And with this season, the greatest high school rom-com I've ever seen has finally come to an end. And with the amount of subtlety, character depth and development this season provided with, I believe it would be a crime to give it anything below a perfect 10.
Story 10/10
Most rom-coms depend on extremely forced conflicts which arise through the misunderstandings of paper thin characters to move their plot. This is not the case with Oregairu. From beginning to the end, the characters moved forward through extremely natural and believable conflicts. Every episode contributed to the plot progression which finally culminated into the beautiful ending we were
...
presented with.
A lot of people think that in order for the story to deserve a perfect score, the plot needs to be something wild and new with exciting twists laden in it, but that is far from the truth. A show can have the greatest ideas and ruin it due to bad execution. In a story, execution is everything. And Oregairu shines in that field. Even though it may not bring something "new" to the table, it executes its ideas with such passion and finesse that it elevates the story to new heights. Most people would be hard-pressed to show a rom-com with better execution.
Art 9.5/10
Studio feel really stepped up their game. The animation and art direction was fabulous this season. There were so many breathtaking moments, I have an entire folder filled with screenshots of this season. Even though there were a few moments in the middle where the models looked a bit off, the season as a whole was amazing in this field.
Sound 10/10
Oregairu has an amazing OST. The bgm never eclipses the scene and quietly supports the emotions in the section. This is best displayed in the two most important scenes in the penultimate episode where the background music adds another depth of emotion in the scene.
The OP and the ED are amazing. Oregairu as a series never produced a bad OP or ED. Each of them are amazing. The song has an enchanting property where it may either make you extremely hyped for whats about to come or break down in tears due to what is happening. I will surely listen to these songs on repeat for a long time.
Characters 10/10
This is the strongest suit of the anime. Oregairu is special in not only giving its main characters incredible amounts of depth, but also fleshes out its secondary characters.
Almost every character no matter how small, has a motivation, some history and some depth associated with them. Their dialogue, their actions, their movement, their posture, everything is filled with personality. Even the minor characters get scenes and dialogues which establish that they are not just a flat 2D character but a complex being.
And then we have the main four characters.
Hachiman obviously undergoes the most development, completely flipping his entire character by the end of the series. When we first met Hachiman, he had retreated into an extremely pessimistic view after getting hurt in his previous years. He viewed everyone as flat and disingenuous. He viewed youth as a dumb and evil entity and was cautious of any kindness towards him. We saw him get comfortable around his new group in the first season, start to break out of his pessimistic views and look for something genuine in the second and finally work towards creating that genuine thing in the final season. Hachiman is an amazing protagonist and has one of the most natural, well written and all around best characterization and development I have ever seen.
Yukino was introduced as an "Ice Queen", an extremely talented girl who refused to connect with others and saw them as foolish people. By the second season we started to see cracks in her demeanor. We see how she has to depend on others to support herself, how despite whatever she does she cannot come out of her sister's shadow and gain acknowledgement from her mother, how she has no idea what her true self is. She connects with some people, separates from others, creates something new and finally fins her answer by finding something genuine in the final season.
Yui used to be simply a nice girl in the first season. She used to agree with everything her friends said in order to keep the status quo and rarely spoke her mind. By the second season, we started to see her more selfish side as she started to work towards what she wanted. And finally with the third season, we get into Yui's head. We learn her motivations and her philosophy. We learn what she holds dearest through her wishes and how far she is willing to go for them. By the end, Yui has latched on to her most important wish and we see her build a genuine bond towards it.
Iroha was introduced in the second season as a bratty girl who cared a lot about her popularity and how people viewed her. She was unable to do her job properly as the president. She kept a fake personality in order to try to get closer to the person she liked. But through the previous season and this season, we see her grow into her position and become someone worthy of being in that post. She gets rid of her fake personality and starts to build genuine bonds with others who accept her just as she is.
We see how the story follows the main theme of building genuine connections with others in order to lead a happy existence. By building its characters around this theme, the anime creates a lot of depth for each of them and ends up creating very complex and real characters.
Enjoyment 11/10
Oregairu has a very special place in my heart. Back when I first started watching this anime, I had the exact same personality as Hachiman and I immediately fell in love with it. And as I grew up and out of that pessimistic view, so did Hachiman and the anime. I connect to its characters in a way I never have before. Watching this series I laughed, I cried, I smiled, I got frustrated, I got anxious and I learned. This series has taught me so much about the value of human connections. It feels so weird knowing that there will no longer be any monologue from Hachiman, no more dry comments from Yukino and no more Yahallos from Yui. This series grew with me and now its finally time to say goodbye. I will really miss this show.
Conclusion
This is one of the best anime as well as one of the best series I have seen in a few years. I consider this anime to be near perfect in all regards. I have praised it all I could and now its time to bid this series goodbye. It was an amazing ride from the beginning to the end. I guess this youth romantic comedy was right as I expected.
Sep 24, 2020
And with this season, the greatest high school rom-com I've ever seen has finally come to an end. And with the amount of subtlety, character depth and development this season provided with, I believe it would be a crime to give it anything below a perfect 10.
Story 10/10 Most rom-coms depend on extremely forced conflicts which arise through the misunderstandings of paper thin characters to move their plot. This is not the case with Oregairu. From beginning to the end, the characters moved forward through extremely natural and believable conflicts. Every episode contributed to the plot progression which finally culminated into the beautiful ending we were ... |
