Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Come wa Machigatteiru Kan - Episode 5 - 10 Second Anime

Hachiman decides to help Yukino organize the prom against her wishes.

Episode 5 – “Shizuka Hiratsuka Deeply Longs for the Days Past”

Hmm.

Flat out, my favorite moment this Oregairu episode was when Shizuka-sensei laughed in Hachiman’s face when he said he’s used to girls not wanting his attention. Pause. Horse laugh! Every dramatic and emotionally draining thing that has happened to Hachiman before and after Shizuka-sensei forced him into the Service Club has happened because some girl sought out his attention. Hachiman’s humility here is endearing, but he needs to recognize his superpowers of manipulation and leadership before he becomes an adult. A future Hachiman in full control of all his powers with “bad boy eyes” is a terrifying proposition.

On a blogging process note, these kinds of episodes from Oregairu are difficult to handle as a visually focused critic and fan. Sitting around talking, while important to the light novel source, is boring visually. The anime production studio SHAFT is famous for turning these kinds of scenes into visually interesting animated PowerPoint presentations, using music and sound effects to highlight a word heavy dialogue scene. For Oregairu, the studio feel. chose to focus on closeups of the characters’ movements to make emotional accents to their rapid-fire word spitting. I can appreciate their intention, but scenes of clenching fists and hands gripping skirt hems are clichés now and moved me out of the viewing experience. This made me notice how much the characters were talking instead of doing. Oregairu the light novel source is wordy, with lots of internal monologues. Adapting that to an episodic anime was always going to be a challenge.

Heh.

Shizuka-sensei knows Hachiman likes black coffee. He can’t say no to that “Goorgia” Maxis can. The PTO is making the kids “cancel” the Prom on their own by not approving any of the changes they make to accommodate their restrictions. They’re running out the clock. The way Shizuka-sensei talks about being “top dog” in a bureaucracy still makes me think she’s moving into the principal position, but then she also talked about transferring. I don’t see a confirmation that she’s leaving the school, but she is facing a change in her career.

Hachiman wants Yukino to succeed in putting on the prom, but he’ll have to help in a way where she doesn’t accept his help. Complicated. This is where Hachiman usually finds a way to be the bad guy making a good thing happen. I think he’s finally going to embrace being the good guy but find a way for Yukino to be the better guy. This is Hachiman also trying to be his best self. He needs to fight Yukino seriously and find a way for her to win on her terms. Complicated! Ha! Shizuka-sensei flirts with Hachiman. What a tease. Why the hell hasn’t anyone picked her up yet?


Hachiman’s next opponent – Iroha. It’s like the Labors of Hercules. Classic Iroha. She needs to make Hachiman’s intentions about her and then dismiss them as a zero sum emotional transaction, yet she comes out ahead. Oh, that is not something Iroha wants to hear. Hachiman says he needs to help Yukino because he’s taking responsibility. That’s been her line with him since before her election to student council president. Hachiman deliberately chose to take responsibility for Yukino and not her. Iroha just received an inkling of what Yui feels.

Holy crap, Iroha captured the feminine mindset in two sentences. “Girls don’t change their minds once they’ve decided on something, though girls are quick to change their stance on whatever someone else has decided.” The kicker is the last part on how they avoid responsibility: “if things ever go south then we just play dumb.” Young men, please pay attention to this if you need to deal with a group of girlfriends.

Here’s the next Labor of Hachiman – convincing Yukino to take his help to put on the prom without her accepting his help. Complicated! Oops. Yukino noticed she’s losing girlfriend points to Yui by spending all her time with the student council. Lots of talking but let’s focus on Yukino’s zettai ryouiki. Yukino and Iroha hadn’t figured out that the PTO’s demands were always going to keep shifting until it was too late logistically to schedule a prom. Hachiman figures he has a fixer role to play between the prom committee and the parents and school officials. To convince Yukino to take his help, he’s going to use the Battling Business Units model or the Shadow Government model to plan the prom so the parents will get locked into an approval of one plan before they can say no to another one. The kids can make the PTO run out the clock on their terms.

Yabbai! Hachiman told Yukino to her face that he wants to save her. Iroha feels scandalized. That’s an open declaration of love, isn’t it? Hachiman knows what he needs to do now. Fight Yukino’s plans until she creates one the parents will have to approve. Hachiman the devil says, “I’m not saying this because I want permission. I’m just going to do it anyways.” Goad, goad, goad. Uh oh. Yukino’s batsu game condition made Hachiman blush. Does he want to win or lose now? Both sounds about right.


Aha! Iroha is jealous. She wanted Hachiman to take responsibility for her feelings too. Whoever wins in Yukino and Hachiman’s showdown is going to make that dance happen in the opening credits.

Obvious foreshadowing is obvious. Iroha worried that Yukino would push herself too hard and then she saw her “crying” from using eye drops.