Shizuka-sensei offers Hachiman the outside perspective he needs. Hachiman opens up to Yui and Yukino.
Heh.
Shizuka-sensei is best sensei. I mean, she drives an Aston Martin...
Is it really deus ex machina if it's an established character that drops by in her awesome car to pick up the hero so he can receive divine wisdom in a remote location? I guess an Aston Martin is like a winged chariot. It was driven by a goddess. An unmarried goddess who smokes and drinks...
Hachiman is a lady-killer. He just doesn't know it yet.
Shizuka had an agenda for Yukino and this might be the first time she explained it so openly. To unlock her potential, she needs to form relationships. It's not enough to be smart, perceptive and know how to solve problems. Leadership is a skill that requires understanding people's feelings and thoughts. Yui and Hachiman, who has his own problems, was an opportunistic catalyst that Shizuka thought could help her.
Yes, that was a big deal for Hachiman to sit right across from Yui and Yukinoshita.
Shizuka said some wise things. People hurt each other just by being. Whether you care about someone makes you notice that you affect other people. That's been the whole point of this season so far - Hachiman hurting himself with his actions was hurting those who cared about him.
The other thing that Shizuka pointed out was that Hachiman is good at figuring out what other people think, but he doesn't know what others feel, which is as important, or even moreso, as judging their reasons for acting the way they do.
Is Iroha joining the Service Club too? She's featured in the opening credits standing next Hachiman where there used to be an empty space.
Hmm.
The focus of the story has always been on Hachiman, so the audience is pretty familiar with how broken he is in trying not to hurt himself by getting close to others. However, the end of the episode reminded us why he was tricked into joining the Service Club in the first place - to break through Yukino's emotionless shell. Hachiman was only half as broken as Yukino, because Yukino couldn't figure out what other people were thinking or feeling. Yui is the other flipside of Yukino's perception problems because she's empathic but not analytic. Together, Hachiman and Yui make a great pair and a great foil to show Yukino how to deal with people.
The big catharsis has been achieved. Hachiman wants something real, which means letting others beside his sister see that he has a real curiosity about what makes other people tick. That's just who he is. It's not a tool for manipulating people. He's just genuinely interested in people. That's not something an established loner cynic would want to let out in public. Hachiman has an image to uphold. Or does he? He'll have to reconcile his personality with his persona and be confident about it. Hachiman being true to himself should be a nice example to Yukino in being open about her ambitions and quirks. But first, they need to get that Christmas event at the community center sorted out. Buzzword bingo is over.
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