I like surprises, like when a series comes that just turns out to be good against my expectations. Yahari Blahblah from the outside had all the signs to turn into yet another one of those high school comedies: snarky male lead, pointlessly long title that fails at being witty, various other cliched side-characters. And they made something good out of it!
The credit here goes to the original light novels this was based on, because for once, this show aims to stray away from mindless fluff, even though it may not seem like that at first. The lead character at first seems like the umpth snarky male lead, but eventually he sets himself apart to be different by actually using the weaknesses in his own personality as a weapon. This gives him wit that leads to some very insightful character-development, and the great thing is that this series never claims that he is just right, but instead it provides multiple viewpoints at the same issue. The original source material was very well written, and thankfully the creators of the anime managed to carry that over in their adaptation.
The side characters also surprised me. They range from intelligent to… not so intelligent, but I was quite impressed with how so few actually try to play up their own stereotypes. For example, you have the typical blond girl who is the most popular girl in the school, and while she acts cocky, she actually has more to her character than that, and she never really just starts acing like a complete spoiled princess. The lead female at first seems like a Senjogahara-clone, but quickly develops her own traits that make her far less one-dimensional than what you’d expect.
There is a lot of standard high school fare, and this show does linger along at places, not to mention that I feel like its ending is quite rushed and inconclusive. The visuals also aren’t anything special: they are adequate, but the animation never stands out nor falters. Still, for a high school “romantic comedy”, this was pretty damn good.
One-Sentence Review: Takes the generic high-school love-comedy set-up, and makes it good with some deep characters.
Suggestions:
– Umi ga Kikoeru
– Hana-Saku Iroha
– His and Her Circumstances
Happy that you gave Yahari a higher rating than Hataraku-Maou sama.This series was definitely a surprise for many as it was being compared with Haganai. Definitely the 2nd best anime of this season!
I agree with this review. To me, this show had the potential with its characters to be something really, really good, but the story was never interesting enough. The show had great characters and portrayed them all very well (the few that weren’t will probably get more development later in the novels). Hikki is the best deadpan narrator in anime and he made this show really enjoyable.
The infamous 82.5
My Teen Romantic Comedy Is Wrong as Expected, is not that bad of a title in my opinion, The SNAFU part makes me lol internally just about every time.
I guess you have to be like Hachiman to really empathize with this series, so for me, it’s extremely enjoyable.
Season 2 I await.
wait… there’s a second season coming??
There needs to be at the very least.
I wanted to read the light novel, but it’s not entirely translated yet :c
For a show you liked, it’s a shame you never learned its name.
Wow, picked it up after reading your review. I nearly missing a really great comedy show. Considering I’m getting gradually older, i found myself laughing or grinning quite often – more than any other comedy/middle school series since long.
So – thank you 🙂
This anime is indeed worth watching, and quite different from what I have observed watching other comedy type anime. “The snarky male lead” does not deviate from its character [i.e. being who he is] throughout the series, where the cocky males [in other anime] eventually become soft (emotional) and romantically involved. This is the major difference which I liked about this anime. Although it is a romantic comedy type anime, I didn’t observe any sort of romance, which is probably for the best since it just depresses the moment of enthusiasm.
The way the lead male character makes plausible comments in solving a crisis or observations regarding reality makes the anime logically interesting. Also it neglects the wishful ideas and thoughts and brings the truth upfront, so it feels as if a mere reflection yourself in real life. It atleast made me realize the bliss of solitude.
Having said all that, the way the anime ended was disappointing, since I expected that he’d still try to get out of that service club, rather it felt like he cherished the moments spent there [which is totally out of his character]. Eitherway, I am patiently waiting for the next season [if there is any].
Characters don’t always have to be static. They can change with time. Ever heard of dynamic characters genius? He could be changing. So narrow-minded.
He does undergo development in throughout the series. It seems like you are really glorifying solitude and Hachiman and all that, but you don’t seem to realize that this show is incredibly SYMPATHETIC of the protagonist, and doesn’t doesn’t glorify his downfalls. Hachiman may try to put them in a better light, by using some cynical justification, but without a doubt, Hachiman’s problems are caused by his own personal faults.
I’ve caught up with the light novel, and I have to say it is very well written. I’m very impressed. Psgels, this is only the beginning. There is so much more depth than is portrayed in the first season of the anime. I believe that you will enjoy the up coming season in spring of 2015 which I’m very excited for.
read ln many times will makes you understand characters too. but if you can’t, read this.
https://yaharibento.wordpress.com/2016/03/01/finally-y-in-hayato-heart-was-revealed/
this will take your time, should ready before read.