What They Say:
So exactly what’s going to happen when Hachiman Hikigaya, an isolated high school student with no friends, no interest in making any and a belief that everyone else’s supposedly great high school experiences are either delusions or outright lies, is coerced by a well meaning faculty member into joining the one member “Services Club” run by Yukino Yukinoshita, who’s smart, attractive and generally considers everyone in her school to be her complete inferior?
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With the committee time having been a big part of the previous episode, which certainly had its moments as it progressed and we saw the dynamic unfold, the festival is getting closer and the shift towards what needs to be done there grows. The prologue covers it nicely when it comes to things like costume design and the like and that makes for some simple and cute material. But it’s when the show pivots to the idea that Yukino hasn’t been around for a bit that it gets interesting as Hachiman and Yui go to visit her at home and we discover that she has quite the place. Of course, she’s just as she is in school with her personality, though there’s something wounded and tired about her that still raises the concern to a good degree.
The time with all of them there is pretty muted, and Yukino has some concern over why Hachiman showed up as well, but it works to further show the kind of strange bond this group has been brought together with. They’re not exactly friends in a way as there’s no casual socializing going on here or something along those lines, but there’s an understanding of outcasts of a sort that allows them to deal with each other better than one might expect. With Hachiman, it becomes interesting to see how he’s progressed through the show because of both of them, which leads him to coming up with some interesting ideas when back at the committee side of things. His approach is different in what they’re working towards when it comes to thinking up a slogan for the festival and more of the thematic elements, but he ties it together in an amusing way that strikes at everyone else on the committee.
As the festival itself gets underway, we do have some fun bits with how those that had taken the lead and really talked it up end up not being able to handle the stress of actually dealing with the live audiences and the pressures of it all. It’s amusing in its own way, but you also end up feeling bad for them because of the way they react to it. Things go through this motion a couple of times and it’s fun to see how things get back under control and the kinds of authority used. But there’s also some small but very good moments that hit along the way, particularly when Hachiman and Yui spend time together and she proves once more that she is a bit of an odd sort with what she does, but it’s all with a good heart and good fun.
In Summary:
With the festival aspect itself getting underway, there’s a lot to like here with what the show does. The opening aspect with Hachiman and Yui visiting Yukino’s home is somewhat revelatory as to who she is as our environment certainly defines us, and seeing the trio together in it has an unusual feeling to it. Similarly, we get to see how Hachiman pushes back against things in the committee side of the festival with the girls who had taken on the authority role without doing much of the work and the way that gets addressed is comical and spot on. The third act here is what sells it for me though in that the popular girls end up not being able to handle things well and once the meager heckling sets in, it just gets worse from there, but never truly out of hand. Yet these small moments can certainly be damaging, and touching on that even lightly is a welcome aspect.
Grade: B-
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
