First Impressions / Yahari Ore no Seishun Rabukome wa Machigatteiru

「それでも彼と彼女と彼女の青春はまちがい続ける」 (Soredemo Kare to Kanojo to Kanojo no Seishun wa Machigaisuzukeru)
“And Thus His, Her, and Her Teenage Lives stay Messed Up”

Before I start this post, I’d like to point out that episode thirteen looks like it’s a bonus episode and therefore will not continue the story. So last week when I said that things were going to go out on a bang, I wasn’t necessarily incorrect but I’d like to apologize if I made anyone lose sleep over the thought that Oregairu may have only had twelve episodes.

With that thrown out there, let’s get back to the serious stuff — like Hachiman’s ridiculously powerful words. Staying true to himself and his beliefs, I was left speechless after listening to him completely rip Sagami to pieces. Starting with her completely foolish desire to become the chairman without having the knowledge needed to properly do her job to questioning just what kind of person she really is inside, I just wanted more and more as he went on and on about how she’s actually more like a loner rather than this social butterfly that she attempts to be. At the same time though, it was really tough sit through the whole thing BECAUSE of just how harsh it was.

But what may have moved me even more than that amazing speech was that short moment right before the credits where Yukino and Hachiman finally seemed to have a real human moment together. If you compare their actions from the beginning of the series to how things are now, you can see that both of them have finally begun to really open up toward each other and in turn have started opening up to those close around them — a stark difference from where they started. That said, I wasn’t sure how to interpret what happened at the end! I think Hachiman was attempting to make his first official friend (or ask her out?) but got shot down? Like, Yukino was talking about how she didn’t really know who he was when she first met him and even though she understands him now won’t be his friend but then throws in a little wink at the end! It was so out of character that I couldn’t figure out whether or not she was joking around or being serious!

Final impressions will be out next week when the show actually comes to a close, but it’s been a blast blogging again and I just wanted to give a shout out to all you readers who continually take the time to read these posts. Thank you so much <3

P.S. If only that concert scene was a bit more animated! It could have been like K-ON 2.0!

 

Preview

122 Comments

    1. It was his inner dialogue and thought processes that made this anime so good. Without him this would probably be a normal school setting anime. I’m glad he stuck with his philosophies and ideologies; I was afraid that the story might steer in the direction of him changing his way of life and attempting to become a social butterfly.

      Rigelin
      Reply

      1. Changing for the sake of being love by others is the biggest lie a human could ever make. It will eventually devour you from inside out, that´s why I respect Hachiman so much, he´s reamins loyal to who he really is no matter what.

        haseo0408
        Reply

      2. So true haseo0408, yet we have this show which one of the main subjects is Sensei trying to get Hachiman to change himself by working with others for the SAKE of others.

        Way to stick to those guns Hachiman, may the whole world change b4 you do.

        Megas
        Reply

      3. I have always though that people can improve or worsen but never truly change who they, you can be good guy but always stay true to what and who you really are. Changing means to destroy everything you are, every bit that makes you, well “you” and rebuild it in some artifital cheap way. I find that idea cruel and preposterous.

        haseo0408
        Reply

    1. He had the obligation to carry through his promise to Yukino. He could’ve just left after finding Sagami, but decided to push her via his own method, even if it means becoming the antagonist in everyone’s eyes. (Homura or Itachi anyone?)

      TSouL
      Reply

    1. In the recent novels, everything was almost well and good for 8man. But not with the problems caused by people getting close to him. As with it, he
      Show Spoiler ▼

      *refrained from naming characters as to not spoil too much.

      Raine
      Reply

  11. It’s actually kind of scary how Hachiman can rip into someone that bad with no intended malice at all. The whole point of the speech was to make Sagami fulfill her duties as chairman so that her request to Yukinon is fulfilled. And the way he pulled it off was to not make Sagami look like a terrible chairman by having her be so emotionally distraught there was no way she could have done a good job, thereby placing the blame on Hachiman for being the cause.

    Quite clever indeed.

    Kuntzy
    Reply

  13. Good job Hachiman! His words were harsh, but seriously with Sagami’s idiotic behavior it was just what she deserved. I started getting choked up a bit at the end knowing that this series is coming to a close, and Hachiman has really grown a lot as a character seeing how he actually attempted to befriend Yukino. One person who really got on my nerves though, surprisingly, was Hayame. His nice guys schtick has gotten old, and while his approach may resolve a temporary problem it doesn’t fix the bigger underlying problem. This has been one of the better series this season and I really hope they make a second season (with a larger animation budget)…

    Smiledie
    Reply

    1. Don’t misunderstand Hayato though. He was going the “pretty lie” truth to get Sagami back but when Hachiman went the “ugly truth” route, he had to step in to stop him from ruining his image among the students anymore than he had already with what he said to Sagami. He’s practically the exact opposite of Hachiman but he completely understands his way of thinking, though absolutely hates it (which is why he looked furious at Hachiman).

      BobCorwen
      Reply

      1. Exactly my thought. He also knew that Hikki needed him to step in and play good cop. He shut Hikki up when he realized that Hikki had accomplished what he set out to do. Hayato may be Hikki’s polar opposite, but also understands Hikki. He may not like the way Hikki solves things but he also understands that they can be effective.

        Bear
        Reply

      2. Meh… late to post so not sure if it’s worth the effort at this point, but w/e.
        @BobCorwenand: IMO I don’t think Hayato’s reasons for his actions in that scene are quite as cut and dry as you and Bear suggest. I think that Hayato’s motivation can be reasonably interpreted in one of two ways (or even a third – a combination of the two). The first way is what you and Bear suggest – Hayato was trying to prevent Hachiman from further ruining his already bad reputation. The second, which is how I interpreted that scene, is that Hayato’s primary focus at that time was to simply stop Sagami’s suffering at the hands of Hachiman’s verbal assault. My rationale is as follows:

        – Sagami was already somewhat upset (how much of her actions were simply histrionic is hard to determine), but once Hachiman got rolling with his barrage of truth, you can see in her facial expressions that she’s starting to become more and more unhinged. IMO, Sagami is somewhat of a glass canon mentally. She can dish it out the verbal abuse when on the attack, but is fragile and brittle when under sustained attack herself. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the first time she’s been laughed at by such a large number of people (her opening speech). Sure some of it might be histrionics as Hachiman suggests, but not all of it. It’s hard to be histrionic when you’re alone as she was in the restroom, clenching her fists, trying to hold back her tears. If this was purely histrionics, she’d save all such theatrics for an audience. In short, by that point she was honestly very upset due to Hachiman’s words.

        – As people have pointed out, Hayato is the anti-Hachiman. He sees the good in people rather than the bad, and he doesn’t like to see people suffer. Hayato is all carrot while Hachiman is all stick. Hayato’s last statement: “Why can’t you do things differently?” (FFF subs) can be interpreted as “Why do you have to make yourself suffer to help others” or “Why do you have to make people suffer when you help others” IMO, it’s both – “Why do you have to make anyone suffer when you help others.” That’s consistent with his initial request in EP04 that the club not find the culprit who was sending the slanderous e-mails. Hayato is very forgiving, and while I don’t think he wants Hachiman to suffer more via his reputation, at that moment I think he viewed Sagami’s anguish as the greater crisis of the two. The bonus for Hayato is that stopping Hachiman “kills two birds with one stone.”

        – Furthermore, I think it’s quite reasonable to assume that uber-nice guy Hayato might feel somewhat responsible for Sagami’s situation. After all, he’s the one who talked her into volunteering for the festival committee in the first place. Of course Sagami is entirely responsible things turned out this way, but I don’t think it’s a stretch for someone as kind as Hayato to feel somewhat responsible regardless. IMO that’s consistent with character and another reason he would not permit Sagami’s anguish to continue.

        – Hayato’s reaction (grabbing Hachiman and throwing him against the wall) is by far the most extreme reaction I’ve seen from him. Would he really respond to that extreme to save what little is left of Hachiman’s reputation, or is it more likely he would respond like that when he sees a girl at the very edge of completely breaking down in tears (again, especially if he considers himself partly responsible for the situation)? For me the latter is more likely.

        he had to step in to stop him from ruining his image among the students any more than he had already with what he said to Sagami.

        I question that conclusion. Exactly how much worse can Hachiman’s reputation get. It was already about as low as it could get. It was so low that even a teacher viewed Hachiman as a viable reason not to volunteer for the festival committee. What few friends Hachiman has didn’t seem all that bothered by his actions as it was. Hachiman himself was perfectly fine with his reputation – even to the point of cultivating it. In those terms, I fail to see why someone with Hayato’s peaceful temperament would suddenly view the situation as so critical that he must use physical force to stop it ASAP. If Hachiman’s reputation is Hayato’s main concern, why did he let Hachiman continue as long as he did? Furthermore, if Hayato was so concerned about Hachiman’s reputation, I would have expected him to make more of an effort to defend Hachiman than mutter “Well, he can be a little harsh at times.”

        To be clear, none of this implies that Hayato (a) doesn’t understand Hachiman’s methodology, (b) is unsympathetic to Hachiman’s situation, or (c) even dislikes Hachiman. Also, I am in no way remotely sympathetic to Sagami. She was entirely to blame for what happened, and IMO for that scene Hachiman was the avatar of Karma. TBH, I was a little disappointed to see Hachiman’s monologue cut short.

        Finally, it is scenes like this – really the entire episode, that show exactly why this show is so good, and IMO, definitely one of the season’s best.

        daikama
        Reply

    2. I have to tell you, back when I was in HS there was this guy who ran for student counsel president with a weird commie “We will be one” slogan. He was making the perfect impression on everyone, mainly because they were too stupid to see his true red nature. He was a real nice guy, until I finally caught up to him & his antics. Lets just say he dropped out of the race a week into it . . . I wonder why?

      J/K

      He was the only person I ever made grab me like that. He ended up in the drainage ditch near the school. It wasn’t on purpose though. I just threw him on his ass. He bounced & rolled down there. He was so messed up that I couldn’t leave him down there & I had to get him to the nurses’ office. You can only imagine the excuse we came up for that one.

      Megas
      Reply

      1. And you feel the need to tell this story on a random message board in which nobody knows you why?

        Don’t get me wrong, was a funny read, but hyping yourself up as a tough guy on an anonymous message board is beyond sad.

        Kuntzy
        Reply

      2. You see this as hyping myself up, why . . . OK, I’m no shrink but I can see why you would see this as hyping.

        This was actually a silly sad story for me & I normally respond to comment like this, when I see comments that pertain to an event I can relate to. It’s a spur of the moment thing that I usually feel no need to look further into – something that happened when I was a crazy kid, retrospectively of course.

        Megas
        Reply

      3. Yeppers, cause when I watch Gundam I remember the good ole days of cruising around in my giant robot, fighting for the peace of the world (and possibly scoring a hot chick while I’m at it).

        Oh wait.

        Kuntzy
        Reply

      4. W8 a minute, all I did was toss the kid after he grabbed me. Anyone who has seen it enough can do that. He was the one that fell in that damn ditch on his own. BTW, I had to go in that horrible thing to get him out

        How is that being a tough guy??? We looked like pure fools!

        lol unfortunately, I don’t have any Gundam experiences 🙁 Yet! 😉

        Megas
        Reply

      1. I suppose I should add @Magoiichi since this ended so far down here. That’s quite the string of posts. It certainly wasn’t my own fault that this ended so far down here at all. Nope, not at all. Curse my cynicism.

        Kuntzy
        Reply

    4. I’ve been searching low & high for that ship for a while now but I can never entirely find it.Rumor has it that it’s a ghost ship that only appears on a full moon for a short time before vanishing into the mist.But whenever I come to accept the fact that it’s only a rumor,the ship appears yet again – as if to tease me as well as others.

      MgMaster
      Reply

  16. “When we treat people merely as they are, they will remain as they are. When we treat them as if they were what they should be, they will become what they should be. ”
    ― Thomas S. Monson
    There. The difference between Hachibat and Haryato .

    Keith
    Reply

    1. IMO, when we treat people as they are, they remain as they are, but when we treat them as if they were what they should be, they will still be what they are, but act as if they are something else. Then, they start demanding things of others even though they do not do their part and we see a real life Sagami

      Eduardo
      Reply

  17. I notice when Hayato was talking to Sagami, for a very brief moment he was looking at his watch, as though he was thinking “Bitch, when are u going to stop wasting my time and go down and do your damned job properly??”

    Btw, when he yelled “Stop it!” to Hachiman, did he meant for Hachiman to stop verbally abusing Sagami or to stop getting himself hurt?

    Argh! Oregairu really has a lot of subtle scenes going on!

    Ashkem
    Reply

      1. @Meldoy
        I don’t think that feeble remark by Hayato can be considered as defending Hachiman . The fact is , he’s too conscious of what other people thinks . Case in point, in the aftermath of the Camping Arc , Hayato actually called Hachiman Hikigaya , whereas previously he had called him Hikitani like the rest of his clique does. This means that he actually does know Hachiman’s proper name yet he doesn’t dare to correct his friends . If he had truly and properly defended Hachiman, chances are he would most likely lose his friends. That’s why Hayato is simply incapable of doing what Hachiman does unless there isn’t anyone around other than Hachiman

        Hidan
        Reply

    2. Why would someone go through all that trouble just to be hated, if it gets the job done. Hachiman doesn’t give a damn how others think of him, while others only try to make a point of he’s hurting himself. BS, he doesn’t care & they don’t understand that. There are hordes of real world people who don’t give a damn of what other people think about them. People can think whatever they want when they want. Trying to micromanage that is utterly counterproductive.

      Getting the job done means doing the dirty work, something Hayato is completely dense to. Nothing he ever thought of could fix, solve, or remedy anything. He just wastes time.

      Megas
      Reply

    3. I think he did that for both of them.. For Sagami because she was hurt by Hachiman’s harsh words.. and for Hachiman because, just like a how a true friend acts, he thinks that Hachiman is doing something wrong so he only tried to correct it.. Even if it will achieve the same goal, he doesn’t want him to hurt himself in the process..
      Well, he’s always thinking about others so I can’t really say who he’s taking his side on..

      m0ng
      Reply

      1. I’m assuming something happened in his past to make him like that. People are more likely to put the blame on someone else yet Hayato actively tries to find the solution where everyone can be happy.

        Kien
        Reply

      2. ^That might be true when Yukino once said “You couldn’t before.” to him on their field trip but I’m more intended to believe in Hikki’s explanation of “The Zone” about him:”A skill that only people who lead fulfilling lives can use.”I REALLY don’t think Hayato has experienced even half of Hikki’s failures therefore he can act the way he does.He shouldn’t be acting any differently though because otherwise he’d just be selfish & greedy.Trying to spread the happiness with others is all fine & dandy but I do think he should try to understand Hikki more if he’s to interrupt him because to me,that scene when he told him to shut up just assumed he took the moral high ground.

        MgMaster
        Reply

  19. Hayama really is a nice guy but I didn’t like how he took all the credit on taking back that SagamiB**ch.. I bet that conversation between Hayama and Sagami will take forever if Hachiman didn’t do a thing.. What else do you expect in this kind of dialogue?

    Sagami: I’m the worst
    Hayama: No, you’re not
    Sagami: No, I caused so much trouble for everyone
    Girls: Let’s go, everyone’s waiting
    .. WTF? Are they supposed to pamper you?.. Where is that “growing up” you’re talking about?
    I really hate these kind of people who can’t do a thing unless someone will acknowledge their deeds..
    Thank God, Hachiman was there to correct her attitude..

    m0ng
    Reply

  20. I think people are placing too much hate on Hayato. To me Hayato is basically someone whose extremely conscious of other peoples’ view. Plus, he prefers to solve the problem at hand without actually dealing with the root cause. Compare this to Hachiman, who doesn’t give a jackshit about what other people feel (so far), and he knows that a problem can only be solved if the root cause is dealt with as well, even if it means potential social suicide.
    Both Hayato and Hachiman are just polar opposites of each other. And their differing views (Idealism VS Pragmatism) really makes this anime extremely fun and enjoyable to watch!

    Raila
    Reply

  21. SEASON 2 SEASON 2 SEASON 2!!
    Then again, I don’t really want volume 7 to be animated. Since… (Spoilers for volume 7!)
    Show Spoiler ▼

    Ok season 2 without volume 7!
    SEASON 2!

    Lays
    Reply

      1. Watching this would counterbalance every generic HS-related genre out there. I still cab’t imagine them restarting this on volume 7 though (frying pan – fire scenario), but that would still be entertaining as heck.

        Megas
        Reply

  22. I honestly think the best thing about this episode was when Shizuka comforted Hachiman after the concert.

    “Helping someone else out is not justifiable for you getting hurt. There are people who get hurt by watching you get hurt.”

    That was a very sweet moment and it really shows how much Shizuka really cares for Hachiman’s well being. I’ve honestly always thought of her as his mother because i don’t think we’ve seen Hachiman’s parents at all in this anime.

    leatherhead333
    Reply

  24. Really, there are lots of things happened, but what I like most is the interaction between Sensei and Hachiman (with some teasing from Haruno the moment before). That small dialogue is so awesome at showing how much she cares about Hachiman and understands what he did.

    After seeing that scene, I’m seriously hoping that the author will somehow create Sensei ending (please be true…)

    Kevin Yamagata
    Reply

  25. Instead of sagami flubbing the thing and it entirely her fault, hachiman makes it look like she flubbed because he was bullying her.

    The result is that while sagami didn’t do jack shit for the festival, it was successful under her supervision, which was that yukino worked so hard for.

    if hachiman hadn’t done what he did, hayato may or may not have convinced sagami to go. However, if she did go in this case, she would have fucked up again, and this time she’d most likely break.

    This really blew my mind but in the end, such selfless sacrifice and to deal with the problem even if the end doesn’t justifies the means is really what I was hoping hachiman will do. A true dark night indeed.

    Tyber
    Reply

    1. He’s clearly won that if you ask me,we’ll have to see if he’ll be MC of the year as well,but we still have to see what kind of MCs 2 more seasons will bring.All I can say is,Hikki really set the bar high.

      MgMaster
      Reply

  27. The words Hachiman said was harsh. I guess I wouldn’t know what to do even in that situation. I wish he wouldn’t sacrifice himself like that though. It’s sad to see him setting himself up to lose. I really want to see one of the girls, Yui or Yukino, to confess to him. Hopefully, he will love one of them.

    Kuro
    Reply

  28. Hachiman is really the type of person that a majority of us try to keep hidden most of the time in order to try to fit in/look good to others somehow; someone who doesn’t hesitate to call things out the way they are rather than stay silent or go along with the establishment, and so on.

    Realistically, if any of us were in Hachiman’s position with Sagami in real life, how many of us would actually be like Hachiman and personally call that person out as he did face to face? How many would end up letting their emotional heartstrings get dragged along by the “act” and/or end up acknowledging that person and such? I’m willing to bet that a majority of people probably would end up falling under the latter due to fear of looking heartless and/or hurting their social reputation as a result, and so on. It also helps that Hachiman never really had such a social reputation to begin with, so he really has nothing to lose by simply being totally open and honest about such things.

    As much as some may say they’re the type to “fight the establishment” or “go against the flow” or not be part of the crowd or whatever, I’m certain that it’s not nearly as much as they like to believe, much less to the degree ones like Hachiman show themselves to be.

    HalfDemonInuyasha
    Reply

    1. Indeed.I can say for sure I wouldn’t be able to honestly express myself as he did.But that’s what makes him so special!Even if many of us share his way of thinking we’ll take pause before we’ll actually act as such but not Hachiman…he is the voice for us all,the CHOSEN ONE!

      MgMaster
      Reply

    2. This situation in itself is completely unrealistic. In HS, how many kids knowingly set themselves up for failure, hide in a hole, then bitch about it. Real kids aren’t as stupid as that. They usually know their strengths & weaknesses by the time they reach HS. Most of them just want to fit in. Being a bitch toward people is a one way to social suicide in a real school environment.

      This school has way too many 1-dimensional bitches in it to relate it actual complex situations that we had to deal with. Hachiman’s unorthodox methods are perfect for this situation but will never fly in real life because there will hardly ever be a real situation for it, outside of a boot-camp HS.

      However the message is still clear. There’s always a quick dirty way of handling situations & using that way always make you look bad. So most kids would not only avoid that but not even think about it in the first place. This situation only presented 2 absolute ideals, sugarcoating & cutthroating. Real situations would be somewhere in the middle instead of on either side of that street.

      Megas
      Reply

  31. “And thus Hikki joins the ranks of powerful and well hated-loved male leads of all time”

    Right after the Vending Machine episode, I’d rank this as one of the more powerful and epic episodes of the season.

    Hikki, you’re my hero. I know its morbid but back in high school and college, I tried to be like Hikki but more often than not, I ended up being like Hayama.

    That aside, my mind and body is now primed for Bake2. Ah the sadistic and “sadistic” girls of Monogatari. \(^O^)/

    c2710
    Reply

  34. But man, when is he going to suffer the inevitable breakdown?

    He’s subjecting himself to so much abuse that it’s gonna take its toll sooner or later.

    Hope he’ll come out of that okay.

    legwkio
    Reply

    1. The think with Hachiman is that unlike alot of looser characters we see in anime, he actually likes himself and is comfortable in his own skin.

      By the way, note that Yukino’s “We can never become friends” was said in the same sentence as “I never lie” which we and Hachiman in particular know full well is not true. Basically I think she was saying ‘this is a lie’.

      Scruffy
      Reply

  35. Mm. I feel like checking out the LNs now.

    I think I have slightly mixed feelings about the direction. On the one hand, the animation makes a distinct effort to encompass subtle movements as behavioural clues – case in point, where Hachiman’s hand trembles, and he slowly sinks to the ground after Sagami and Hayato leave, showing excellently how he isn’t actually half as immune to the hatred of others as he likes to pretend, and additionally implying that Hayato’s disapproval of his methods might hit harder than he would like. On the other hand, the concert scene this episode showed where they took that movement budget out from, to a level that even I was bothered by it.

    Still, all in all, it succeeds in interesting and intriguing. I definitely wouldn’t be averse to a second season.

    Corin
    Reply

  40. I cried many tears for the whole ending scene, from Hayato’s punch to the concert scene, up until his sensei’s words. It was such a great episode.

    With that said, I read somewhere above someone mentioning ‘Hayato looking at his watch’, I didn’t notice that, so thanks. But what I did notice, is last episode, when Hachiman spoke about the festival’s slogan, that Hayato just left as though he wasn’t pleased with Hachiman’s methods. Even in this episode, he appreciated what Hachiman did, but not how he did it.

    Thinking about it, whenever a project doesn’t meet its deadline because one of the girls in your group was busy doing her nails, you tend to be nice to her to make her start working, but honestly in your head you want to scream “STOP f*”£42439234892498258347851ING WASTING MY BLOODY TIME”/rage, but you don’t, because as a veteran in this field of life (/Hachiman style) we are forced to act this way because no one appreciates honesty. Because honesty can be cruel, and you might hurt someone else.

    That said, I need more episodes, 13? is just not gonna cut it for me and its unfair! Thanks for your review, M.

    Mi-Chan
    Reply

  41. I have to say that as much as I admired what he didd I think that he dosent value himself as highly as he should which is why hayato got pissed up at his self sacrifising methods

    Bukszie
    Reply

  49. I am so overjoyed by how everyone shared the “Hachiman is seriously Batman right now” thought because I thought the exact same thing when I watched this episode. I died when I started reading these comments.

    Anonymous
    Reply

  52. This series is my absolute favourite of this season (year?) and definitely needs to be continued!
    They cannot let so many questions left unanswered and I’m not even talking about “who will end up with Hikki” – to me it’d be allright if he got any of them – well maybe in this personal wish order: Yukinon, Yui, Saika or even Komachi or sensei 😀
    Which manga volume features the “date” with Hikki and sensei?

    Luckily there seems to be a lot of interest since many blogs have plenty of comments (mostly adoring this show) and hopefully the sales will lead to another season…

    The concert, well it was a little bit too K-On, just not that perfectly done (cymbals) like a “music anime” (+ they never rehearsed, at least there’s no info about) though it was fun.

    Did anyone mention the wonderful little scene when Totsuka was waving at Hikki after the gig?
    I hope someone will make a pretty gif out of that scene (bluargh nosebleed) 🙂

    Pic 12 – the close-up of Sagami doesn’t work (just wanted to let you know…)
    And THANX for those great screnshots!!!

    Nandemonai
    Reply

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