Yahari Ore no Seishun Rabukome wa Machigatteiru - 4

"In Other Words, He Doesn't Have Many Friends"

Though Yahari is easily the weakest entry in my schedule this season, it's hardly the worst anime I've ever seen.

This series can definitely border on the generic sometimes, sure, but that's not always a bad thing. There's not really a sense of much going on every episode either, but I think, in the end, the point is that Yahari isn't trying to be a blockbuster or dark horse series. At it's very core, it's very much a show as plain and sarcastic as Hachiman himself, and it doesn't particularly require a spotlight to be interesting. And though the premise is simple and the majority of the characters are pretty self-explanatory, there's still a surprisingly truthful and reflective element to this romcom gone wrong. It's not so much in what happens than in the way it happens, and Hachiman's running commentary has more than a little to do with it, but if I can see connections with this outlook, then I'm sure a great deal of people can claim the same.

I do have to admit that the opening scene had me a bit worried at first; the cute imouto trope is seriously worn thin, but again, the magic of this series isn't in what happens but how. Unlike a usually flustered older brother in this romcom situation, Hikki could care less about his sister's moe-ness or her blatant sexuality. As he notes in his usual flat-toned inner dialogue, "she doesn't look cute to me, and her underwear is nothing more than bits of cloth," and really, for most of us with siblings that's just how it is. Rather than find his sister's cutesy act attractive, he just shrugs it off for what it really is; his sister being less than kind and more than a little annoying. Under any less pessimistic protagonist, this had every sign of being utterly terrible, but thankfully it wasn't.

Similarly, the little dilemma at the center of this episode seemed ripe for romcom drama, but even that was handled better than I expected it to. Hikki's talent at human observation (hey, whaddaya know, I did that too!) quickly allows him to solve the issue of the cruel chainmail, and it interestingly comes down to popularity dynamics. The friends of popular people aren't necessarily friends with each other but rather "friends of a friend" gathered around one charismatic individual, and that in itself creates rivalries (I've seen more than a fair share of these, to be honest). Even more interestingly, the whole thing is solved without calling anyone out on their actions, and in the interim Hachiman makes himself at least one new friend (though I find it rather amusing that he has a crush on the trap; deny it all you want Hikki, you're totally weak in the knees for him). Nothing too special, nothing too out of the ordinary, but somehow with Hachiman at the center, things just work out for this series, and even if this is the general trend until the end of the run, I can easily get some enjoyment out of that.