Thursday, July 2, 2015

Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru

Or also known as Oregairu / My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU, (let's just use Oregairu since it's the shortest) Oregairu is NOT the Romantic Comedy you're expecting it to be. The anime has a school setting and revolves around a male protagonist, Hikigaya Hachiman, an introvert who can't form friends but isn't the least bothered by it. Everyday is a boring / normal day for Hikigaya until a teacher looking out for him puts him in a Club that takes takes random requests for assistance, the Volunteer Service club, only having one other member at the moment: the school's "prettiest girl", Yukinoshita Yukino.


The synopsis makes it look like your everyday Romance Comedy series right? Wrong! What makes Oregairu so interesting is the School Life - problems aspect, and the First Person point-of-view (remember the Haruhi Suzumiya series? Partly what made the show a lot more interesting was Kyon's POV) and it's refreshing to know what an antisocial teenager (who thinks there's nothing wrong with his way of life) thinks about the everyday school problems and adolescent mishaps he encounters while working for said club. He has some rather enthralling insights about relationships and adolescent life guaranteed to make you think about.
I'd say the first season focuses more on the drama, comedy, adolescent slice-of-life genre, and later in the second season develops into a full blown Romantic Drama --- as our main character struggles to solve everyone's complications while finding an answer to his own.

The anime seems to contain harem elements (3 or more girls interested in the protagonist) but it really revolves around the people in the club, 2 main heroines, as love interests. What I love about this anime is although it may be in Hikigaya's Point of View, almost all of the characters are given developments and very interesting personalities and backstories, without the plot getting to sidetracked; a quality everyone loves in anime. Oregairu is a must watch, for anime fans, introverts, teenagers, or simply everyone who's going through or just went through a really troublesome time as a student. 

Comments very much appreciated :)


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