Hachiman Hikigaya
Voiced by: Takuya Eguchi (Japanese), Adam Gibbs (English)
Hachiman is the story's main protagonist, an isolated, friendless boy who is pragmatic to a fault. His most prominent feature is his set of "dead fish-eyes". He firmly believes that "youth" is simply an illusion created by hypocrites, for hypocrites, born from the ashes of past failures. In this state of apparent corruption, he is coerced into joining the Service Club by his futures advisor in the hopes that exposing him to the world will change his personality, and ultimately make him a "better person". Despite his cynical views, Hachiman is a very selfless and kind-hearted person, though his methods to help others make him often look unsympathetic.
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- Accidental Pervert: In episode 3 he walks in on Yui and Yukino changing clothes and gets a tennis racket to the face. Hachiman notes how extremely rom-com cliche it was.
- Accidental Misnaming: Tobe mistakes his name for "Hikitani" because the "gaya" character in his name (谷) is more commonly read as "tani/dani".
- Adaptational Attractiveness: Even counts as this in between seasons. In the first, he looks more tired and homely, which befits his anti-social nature. Come the second season however, and his looks get kicked up a notch.
- Adaptational Ugliness: His Season 1 anime appearance, compared with the illustrations of him in the original light novels, which portray Hachiman as at least decent-looking, with his appearance largely brought down by his attitude and trademark "dead fish" eyes.
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: When he's on the losing end of a tennis match against Yumiko and Hayato, Hachiman considers groveling as a serious strategy.
- All for Nothing: He realizes that his methods didn't work when, during the Christmas event planning, he notices that Rumi is just as alienated from her fellow grade-schoolers as she was during the Summer camp. This is one of the aspects that makes him go to Yui and Yukino to ask them for help, alongside being at an odd's end regarding the planning committee's lack of compromise, finally finding himself completely out of ideas.
- Alliterative Name: Hachiman Hikigaya.
- Always Save the Girl: Most people who come for help to the Service Club are girls. Although it's part of his role as a member of the Service Club, Hachiman is capable of going to extreme lengths to ensure that the problem is solved but always gives more priority to ensure that the girls are unharmed in any way. Even if it's someone he doesn't particularly like, such as Sagami, or even if it means putting Tobe's request secondly and give priority to Hina's.
- Ambiguously Bi: Although he does indulge in Eating the Eye Candy when he blunders upon it (while getting knocked flat onto the floor as a female student is passing, for example), he seems more attracted to Totsuka than any of the girls.note
- Animal Motifs: He tends to get compared to less appealing animals, whether it be fish (due to his dead-eyes) or frogs (one of his childhood nicknames). He compares himself to a bear, however...
- Annoying Laugh: Yukino and Yui find Hachiman's laugh unpleasant.
- Anti-Hero: Downplayed. Hachiman is a good person at heart, no doubt about it, and is genuinely heroic and well-intentioned. Besides being a Knight in Sour Armor (bitter and cynical, but does the right thing nonetheless), he has traits of a Byronic Hero (being a cynical, brooding and introspective loner, who can be somewhat arrogant in his views) and of a Pragmatic Hero (being goal-oriented and, obviously, extremely pragmatic). So he's not an antihero in the sense that he's morally ambiguous, but his methods to help others are generally not exactly nice. He later evolves into a genuinely Nice Guy, though.
- Anti-Role Model: Hachiman's overall arc tends to fall in this territory. He's portrayed as overly cynical, with harsh methods that are eventually shown to not work in contrast to Yukino, who is portrayed as having the correct methods but little time to execute them.
- Apathetic Student: Hachiman is shown to hate school due to being The Hermit and doesn't like human interaction. Though he's more Brilliant, but Lazy, and his grades are generally quite good (except in scientific subjects).
- At Least I Admit It: Played with. Hachiman claims that this is the difference between him and Yukino after the cultural festival; while he lies all the time and makes no attempt to deny it, she puts on the façade of somebody who never lies yet is perfectly capable of lying when it suits her. Yukino, however, clarifies that she wasn't lying when she said she didn't know him- she didn't, but she does now.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: Hachiman's greatest strength is his ability to quickly analyse and come to a fairly accurate conclusion of a person's hidden motivations and personality traits. This is best shown when Hachiman managed to deduce where Sagami was hiding faster than anyone during the culture festival by figuring out her way of thinking.
- Bad Liar: Not always, but when it comes to his romantic history he is. His difference from the usual practitioners is that he mixes lies with facts and tries to reinterpret them in a positive and heroic way. No one is fooled, including himself.
- Beady-Eyed Loser: Subverted. While the novel illustrations portray
◊ his◊ eyes◊ normally (especially at his more emotionally open moments◊), the anime adaptation decided to depict his "dead fish eyes" as this — just look at his page picture. - Be Yourself: Deconstructed. Hachiman is an example of what happens when someone takes this phrase a little too literally. He's resigned himself to being a cynical loner because he's convinced that's the kind of person he is, and sees no use in trying to be someone he's not. Even early on, however, it's made apparent that he can't keep living the way he is forever, with just about everyone being annoyed, disturbed or disgusted (in most cases, some combination of the three) by his cynicism and senseless rants about society. It draws ire from Yukino and Shizuka in particular, the former of whom believes that he's simply in denial and running away from his problems and the latter of whom got him to join the Service Club in the first place. He eventually re-evaluates this outlook, and it ultimately becomes clear that it was just an excuse to hide the fact that he saw fixing his problems to be too much of a hassle.
- Big Brother Instinct: Very protective of his little sister, Komachi, who's initially the only person he treated with care. This later extends to Iroha, Rumi and Keika since Hachiman, due to being unable to turn off his "Onii-chan" mode, has a soft spot for younger girls.
- Big, Thin, Short Trio: Outside the Service Club, he made one with Totsuka and Zaimokuza, forming a team of three, Hachiman being the thin leader.
- Birds of a Feather: With Yukino, no matter how much they deny it. Both are sarcastic bookworms with a matching sense of humor and cynical view of the world, but, at the same time, they feel the obligation to help those they encounter due to a motivation born out of a truckload of painful social experience. And, even though he doesn't believe people can change - unlike Yukino - both believe in genuine kindness, and it's because of their natural honesty that they ultimately understand each other. Unsurprising, then, that they become the story's one and only Official Couple.
- Book Dumb: Downplayed. His grades are actually quite good, but as smart as he is, he could do much better academically. He got bad grades in scientific subjects, though.
- Break the Cutie: He used to be an adorkable and socially awkward kid but constant rejections, bullying and fairly mocking treatment from his classmates and even his own teachers made him give up on people ever accepting him thus turning him into the loner he is. Komachi even points out that he used to be adorable during his childhood and his dead-fish eyes are never shown during his flashbacks prior the series.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: Clearly very intelligent and observant but generally has to be dragged into acting by whatever request at hand or Shizuka. She also points out that his test scores alone are good, indicating he can score marks without proper content.
- Broken Pedestal: To Yukino surprisingly, much like how she was one to him. She considered their mutual belief in always telling the truth and their dislike of false appearances to be the one thing that prevented them from completely hating each other. And when Hachiman does exactly that to preserve the Service Club when Yukino runs for Student Council President, their relationship starts to fall apart.
- Butt-Monkey: Both in a comedic sense and and in a serious one. He's generally on the receiving end of snark and physical punishment from Yukinoshita and Shizuka respectively. Though in other examples it's not as Played for Laughs, such as his acts of social suicide.
- Buxom Beauty Standard: Hachiman faithfully takes notice of girls with large chests, but his first impression of Yukino was noting he wouldn't be interested in her for her flat chest.
- Byronic Hero: Is he intensely introspective? Yes. Is he cynical and jaded and has he experienced a bargain bin of a dark and troubled past bundled with regrets? Yes. Does he see his own values, beliefs and passions as above everyone else's? Yes. Is he doggedly determined to follow them despite hurting others? Yes. Is he especially physically attractive? Not gorgeous but... well, good enough.
- Cannot Spit It Out: One of his biggest flaws is the inability to admit what he really wants, both to himself and others and often only brings himself to act whenever he can find a suitable excuse to avoid addressing his own feelings (e.g. preserving the service club because his sister asked him to rather then admit it's because he doesn't want to lose his bond with Yui and Yukino). A large part of this is driven by a belief that people won't understand him even if he does try to talk to them, so he simply doesn't bother explaining himself at all.
- Character Catchphrase:
- "As I expected, my youth romantic comedy is wrong."
- "Source: me," which he says when speaking from personal experience. Yukino later adopts it.
- Celibate Hero: Actively tries to avoid "Rom-Com" situations, and does not believe that he deserves love. Best shown when he rejects Yui's feelings for him because he believed they were driven by her guilt.
- Character Development:
- Consistently defied by Hachiman. He knows he's an antisocial loner and, despite hanging out and liking the company of two other people, refuses to change for them. Ironically, and tragically, this is the source of most of the conflict in the series.
- Played straight in the Light Novels, where Hachiman's narration changes to match his changing mentality. In the later novels his Unreliable Narrator antics like his random rants, anime references, or sophistry slowly start to decline to the point where they rarely show up. By volume 10.5 he is willing to admit he is friendly with the other two club members, but his date with Iroha shows he is still incapable of believing that any girl could like him.
- His driving arc eventually becomes one where he doesn't necessarily want to be popular, but to have a genuine bond with someone else.
- Chick Magnet: Almost every time Hachiman gets involved with a female character, they eventually develop an interest in him. Yui's been interested since they first met, Yukino later becomes as obvious as Yui, Iroha is heavily implied later on, then there's the Ship Tease he has with Totsuka, Saki (especially in the light novels), Shizuka, and even Ebina has joked that she wouldn't have minded going out with Hachiman. Even Kaori now shows hints.
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: He can't abandon someone in distress if he can help, no matter how much he tries to convince himself of otherwise.
- Comical Overreacting: Almost every interaction with Totsuka leads to this. When Totsuka offers to trade emails with him, Hachiman's joy is a bit overboard.
- Contemplation Location: As the lone wolf he is in his school, Hachiman usually goes to the high school's backyard to lunch and to think, since is his "lonely place". That, until Yui and Iroha started to accompany him there (for his own disdain).
- Covert Pervert: Never misses the chance to check up on girls (and Totsuka). Every time Yui approaches him, he notices her chest first and everything else later. Manages to appreciate being touched by Hiratsuka-sensei's breasts while she grabs him in Sumo grapple (for your info: hurts like hell). Derives sexual references out of thin air in the first 100 words of the very first chapter... well, you get the picture.
- The Cynic: His outlook on love, hard work and social interactions are less than positive. Due to his past experiences, he hates having to deal with people and the fake fronts they put up, and consequently he stops caring.
- Deadpan Snarker: Any verbal conversation he has with his more popular classmates tend to be dripping with snide remarks and sarcasm.
- Deconstruction: Hachiman's answer to certain problems is to act as a scapegoat and resolve the situation while shouldering all the blame and burden. The series goes to great lengths of showing how this kind of mentality is not ideal and how it can affect Hachiman's friends as well.
- Deconstructed Character Archetype: Hachiman himself is a deconstruction of the Romantic Comedy protagonist as well. While still a good-hearted loner with two or more possible love interests, he isn't a typically naive Nice Guy or a comedy version of an All-Loving Hero: he's rather a comedy version of a Byronic Hero, being cynical and introspective, with somewhat misanthropic tendencies, and also pragmatic to a fault. While he's a good and altruistic person, and has good intentions towards others, his methods to help others tend to be harsh and unkind, even though he is a Nice Guy deep down.
- Defrosting Ice King: Shizuka wants Hachiman to be less gloomy, pessimistic and pragmatic. While he still firmly believes in the Status Quo, he really turns out to be a reasonably nice and caring person, as Yukino does too.
- Dismotivation: Fits Hachiman to a T. Among the usual reasons, like not wanting to be hurt again, he has an uncommon but somewhat logical argument.Hachiman: We only change to avoid the current situation. The true meaning of not running away is planting your feet firmly in the ground and doing the best you can with your present. Who's running away now? Why can't you just accept who you are and were?
- To some, Hachiman's little rebuke may double as an establishing character moment.
- Distracted by the Sexy: Despite his rejection of romantic pursuits, he still gets distracted by girls from time to time. A humorous example where he lost a few points to Iroha during their table tennis match despite being a far better player than her due to her skirt.
- Ditzy Genius: Early on, Hachiman is easily this due to his status as a loner and not socializing for a long time. He's clearly very intelligent, yet having No Social Skills certainly makes of his common sense not his best feature; for example, socially speaking, more collectivist characters such as Yui are much wiser. It's also shown as a kid he was naturally naive and socially awkward. Later on he gets better, though.
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: He can accept hatred, rejection, isolation, and disgust. But the one thing he cannot accept is being pitied for what he himself chose to do.
- Dreary Half-Lidded Eyes: His default portrayal has him with a half-lidded expression, which along with his small, dark irises (in contrast to everyone else's large, colorful irises), emphasizes his cynical, weary nature. In-universe, he is described as having "dead fish eyes".
- Dude, Not Funny!: When he tells Orimoto that the club he's in is called the Service Club, Orimoto laughs and wonders what they even do. Considering the friction between him, Yukino and Yui at the time, Hachiman does not find this funny at all (though he keeps this to himself instead of voicing it out loud).
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: Members of the Service Club (plus Hayama) know that he willfully provides twisted solutions to club's cases, sometimes taking the heat in the process. Others just see a manipulative asshole. Takes an interesting turn later on where Yukino of all people starts giving him too much credit, and starts having doubts about her ability to resolve other's problems.
- Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: Hachiman's are a minor variant, described as rotten, like "eyes of a dead fish."
E-K
- Eating Lunch Alone: He always eats lunch by the tennis courts alone, and states he loves it because it's the one time during the day he can be alone and in peace.
- Enemies List: Hachiman keeps a notepad filled with the names of his peers who he wishes were dead. Among the list is Yukino, whom he quickly added after meeting.
- Establishing Character Moment: Hachiman is a complicated character, to say the least, so he has quite a few of these:
- We have his opening monologue where he rails against the hypocrisy of youth in his essay and his reasoning on why he doesn't change when he argues with Yukino. But at the end of the episode, he still helps Yui see a new perspective by noting the intent behind her cookies.
- A more plot significant one comes in his backstory: He decides to save Yui's dog and gets hit by Yukino's car in the process, cementing himself as a self-sacrificing individual. This aspect of his character is significant for his development into someone who has others who care about him.
- Everybody Hates Mathematics: He is good at certain subjects like Japanese, to the point of bragging about it in the introductory chapters, but he is genuinely bad in Math and the biological sciences, once mistaking a hernia for herpes. This trait is explained in the novels: being socially awkward, he is afraid to ask questions about the subject, which lead to him being flunked at the subject. That's why he focuses on subjects that can be easily understood.
- Family Man: Stated to be this as he takes care of his sister Komachi and the house because his parents are never in home, and he wants to be a House Husband after high school, though that's more due to his unwillingness to join the workforce.
- Fatal Flaw:
- Selflessness and pragmatism. Hachiman solves many issues through social suicide, helping others while disregarding what happens to his own reputation.
- Belief in the Status Quo. Hachiman is firmly convinced that people don't change, so he approaches problems by trying to eliminate them altogether rather than actually improving the people around him. It doesn't help that his methods generally involve him stepping in to solve a matter personally, which goes against the very philosophy the Service Club was founded upon i.e. lending a helping hand and getting people to solve their own problems.
- First-Person Smartass: While he certainly isn't afraid to voice his opinion, he tends to keep his most scathing remarks to himself.
- Note he seems to be submissive when talking with people like Shizuka or Yukino. If his tongue could match his mind, perhaps he could go toe to toe with even Yukino.
- Forgettable Character: Happens frequently due to the low profile he tries to maintain. Ironically he has the same attitude with Saki, constantly forgetting her name, only remembering it on occasions where her brother is involved, and even then he refers to her brother as "that thing."
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: The melancholic. Pessimistic, selfless and pragmatic to a fault.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Starts out this way in the service club, with even nicer characters like Yui commenting on how gross he is, let alone Yukino and Shizuka's opinions of him. However, things change later on, and they genuinely recognize the better side of him.
- Genghis Gambit: Hachiman likes playing this card or a variation of it, with himself as the mutual threat or object of hatred. Unlike the standard gambit, he generally doesn't care whether this pulls the group together or shatters their bonds completely if either would stop the conflict.
- Genre Savvy: Although his arbitrary pessimism might land him in Wrong Genre Savvy, depending on who you ask.
- Go Mad from the Isolation: He tried to fit in but was turned down every single time until he gave up on society accepting him and became a loner instead.
- Good Is Not Nice: Played straight at first, but subverted later on; it is shown that Hachiman really is a nice person, but his methods of communicating and solving problems would say otherwise.
- Guile Hero: Achieves his goals through words and schemes. Be it talking the Festival Chairman into humiliation or winning a toy for Yukino in the arcade by buying it from the manager.
- Hates Being Touched: Physical contact is a big no-no for Hachiman, especially at first. He softens up once he creates a genuine relationship.
- Hated by All: He often deliberately invokes this on himself so that people will hate him instead of someone else. Despite the good it does, many characters, like Yui and Yukino, dislike when Hachiman does this.
- Hates Small Talk: One of Hachiman's reasons for self-isolation. He genuinely hates frivolous stuff, though his inability to make casual conversation is implied to be at least partially responsible.
- The Hermit: In the series, he's the loner who doesn't care about interacting with other people, at least at the beginning of the story.
- Heroic Self-Deprecation: Hachiman's opinion of himself is so poor he never acknowledges when others are grateful to him, believing it is natural for the worthless to sacrifice themselves. His idea of a good ice breaking conversation is putting himself down. Played for Drama later on, as his lack of self-esteem causes some friction for the people who do care about him.
- Hidden Depths: Contrary to many characters assumptions Hachiman is a very intelligent and observant person.
- Best seen in his narrations in-series, where he analyzes the social psychology of those around him, makes numerous allusions to high level literature, and understands the classic anime and manga references Shizuka makes.
- This aspect of him is actually a major plot point later on, with people lampshading how he is a "monster of logic" that searches for hidden meanings behind people's personalities and actions without understanding the emotions that may have driven them.
- His Own Worst Enemy: Because of how jaded he is, he is usually unable to recognize when sincere kindness is directed towards him and assumes that all "kindness" is self-serving and insincere. That's what happens with Yui, sadly, as he mistakes her genuine kindness and willingness to thank him as insincere, and he ends up stating he'll always hate nice girls. This obstinate attitude keeps people that try to approach him at bay.
- House Husband: What he aspires to be, due to his hatred of the labour system.
- Hyper-Competent Sidekick: He ends up being one for Iroha while helping her with her student council duties.
- Hypocrite: Yukino calls him out on his hatred of superficiality by noting that his solutions to problems are the very definition of "superficial", since he's only concerned with making the immediate problem go away while consistently avoiding the "root issue". note While Hachiman ignores her at the time, the subsequent arc and especially the one after has him realize she's absolutely right, which causes him to seriously rethink his worldview.
- Hypocrisy Nod: Despite claiming to hate those who lie, Hachiman is nevertheless well-aware that he lies all the time. The root of the friction between him and Yukino in the latter half of season 1 is that he's come to see her as someone who's perfectly willing to lie despite claiming otherwise, unlike him.
- I Am What I Am: Despite his self-image being overwhelmingly negative, Hachiman starts off mostly at peace and satisfied with being a cynical loner and does not wish to change himself. His adamant nature gradually shifts over the course of the series.
- I Can't Do This by Myself: Initially tried to take on Iroha's request on his own given that he's directly responsible for her problems. However, he's unable to solve the problem and eventually turns to the rest of his club seeking help.
- I Did What I Had to Do: Hachiman is very goal-oriented and will do whatever is most effective to solve a problem, often hurting himself and others in the process.
- Idiot Hair: The cowlick is serves as expressive hair, though he is not stupid, just lazy.
- If It's You, It's Okay: Hachiman is generally heterosexual despite not having the guts or motivation to do anything; however, he can't stop himself from leaning a little around Totsuka. Of course, few guys can, since Totsuka's the cutest girl in the school (or would be if he was a girl).
- I Just Want to Have Friends: What he begrudgingly, and tearfully, admits to Yui and Yukino when he realizes that the problems of the joint Student Councils ballooned beyond his control during the Christmas event planning.
- I'll Take That as a Compliment: Hachiman takes the response a step further.Shizuka Hiratsuka: "Your eyes are like a rotten fish's".Hachiman: "Do I look that much full of DHA? I must be pretty smart."
- I'm Standing Right Here: He doesn't react to people talking smack about him right to his face, and he's so nonchalant about it that Yukino and Yui start defending him when people take it too far.
- Indirect Kiss:
- Subverted. He rejects Yui's offer to drink the mineral water at Kyoto because she had used the scoop before him. Yui is taken aback when she realizes what he could have taken from her actions.
- Gets one from Iroha in volume 11/Season 2 Episode 12 when she shoves the spoon she was using to taste her chocolate into his mouth.
- Ineffectual Loner: He prefers to be left alone, but refusing to interact with others prevents him from ever growing as a person. It is only after Hachiman joins the Service Club that he begins to change both himself and the world he seemingly hates.
- Informed Loner: Within the series, more and more people care about his well-being and consider him a friend, yet he still takes pride in his status as a loner. This is somewhat deconstructed, as his inability to realise that people care about him is the single biggest reason as to why he's so self-sacrificing.
- Insane Troll Logic: His excuses often involve this."Heroes always arrive late. But no one ever criticizes them for their tardiness. In a way, tardiness can be considered justice."
- Insecure Love Interest: His previously terrible experiences with girls have completely ruined his self-esteem, to the point where he cannot comprehend any girl liking him and subsequently ignores or misinterprets the female attention he gets over the series.
- In-Series Nickname:
- Yui refers to him exclusively as "Hikki".
- Some characters can't seem to get his name right, such as Tobe calling him "Hikitani."note
- "Senpai" by Iroha. This could be normal being from a lower class than him, but later is revealed Iroha only refers Hachiman as "senpai".
- Irony:
- In spite of the pretty girls that surround him, his attraction towards Totsuka, a boy, is the most obvious and sincere (see Ambiguously Bi). As a matter of fact, Totsuka is one of the few people that Hachiman treats with sincere kindness and affection from the start. In time, though, Yukino and Yui get into his heart too.
- Seeing himself as a romantic rejection guru of-sorts, he sees every approach by a girl as not romantic or affectionate even when they do mean it. As such, he misses numerous cues from Yui, Yukino and Iroha, as he doesn't consider himself attractive enough to warrant those.
- Jerkass Has a Point:
- Hachiman tends to have some exceptionally harsh criticisms of other characters that are mixed in with his own biases, making him harsh and unsympathetic to most, especially early on; while the series often shows the negative consequences of his methods and the flaws in his own reasining, his arguments aren't necessarily wrong.
- This also applies to his methods of problem solving, which usually involve having himself or others act like complete Jerkasses or putting himself in a position that leads to him becoming more of a social pariah than he already is, such as when he confessed to Ebina in Tobe's stead so Tobe would understand that she's not interested in dating anyone without getting rejected himself. While other characters often call him out on being inconsiderate to those who care about him, it doesn't change the fact that his gambits usually work like a charm, with Hiratsuka even pointing out that between himself, Yukino and Yui, he's the best when it comes to resolving the problem in a manner that satisfies the client. Later Subverted when he realizes that his solutions don't always see the bigger picture: His plan to prevent Isshiki from getting elected would have worked, but would have negatively affected her reputation, while his method of stopping Tsurumi from getting bullied didn't actually end her isolation.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's a gloomy and pessimistic loner with misanthropic tendencies, and often extremely blunt, but he's a well-intentioned, helpful and good person underneath it all, and very selfless, even to a fault. He becomes nicer with his Character Development, though, and underneath his sour facade he is genuinely kind and considerate.
- Knight in Sour Armor: While he is antisocial and is pretty much disgusted by all human beings, including himself, Hachiman is very capable of surprisingly heroic actions. It may not necessarily be pleasant or nice, but he will do the right thing.
L-Z
- Last-Name Basis: Prefers to be this with everyone, mostly because he does not see the point in using first names just to show how close you are with one another.
- Logical Fallacies: Uses and abuses those to no end to justify his outlook on life in the arguments and essays. Gets called out on that repeatedly, and eventually admits to them.
- Loners Are Freaks: He purposely tries to avoid socializing as he finds small talk meaningless, and doesn't want to get hurt again, in the case of dating.
- Loner-Turned-Friend: Initially refused to interact with anyone but being forced into helping people with their personal issues resulted in a lot of them being grateful to Hachiman thus becoming acquaintances with him.
- Loophole Abuse: In a sense. While he does technically solve many of the requests given to the service club, his methods don't really improve the people around him, which causes some frustration among both Shizuka and the other club members.
- Magnetic Hero: A somewhat unconventional example. Despite his personality, he gains the friendship and respect of a number of individuals over the course of the novels after helping them.
- Manipulative Bastard: He has a firm understanding of human nature and psychology, and knows what to do to redirect focus and manipulate emotions as a way to solve problems.
- Martyr Without a Cause: His modus operandi when it comes to solving problems. His strategies often involve destroying his own reputation, though he claims he doesn't care what others think of him so long as the main problem is settled.
- Meaningful Name: His name clearly refers to his date of birth: "hachi" means "eight", and he was born on August 8th.
- Misunderstood Loner with a Heart of Gold: Has some shades of this while undergoing Character Development, where he begins toning down his anti-social tendencies.
- Monster Brother, Cutie Sister: Downplayed. Hachiman isn't exactly ugly or feared by everyone else, but Komachi certainly is a cutie that has nothing to do with him. Still, Hachiman has a Big Brother Instinct over her, also inherited to Rumi and Iroha.
- My Sister Is Off-Limits: Very protective of his sister, and really does not appreciate the fact Kawasaki's brother calls him big brother.
- Never Be Hurt Again: Was initially a primary motivator for Hachiman which he basically accomplished by rejecting others before they could reject him.Hachiman (after remembering a rejected confession of the past): "For me these kinds of romantic developments don't happen in real life. In order to prevent a tragedy (read: rejection) from occurring I just have to be hated."
- Nice Guy: What he really looks for is genuine kindness - despite his attitude, and to the surprise of several characters, he's actually a very nice and considerate guy if you look beyond his cynical thoughts and methods to help others. This becomes more evident with his Character Development.
- Non-Action Snarker: Prefers to use his wits, sarcasm, and brutal honesty to solve a problem. While he does have some athletic ability, it doesn't come into play to solve problems.
- Nonuniform Uniform: Doesn't wear the tie.
- No Social Skills: When he was a child, he was socially awkward and naive. Now he's an anti-social and very distrustful loner because of his Friendless Background, but once you get to know him he's a Nice Guy deep down. Yukino largely shares these qualities in common with Hachiman.
- Not So Above It All: A major part of his character is the fact that even Hachiman isn't immune to his own cynical criticisms, and despite his experiences there's hints that he just wants to experience high school like everyone else even as he looks down on others for it.
- Oblivious to His Own Description: His sister Komachi describes her ideal man, and Hachiman doesn't seem to realize that she just described him perfectly.
- Odd Friendship:
- While by no means friends, he and Tobe manage to get along surprisingly well, Tobe being one of the few popular guys Hachiman actually tolerates. This eventually becomes the case with Hachiman and Hayato, although in this case, neither would describe themselves as friends.
- Outside of the Service club, he mostly hangs out with both Totsuka (a popular tennis player) and Zaimokuza (a chuunibyou otaku), who are indeed genuine friends to him (and he even borders on
Ho Yay with the former).
- Official Couple: With Yukino near the end of the series.
- Only Known by Their Nickname:
- His fellow classmates in 2C refer to him as "Hikitani" though it is implied that only Tobe is ignorant of his actual name and the rest are doing so deliberately.
- Is called Senpai by Iroha, he theorizes that it is because she can't remember his name, but does have a hint of Ship Tease since he notes he is the only one she calls Senpai.
- Perpetual Frowner: His default expression, which isn't too surprisingly considering his outlook on life.
- The Philosopher: Prone to spiraling into deep internal monologues about the futility of social acceptance and society.
- Platonic Declaration of Love: In volume 6, Invoked when Hachiman was tasked to find Sagami for the closing ceremony of the School Festival and Saki's helpful tip made him do this in gratitude. Cue Luminescent Blush from Saki. This scene is omitted in the anime, though later inserted as a flashback.
- Politically Incorrect Hero: Besides his misanthropic tendencies, he also shows signs of indiscriminate misogyny early on, insulting Yui and calling her a slut and freely dubbing girls bitches. This changes with his character development, and as he comes to realize that his own stereotypes were often as shallow as the ones he derided.
- Pragmatic Hero: Dear God, is he ever. Not that he does morally ambiguous deeds, but... He's really pragmatic to a fault, sacrificing his own reputation and behaving in an unkind way to solve others' problems. And sure, he firmly believes in the Status Quo.
- Progressively Prettier: It's mostly due to the second season of the Anime having a completely different studio to animate it, but he's significantly better-looking as the series goes on, even with his trademark "Dead-fish eyes". Averted in the light novel illustrations, where he starts out decent-looking, with his unattractiveness implied to be the result of his bad attitude and trademark eyes.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gives one to Sagami that may have inspired her to become more competant, though it's done primarily to help Yukino fulfill the Service Club's request and make the school festival a success.
- Refusal of the Call: Hachiman was against joining the Service Club and leaving his self-imposed solitude. Unfortunately, Shizuka threatens to hold him back a year if he refuses.
- Reputation Apathy: Hachiman is The Hermit of his school, a highschooler who doesn't care about the reputation he has among his classmates or his school for extension. When he's forced to be part of the Service Club, he still doesn't care about his rep, realizing social suicide acts where he can get as the "bad guy" just with the purpose of accomplish the petition since he doesn't matter what the other boys and girls think about him. This is especially shown in the Kyoto trip, where Hachiman bluntly tells Hayato that if something as simple as a rejection is enough to break him, Tobe and Hina apart, then they can't have been that close to begin with. Yet despite claiming to hate such superficiality... he still sacrifices himself for their sake, simply because he cares that little about what other people think of him.
- Rousseau Was Right: Is surprisingly enough a believer in this, as he shows when he quotes Sōseki Natsume:Hachiman (Quoting Natsume): "You seem to be under the impression that there is a special breed of bad humans. There is no such thing as a stereotype bad man in this world. Under normal conditions, everybody is more or less good, or, at least, ordinary. But tempt them, and they may suddenly change. That is what is so frightening about men. Don't trust anyone - that was what Natsume Soseki was trying to tell us."
- Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: The Savvy Guy to Yui's Energetic Girl. He's reserved, cynical and sarcastic, while she's lively, cheerful and optimistic.
- Selective Obliviousness: Unlike other protagonists in the genre, Hachiman is very observant of the way people act around him. He simply picks and chooses what is necessary to acknowledge.
- She Is Not My Girlfriend: Happens quite a bit in regards to his relationship with Yukino. Averted in the end, when they become the Official Couple.
- Ship Tease: Mostly with Yui, and a surprising amount with Saika. At first, there doesn't appear to be much with Yukino, but there are a lot of subtle hints as the story progresses. Then there are the moments he shares with Shizuka...
- The anime doesn't show much, but in the novels there is a decent amount with Saki.
- Later novels have quite a bit with his underclassman Iroha Isshiki, and surprisingly enough Kaori Orimoto, the girl he asked out in middle-school.
- Smarter Than You Look: Yui assumed that he also wasn't a good student due to his lazy attitude only for it to turn out that his grades in literature and history are quite good. Several characters have also noted that he's far more perceptive than the feeling he gives off.
- The Snark Knight: Hachiman is both defined by this trope and, in a way, also defies it.
- The Social Expert: Ironically, being a loner has granted Hachiman a lot of understanding about social relationships.
- The Spock: Throughout the series, Hachiman tends to think very logically when trying to deduce people's motivations. The downside is that he tends to not grasp the emotional motivations behind other characters.
- Sometimes, however, he used to act as The Kirk in Yukino's initial harsh moments of outright Brutal Honesty.
- Status Quo Is God: Unlike Yukino, he believes that people are the way they are and cannot be changed. Due to said belief, social suicide is the best way to help others in Hachiman's opinion.
- Stepford Snarker: He snarks and speaks self-assuredly of himself in many instances, almost enjoying being a loner. Nevertheless, part of his attitude stems from harsh social experiences and a desire not to be hurt.
- Stock Light-Novel Everyman: Regularly lampshades these qualities and actively defies them, though he still ends up having more than a few of the stereotypical traits. Hachiman is a highly intelligent and competent protagonist who ends up being quite the Chick Magnet, but also loathes people with these traits, though his nature forces him into more idealistic roles regardless. He's more of a (partial) deconstruction of the trope.
- The Stoic: He is usually seen frowning and serious. He rarely lost his cool and is calm most of time.Though he ''does'' lose his cool on rare occasion.
- Stupid Sexy Flanders: Gets this almost every time he's with Totsuka. Hachiman even has a Fauxdian Slip once by muttering to Saika "I want to eat the miso soup you prepared every morning" which is tantamount to a(n indirect) proposal.
- Supporting Protagonist: In relation to the Service Club; while his growth is just as important, the club was originally started for the purpose of helping Yukino.
- Tastes Like Friendship: Briefly considers this after Hayama and Totsuka eagerly ask him to form a group with him for the school trip. Later this becomes real with Totsuka and Zaimokuza being a group outside the Service Club.
- This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: His identity and attitude as a loner are often derided but at the same time offers him some important insights to others characters. Yukino notes once that it's precisely because his eyes are rotten that he can see through rotten facades.
- Token Evil Teammate: Invoked, discussed and deconstructed:
- Though obviously not evil, he can be the most unsympathetic douchebag at times, and is sure the most cynical teammate when it comes to solve problems. He often plays this role in order to get things done, such as finding and bringing Sagami back when she runs off from the school festival. He does get called out on his seemingly harsh treatment of people when he does this however, even though some of them understand the intentions he has. He nearly does this again during the dual holiday festival with another school, but fortunately, Yukino steps in for him and turns into the "bad guy" with her Brutal Honesty.
- While he was always cynical and misanthropic (excessively so even according to the main cast), his status as a self-appointed "villain" only really started during the Chiba village summer camp. One loner girl, Rumi Tsurumi, was isolated by her peers who bullied her for kicks (like deliberately excluding her from group talks), so the Service Club and Hayato's group (namely Toba, Ebina, and Yumiko) took it upon themselves to try to include Rumi as much as they could. Everyone had a different method, and none of it worked, so Hachiman came up with the single most extreme tactic: force Rumi to sever all ties with her peers so she can be free of their exclusion, even though it would only deepen her isolation. His plan was simple: get Toba, Yumiko, and Hayato to act like delinquents and threaten a bunch of school kids with physical violence unless they chose who to abandon first. They had to pick two people to stay with the "delinquents" and the other three would be allowed to leave. They immediately "sacrifice" Rumi, then fight among each other, and right as Hachiman planned to have everyone jump out of the bushes and say "sike!" Rumi flashed her camera at everyone, then grabbed the other girl who was "sacrificed" and made a break for it, saving all four of the girls in the process. But despite Rumi's decision to save them, she's still sitting alone, away from the other four girls, who are themselves refusing to look at each other or say anything to each other because they were all willing to sell each other out in equal measure. While it did expose those bullies for who they really are to each other, Hachiman's method didn't solve Rumi's isolation, and she walks past Hachiman without even looking at him. While both Shizuka and Yukino saw his method as fairly effective at getting Rumi's bullies away from her, not a single soul thought what he did was right. Not Toba, not Shizuka, not Yukino, not Hachiman himself. It's the first instance of Hachiman pulling off a social suicide and he knows exactly how it makes him look.
Shizuka: It's ridiculous how terrible you are. - Too Broken to Break: Hachiman has experienced the deception of human relationships at a young age; in particular, he was rejected by a number of girls and ostracized by his class. All of that made him a lone wolf who isn't interested in making any kind of relationship with other people, sees youth as a big lie, and has a misogynistic view of women in general (with the exception of his little sister); because of all this, Shizuka forced him to be part of the Service Club in order to "save his soul" and "become more human". During the series, Hachiman commits a number of social suicide acts to achieve his goals for the Service Club, which would have left anyone else devastated but he isn't affected a bit... until he sees the collateral damage he inflicts to Yukino and Yui every time he does this in the series, which makes him question his own methods for the first time.
- Took a Level in Kindness: He clearly becomes nicer later on, as he interacts more and more with others and he ultimately looks for genuine kindness in others.
- Trademark Favourite Drink: Canned coffee.
- Trickster Mentor: His way of teaching people lessons usually involve making them look at the situation from a different perspective. While effective, Yukino notes that this way of teaching encourages avoiding or accepting the problem, not confronting or changing to overcome it.
- Troubled, but Cute: Underneath his cynical and snarky attitude, there is actually a Nice Guy with a Friendless Background. He's also quite a Chick Magnet, not that he seems to notice.
- Tsurime Eyes: He has sharp slanted-upward dead eyes befitting his cynical personality and looks, which also contrast him directly with Hayato who seems brighter and more optimistic.
- The Un-Favourite: Whenever the topic of his parents come up (either in his narration or by Komachi) it's typically mentioned that they tend to spoil and dote on Komachi while usually acting much more half-heatedly towards Hachiman (e.g. During birthdays Komachi would get taken out to go present shopping, eat out and get a cake while Hachiman is only given 1000 yen).
- Unknown Rival: Tamanawa mistakenly believes he and Hachiman are competing for Orimoto's affection, while the other two know their relationship is acquaintanceship and just get confused by Tamanawa's competitive attitude about it.
- Unreliable Narrator: The story is from his perspective and filtered through his viewpoint on life. Thus, the reader has to determine how much is true and how much is his own biases.
- Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: When the series starts out, he comes across as a very spiteful person who expresses some sexist attitudes towards girls. This is tempered by most of the characters being dismissive or mocking of him, and it's still downplayed and later subverted since he does become nicer, and his kindness is still genuine.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: In his more vitriolic period, most of his "friendships" qualified, but especially with Yukino. Hachiman could not stand her superior attitude and wise remarks, but in some way he always felt a sort of camaraderie with her, and similar to her. The exception is Totsuka. They're true friends and always kind towards each other... Well, even bordering on Ho Yay.
- What Is This Feeling?: Hachiman has twice, so far, wished to befriend Yukino. There is a good chance he hadn't wanted anyone specific to be his friend for years. Yukino, however, promptly crushes this wish.
- When All You Have Is a Hammer…: Hachiman gradually becomes more reliant on social suicide to solve Service Club problems. This however, causes issues with other characters who have some kind of relationship with him, such as Yui, Yukino, and Hayato.
- Worthy Opponent: Hayato views him as one, due to his ability to get results, even if his methods are a bit unorthodox at times.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Despite his constant self-deprecation, others around him occasionally remind him of this. Yukino and Yui are not fond of the fact that he's willing to throw himself under the bus with very little inconvenience, regardless of the fact that he knows that they definitely don't want him to be hurt anymore.
- Your Favorite: Hachiman is very particular about his coffee, preferring the brand "MAX Coffee." He drinks it so much both Yukino and Komachi know it's his favorite. It's loaded with sugar and a stark contrast to Hachiman's attitude, both implying that he's not quite as mature as he thinks he is and hinting at the fact that he's a good guy beneath the bitterness.
- Zero-Approval Gambit: One of his methods of bringing people together is acting as the "bad guy", most infamously during the Culture Festival. He rationalizes it by saying he doesn't care about his social standing, so he can easily soak up all the hate and be as terrible of a person as possible to reach his goal. And to be fair, his lack of standing in the school makes it so people don't know or care enough about him to hate him anyway.
- But this has serious drawbacks the more he does it. Even for those who don't see him as a friend, people actually close to him hate this side of him, and will frequently get angry when they see him playing the "bad guy" or taking the most embarrassing and unpleasant tasks to get a job done.
