We get a treat of Hachiman Spiderwebs: an elaborate attempt to convince himself everything is fine. "We're totally reset. By resetting our relationship, I've regained peace of mind, and Yuigahama has been freed from the chains of guilt. Now we return to our original separate lives. I made the right decision." Good try there, but the mustard hath not been cut. He manifestly has not regained peace of mind, and he immediately compares his 'reset' with Yui to how he hasn't spoken to anyone from his middle school. He's honest enough to call that a delete, but by saying he and Yui return to their separate lives, isn't that the same thing as a delete? You can call his treatment of her last episode many things, but a 'reset' isn't one of them.
He keeps this charade of "everything's fine" going for Yukino, who's smart enough to realize Yui and Hachiman have been distant for a week. Yui hasn't been coming to club for a week, and Yukino knows it's not because of Yui, and not because of Yukino. That leaves Hachiman, who admits under interrogation that they had something like a "difference of opinion," to which Yukino responds, "Then there isn't much to say." And that's that. These two are like social slugs. Nothing will happen unless an outsider prods them.
And this outsider happens to be . . . Hiratsuka-sensei! Her character is such a breath of fresh air. Role models would be non-existent in Oregairu were it not for her, and even she does not fit the standard categories - she is in her late 20s or early 30s and unmarried, a source of running jokes throughout the series (to be honest: they are both hilarious and awful). Every interaction she has with her students (at this point, mostly Hachiman and Yukino) pushes them into something new, expands their boundaries, or forces them to consider something different. She is an agent of genuine growth, and those two sorely need her. She is absolutely dedicated to her students' flourishing, and you don't get a mentor like that every day.
Hiratsuka-sensei pushes Yukino to (in effect) re-recruit Yui. This leads to celebrating a birthday and Yukino asking Hachiman to go out with her on the weekend to get a birthday present. Apparently she thinks she needs him for some reason - though what that could be is beyond me. Perhaps it's as simple as recognizing her own lack of expertise in shopping for personally insecure girly-girls.
Call it effusive optimism, but perhaps it's because Yukino is really enjoying her banter with Hachiman. They go back and forth during the shopping spree, and Yukino even acknowledges Hachiman's talent in blunt accuracy, cracking a faint smile as she does so. All is well, till The Awkward shows up. Her name? Haruno, Yukino's older sister. She is everything her little sister isn't - flighty, bouncy, effusive, fun, flirty, and excitable. She takes delight in provocation, like Yukino, but in the form of relationship poking rather than insults.
In the face of this fiercely happy, frisky nymph, Yukino becomes stony and frigid, treating her sister with barely-polite severe formality, as if she were a complete stranger. If that's not indicative of a gigantic amount of resentment, I don't know what is. Something has poisoned their relationship, either on both ends and Haruno is just pretending, or Yukino has something truly deep-seated against her sister. When she agrees with Hachiman that Haruno is amazing, she sounds as if she's robotically reciting an oft-rehearsed speech that says what people want to hear. That, she figures, is what Hachiman means. But she is wrong, rendering herself confused and taken aback by the cynical loner for probably the first time.
What he finds amazing is Haruno's armored shell: her sociable behavior, acting all nice and starting conversation, being the life of the party, always smiling, being every man's ideal woman. "But," he concludes, "those are ideals, and ideals are not reality, so it feels fake." Yet again, he delivers a social depth charge that explodes illusions. and yet again, Oregairu proves its understanding of people. There is more than one way to hide from genuine human connection, and acting coquettish, fun-loving, sexually playful, etc., is just as effective (if not more) than Yukino's barbed venomous superiority or Hachiman's alienating behavior. Best of all, that realization doesn't need to be accompanied by a condemnation, just a description, which makes it feel even more true. The depth of human understanding Oregairu continually displays can actually inform and help purify one's own relationships. To say it again: I can't believe anime this good exists.
The next frame is pure gold.Yukino is fiendishly delighted, smirking at Hachiman out of the corner of her eye as she delivers him a dessert-sized dish of teasing compliments on his sight into behavior. For the first time, they are delighting in one another's company, and they've just had a fleeting moment of real connection. Hachiman either surprised her because he saw in Haruno what she saw, or because he showed her what she hadn't seen before. They are friends now, halfway through the first season.
Enter Yui, who upon seeing them immediately assumes they're dating, which Hachiman realizes but Yukino hilariously does not. Hachiman's insight is only good with others, not with himself though, since he does not pick up on Yui's rather unsubtle hints that she's into him. This is for the best, because he is actually able to reset their relationship so that they proceed forward instead of staying apart. It's probably the first relationship he's ever mended, and it probably wouldn't have happened without Yukino's incisive commentary. She speaks Hachiman's language, and since the problem was with him anyway (Yui's only problem is that she's falling in love - God knows why - and won't say it), her speech wound up being mostly for his benefit. Thus everything is truly back to normal, and the happiest of them all is (surprise surprise) Yui. If her last frame is not the image of a delighted, pleased girl in love, I'll eat my hat.
He keeps this charade of "everything's fine" going for Yukino, who's smart enough to realize Yui and Hachiman have been distant for a week. Yui hasn't been coming to club for a week, and Yukino knows it's not because of Yui, and not because of Yukino. That leaves Hachiman, who admits under interrogation that they had something like a "difference of opinion," to which Yukino responds, "Then there isn't much to say." And that's that. These two are like social slugs. Nothing will happen unless an outsider prods them.
And this outsider happens to be . . . Hiratsuka-sensei! Her character is such a breath of fresh air. Role models would be non-existent in Oregairu were it not for her, and even she does not fit the standard categories - she is in her late 20s or early 30s and unmarried, a source of running jokes throughout the series (to be honest: they are both hilarious and awful). Every interaction she has with her students (at this point, mostly Hachiman and Yukino) pushes them into something new, expands their boundaries, or forces them to consider something different. She is an agent of genuine growth, and those two sorely need her. She is absolutely dedicated to her students' flourishing, and you don't get a mentor like that every day.
Hiratsuka-sensei pushes Yukino to (in effect) re-recruit Yui. This leads to celebrating a birthday and Yukino asking Hachiman to go out with her on the weekend to get a birthday present. Apparently she thinks she needs him for some reason - though what that could be is beyond me. Perhaps it's as simple as recognizing her own lack of expertise in shopping for personally insecure girly-girls.
Call it effusive optimism, but perhaps it's because Yukino is really enjoying her banter with Hachiman. They go back and forth during the shopping spree, and Yukino even acknowledges Hachiman's talent in blunt accuracy, cracking a faint smile as she does so. All is well, till The Awkward shows up. Her name? Haruno, Yukino's older sister. She is everything her little sister isn't - flighty, bouncy, effusive, fun, flirty, and excitable. She takes delight in provocation, like Yukino, but in the form of relationship poking rather than insults.
In the face of this fiercely happy, frisky nymph, Yukino becomes stony and frigid, treating her sister with barely-polite severe formality, as if she were a complete stranger. If that's not indicative of a gigantic amount of resentment, I don't know what is. Something has poisoned their relationship, either on both ends and Haruno is just pretending, or Yukino has something truly deep-seated against her sister. When she agrees with Hachiman that Haruno is amazing, she sounds as if she's robotically reciting an oft-rehearsed speech that says what people want to hear. That, she figures, is what Hachiman means. But she is wrong, rendering herself confused and taken aback by the cynical loner for probably the first time.
What he finds amazing is Haruno's armored shell: her sociable behavior, acting all nice and starting conversation, being the life of the party, always smiling, being every man's ideal woman. "But," he concludes, "those are ideals, and ideals are not reality, so it feels fake." Yet again, he delivers a social depth charge that explodes illusions. and yet again, Oregairu proves its understanding of people. There is more than one way to hide from genuine human connection, and acting coquettish, fun-loving, sexually playful, etc., is just as effective (if not more) than Yukino's barbed venomous superiority or Hachiman's alienating behavior. Best of all, that realization doesn't need to be accompanied by a condemnation, just a description, which makes it feel even more true. The depth of human understanding Oregairu continually displays can actually inform and help purify one's own relationships. To say it again: I can't believe anime this good exists.
The next frame is pure gold.Yukino is fiendishly delighted, smirking at Hachiman out of the corner of her eye as she delivers him a dessert-sized dish of teasing compliments on his sight into behavior. For the first time, they are delighting in one another's company, and they've just had a fleeting moment of real connection. Hachiman either surprised her because he saw in Haruno what she saw, or because he showed her what she hadn't seen before. They are friends now, halfway through the first season.
Enter Yui, who upon seeing them immediately assumes they're dating, which Hachiman realizes but Yukino hilariously does not. Hachiman's insight is only good with others, not with himself though, since he does not pick up on Yui's rather unsubtle hints that she's into him. This is for the best, because he is actually able to reset their relationship so that they proceed forward instead of staying apart. It's probably the first relationship he's ever mended, and it probably wouldn't have happened without Yukino's incisive commentary. She speaks Hachiman's language, and since the problem was with him anyway (Yui's only problem is that she's falling in love - God knows why - and won't say it), her speech wound up being mostly for his benefit. Thus everything is truly back to normal, and the happiest of them all is (surprise surprise) Yui. If her last frame is not the image of a delighted, pleased girl in love, I'll eat my hat.
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