Oregairu - Final Thoughts

Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Come wa Machigatteiru beside have an extremely long name, it was certainly one of the more thought provoking anime this season. I haven't really seen an anime as focused on dialog since Bakemonogatari and the other *monogatari in the series.

With the focus being on dialog, Oregairu had a good amount of character development inside the range of conversation each character had. It surprises me that I found myself really liking the male protagonist, despite it being label as a romantic comedy.

Hikigaya Hachiman pretty much made the show from his moments of pushing people into despair, to the more comedic acts he has with other characters. Hachiman really does make quite a strange main male character, because he is someone who really shouldn't be liked, by the way he tends to solves problems involving the interaction of people, usually is intended to push some buttons. Deep down he doesn't want to do any of this, but he usually convinces himself that he is the only one that can find the darkest parts of a human, and express them in a way that get under their skin.

His counterbalance, but still a partner in crime, as far as anti-social goes, is Yukinoshita Yukino. They are both pretty similar, regardless of how much they tend to argue about the facts. Yukino is also a non-traditional protagonist, who is far more strong-willed and blunt when it comes to talking to people. However she has her cute moments, although rare, it really makes for a more interesting conversations in general when Yukino and Hachiman go back and forth with their snarky remarks. And the girl that give a good contrast to the anti-social mess is Yuigahama Yui.

Overall, Oregairu is probably one of the better cases for romantic comedies, even without the focus being on romance. The whole anime felt like it was a commentary on the standard RomCom. There were a ton of things that Hachiman would say that were confirmation of this fact, one being his relationship with his sister. More often then not RomCom make a big deal over the "imouto romance", and Hachiman made the statement of people having these types of fantasies, don't actually have a sibling. Which I tend to agree, but there are rare cases were this doesn't hold true and that's perfectly fine.

As for the other troupe, that most RomCom tend to have, is the trap character. In Oregairu it is treat far more as comedy act, at the expense of Hachiman. And to top it off, there is also a female named Ebina Hina, who encourages these types of behavior -- because she is obsessed with boys love or BL.

The only issue I have with the series is the fact that they left a few things open and the finally episode was way more lightweight than the others. I don't have an issue with the final episode itself, because it felt more like a wrap up of all the relationships that were built, and that is nice of them. But the fact that Hachiman still has his issues with playing the bad guy, and their is also a clearly more to come from the relationship of Yukino and Hachiman, since we see some development in the final episode. I just hope to see a more fleshed out story in the next season, if there is one.

Really, Oregairu is one of those anime that knew what it wanted to be, and executed it well. It didn't water down its characters or plot to try to appeal to a broader audience, and that is something not many anime can accomplish. Lastly, I really do feel like this is a better Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai, but it just needs to establish itself a bit more, before truly getting that kind of praise.