I'm a bit late to the punch on laying down my opinions for the season season of Yahari Ore No Seishun Love Come Wa Machigatteiru. Zoku. To be honest, I wasn't going to do it in the first place, but there was something that pushed me forward. The image I'm using above, by swordsouls, feels like the current relationship of the characters involved. It's quite obvious that Yui is the one who is more aggressive in her outward display of affection toward Hachiman and that is shown clearly in this image. All the while Yukino is observing with an expression of envy and because I'm more interested in Yukino as character, it is a pretty painful image to look and yet I have it as my desktop wallpaper.
Really, the complexity of this anime is show explicitly with how many layer there is to a relationship involving three people. I wouldn't even call it a love triangle because it isn't that clear who Hachiman has feelings for, besides Hiratsuka-sensei, so I'm more inclined to call it more of a "conflicted triangle". However, with something as established a two people liking one person, layered on top is the fact that both parties are pretty friends that don't really want to ruin the current relationship that was setup in the first season. And this is were the whole wanting something "genuine" that Hachiman spouted off around the middle of this season.
Working through what is actually genuine was the main driving forces for the plot of this season and actually had me confused trying to piece together most of the context of the conversations Hachiman and Yukino had. This is either a problem with me, or the pacing and order of which events happen in Oregairu 2, but I did end up figuring out the main point of the season. A lot of the setup for the conclusion were clearly drawing parallel around the cloudy form of a relationship inside the Services Club. These parallel didn't really make itself clear until we actually started dealing with what was wrong with our protagonists. Despite that, I really did like that way it was handle, or how I personally ended up getting to my current point of understanding. A lot of the confusion of what is happening felt like there were more parallels drawn from not only outer groups within the setting, but also for the viewers -- which is pretty powerful.
With all this confusion quickly building up, with no real answer inbound without people relying on others, we got to characters at a weak point. Considering two of the three protagonists don't rely on people often, entering that new territory was a mess and that was great because it set precedence that Hachiman and Yukino were will to swallow their pride to get somewhere that isn't going to be solved on their own. Yui has always done that to fault, but what she has learned is sometime there are time where you need to stick up for what you believe in without much regard for other's feels. So it was pretty much a role reversal that was inevitable with the pressure that came from both supporting and main characters.
This second season alone really seems to have planted itself pretty far away from the Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai comparison I drew in my last season's final thoughts. The only other complaint I have is the way it ended up concluding in a conclusive but not entirely end. It almost felt like we finally picked up everything that was spilled in the mess and then there was a swift kick to the chest of all the viewers. This dull pain will remain until the hopefully next season that comes out. However, I find myself laughing that I actually thought these relationships would be resolved with just two seasons. The complexity continues to add up and really, this type of focus on human interaction is the thing I enjoy so much about anime, and Yahari Ore No Seishun Love Come Wa Machigatteiru. Zoku has certainly delivered.
Last but not least, here is a better look at the image above if you wanted one.