Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Come wa Machigatteiru

I suppose. I wasn't really a "loner", since I had a few close friends, but I never managed to fit in with the "big crowd", so to speak, despite seriously trying at first. I spent most of my time in school as one half of Those Two Guys sitting in the background not getting involved with anything.

I remember this one time where my entire class were being chewed out because of something everyone was involved in (harassing/insulting teachers online, I believe). Only my friend and I got out of it because we had absolutely no clue about what was going on, and the teachers believed us.

I'd like to take a moment to contrast this show with Boku Wa Tomodachi Ga Sukunai.

Kodaka and Hachiman are both loners to start off with but Hachiman is really strongly a loner in a way that... He's level 99 or 100 is what I'm saying and the way he acts really drives home the shell he's created for himself. He's certainly a strong character, but his social evolution has taken an incredibly niche specialisation in a way that serves only to alienate him. And yes, we the audience are hit hard in the face by these prickly defences of his.

Kodaka is closer to a normal person who effects a hight level of disinterest.

With regards to the harem elements, Yahari Ore No Seishun Love Come Wa Machigatteiru has been surprisingly light on them. So far we've delved into a particular breed of cynicism bred by a particular type of loner. This certainly makes it more interesting than your average harem series, although to be honest, not a lot has happened so far.

Haganai dives right in to harem comedy, but the first season is just your average harem fair. However the payoff is in the second season, when we start to deconstruct Oblivious to Love.

So it's all in what Oregairu does from here. I have to admit Haganai's deconstruction was probably set up better than anything I've seen in this so far, but this hits much harder in the shorter term and to be honest is a little more realistic. It depends how the circumstance evolves or devolves as the case may be.

edited 27th Apr '13 4:40:10 AM by UltimatelySubjective

Yes, I can forgive the teacher for making a Scryed reference, but not for hitting a student.

Th punching is obviously exaggerated slapstick, though actually hitting students is quite common in East Asian nations.

I choose to see that as they're close enough to hurt each other with no hard feelings.

Yuki and Yozora are also similar, now that I think about it.

Well, I can relate to having a friend like Hayato anyway. Not specifically in the "super-nice" sense, but just someone who could casually walk between social circles without caring. The friend-of-a-friend thing seems awfully familiar too.

Yukinon is always brutaly honest who belive everyone should do their best. Yozora is Consummate Liar that likes drag people down on her level.

They look similiar as they are cool beuty, but their motivation and attitude is diametraly opposite.

x6: From what we've seen so far, I'm not even sure if it fits under the Harem-genre label, and if it does it'd need at least a dozen blatantly misused tropes like, "Deconstruction," and, "Subversion," working as adjectives. Hikki is in the process of making friends. Male friends, as a straight male himself. Only one female has shown any possible interest in him, and we're not sure what the circumstances are behind that. Everyone else seems indifferent.

More importantly, his personality is misanthropic and selfish. This isn't to say that he's a bad person, but rather that he doesn't care about people in general. On the flipside, he cares strongly about those close to him, and will develop strong relationships with those around him.

In contrast, Harem protagonists are usually philanthropic and selfless. You know, saving a girl they just met and whatnot. However, they don't care about those around them on a personal level—sure, they might become friendly, but rather than save someone because they care about them, they'd save someone because they're in danger. These protagonists are thus introverted—they form close relationships with a small portion of the people who'd consider them their friend. This is pretty important for the Harem genre—a Harem protagonist can't decide that he really likes a girl and start dating, he has to be indecisive.

edited 27th Apr '13 9:24:24 AM by Rem

I think she's more brutal than honest, really.

A protagonist like that is not strictly necessary for a harem series, but it's what you almost always see. Protagonists who don't like people are just as effective at delaying the resolution like your average harem protagonist. Hikki does fit that bill.

Also, one female and one female-looking male has shown interest in him. Maybe.

I'm not expecting it, but I think it would be pretty interesting if a show like this took the gay option seriously.

I don't really think most shows like these, or harem shows, take most options seriously. One, maybe two if you're lucky. But yes, that angle is interesting, but kind of falls flat for me because Hikki's only reacting because he sees a female.

edited 27th Apr '13 2:52:51 PM by AnotherDuck

I think he's hitting the mid-point there in regards to harem protagonists. You have the aforementioned selfless paragon who fails to react to the beauty of the surrounding characters, then those who take perversion to the next level and embrace it wholeheartedly. So he is reacting, but well, just that. It's like how some people talk to their friends about girls (1 to 10 scale), but since he has no friends yet, it goes straight to monologue.

That being said, I'm getting the reluctant hero vibe from him. Heroic acts being very....out of the limelight. Not really making a scene if he can help it.

All these girls aren't positively fawning over him right away, which is good. It's as it should be really if you have to do a harem series.

I do expect the girls to start showing more interest in him eventually though. And I count three good candidates currently (including the silver-haired girl).

It realy might happen later, but question is if it will get animated up to that point...

I can't say I relate to the MC. I never was one of those "Fuck everyone and fuck the world" type of loners. More of the "Fuck everyone who isn't my friend" at first then just "Lets try to be nice to everyone" as I grew out that.

Still, interesting show.

It feels very minimalist (Especially the opening,)

I must say that I don't mind it.

ESPECIALLY with all of the shows that are jumping their sharks in the second season nowadays by getting a little too over the top.

edited 28th Apr '13 1:53:04 AM by Roraborialis

Nah I wasn't really referring to Hikki's personality, more like the some of the social situations that happen to him.

Though I'm not sure why everyone's saying this show's going to be a harem. At most what we'll have is a love triangle. All I hope for is that they don't play the oblivious card when the girls start fawning over Hikki. But I'm sure the writer is savvy enough for that. (I hope.)

And if it does get the harem treatment, I'm hoping for a distinguishing factor as good as Haganai's

Rather than oblivious I'd think Hikki would become wary. Like he does notice the affection, but he thinks it's a ploy or something.

Hikki's already a distinguishing factor though. Like I said earlier I'm pretty sure this will be the opposite of Haganai and not have any major narrative shifts later (except perhaps increasing harem stuff).

Not like Haganai, but something as unique.

Well I'm not expecting any surprises.

I am.

Bets are on the car incident thingy.

Or the fact that he has nothing to lose!

At this point, the standard trope would be that it was Yui's dog and Yukino's car. Just based on the number of characters we've seen so far, and the fact that the odds of two characters that we haven't seen already being to blame is roughly equivalent to that of being eaten by a shark. While on dry land.

Here's hoping they vary it up, and that the girl was Zaimokuza, it was Hayama's car, and Silver-hair was the driver.

Yukinon said she never tells lies right?