"I just created a world where no one gets hurt." That is Hachiman's response to Hayama in the season two premiere flashback to the previous season's finale (the athletics festival kind of seems like filler in retrospect). That sums up his conflicted, contradictory nature: extremely self-giving to the point of total self-abnegation, but unwilling to accept or acknowledge that anyone would or could care about him. Fear is still the dominant motivator for him in both word and deed. That state of being cannot be sustained, because he is still totally heedless as to its application: doing something outrageous to solve a problem (the Sagami scenario) happened to work out well for him (at least, it impressed Yukino, probably because she realized he'd done it for her), but it's only a matter of time before it causes an ugly self-destruct. Hachiman, Yui, and Yukino's personalities are each so sharply drawn, so vivid, and so strong that each of their flaws has the potential to destroy the group they form.
It is a real pleasure to see characters grow, and Yukino's growth in particular is exciting. She is still the somewhat icy, stoic, sharp-tongued princess of last season, but there is a loyal side of her that is only just emerging. Upon a request for help (Hayama and Tobe enter the clubroom), Tobe gets cold feet about speaking in front of Hachiman ("He doesn't seem trustworthy at all"). Yui promptly gets visibly and audibly upset, whereas Yukino appears to calmly acknowledge that it is probably Hachiman's fault. "Then, forgive my asking, but would you please leave?" His response is entirely unruffled: "Yeah. Call me whenever you're done with stuff." He is genuinely unconcerned. Only after he gets up to leave does he discover that Yukino was talking about the duo, and she proceeds to shred them as lacking manners and propriety. Last season those words would have been directed at Hachiman without a second thought. It wasn't until she spoke again that I realized I'd made the same mistake myself. Things are different now.
Tobe's problem is that he likes a girl and wants advice on how to properly tell her this. Yui - adorable, lovable Yui - is all aboard the ship train, and somehow the other two agree. Hachiman is the last one to accept it, and unless I'm wildly off the mark, Yukino's stare has a pleading quality to it. One reason I love this anime so much is that I've never seen such attentive work to render the expression of a face before. Yui in particular has incredible detail in these frames.
This situation means, among other things, that we have lots of opportunity to witness Hachiman's probing, cynical views on the risks involved in telling girls you're into them, such as it being promulgated through the school immediately, and you being the subject of "their little conversations." And (this is a depth charge) "What happens after you tell someone you're friends with that you like them - " and Tobe cuts him off. The season is rapidly moving in that direction as far as Yui, Yukino, and Hachiman are concerned, so perhaps that's a good thing, but I for one would love to hear from Hachiman what happens when you tell a girl you're friends with that you're falling in love with her. That would provide volumes of insight into his character.
But I can guess: "She turns you down, and the friendship soon withers after that." He is acutely attuned to rejection and social embarrassment, all of which stemmed from opening up to another person. A less dramatic version of Shinji's Hedgehog Dilemma. "When a girl says a guy is nice, that means she couldn't care less about him." Tobe has no idea what Hachiman is thinking, and the latter is not audibly forthcoming.
The plan is to get Tobecchi and Ebina alone during the field trip to Tokyo, and naturally Hachiman's relationship with Yui and Yukino is where the main focus lies - Tobe and his dilemma is just subtext. Somehow Yui is always together with Hachiman, ostensibly because "we have work to do," but continually pushing the touch barrier and making innocent observations ("You think everybody's wishing for romance?" I dunno Yui, but you definitely are). She is extremely beautiful, with a strikingly pure heart, and I find it inconceivable to suppose she doesn't realize what she's doing. She's not cynically smart like Hachiman or Yukino, but she is good, and pretty intuitive. There's no way she doesn't know what she's doing.
Enter Yukino, who has a convenient rendezvous with Hachiman in the hotel lobby, and we see what delight in interaction really looks like. Hachiman is extremely guarded around Yui, probably because he knows quite well she's into him, but that guard gets relaxed around Yukino, perhaps because they're so similar. Unlike Yui, from Hachiman's perspective (though the viewer is starting to suspect otherwise), there is no sign that she has a crush on him, so there is no danger. And who should appear but Hiratsuka-sensei, who takes them out for ramen (they saw her sneaking out against the rules, so she bribed them. Good example there, Sensei) and conveniently has them walk more than a few blocks to the hotel. Alone. At night. "I'm looking out for you. Make all the mistakes you want." Just like Yui, it is clear what she's doing.
The only mistake that is made is in Yukino's head when she gets lost. Yet another reason I love this series' characters: Yukino is not just a stock, hypercompetent, barbed, vicious, stoic wit. The look on her face when she realizes she's depending on Hachiman for direction (and on Hachiman's when she thanks him for walking her back) say more than their words do, and provide a dimension in themselves. Displaying any vulnerability makes her tremendously uncomfortable and afraid. She prizes self-reliance for parallel reasons that Hachiman does as well. But the friendship the two have developed, though it's only just been barely tested, is in direct conflict with that. Both are enjoying, probably for the first time, the joys of opening oneself up to another, and how furiously fun that can be. It can also be extraordinarily painful (as Shinji and Asuka would attest), but for now, that is forgotten.
It is a real pleasure to see characters grow, and Yukino's growth in particular is exciting. She is still the somewhat icy, stoic, sharp-tongued princess of last season, but there is a loyal side of her that is only just emerging. Upon a request for help (Hayama and Tobe enter the clubroom), Tobe gets cold feet about speaking in front of Hachiman ("He doesn't seem trustworthy at all"). Yui promptly gets visibly and audibly upset, whereas Yukino appears to calmly acknowledge that it is probably Hachiman's fault. "Then, forgive my asking, but would you please leave?" His response is entirely unruffled: "Yeah. Call me whenever you're done with stuff." He is genuinely unconcerned. Only after he gets up to leave does he discover that Yukino was talking about the duo, and she proceeds to shred them as lacking manners and propriety. Last season those words would have been directed at Hachiman without a second thought. It wasn't until she spoke again that I realized I'd made the same mistake myself. Things are different now.
Tobe's problem is that he likes a girl and wants advice on how to properly tell her this. Yui - adorable, lovable Yui - is all aboard the ship train, and somehow the other two agree. Hachiman is the last one to accept it, and unless I'm wildly off the mark, Yukino's stare has a pleading quality to it. One reason I love this anime so much is that I've never seen such attentive work to render the expression of a face before. Yui in particular has incredible detail in these frames.
This situation means, among other things, that we have lots of opportunity to witness Hachiman's probing, cynical views on the risks involved in telling girls you're into them, such as it being promulgated through the school immediately, and you being the subject of "their little conversations." And (this is a depth charge) "What happens after you tell someone you're friends with that you like them - " and Tobe cuts him off. The season is rapidly moving in that direction as far as Yui, Yukino, and Hachiman are concerned, so perhaps that's a good thing, but I for one would love to hear from Hachiman what happens when you tell a girl you're friends with that you're falling in love with her. That would provide volumes of insight into his character.
But I can guess: "She turns you down, and the friendship soon withers after that." He is acutely attuned to rejection and social embarrassment, all of which stemmed from opening up to another person. A less dramatic version of Shinji's Hedgehog Dilemma. "When a girl says a guy is nice, that means she couldn't care less about him." Tobe has no idea what Hachiman is thinking, and the latter is not audibly forthcoming.
The plan is to get Tobecchi and Ebina alone during the field trip to Tokyo, and naturally Hachiman's relationship with Yui and Yukino is where the main focus lies - Tobe and his dilemma is just subtext. Somehow Yui is always together with Hachiman, ostensibly because "we have work to do," but continually pushing the touch barrier and making innocent observations ("You think everybody's wishing for romance?" I dunno Yui, but you definitely are). She is extremely beautiful, with a strikingly pure heart, and I find it inconceivable to suppose she doesn't realize what she's doing. She's not cynically smart like Hachiman or Yukino, but she is good, and pretty intuitive. There's no way she doesn't know what she's doing.
Enter Yukino, who has a convenient rendezvous with Hachiman in the hotel lobby, and we see what delight in interaction really looks like. Hachiman is extremely guarded around Yui, probably because he knows quite well she's into him, but that guard gets relaxed around Yukino, perhaps because they're so similar. Unlike Yui, from Hachiman's perspective (though the viewer is starting to suspect otherwise), there is no sign that she has a crush on him, so there is no danger. And who should appear but Hiratsuka-sensei, who takes them out for ramen (they saw her sneaking out against the rules, so she bribed them. Good example there, Sensei) and conveniently has them walk more than a few blocks to the hotel. Alone. At night. "I'm looking out for you. Make all the mistakes you want." Just like Yui, it is clear what she's doing.
The only mistake that is made is in Yukino's head when she gets lost. Yet another reason I love this series' characters: Yukino is not just a stock, hypercompetent, barbed, vicious, stoic wit. The look on her face when she realizes she's depending on Hachiman for direction (and on Hachiman's when she thanks him for walking her back) say more than their words do, and provide a dimension in themselves. Displaying any vulnerability makes her tremendously uncomfortable and afraid. She prizes self-reliance for parallel reasons that Hachiman does as well. But the friendship the two have developed, though it's only just been barely tested, is in direct conflict with that. Both are enjoying, probably for the first time, the joys of opening oneself up to another, and how furiously fun that can be. It can also be extraordinarily painful (as Shinji and Asuka would attest), but for now, that is forgotten.
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