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So every so often there comes an anime so good that you'll start digging through all of the forums you can find to hopefully find information on the elusive second season. Oregairu was one such show for me. The cool dark philosophical attitude of Hachiman with great supporting characters including two compelling heroines and superb writing all-around kept me laughing and intent from beginning to end. So naturally I was overjoyed to hear about Oregairu TOO!

Between seasons control of the show switched studios, which always gives me pause, and this time those worries were justified. The new studio's art was very pretty and certainly ... acceptable, although the first season's art was more expressive and had some very fun exaggerated faces that were nowhere to be seen in season 2. And the difference in art can be seen throughout all aspects of the show.

The tone of the anime had changed completely. Season 1 was predominately a slice of life comedy with some great character drama to bring out all sides of the well-developed cast. The second season gets rid of almost the entirety of the comedy aspect of the show. From the more realistic and less deformed art to a much more serious (and quite frankly slower) story, this show seemed to let out all of the lightning the first season had captured.

Worst of all were the changes in writing and plot-developement. It's clear to see the show was trying to build off of the fairly epic and dramatic finale of the previous season by bringing 8man, Yukino, and Yui closer together and then throwing some serious questions into their relationships. BUT, in doing so all of the fantastic witty banter between Hachiman and Yukino was lost as well as all of the comedic tone from the service club's activities.

The show does feel much more like a real high school story, but in the worst way. Season 1's charm was mostly felt in showcasing Hachiman's cynical twisted view of the world, and both finding humor in and solving realistic problems from such an unconventional point of view. In season 2 Hachiman still tries to take on the dark world of the high school social experience, but gone is his devil may care attitude. Suddenly every problem 8man encounters is treated like the end of the world. The extreme gravity placed on every single plot point of Oregairu TOO! does a total disservice to the actual situations encountered throughout. This attitude stretches to Yukino and Yui as well who become completely distraught over 8man's attempts to sacrifice himself for the greater good. The big problem is the none of the actions 8man takes warrant this kind of melodramatic attitude at all. None of 8man's actions even come close to his outburst at the festival committee or dismantling of the committee chairman of season 1's finale, and with so few comedic elements and such little romantic progression, there's nothing to balance out season 2's overwhelming melodrama.

The only redemption in this season is in the new character Iroha, and the further explored Hayama. Iroha is a very interesting new character who seems to really bring out the best in 8man. The moments and conversations those two share are surely the highlight of the season. Hayama showed hints of his analytic mind and worldviews that were surprisingly similar to 8man's last season, and this season goes even more in depth into his mind. He becomes even more cool (if that's possible) and shows some flaws that weren't there before to make him much more relatable and human. These two certainly try to support their hearts out (along with Haruno), but they can only do so much.

The season finally ends on some sort of compromise between 8man, Yui, and Yukino. While it's nice to see them being friendly again, the ending is very bland and leaves such little impact on the characters as a whole. The entire theme of the season "compromise and stay the course" seems to be the antithesis of last season's "be true to yourself no matter what". What we're left with is a Hachiman who shows much more emotion, but has less heroism and has lost his comedic cynical side completely. I still give this show a 6 on the merit of how much of the character's personalities held through from season 1, but all in all Oregairu TOO! was a huge disappointment.

Fingers crossed for a redeeming season 3!

It took me THREE damn tries to watch this anime. And by the end I can finally acknowledge the hype and say yes, it's good. It's also not great. You can gush and say it's brilliant, and it certainly has moments of brilliance and there're moments where it isn't.

For the story…this anime does have a story, but the point of the anime certainly isn't the story. The story starts off very slow sans the first few minutes where a girl commits suicide. If you can make it through the first 4-5 episodes with your motivation to watch intact, then I think you'll enjoy the later ... episodes. The plot is very environment centric. The world is very developed and there are many clues and intricacies to understanding the world that are important to both the theme and plot of the show. A small hint, the episode titles can be quite helpful if an episode confuses you :)

The art is very good-looking for its time and still does hold up quite well. If anything else the visuals in this show do complement the rest of it exceptionally. Except during certain times towards the beginning that I'll get into in the next paragraph.

The soundtrack and ambiance is hit and miss. The show goes for an eerie stillness and often you hear just silence with sound effects to help create some atmosphere. The problem with this is that the show doesn't always give you something to think about during the long stretches of little visual or auditory stimulus. In most horror or thrillers the silence makes you think about what horrible things or events might be lurking around the corner. In SEL you can end up just sitting there waiting for something to happen.

As far as characters go there is Lain and the supporting cast. Lain is brilliant. She is a well-developed, fulfilled, and complex character that really does carry the show. We don't get a ton of info about any of the supporting cast, but they do all fill their purposes quite well, and the less focus placed on them means more focus on Lain. That works out just fine.

Now although it actually took some work for me to watch the show to completion (when is that ever a good thing?), I did enjoy it by the end. The themes of the story don't stray throughout and the story even has a few great moments on it's own. It really is one of the best additions to the fairly uncommon cyberpunk genre. So if computery sci-fi interests you, I'd definitely give this a watch.