rrakku

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 feltupon 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.

Xyphnos

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 hadsome 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.