Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Come wa Machigatteiru Kan - Episode 8 - 10 Second Anime

Hachiman convinces the PTO to approve Yukino’s prom event proposal. Hachiman, Yui, and Yukino’s relationships reach a turning point in the aftermath.

Episode 8 – “Wishing That, at the Very Least, I Don't Make Any More Mistakes.”

Hmm.

I never thought Hachiman would pull his ultimate trump card against Mrs. Yukinoshita, but he reached all the way back to the pivotal event that started the whole Oregairu love triangle. We kept getting reminders that Hachiman broke his leg saving Yui’s dog from a car running it over. This mix of gratitude, responsibility, and admiration is the source of Yui’s emotions for Hachiman and why it’s still an open question whether she loves him or it’s a case of puppy love. Not “puppy love,” but love that he saved her puppy. It’s been so long since I watched the first two seasons, I don’t remember if Yukino knows that same accident ties all three of them together. But Mrs. Yukinoshita does!

A Yukinoshita car and driver hit Hachiman as he saved a Yuigahama dog and the Yukinoshita family paid for his hospital bills. Hachiman received his monetary restitution, but he never met anyone to give him an emotional sense of closure over it. Apparently, Mrs. Yukinoshita agreed she owed him one, so they’re even now that she let Yukino have her prom, right? If we weren’t watching a show that wants to a romantic comedy into a mixed-up tragedy, you would be. It’s up to Yukino and Yui to ruin Hachiman’s plans of getting the Service Club back together and back to normal. That’s not going to happen in a neat way after the shadow operation Hachiman ran. At least he didn’t get the whole school hating on him and worsening his reputation with this latest stunt. The parents and faculty, on the other hand, might want a closer look at this morose boy with the fake ingratiating smile.

Heh.

Hayato and Hachiman are dark mirror images of each other. Hachiman drinks “Goorgia” Maxis Coffee, while Hayato drinks “Doss” Black Coffee. The Captains Committee is on board with Yukino’s plan, but Hachiman asks Hayato about personal help. Sneaky. Hachiman fixates on proving Haruno wrong about Yukino being codependent on him. Hayato wants Hachiman to admit he loves Yukino by going to such great lengths to support her from the shadows, but he calls it “a man’s pride.”

Photo shoot at the beach! Camera can’t tell it is winter when girls with short skirts and bare legs run on the surf and sand. Yui’s connections to the beautiful people clique continues to pay dividends. Hachiman is such a dude. Watching girls apply hot patches is the new otaku fetish. Fujoshi Ebina knows how to take hot pics of hot girls. Hachiman and Zaimokuza want to look but don’t want to look. Exquisite torture. Ebina likes dark heroes like Hachiman too. It’s a common character type in galge, right? Hachiman has the innate ability of befriending the peripheral friends of any group. Sneaky bastard.

Oregairu is so old the website for Hachiman’s fake prom project still has Google Plus on it. Excuse me, 8+. E is supposed to Facebook, I take it. No love for Tumblr. Well, there never was any love for Tumblr anyway. Hachiman thanks the nerds of the gaming club for their help and Yui likes his progress in social niceties. Pretty girls smiling at Hachiman is our dark hero’s kryptonite.

Haruno doesn’t buy Hachiman’s competing plan prom proposal. She’s still big on the theory the love triangle is in a dysfunctional relationship, with the other two enabling Yukino’s behavior in not asking for help. Who’s arguing about semantics now? Just because Yukino didn’t ask for Hachiman’s help in public but did so through an adversarial challenge doesn’t seem so codependent to me. I’m only arguing about it because I don’t like Haruno’s attitude and glib application of 12 Step Program strategies to personal development issues in teenagers. They’re not adults yet, so the only therapy they might need apply to emotional and non-rational object fixations. Let’s try “curing” Yukino of codependency after college, m’kay? Haruno warns Hachiman that the PTO doesn’t argue fairly, likes to bring up issues the other side has never heard of, and the one doing so as a representative will be Yukino’s mother. Sounds like an uphill slog. Does Hachiman have a way around these obstacles? I think he does! Uh oh. Yui heard that buzzword “codependent.” She will have ideas about their relationships in a martyr sort of way.

Here we go. It’s Hachiman’s moment to persuade Mrs. Yukinoshita to approve Yukino’s prom. Nice. Shizuka-sensei wants some personal time with “the guy in charge.” I’m still not clear on why she has no strong feelings either way on the event. Pure disinterest in her daughter’s activities when they have no impact on her future? The family didn’t like her little rebellion in throwing the student council presidency away. Hoh. Mrs. Yukinoshita knew Hachiman set up a false gambit to move the PTO to approve the other plan. Shizuka-sensei as the faculty rep had her own piece to move in and take advantage of the competing plans. Thinking the kids would hold their own prom if the PTO shot both plans down, the school wants to exert some control over an official one. Almost there. Hachiman needs one more push, because adults don’t argue fairly. Boom! Roasted! Hachiman is the kid you ran over a couple of years ago! That is totally not a fair argument. Doesn’t matter. Mrs. Yukinoshita is on board now. Ha. Hachiman will display his totally healed leg by dancing at the prom! Making your target think past the sale is great persuasion. Mrs. Yukinoshita appraised Hachiman anew.

Yui pushes back against Haruno’s assessment of the love triangle’s codependency. Unfortunately, she’s wrong about an enabler’s feelings not hurting. It happens all the time. Yukino and Hachiman finally reunite in the Service Club room. Hachiman congratulates Yukino for receiving approval for her prom proposal. She doesn’t seem happy about it. Outwardly, she won, but she knows Hachiman achieved his goal of helping her. So, she’ll take advantage of his prize, by asking him to fulfill her wish. She wants Hachiman to grant Yui’s wish! Let’s see Hachiman squirm out of this one.

Epilogue. Yui and Yukino need their catharsis scene. There’s always so much left unsaid. Did Yui just declare openly her intention to pursue Hachiman? To the audience, I mean. Not Yukino, of course.