from the Service Club. Masked by his rotten exterior it is Hikigaya slowly crumbles to the wills of everyone around him and eventually evolving to the final form of Hikigaya. 9.5/10 Finally, the ice queen herself, Yukino Yukinoshita. A typical tsundere, one might say. And I would have to agree. The fact is Yukinon is a tsundere and the story only works because she is a tsundere. Yukinon is special because she is able to set up so many issues with the Service Club, be it the Sports festival or the prom. Yukinon is the largest weakness in the group, and from that, they are able to develop together. From family issues to friends, she has it all. As a matter of fact, I think Yukinon is the only irreplaceable character in this show. Without her presence, the show would no longer have the tensity nor the pain that is present throughout the journey of these three friends. Yukinon serves her part extremely well and even though she is my least liked of the three she deserves mad respect for her impact within the show. However, her reaction to Hachiman’s confession was kinda iffy but demonstrated her character splendidly. 9/10 Wow, you really thought I wasn’t gonna talk about some of what I consider the best side characters ever? There’s not much to say except these characters fucking rock. Be it femboy or sensei each and every element that they provide increases the value of the show, realizing this show is moving forward comedic value, and their impact on the main trio is undeniable. Not only do these characters play their tropes well, they go beyond and are memorable. (yuigamama is adorable) 10/10 Enjoyment 10/10 Didn’t skip a single second in any of the episodes and watched them while in class. Undoubtedly my best anime of the 2020 summer season. I loved the pain. As some people at some point said “no pain no gain”. Overall 9.5/10 Gonna still give this a 10/10 cuz that’s what I feel in my heart (: Very sad that this show has finally come to a close but glad it did so in the way it did. The show has a special place inside me. Thank you feel, brains base, the VA’s, and Mr. Watari for putting together and wrapping up one of my favorite romcoms. Thank you for reading my rant/review, it means a lot, honestly.

Now that the journey for the genuine article has ended, the progress from the previous season was severed. For the plot have went off the rails, and devolved to it's weaknesses, dragged to death, the substance has abandoned ship. For what value has left? When it's was already spent. What words could have been said, was tainted, it's pretentious already. A social commentary, as everyone perceived, but rarely seen for what it really is, a mirror hidden in plain sight, a work of self reflection for it's own audience. It should have ended earlier already, nothing else is left to said, the melodrama has madethe water bitter, in the river of a good end. As we follow our beloved hero, through the dreaded snow of boredom, the season of winter, as it comes. As it becomes a shell of it's former self, the underwhelming encore has ended, the last dance if you will.

Oregairu finishing its final season was certainly something else. Brain’s Base and feel. both did a phenomenal job when it came to adapting their seasons, and I hope that most of the people reading this can agree with that. While I haven’t been with the Service Club for their 7-year animated run, the 5 years wait between the two feel. seasons was certainly worth it in the end. Well, for the most part. Because I feel like Oregairu Kan is conflicting. Looking at the show without the lens of somebody who’s poured a disgusting amount of time rewatching it, this season is rather disappointing. I’ll saveyou from having to read a summary, but essentially the story boils down to three topics: Prom, Codependency, and Gahamama. I’m kidding. Slightly. The story picking up from where they left off in Zoku, we immediately launch into scenes that feel like they’re from the previous season, and then Irohas comes into the scene. The prom brings up a lot of interesting points, but most notably the point that we come to focus on is something that Haruno plants into all of our minds: codependency. While it may be the harsher view on what those three are, it isn’t wrong. Codependency is a type of relationship where a person needs to be relied upon, to give them a sense of worth, and the person they are relying on also needs to be relied upon by the other, creating a cycle. It highlights a lack of autonomy, or in a sense, a lack of something genuine. While Haruno feels like the three are always hiding what they truly want from each other, thankfully we have Hiratsuka to bring us back towards that sweeter ending, telling Hachiman that it essentially boils down to a word that’s hard to express in simpler terms: love. And really, that’s all Oregairu is. The series is one of learning how to express our love for other people, to look past all of the superficial things, and experience something genuine. Between Yui’s selfish desires and Yukino & Hachiman’s inability to properly express what they’re aware of, in reality, they’re being broken apart because they go about expressing things differently. It’s what drove the club apart in Zoku, and if a miscommunication happens again, it's what'll shut the doors on their relationship for good. So what are the issues with Kan? To me personally, it comes to pacing and treatment. To talk about pacing would basically require me to say that, yes, Oregairu as an anime has some issues with adapting. Having read 11 volumes of the LN (I’ll read the last 3 once I find the time), I know what the anime has skipped. Between my favorite parts like Totsuka, Zaimokuza, and Hachiman hanging out and a ramen date between our dynamic teacher/student duo, and better parts like Yukino and Yui entering the fray after Hachiman asks them for help or literally all of Irohas’ development, there’s quite a lot that was sacrificed at the expense of a better focus on the main trio. So sure, Oregairu doesn’t necessarily have the best pacing record and doesn’t adapt everything. But even so, the middle of Kan felt bad. While it picked up and then gave a beautiful finish by the end, by episode 7 I was already pretty disappointed at how it had turned out. We were spending too much time on the prom, and while it is the major point of this season, I am aware of a couple of things that were left out that would’ve been beautiful since this season is coming from feel. Which brings us nicely to the topic of treatment. When I say treatment I refer specifically to animation. While, yes, the animation buff that feel. brang to the table was nice, it was rather...disproportionate. Because Yukino felt fucking terrible in a lot of the scenes. And I know I’m not crazy either, I’ve seen a decent amount of complaints about this. Sure, the animation is different and so maybe we’re just not used to it, but by the end of the season, we’ve adjusted to that changes. Yes, for the most things we were given a really nice and stylish upgrade, but for Yukino we went from the given cold demeanor she should have to this kinda lost and dumb girl (I don’t really see the dumb bit but to each their own). Yukino’s scenes were rather scarce in this season, making it feel like Yui was going to win as she did in the ANOTHER version of Oregairu (non-canon). So it really didn’t feel like poster girl was being given that poster girl treatment. While the final episode did like, have some really fucking cute scenes and the animation kinda felt right, a percent less than 100 is still not 100. Yet, I feel like I kinda forgot about these grievances by the time episode 10 came around, but ultimately this season still underperformed. Will I still be giving it a high score? Yes, absolutely. I fucking love this series to death. Watari did an awesome job with the LNs, and both studios (as mentioned before) have done an amazing job with adapting it. But for those of you who watch Oregairu because of the romance or the characters, watch this season. I guarantee you’ll like it. For those of us who watch the series because we want to see all things come full circle, or want to see how the concepts that have been brought up throughout the series are conveyed, I’d still say watch this season, but don’t go into it expecting this to be some grand finale worthy of super high praise. Because while you won’t entirely be disappointed, it just wasn’t performing at the caliber that you would’ve wanted it to.