Oregairu 2.1

"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.

Oregairu 1.13

Sensei has not gotten tired thinking of ways to push and pull Yukino and Hachiman into becoming human beings, and her latest plot involves them once again doing things for other people and even the whole school. A bit transparent, perhaps, but the two reprobates do not mind, since they're having fun with their once-again customary banter. Yukino looks more alive than she ever has, and Hachiman fills his role as wearily persecuted expertly. And Yui is the emotive, adorable third wheel. So of course they agree to help.

Wherein is encountered what I'll bet is a quintessential Japanese high school problem: making a school event crazy mad fun while considering absolutely everybody's feelings. In Sensei's words, "They've been anal about feelings this year, so we've got a ton of restrictions." And she torpedoes every idea, prompting Hachiman to sarcastically retort that this approach won't work, so they should go find people instead, people who can be used. "It's a universal law that someone who can be used will be used until they burn out and die. Meanwhile, no raises for them." Cue a violent agreement from Sensei, and it is agreed they will outsource. Presto! Fait accompli!

The standard shenanigans ensue, their team has a glorious victory, but the triumph narrative is subverted because Hachiman gets caught cheating. He's a loner, so "I didn't think anyone else was watching." Yukino and Yui both were, however, and the former gets flustered when Yui figures that out. She quickly takes refuge in banter, but the viewer already suspects what she would deny to everyone, especially herself. 

A halcyon episode, in a way: the three are solid friends, and have made more progress in thirteen twenty-minute episodes than most characters do in a cour of twenty episodes of an hour. Only the hints of the dramatic conflict next season will have are intimated, and only just. There is very little that could destroy the friendship these three now have, but the seeds of it have been sown. 

Oregairu 1.12

With a whirlwind encounter with Komachi, the frame sets up the subject of this episode: Yukino enters the shot before the credits and it's clear she's still uncomfortable, barely able to meet Hachiman's eye. But the two can't avoid hanging around each other, so meet they must. 

And what better subject matter than Haruno, who's wearing a bombshell of a dress and directing a band ensemble gloriously? Every man's dream enfleshed. Yukino praises her with characteristic Yukino flavor: "Expectedly good," which sounds sincere, sardonic, and matter-of-fact. She reveals that there was a time when she wanted to be just like Haruno, to which Hachiman unexpectedly replies, "You don't need too. You're fine the way you are." Yukino does not respond. As expected, the two must have direction from the outside, or they'll never get anywhere. And so Sagami goes missing. This provides the drama for this episode, and will illustrate more of Yukino and Hachiman's relationship. After Sagami embarrassed herself in the festival's opening, she hid, and since only she knows the results of some important contest, people need to go find her. Predictably, Hachiman votes against this. Important people who are hiding are really hoping someone will find them and give them attention. He is disinclined to humor such things, preferring the harsh truth - you aren't really necessary, and things will continue without you. A bit bleak, but not unreasonable.

Hayama, however, is a decent, stand-up guy. He convinces Yumiko, who has a mad crush on Hayama, to keep singing so that the rest of the group can find her. This also means finding and getting distracting help from Haruno, who is inclined to be irritatingly evasive, as her social Hannibal self would suggest. Yukino however, outwits her, prompting a devious smirk from Hachiman and an admission from Haruno that "You've grown, Yukino." To which her younger sister retorts that this is how she's always been; an argument that only now is Haruno beginning to see her sister as a person instead of a replacement. No longer does Yukino want to play that role. Hachiman could not be prouder.

Yukino is able to rely on everyone else, so Hachiman is assigned to find Sagami. Yukino intuited (not without reason) that he'd be good at finding her, because he thinks. "When someone loses their sense of belonging, they want someone else to hand it back to them on a platter. She wants someone to find her, so she's on school grounds, and in a place where people can find her." Genius. A simple narrowing of possibilities and presto! Up on the rooftop is Sagami.

The chairman is inclined to be ornery and difficult. Ordinarily, Hachiman would have accepted her request, taken the results, and left, but he reasons with himself that Yukino accepted the role to make Sagami, committee chair, a success. Because it would make her efforts worthless, Hachiman decides to get Sagami downstairs, and "instill in her the honor, frustration, and regret associated with the position. I could do it by saying what she wants to hear, but I don't have it in me to say it." How very interesting.

Right on cue, Hayama shows up and tries to do exactly that: coddle Sagami into going back downstairs. For reasons a little unknown to me, Hachiman can't stand this syrupy, saccharine sentimentality, and decides "to do it my own way, as Yukino did things her way to the bitter end. So it will be unequivocal invective, vile, villainous, and vicious." He is going to make himself a hated villain again. This makes the third time. He gets to perform by telling the truth. Pure, unadultered, loveless truth. Relentless. Sagami envies the standing of Yukino but is incompetent to imitate her, and Hachiman ruthlessly excoriates her weak character. 

Hachiman gets about five sentences in before Hayama interrupts, slamming him into a wall, taking the poor shell-shocked Sagami back downstairs. The girls around Hayama either didn't know what he was doing, or played into it, coddling Sagami just the way she wanted to be coddled. Hayama definitely knows, however. With regret he asks Hachiman alone, "Why can't you do things differently?" Hachiman says nothing. The perfect contrast to the concert downstairs - the perfect image of rejoicing community, with Hachiman alone and isolated, everyone hating him. Everyone, of course, except Sensei: "Doing amazing things is no excuse for hurting yourself. You should know there are people who's hearts break every time you do that." This woman is the perfect mentor, the perfect teacher.

Back in the classroom, Yukino and Hachiman reconcile completely, with plenty of barbed wit shielding desire for connection, per the usual. I love Sensei, but it was probably Hachiman's sacrifice that made Yukino make the extra step, since she'd intuit why did what he did. Despite his stated love of solitude, Hachiman desperately wants Yukino as a friend, and she wants the same from him. Defending her earlier statement back in episode 1 as no lie, "I didn't know you well then. Now I do." Cue a wink and smile. Not bad for a social slug. For better or worse, the two are together again.

Oregairu 1.11

Yukino is sick. Therefore, Hachiman and Yui go and visit her in a fancy high-rise that surprises (I don't know why though - it's clear Yukino is from a wealthy family, as if the personal chauffeur weren't enough signal) Hachiman. He imagines all sorts of objections when Yukino finds out he's there with Yui ("So go home already") but ignores those and demands entrance. And just like that, the door opens. 

Yui and Hachiman are both upset about the way the festival work is being handled, meaning Hachiman has a quiet, monotone speech and Yui has an outburst. They eventually get Yukino to agree that she will rely on others - at least these two - but Hachiman doesn't believe anything will change. He himself has a plan, however.

This happens during the festival meeting, in yet another display of atrocious leadership by Sagami-san. Debating the slogan, common Japanese high school platitudes ("Let's all work together and help each other out!") as vomitoriously saccharine as they are ubiquitous get thrown around like drunken ping pong balls, until Hachiman points out all these really mean is one or a few people - himself and Yukino in particular - do all the work and the rest goof around. This insight causes Yukino to lose control momentarily in what for her is hysterical laughter. 

Naturally this makes everyone hate Hachiman and this provokes a delightful conversation between him and Yukino about changing and the lack thereof in Hachiman's case. It is an ingenious scene. No conversation about Yukino's lie, no overt apology, but an awkward half-smile and wave goodbye from Yukino, which is probably equivalent to a heedless embrace from, say, Yui. Somehow the two have reconciled, and if not exactly where they were before Hachiman realized his friend's lie, tensions between them have somehow eased almost without trying.

It might be because Yukino perceives the reason for Hachiman making himself the villain, as Haruno observes. Prior to this, following the stupid president's example, committee members were slacking off, but having a perceived villain (Hachiman) brings everyone together. "What brings people together more than an enemy?" Haruno flirts, which is true. I've felt closer to people over shared hatreds than shared loves. And since Yukino is easily as smart or smarter than her sister, it's unthinkable she hasn't picked up on that herself.

Nor is Yukino the only one who perceives something. Yui understands her friend is in the process of changing, and is content to more or less wait for her to come talk honestly and genuinely whatever's on her mind. An exception is made, however, for "those who won't try even if you wait," and it doesn't take a genius to figure out she means Hachiman right there. Giving him a dessert turns into Hachiman refusing charity meaning he takes Yui out for something else. That sounds suspiciously like a date. I can't work out if that was her intention from the beginning (sneaky girl) or if she was just being Yui. She certainly snaps at the idea of going out for food, reminding me of the dog collar scene.

The common thread in Hachiman's interventions is being the agent of his own vilifying, which is eerily similar to Sengoku's unrequited love for Araragi in Monogatari. One of her friends (I think Hanekawa or one of the twins) calls it a deception, a way of hiding from reality; a way to shut that part of you off, which means it will never be hurt. Hachiman is the same - being hated is its own form of enjoyment, particularly if you are despised by the stupid; if you know the truth, what difference does the bleating of cliques make? One can easily rise above that. But that is the Haruno road, and ten to one it will take Sensei, Yui, or both to keep Hachiman away from that abomination. There's a form of selflessness in what he does, but he is still unwilling to go all the way and seek total, genuine friendship with another. 

Still to Come

Just so that the reference is easy for my lazy self, here are the series that still look promising after the heights of Oregairu, Steins;Gate, and Shinsekai Yori. I'm still going to finish writeups of Oregairu, but that doesn't mean I won't watch anything else in the meantime. I'll work through the tortured mess of Monogatari as that all happens. 

• Shiki
• Kyousogiga
• Haibane Renmei
• Made in the Abyss
• Denpa Onna
• Red Data Girl
• The Eccentric Family
• Paranoia Agent
• Kino's Journey
• Gatchaman Crowds
• Natumse Yuujinshou
• Mushishi
• My Neighbor Totoro
• Owarimonogatari S.2
• Devilman Crybaby
• Revolutionary Girl Utena
• Baccano
• Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress
• Psycho Pass
• Terror in Resonance
• Kurozuka
• Occult Academy
• Classroom Crisis
• Requiem from the Darkness
• Girlish Number
• Aria
• Planetes
• Log Horizon
• Re:Creators
• Beatless
• Dagashi Kashi
• Koi wa Ameagari
• Kids on the Slope
• Pet Girl of Sakurasou
• Nichijou
• Sora Yori mo Tooi
• Violet Evergarden
• Persona 5
• Steins;Gate 0
• Death March
• Ajin
• Lost Village
• March Comes in Like a Lion
• Flip Flappers
• Noragami
• ACCA
• House of Five Leaves
• Record of the Grancrest War
• Darling in the FranXX
• Angelmois
• Re:Life OVA
• Ousama Game
• Blend S
• Children of the Whales
• Inuyashiki
• B: The Beginning
• Ancient Magus' Bride

Shinsekai Yori, Stein's;Gate, and Oregairu

Oregairu, Steins;Gate, and most of all Shinsekai Yori turned the world upside down for me. Prior to Oregairu, though I would have passionately defended Evangelion (still probably my favorite, and my judgment for the best anime ever written), for the most part I likely would have admitted under duress that anime was a guilty pleasure; suspect at best and a total waste of time at worst, unworthy of serious reflection. In Oregairu, however, I found intense, rapid, and perceptive writing; writing that knew what human interaction was about, and could see the pitfalls for the young and alienated in seeking genuine friendship. In every way it proved better by far than the classic of alienation, Catcher in the Rye. In almost every episode its insight into humanity and human relationships surprised or even stunned me. 

Steins;Gate was a break from this, because it was most of all a compelling, thrilling story; good tale-telling at its height. I was reminded of my friend J who just wanted to write something fun to read without trying to include much in the way of moralistic teaching (I still remember the name of his hero, Brick Stormthrower). Best of all (and truly unexpected), it retreated from the love of technology, suggesting that perhaps some possibilities should remain unused. All this, plus a beautifully depicted love story, shaped under taut, urgent writing. I've seldom enjoyed narrative this much, whether it be Melville, Austen, or Wilde. 

But it was Shinsekai Yori that blew everything out of the water. My friend D told me his private rating was 15/10, which I thought then was hyperbole. Now I believe it is too low. It was as if Watership Down and The Village met The Republic. I've never seen or read anything that better explored the qualities of a good leader. In Saki, courage, love of the truth, compassion, and understanding all grew together and informed one another. The series showed the formation of her own beautiful character, the way Pan's Labyrinth's climax showed the triumph of the Princess Moanna's conscience. To look beyond the authoritative opinions and ugly, founding lies of the city and remain humane, just, and understanding, even taking responsibility for the city, is a staggering feat; doubly so when the reader or viewer is convinced it's real. 

In the end, I suppose it's not surprising that anime has risen to a high art form. After all, so have novels, poetry, film, even television. Why then should it surprise that Japanese cartoons have as well? Despite its many and obvious flaws, what enfleshes family love and reconciliation better than Clannad? Understands the peril and pain of human connection better than Evangelion? Knows more about leadership than Shinsekai Yori? Anime is a very recent form, to be sure, but it has become a way of storytelling, the equal of the poem and the novel in imitating and explaining nature, especially the nature of man. For me it is now a companion for life.

Oregairu 1.10

The opening scene of this episode is simply perfect. Yukino and Hachiman are ignoring one another, engrossed (or pretending to be) in their books, while Yui is situated exactly in the middle between them. The frame could not be more explicit. She's caught in the middle, but unable to affect either side. She is neutral against her will.

God Bless Sensei. She is the hero of this episode, and probably of the entire series. Against his will, she has made him serve on the committee for the high school's cultural festival (an exhausting sort of formal school party I probably would have abhorred as a teenager. I do not think I would have flourished in the Japanese school system). Yukino also serves as assistant to the president, and it is by this means their reconciliation will happen. 

That is a ways in the future, however. Yukino seems to be picking up Hachiman's resentment, and answers by closing herself off to everyone around her. Rudely, even. Whether it's the constant comparisons people make between her and Haruno or the problem Hachiman has with her, I don't know, but the result is the same. Her walls are even higher and stronger than Hachiman.

Poor Yui sees this and frustrated, bursts out at Hachiman. She knows something is wrong and hates it, but doesn't know why. Even totally ignorant, though, she is able to extract - against his will, most likely - a promise that Hachiman will help Yukino if she gets into more than she can handle with the festival committee. Without Yui and Sensei, the two slugs would be hopeless. They have to be dragged, total dead weight, to any sort of personal growth. 

For some reason, Haruno ends up as a volunteer. I admit I do not know the beginnings of the ins and out of Japanese high school, but is it weird that a college student is spending so much time around a specifically high-school event? Particularly when she had already headed it during her own day, and when her sister is de facto heading it now? I am beginning to think she enjoys being a social loose cannon, and take pleasure in the discomfort she causes those around her. She deliberately starts sabotaging the process of planning the festival like a social Hannibal Lector. She's like an anti-Sensei. Her intervention might coincide with growth between Hachiman and Yukino, but it's probably going to be an accident. Sensei cares. I'm not sure Haruno does.

Perhaps Haruno and Sensei were both very much like Yukino and Hachiman are now when they were in high school. If that's the case, Sensei seems to have undergone experiences which altered and transformed her isolating behavior, and now is able to act like a mentor to those who isolate themselves. In Sensei's person, we can see what it looks like when things go right, which means it's possible Haruno might exemplify the opposite.