Aaand it’s over. Season two of Oregairu, the season that handily elevated a show that was already one of my all-time favorites, has come to an end. And honestly, I don’t even really feel that sad; this conclusion worked perfectly, it resolved the critical dramatic arc-threads that were still lingering regarding Yukino and Yui, and it acted as an affirmation of everything Hikki resolved to work on back in episode eight. It was also one more precious episode of the main trio just hanging out and enjoying time together, which we certainly didn’t get too much of in this drama-packed sequel. Oregairu has come to an end, but it’s already given me everything I’d hoped for. I’m just happy it exists at all.
Here’s my full writeup for ANN. Plenty of notes below!
Friends traversing awkwardness in the wake of Yukino’s mom’s appearance
Yui prompting Yukino to give Hikki cookies as well. Yui does right by her friends, regardless of what it means for her
Oh god, this intensely awkward scene. Yukino actually does have a gift for Hikki, but is terrified to give it to him. Yui tries to remove herself, but that only makes Yukino even more terrified
Haruno arrives. “You’ve always been allowed to live as you pleased. But you never made any decisions for yourself. Even now, you don’t know how to act, do you?” She’s cruel, but right
“If you’re going to fight, do it somewhere else.” “This can’t even be called a fight. We’ve never fought once, you know.” But Haruno wants Yukino to fight her, to stand up for herself
“You only have one home you can come back to, after all.”
So Yui invites Yukino to her place
YUI’S MOM
Oh my god she’s so embarrassing it’s amazing
“You two are very close. I’m jealous.”
Yukino followed Hikki’s words exactly when talking to Haruno, and Haruno of course asks to speak with him
Hikki seeing Komachi off to her test
Yui asks both her friends on a date
“I want the three of us to go together.” And so they go to an amusement park in the snow
Or an aquarium?
Hikki having fun watching the CG sharks
Back to their usual banter. Nice to see
“I’m pretty sure sharks don’t say ‘shaa’” haha
Even Yui’s insecure about not being as nice as she appears. All of them think they’re frauds to some extent
First season ED insert, evil trick again
As they look at the penguins in love
“If it has nowhere to go, it won’t find the place where it belongs. It’ll hide, ride the current, follow someone else, and crash into walls it can’t see.”
“Which fish are you talking about?” “Me.”
“I’m glad the three of us saw this together.”
Yui doesn’t want the day to end
“It’s almost over.” Snow falling on a children’s park
Yui’s been waiting for Yukino’s sake, but she can’t wait any longer. She wants to move forward. That’s why she’s enjoyed this last day so much
Yui offers Hikki the gift. Yukino holds her bag, but shakes her head. Yui places the gift in Hikki’s hand herself
“I said that I’d do it on my own, that I’d try to say it in my own way, and this is what I came up with.”
“I want everything”
“If we each find out how the other feels, I don’t think we’ll be able to stay the way we are”
“I know the answer to your problem. If I win, I’ll take everything”
“Yukino can’t entrust her future to someone else. There’s no way that can be right.” Yeah, Hikki’s right here. Yui wants things to stay the same, and she wants to do the best for her friends, so she’s sacrificing of herself so Yukino can stay the way she is. But that’s not good for Yukino, or for her
“It’s okay to be wrong. When we are, we’ll just ask again, and keep on asking.”
“Would you listen to my request?” Yukino finally asks something for herself
Where it ended kind of annoyed me. Tbey might as well have put up a end card that read please go and buy future LN volumes. But I guess thats hardly unusual. And some of the dialog seemed deliberately vague for the same reason that the source material hasnt gone there yet.
Yes. I also agree with the dialogue being needlessly abstract and contrived.
During the whole episode i was screaming (in my head) for Hikki to just give those poor lambs a nice comfy hug. All problems solved. I suppose i would prefer the harem route (not LN, just anime) since this was harem for the last couple of episodes anyway.
This should have ended with volume 10 (the party in ep11). No rushing, no spoiling volume 11, no abrupt ending and good closure.
In the end, i think my original fears when this season was announced became reality.
– overdramatization
– harem
– rushing & cut down MC inner monologues
– characters simplified (Hayato, Haruno, Yumiko), turned into waifus (Yukino, etc) or ‘developing’. Anime Hikki developed into every other dense indecisive harem MC. Yukinoshita into submissive waifu. I could continue.
This season certainly accomplished great things, but after 8th episode (with the exception of ep10) things fell apart.
As for this episode, on emotional level it worked great. But in my opinion snafu is not a soap opera and its life has been sucked out of it behind our backs while we were praising it too much.
Much of these criticisms are certainly valid but only from the perspective of a light novel reader. I think this difference in point of view was discussed before. Those who have not read the Light novels didn’t really register the rushing of volume 10 and cutting off of monologues. It is difficult to refrain from imagining what might have been but undeniably there are two different mediums.
Hence good to remember that, compared to season 1, season 2 captured far more of the feel of Oregairu. The tapering off of the season is a reasonable criticism but then Feel going past the printed light novels definitely set that up. This was a comparative taper though. The intense build up to episode 8 is extremely difficult to match. And the inherent storyline since then has unspooled well; the consequences of great characters playing out their choices still feels natural. Just that the gap between the quality of the light novels and the anime, which had been greatly bridged in the earlier episodes, has now opened up slightly more. Its still a fine Light novel, and a fine anime albeit one that is being challenged by its own earlier success and the success of its source material.
The very reason i read the LN was because i read a summary of what was left out of ep3 and realized the anime does not really care. So, just because the rush is not noticeable, it does not mean everything is fine. Look at Yamada-kun. I havent read the manga and i felt almost no rush at all. That doesnt make the problems disappear
What is being left out is the great character development and the reason is to make room for soapy romance and shipping wars. This is not a problem of adapting from different medium. This is a problem of anime having different agenda from the source. Its not that anime adaptation can not be better than the original, its that they never want to be… They only want to take the cream from top of the cake and pretend its not hollow inside. But it is.
Just compare S1 and S2 Yukino. Do you see character development? I see male fantasy disguised as one. Her sister or family, the reasons, none of that matter. Its just about making her blush hard. I thought we were smarter than that. Im not saying this anime is bad, but it isnt what i signed up for. I could watch Nisekoi if i wanted more harem. Less Nisekoi and more genuine, not the other way around.
Also, i just have to wonder: how can the rush not be perceivable? Lots of scene transitions is very abrupt. The mid season climax (christmass event) was reduced to 3 minute slideshow literally inserted in the middle of the episode. Come on.
Am glad you got to review this show for ANN. Looking over the comments at streaming sites, there is a real possibility of people disregarding Oregairu’s subtlety and becoming frustrated with its lack of didactic exposition. And that subtlety is what sets the show apart. What a beautiful season; am just glad that there appears to be more to come. The light novels don’t have enough material to be animated right now, and the author strongly hinted the end is approaching. Wonder if there will be a full third season. But for once, despite the typical light-novel-derived-anime open ended conclusion, this season stands worthy of being watched on its own.
I kinda miss the subtlety of the first episodes on this one(and on the last few episodes while we are at it),the awkwardness and cheesyness was at an all time high this time around, but overall it was a damn good show.
So at this point a third season is pretty much impossible, unless the author somehow manages to drag it out for another three or so volumes (I sure fucking hope not). Hopefully an OVA finale happens when volume 12 is released
Still feel volume 9 would have been a better ending point, but this show is an advertisement for the LNs so I’m not really surprised they tried to adapt all the LNs at once
It was alright. I could do without the occasionally clunky, unrealistic dialogue and overdramatization but if I had to paste a number on this season it’d be 8/10, which is a good score.
Wonder if there’ll be a S3 or if they’ll finish it with a movie/OVAs.
So… Are we ever going to know if Yukino stood up for herself? Or if Komachi passed her test? I haven’t even seen the LNs so I’m out of the loop in this matter, but it can’t end just there, right?
But except for minor details like having hikki and Yukino become a thing (I really believed those two were entirely platonic and that was cool) or the lackluster episode 11, I really liked this show that it actually knew that becoming an adult is not as easy as it seems.
Yui truly is the best one of them all… Yuki and Hikki are too lucky for having her as a friend
Yui is too good!
Great Oregairu essay for your perusal: here.
Hi Bobduh. How do you feel about the last episode being compared to White Album 2? Some people on Twitter, including the people who read the novels, have pointed out similarities between the Hachiman-Yukino-Yui relationship and the Haruki-Kazusa-Setsuna one.
It seems like a comparison that works in some ways and doesn’t work in others. White Album 2 was far more overtly romantic than Oregairu, but there are definitely some similarities in the dynamics of the relative triangles. Yui fills the Setsuna role, being the one who seems the most overtly aware of the emotions all three possess, and also the one who’s pushing things forward and then kind of sacrificing herself at the end. But where White Album 2 was painted in very dramatic love-focused terms, the general feelings here are a lot more ambiguous. Hachiman seems kind of intimidated by the thought of a relationship with either girl, and though he seems to have pushed back against Yui more than Yukino, the show’s more about him growing up than falling in love (and having a relationship wouldn’t fix his problems). Similar issues of comparison come up with both of the other characters – Oregairu is more about characters growing beyond their own hurdles than finding love, and the dynamics of their friendship reflect that. So while I can definitely see the comparison, I think the relative genre differences make the two situations pretty distinct.
Thank you. I did pick up the similarities between Yui and Setsuna. Furthering the comparison, do you see Yukino’s role in the triangle as similar to Touma’s in White Album 2? Do you think she’s being forced into a similar situation, or am I reading too much into the comparison?
Nick, I really enjoy reading your columns on ANN and found your weekly SNAFU 2 reviews fantastic. They were thoughtful and deliberate, providing additional insight and clarity to a relatively complex show. Your preferences appear to align with my own, and I look forward to reading your future write-ups in the ANN preview guide. Keep up the good work!
Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed the writeups, and will try to keep it up in my future pieces!
Hey you jerk, why have I not known your reviews when I was watching this series, it could have been more awesome. But anyways, your reviews gave a new light with the scenes, that it made me like it a lil bit more(yeah it’s possible). Awesome reviews, and btw read the novels yukino x hiki scenes outweigh the totsuka scenes i promise. And why don’t you have any comments on “romantic scenes” anyway? like infirmary, the ride in train, etc. you focused on the important stuff too much.