Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru. Kan

Resolved to become a more independent person, Yukino Yukinoshita decides to smoothen things out with her parents, and the first step toward achieving that goal is to prove herself.

As graduation draws closer for the third-year students, Iroha Isshiki—the president of the student council—requests a graduation prom in collaboration with the Volunteer Service Club. Yukino accepts this request of her own volition, hoping to use it as a chance to demonstrate her self-reliance, but what lies ahead of her may prove to be a hard hurdle to cross.

Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru. Kan revolves around the graduation prom as emotions are poured into the preparations for the event. At the same time, a chance for the Volunteer Service Club members to better understand each other presents itself. And thus, Hachiman Hikigaya's hectic and bittersweet high school life begins to draw to a close.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Hikigaya, Hachiman Main

Eguchi, Takuya Japanese

Yukinoshita, Yukino Main

Hayami, Saori Japanese

Yuigahama, Yui Main

Touyama, Nao Japanese

Isshiki, Iroha Main

Sakura, Ayane Japanese

Hiratsuka, Shizuka Supporting

Yuzuki, Ryouka Japanese

Totsuka, Saika Supporting

Komatsu, Mikako Japanese

Hikigaya, Komachi Supporting

Yuuki, Aoi Japanese

Kawasaki, Saki Supporting

Koshimizu, Ami Japanese

Yukinoshita, Haruno Supporting

Nakahara, Mai Japanese

Hayama, Hayato Supporting

Kondo, Takashi Japanese

Tanaka, Junichirou Producer

Uesaka, Youichirou Producer

Hasegawa, Yoshinori Producer

Katou, Masazumi Producer

Reviews

Sep 24, 2020

rrakku

Recommended

TL;DR: Oregairu is an awe-inspiring experience no words could accurately describe. I will try my best here, but experience it yourself, you won’t regret it.

In episode eight of Oregairu Zoku, Hachiman made a life-changing decision. For the first time, he entered the club room sitting not aside, but in front of the two girls he has grown to be so comfortable with—to finally open up and speak his mind. Hikigaya’s request for something genuine was played out so much it became somewhat of an inside joke in the anime community. But its lasting impression is also a testament to the impact many must have felt ... upon witnessing that scene for the first time.

Fast forward five years later, fans finally get to witness a resolution to questions that the “genuine scene” has raised. Be it Hikigaya’s unfulfilled request, Yuigahama’s selfish wishes, Yukinoshita’s family and internal struggles, or the three’s respective expectations on their relationship, Oregairu Kan answered in striking fashion. Aided with snippets of perspectives other than those of Hikigaya’s, this instalment was made much more straightforward than the previous two. By getting into their headspace, viewers can better understand and untangle the perplexing plot threads that were laid down in previous seasons, giving this grand trilogy a fulfilling conclusion.

But that’s not all Kan has to offer. Setting up multiple red herrings, the beginning two-thirds of Kan was a little conventional, until the last three episodes started rolling. The plot twists surprising and the payoff huge, how the ending played out was honestly unexpected given how things were from the start. It won’t be the closure that all fans had hoped for, at least not me; but it is the ending’s ability to impress even when it goes against your wishes that makes it so much more astonishing. These displays of spectacular writing were made possible by covering only three novels instead of the usual five to six, for Kan can now skip less material and include a lot more details in this adaptation.

Which brings me to the one thing that they didn’t include in the previous seasons: fillers. In first season and Zoku, Oregairu gave viewers no time to draw breath, every episode is filled to the brim with information you cannot afford to miss. It was so packed and lacking in time that it skipped entire chapters just to reach a satisfying endpoint. This time around, Kan slowed down the pace, putting less narrative-relevant but engaging dialogue in between important plot points to let viewers some time to rest, giving it the best pacing among all instalments. Some might not find it appealing, and would rather have more plot progression and/or characterisation take place. But in any case, I believe those like me, who have followed along for two seasons and on for a third, would like seeing more relaxed moments from Oregairu’s endearing characters.

Speaking of characters, one might claim the game club members and Zaimokuza as nothing but glorified plot tools, there for the sole purpose of getting Hikigaya a few allies for his project. Nitpicking aside, these mistakes are not Kan’s fault whatsoever. As I have alluded to earlier, some crucial chapters were lost during the previous adaptations; the important ones here being those that feature the Volunteer Service Club’s visit to the game club in season one, and those where Zaimokuza was supposed to be featured in both seasons. What results is the degradation of Zaimokuza’s role in the anime-only story; while the game club became total strangers to both the trio and the viewers, even when they should’ve been familiar faces. To make up for that, Kan slightly altered a few scenes to make up for the missteps previous seasons have taken, and I think they did a great job of that. I think it goes without saying that it wouldn’t be fair to deduct points off of Kan because of other seasons’ problems.

Still, I would be lying if I say that Kan had done everything perfectly, with the most apparent oversight being the supporting cast’s development. Hayama, for example: a character very invested in the trio’s relationship, particularly Yukinoshita, rarely appeared. Having been hinted with great character depth, he didn’t get the screen time he deserved. In the same vein, while we can witness all the other characters’ growth (like Ebina, Yumiko, Isshiki and hell even the student council president of that other school) we were only ever shown a glimpse of what they have become; which is unfortunate given how closely tied they were with Hikigaya's growth, but understandable because of the limited screen time.

Nevertheless, what Kan has done with characterisation is nothing short of amazing. Haruno’s intentions, something that was set up in Zoku and ultimately became a cornerstone in Kan, added a lot of humanity into both members of the Yukinoshita household. The trio’s respective wishes, told through Yuigahama and Hikigaya’s lens, were spectacularly presented, with their actions having a sprinkle of previously established personalities while breaking the mould and showing the growth each of the three had experienced. It is not far-fetched to say Kan handled the main trio and Haruno’s development brilliantly.

That said, animation is one thing I cannot give the highest praises to. Don’t get me wrong, it’s much better than the average show, with standouts like the detailed portraits, expressive facial expressions and the classic waving hair from studio feel.. And to Oregairu’s credit, there is a limit to how far animation in school settings can go other than your occasional Hyouka. But that isn’t an excuse for distracting scenes of looping animation, such as the rapping and prom preparation ones. Even so, given the gorgeous still shots and more than obvious improvement in animation quality from previous seasons, the animation can still be considered as very good indeed.

Up till now, every aspect I praise about Kan always has that “gotcha moment” that made it just short of perfect. But the one thing it nailed to a T is sound: OP, ED, OST, voice acting, you name it. The OP and ED are once again sung by yanaginagi and the two voice actresses respectively, somehow topping what Oregairu had offered in the previous two seasons IMO. OST is recognisable the instant you play it; the voice actors did a great job bringing the characters to life. All I can say is, the OST and voice actors did their job, so that the storyboard and writing can do their job.

Ultimately, to sum up the series as a whole, Oregairu demonstrated that a elementary premise would never limit a story’s potential. It started out simple with a teenager who despised social interaction and high school clichés. But with plot twists well written, characterisation phenomenal and themes echoing from start to finish, Watari had transformed a generic set up into an extraordinary tale. One that doesn’t end with "happily ever after" as its conventional start suggests, rather becoming an experience you could only ever see for yourself, something no words could accurately describe.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by rrakku (15)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Sep 24, 2020

FlatTurtle

Mixed Feelings

As someone who had their fair share of drama and romance during my high school days, I’ll provide my two cents on this finale season.

What initially drew me to this anime was the comedy and wittiness of the MC, Hachiman, and his little funny monologues. I watched the first season maybe four or five years ago and I went through a kind of “edgy,” nihilistic outcast phase, so I found him funny and somewhat relatable. In this season, Hachiman still has that vibe, but he just doesn’t seem as funny as before. Comedy-wise, this season is greatly lacking. I think the the biggest portion ... of humor is usually derived from Hachiman’s internal quips, but they feel very misplaced due to the nature of the plot.

Speaking of the plot, this season is 100% drama. I think that’s my biggest issue with this season. There is virtually no comedy. I guess Isshiki is comic relief, but her whole “wait, are you actually trying to hit on me because I’m your cute kouhai” thing gets stale. There’s the ironic “siscon” between Hachiman and his sister too if that’s supposed to be funny. Oh yeah, the hands guy was pretty neat I guess, until the weird rap battle. The rest of the characters are practically irrelevant.

The “plot” generally revolves around making a prom, with the subplot being the trio in the Volunteer Service Club trying to express their feelings to each other. And man, is it slow and boring. There are some cute moments between Yui and Hachiman sprinkled in. But most of the time, I feel like the dialogue and storyline are just complicated nonsense that would make most viewers confused. We have the Yukinoshita family drama intertwined with the prom drama, which is also intertwined with the drama between our trio. It just seemed like a huge overblown mess and it made me feel confused and nearly indifferent to times when the plot actually moves. I was not drawn into the plot whatsoever and the whole “story” being ambiguous did not help. Like at certain points, I was thinking, “oh, is this supposed to be a good thing? Was this important? Am I supposed to care this happened?”

As a casual viewer, I approached this season mostly expecting some cheap laughs, a nice story, and a little drama, which made this anime very difficult to enjoy considering how nearly every dialogue between characters is ambiguous and convoluted. I understand that high school is a very confusing time and it’s hard to properly comprehend and express feelings to one another. But this anime takes it to another level. Nearly all dialogues have confusing nuances and are left inconclusive on purpose, probably to let the viewers understand them on their own. Which is fair. But realistically, normal people don’t talk in metaphors and deliberately leave things ambiguous. Even if you were to understand every subtle nuance in the dialogues, you’d still be in the same place as most confused viewers: nothing really important was said, right? Even the characters’ internal monologues are ambiguous, which doesn’t make any sense. If they’re going to give audiences internal monologues of characters, it should at least be clear exactly what they’re thinking and how they’re feeling. But it’s not clear. Which makes it hard to get attached to the characters and storyline, and ultimately makes it pretty boring.

One thing I did appreciate was the development between Yui and Hachiman. I feel like she had the least confusing monologues and it was much easier to at least feel some sort of attachment to her compared to the rest of the characters. She was the only character I feel like I could truly understand and empathize with because her feelings and thoughts were clear. The animators did a good job on her facial expressions and reactions which would convey certain things, whereas the rest of the characters felt like watching dead fish. Her voice actor did a stellar job too.

The anime also redeems itself in the final two episodes when the characters stop beating around the bush. Meaning, there is some romance. Even then, the dialogues are still fairly ambiguous, but it should be clear enough to understand what actually happens. The first ten episodes are generally just pseudo-complicated filler made to appear important. But thankfully, watching until the end wasn’t a complete waste of time.

If you’re just looking to turn your brain off, get some laughs, and watch a cute romcom unfold, I suggest looking elsewhere. In general, this is just a slow-burning high school drama.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by FlatTurtle (1)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Sep 24, 2020

Xyphnos

Not Recommended

I will preface this by saying that I'm not a fan of dramas but I do find one occasionally that is written so well that I actually enjoy it, so take that how you will.

Having watched the entire show I can say that this season is more of the same as the second season, so if you didn't like that like I didn't then don't put yourself through this like I did.

Story 1

Story is rather nonexistent, as is expected of a slice of life. This show is all about the characters.

Art 3

The art is bland and still worse than first season which at least had ... some flair to it.

sound 5

Sound design is mostly mediocre, that's about all I can say for that.

character 2

The characters are at best stupid, and at worst boring. Most of the show is characters talking, which I find ironic, when you take into account that any forced drama in the show could be fixed in a span of one conversation, but that never happens. The conversations the characters have are not interesting, and for the most part how the characters have the conversations is not interesting either, which I feel is a genuine problem in a show about people talking. The show shows you that not everything is alright between the characters, but never actually gives any reason for why that is.
The author really seemed to want to write smart characters that are good at reading people. At this point I really have to ask, why did it seem like a good idea to make the most antisocial characters in the show be these gods at reading people and talking? This makes no sense at all since you really can't be good at talking and reading people if you never talk to any of them, this is not however the biggest problem in the writing. Second terrible thing about the writing of the characters is that they are not good at reading people, or good at talking, they are omniscient, and everybody else just believes what the main characters say no matter if it makes sense or not. These characters just walk up to any situation and immediately know everything that is going on, and then state something and everything the characters say is just taken as a fact.
Hachiman has few genuinely well written bits in conversations, but I feel that those are more few and far between the further into the show I get.
Yukinoshita has the personality of wet tissue paper, I really don't get why people like her.
Komachi brings the only point to raise the character score above 1.

Enjoyment 1

This show has a few enjoyable bits, but when I can count those bits from all twelve episodes on one hand I really have to wonder why I even bothered with this show.


Closing thoughts

This show tries to be realistic but it ends up boring, it tries to be a romance but I've seen better chemistry in hentai, it says that its a comedy but the funny bits stopped at season 1, and it tries to be a human drama but there is no conflict even though the characters act like there is.
The main character has any chemistry with maybe 2-3 side characters we barely see, and the side characters we do see are frustratingly badly written.
You might like this show, and more power to you if you do, but I could not recommend this to anyone with a clear conscience.

Reviewer’s Rating: 2

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by Xyphnos (3)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

[五] Complete Aniseries Adaptations

by OverHitMan

50 Entries · 268 Restacks

Loner Main characters

by Warlord53104

21 Entries · 67 Restacks

2020, Ranked (Anime)

by bo-peep

31 Entries · 2 Restacks

North American Anime & Manga Releases for August

Here are the North American anime, manga, and light novel releases for August. Week 1: August 3 - 9 Anime Releases El Hazard: The Magnificent World [incl. El Hazard ...read more

Aug 3, 2021 9:40 AM by Aiimee | Discuss (5 comments)

'Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru. Kan' Game Bundles OVA

The Oregairu Fes.: Final event announced on Sunday that the Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru. Kan (My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU Climax!) game&mda...read more

Jan 18, 2021 2:42 AM by Vindstot | Discuss (28 comments)

	How did others feel about the direction of the show? AoiroBlueColor - Nov 20	28 replies	by KimDokjaCompany »» 2 hours ago
	Poll: Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru. Kan Episode 3 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) cchigu - Jul 23, 2020	147 replies	by rybak »» Nov 8, 2:59 PM
	Confused about Yukino's mother and sister. AoiroBlueColor - Nov 7	5 replies	by Laplace_kun »» Nov 8, 1:44 AM
	Oregairu isn't deep, it's common sense (and melodramatic sometimes). ( 1 2 ) 2shizukasensei88 - Jun 21, 2020	74 replies	by LyceLyce »» Nov 7, 6:07 AM
	Poll: Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru. Kan Episode 2 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) Stark700 - Jul 16, 2020	202 replies	by ronperez »» Nov 5, 9:58 PM

I Asked Fans to Make Hachiman's Anime List. Here's What They Created.

A profile full of references, relatable protagonists, and a dash of fetishism.

by Shymander

117,391 views

The Most (and Least) Popular Anime of Summer 2020

In this second of a three-part series, I look at which anime caught people's eye and which provoked their ire!

by Shymander

105,080 views