Things finally lightened up this week, as Hachiman was tasked with dealing with the fallout of his “solution” from last time. Being the student council president already sounds like a crappy job for him, but not getting any credit for it, being sabotaged by the actual president’s inability to handle conflict or responsibility, and not even being able to share the burden with his friends? Yeah, this is one shitty bed Hikki has made for himself. My favorite parts of this episode were the understated scenes between Hikki and Yui in the first half, but the ridiculous meeting with Iroha’s “collaborators” was pretty damn funny. I guess we could use a break from all the crazy tension.
My full ANN review is here. Notes after the cut!
“Our days haven’t changed at all. Days spent just trying not to run away…”
Nice little moment when Hikki’s in his own thoughts, but corrects Yui on her humidifier monologue when she pokes him. The moments that demonstrate what kind of person he is – he’s following closely, but he’d never contribute unless asked, even if he has something to add
“Hikki… you’re looking at us too much.” Awkward
“Why was I watching them?” Hikki’s moving. He’s both specifically more engaged with that group, since he’s gotten so involved with their fortunes, and he’s just being a bit more active in general
And now Totsuka points out it’s unusual to see Hikki and Yui talking in the classroom
Hikki invites Totsuka to the club anytime. I bet there was more of a joke there in the LN
Yui leans in, “by the way, Hikki… let’s go to the club together.” MAKIN’ MOVES
Hikki leaves first, so the entire class doesn’t see him and Yui leaving together. Yui doesn’t get that, and is momentarily annoyed, but then is fine when she sees he’s still planning on walking with her. Natural friction of different people
Dang this walk is awkward
Yui steeling herself before entering with a bright smile for Yukino. So she’s definitely more comfortable showing other sides of herself around Hikki, while she tries to act her best for Yukino
“I was probably watching them because I thought they’d teach me to mend something that’s fallen apart”
And class pres Iroha stumbles in with a new dilemma – a joint Christmas project with another school, entertaining children and the elderly. Feels kinda like a S1 issue, which is likely why Sensei tossed it at them – she’s trying to get them working together again in the old way, with a problem that won’t involve “damage” for anyone
Yui jumps at the chance in exactly the way she would
Hachiman says it’s her responsibility, and tries to push her out
But Hachiman offers his help personally. He just doesn’t to get the club, and Yukino specifically, involved
And back to stasis
We’re back to the usual level of Hachiman being internally snarky and girls being grossed out by him. Not exactly the height of Oregairu material
Now they’re meeting with Taihin General High School, their collaborators
Oh god, the buzzwords
And middle school crush is there
Oh god it’s just buzzwords make it stop
“You’re gonna get stabbed someday.” Okay, that made me laugh
“I don’t care about looking interesting. I’m just self-conscious.” Ehhh
“You’re the one who taught me that younger girls trying to learn something are cute, right?” Iroha is actually a pretty decent counter for Hikki – her snark is just more natural, and she accepts social games as given
Iroha can’t push back against the other school’s representatives, and her own council can’t really communicate with her. Pretty much immediately suffering consequences from Hikki’s short-term solution last episode
“He’ll get used to me eventually.” Iroha keeping positive
Some nice animation here
“I’m just being natural.” Iroha’s never really natural, but that’s not exactly what she means. Iroha is someone who basically confirms all of Hikki’s suspicions
Oh god Hikki’s trying to speak their language it’s terrible
Lots of animation
Ahahaha that stupid president just continuously snapping his fingers
Now middle school crush is laughing about his club. This has been a long day for Hikki
I didn’t really see this as less interesting than the previous stuff, so much as being about creating tension within the club by not showing it. Also I think Iroha and to a lesser extent Orimoto could be interesting in their own right. They’re ultimately not all that different from Yui.
I actually think Iroha is very different from Yui! Iroha’s kind of selfish and perpetually dishonest, and seems to see avoiding her problems as a way of life. Yui’s fundamentally kind and self-sacrificing, her honesty is only limited by her lack of self-confidence, and she does her best to tackle her problems head-on while being as earnest as possible with the people she cares about.
I think this was on par with a lot of episodes from the first season, which didn’t really have many developments. Sure, a lot has happened so far in this season, but I did expect a dip at some point.
They did a beautiful job adapting just how annoying that opposing Student Council is. Look forward to more hand movements and continued use of management terms in the next episodes too.
Somehow I get the feeling that step down impression you got is basically due to you omitting pretty much everything what’s going on within Yukino’s mind at this point.