Yahari Ore No Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru Zoku is the odd
second season that not many fans of the franchise ever expected to
happen. Not only did it happen, however, but it happened under a new
director and studio in Kei Oikawa and Studio Feel respectively. Its
definitely a great thing to see, as too much anime these days rarely
continues its story, let alone concludes it, and so its a definitely a
huge blessing and an exciting moment when a series that you thoroughly
enjoy gets a second coming.
The issue, however, with second seasons is that they bring with them
the expectations of a concluded story. And while Yahari Ore No Seishun
Zoku is a great follow up to the first season, often times eclipsing it
in quality and epic moments, it is not the season that concludes the
story. The season actually ends on a rather intense cliffhanger, as the
story very much reaches the point where its about ready to conclude.
Is that disappointing? Yes, yes it is. The only thing perhaps more
painful than never getting a continuation of a franchise you like is
seeing it continue very strongly, only to leave you hanging at the worst
point in the story. And its the fact that Zoku is just so darn good,
strong and entertaining in its limited thirteen episode run that really
worsens the blow.
Having said that, is Yahari Ore No Seishun Love Comedy wa
Machigatteiru Zoku worth a watch despite its rather painful ending? I
really think it is.
For fans of the first season, watching this second season is a
no-brainer. It not only revisits the characters and world from the first
series, but also continues to build to something rather powerful. With
13 episodes, this season is just sublime, all the fat trimmed off in
favor of an intense, lean experience.
The story moving along at a quick pace, developing characters,
providing answers to questions that the first season introduced is by
far the highlight of this second season. What’s truly impressive,
however, perhaps to the series’ detriment is the fact that the story
doesn’t shy away from the core issue, and its core cast.
This season tackles the issues surrounding protagonist Hikigaya
Hachiman, and the two main girls Yui Yuigahama and Yukino Yukinoshita
head-on. There’s no beating around the bush regarding the core love
triangle, and each character’s weaknesses and core issues are the main
themes present within each arc that the show presents.
There’s always a maguffin to get the story rolling each arc, but it
merely serves an excuse to examine the main characters and their
motivations and relationships to one another. For a character driven
show like Yahari, this really really works. It works so well, and it
makes so much sense that its kind of shocking to wonder why so many
Anime series avoid it so thoroughly.
But… Despite the fact that this season of Yahari is so darn good,
there’s no doubt that the ending leaves you in a worse place than season
1. The adaption itself is a bit perplexing because of how it actually
catches up to its source material fully by its 13th episode. From the
way the story is developed at that point, it really does seem like the
endgame is pretty much in sight at that point. Had the series waited for
a little while longer, its conceivable that the light novel source
material would’ve concluded in its entirety, leaving it ripe for
adaption.
Instead, what it very much feels like is that there’s only a small
bit of story left, that pretty much resolves the core question that many
fans have; “Who does Hikigaya Hachiman end up with, if anyone?”. And
this whole issues leaves the franchise in a very interesting place, as
far as an anime adaption goes.
There doesn’t seem to be much story left for a third season, frankly.
The only other options then, is for the story to either conclude in a
bunch of OVA episodes after the light novel concludes, or not at all.
You can guess which of those two options is likely to actually become a
reality. My guess is that this might be the last time we see Yahari Ore
no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru in animated form, and that feels
like a darn shame. I’ve been wrong before of course, and I’d love to be
wrong again. Only time will tell in that regard.
So, leaving continuation issues aside for a second, lets talk about
the actual production of the show. It really feels like the decision to
change directors and Studios was a really good one, because Yahari ore
no seishun feels like a stronger show for it. The credit for the pacing
and stellar adaption has to go to the new people responsible for this
season of course.Art direction and character designs are markedly
different but still recognizable and that’s because the series gets a
new character designer in Yuu Shindou. The new character designs are a
bit different, but definitely easy to get used to. In general the
animation and art for the series is pretty well done and fairly
competent.
Yahari isn’t the sort of show that begs for a lot of intense
animation, so backdrops and locations are reused to great effect, as
they would probably be used in a live action sitcom. It works pretty
well, as the focus is squarely on the characters and their interactions
and conversations. And when the pivotal moments happen? You can bet that
the atmosphere, background art and animation are all going full
throttle to amp everything up to eleven.It all works, and that’s doubly
true in the sound department. The series composition is handeled by
Shōtarō Suga this time around, and is markedly better and more poignant
this time around. The Anime OP and ED theme in particular, outdoes the
first season and is particularly memorable.
The voice acting, a staple perfection of the anime medium, is just as
good, with seiyuu Takuya Eguchi (Hachiman), Saori Hayami (Yukino) and
Nao Touyama (Yui) back and in top form. Nearly every character in this
show is expertly voice acted, and its a testament to the anime medium,
but also the voice acting talent in Japan that this aspect of the
industry is just so well done and often taken for granted. The power and
success of this season just couldn’t happen without the great voice
acting work behind it alongside everything else.
Looking at the second season as a whole, Yahari Ore No Seishun Love
Comedy wa Machigatteiru Zoku is a bit of a double edged sword. Its a
perfect example of a sequel that really does get everything right,
continuing the story, further developing its characters and just really
nailing down things like pacing. Its also a perfect example of what
makes Anime in general these days so heart breaking, in that it really
does end in a horrible cliffhanger, without any mention of whether the
franchise will continue in animated form or not.
While fans of the first season will definitely find a lot to like
here, Yahari Ore No Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru Zoku can’t
really achieve greatness until it sees that cliffhanger resolved in some
kind of proceeding series. And despite how good it is, the ending does
actually bring the overall value of the package a bit lower than the
first season. We award it with a B Grade. Please let there be a season 3
or some kind of OVA conclusion!
Oh wait
They killed R2D2 ;-;
0/10 the characters aren't likable and it doesn't make me want to dance
but really
For Psycho-Pass (not counting the second season)
I'll rate it as an
8.5/10
Tune in next time I feel like doing a review xP IDK what the fuck I'll review so it'll be a pleasant surprise. I might cop out and just review Psycho-Pass 2 xP but until that time when I review something, fair well.