My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU TOO!

[WeiJingsheng]

Seems unequivocal to me.
The show makes a point of Yui's stupidity. Fair point about Isshiki's facade, it's definitely more 'outward' confidence.

 

[ZetsubouKaiji]

I don't consider it stupidity but naivety. She's extremely innocent which sometimes makes her come off as sounding dumb, but from her dialogue she clearly understands when things are happening but doesn't know how to deal with them.

 

[tootalls]

They describe their school as one with serious students with intent on entering college and made references to how difficult it was to be get in. So I doubt anyone there is stupid, but personalities have to vary.

 

[ZetsubouKaiji]

Yeah, the problem is with their social skills. All the characters are made up of different kinds of teenage personalities. This season has been good about fleshing them out and making them actual characters that go beyond their personality type. The first season did that for the main cast, but this season also does it for the secondaries. Having watched a bunch of high school anime there is also an emphasis on girls that act kinda dumb as a way of looking cute.

I guess it does happen in other places but the stereotype is pretty prevalent in Japan or at least in anime, but that doesn't describe Yui but rather Isshiki. Like I said before Yui is more on the side of sweet but naive. She could never be fake though because she wears her heart on her sleeve. It makes her a great counter point to Hiki and Yukino who hide their emotions behind a shell. As the episodes show Yukino and Hiki are drawn to her because she's so different from them and they don't want to hurt her.

 

[Gens]

Ep 8

Spoiler

Obvious CG car was obvious.

In all seriousness though, a pretty good episode. Favorite part was definitely 8man's internal monologue after he finished his chat with Sensei, the direction for that was superb.

Sensei's talk was the second best part, but I'm tired of everyone pushing development with Yukinoshita. I still hate her character, and even if I didn't she and 8man still have zero chemistry. 8man and Yui are opposites personality-wise, but at least they compliment one another and therefore their dialogue feels realistic. Yukinoshita, on the other hand, is too similar to 8man while at the same time being so fundamentally different that any and all interaction between the two is nothing but grating. The pairing doesn't work, but I still feel that's the way the show is leaning, which is very unfortunate.

The appeal for help in the clubroom was also excellently done, with fantastic emotional appeal that didn't feel forced in the slightest. Again ruined by Yukinoshita, though. I actually think this series would be better if she were only a minor character, or even if she didn't exist at all.

There were a couple of funky character animation moments, especially during 8man's appeal (just watch his face, and his mouth in particular), but maybe it was just me. A little distracting, but not a real issue.

Weekly reminder that Komachi is bestgirl. Unfortunately only got one still shot of her this episode, though.

Spoiler

I'd have to disagree about the zero chemistry part too, as ZK's mentioned already, the dialogue between the two in the first season was easily one of the best parts and the only reason we haven't seen it as much is because they're not on good talking terms this time around. Admittedly, I find Yukino more alien and a little more frustrating to watch as a person, as a character though, I think she's great. But on one hand, I have to consider that it's easier to empathize with 8man squarely because we're seeing everything from his collective point of view when it comes to her and plus the internal monologuing just generally gives people a better understanding on what he's truly thinking.

Anyway, that's all I wanted to add because I dunno but I think her character's being treated a little unfairly here.

 

[nezra132]

First off...

Spoiler

Besides Haruno is the best girl. Did you see that blush when Hiki commented she wasn't married because men had terrible taste? If she'd heard the rest of what he was think she might have fainted. I loved that bit in particular because its the first time we've ever seen her thrown off balance by something. A nice moment where the perpetual troll ends up getting trolled just a little.

Maybe that was just a typo, but you are aware 8man was with Hiratsuka sensei, right? Not Haruno. Which fundamentally changes the meaning of a lot of the dialogue from that scene.

Spoiler

What do you imagine the series would look like without her? If she were removed most of the series wouldn't even happen. As you say Yui and Hiki are opposites and the two would have never had a reason to interact if it wasn't for the club. She's exactly the kind of person that makes him most uncomfortable and if it wasn't for Yukino and the club forcing them together then they'd never spend time together. The same goes for most interactions in the series. I understand the reasons you might not like the character and everyone probably has their own opinion about which girl is best for Hiki, but it's a bit extreme to want to cut out one of the most important characters in the series.

Her reaction during that scene makes sense because Hiki is going from one extreme to the other and it would confuse most people, but especially someone as guarded as she is. It also forced Hiki to steel his resolve which lead to a nice bit of dialogue with Yui where he shows that he means business with this change. No more superficial solutions, he wants something more. For her it's an impossible scenario because either he's full of shit which sucks or he means it which means she'll have to accept him back after she convinced herself that she would be fine with him just walking away. She wants to accept but she's afraid of being burned by him again. Both scenarios would be hard for her to swallow. He ends up proving himself when he goes after her and after the scene on the roof there's no way she can't accept it because of Yui. Yui isn't just good for Hiki, she's also really good for Yukino, because Yui one person that Yukino accepts and doesn't want to let down.

Spoiler

Allow me to both clarify and modify my statements; I wrote that at about 2:00 am last night when I was quite tired and slightly upset from zero quality bestgirl.

I misspoke; Yukinoshita is essential for the series. Or, at least, she was. It was thanks to her that 8man even joined their club, thanks to her that Yui became a part, and thanks to her that we got so much character development in the first season. The dialogue exchanges between Yukinoshita and 8man were some of the most enjoyable parts of the first season; their contrasting personalities and different views of the world despite both existing as outcasts were fundamental for both explaining and developing 8man's personality. In addition, the conflicts between their respective characters and viewpoints were the reason many of the tasks they handled ended up the way they did.

Cue season two. The first mini-arc felt as much a continuation of the first season's style as any, and Yukinoshita played her part. But her character is, and was, becoming dry. I understand she's confused; she doesn't understand the fundamentals of 8man's character and every action he takes seemingly betrays her expectations. Yet at the same time she treasures her bond with him (or at least with the club as a whole) and so she's torn between embracing the things she values and rejecting the things that continually make her uncomfortable.

The problem is that we, as the viewers, don't have access to her thoughts and inner monologues. We get plenty of 8man, yes, and it's largely thanks to that limited omniscience that the series has succeeded so much thus far. But from the viewer's (and 8man's) perspective, all Yukinoshita does is complain. She sits there in her shell and acts distant and bitter. When people reach out to her, she stabs them in return, and when people take actions she doesn't agree with she rejects them altogether. Then she holds grudges and refuses to let bygones be bygones without melodrama.

She played a huge role in the first season, but now it seems she's just there to provoke conflict and draw out drama. Maybe this arc is just an outlier, but there's no counting on it. In any case, I've never been especially fond of her type of character and her recent actions on top of that just hurt her (in my eyes) even more.

I wish we, as the viewers, got access to some of her own internal monologues, since I feel that could make her a much more sympathetic character than she is right now.

 

[ZetsubouKaiji]

First off...
Maybe that was just a typo, but you are aware 8man was with Hiratsuka sensei, right? Not Haruno. Which fundamentally changes the meaning of a lot of the dialogue from that scene.

Ah thanks for catching that. I did indeed mean Hiratsuka sensei. I have no idea why I'd type Haruno.

Spoiler

Allow me to both clarify and modify my statements; I wrote that at about 2:00 am last night when I was quite tired and slightly upset from zero quality bestgirl.

I misspoke; Yukinoshita is essential for the series. Or, at least, she was. It was thanks to her that 8man even joined their club, thanks to her that Yui became a part, and thanks to her that we got so much character development in the first season. The dialogue exchanges between Yukinoshita and 8man were some of the most enjoyable parts of the first season; their contrasting personalities and different views of the world despite both existing as outcasts were fundamental for both explaining and developing 8man's personality. In addition, the conflicts between their respective characters and viewpoints were the reason many of the tasks they handled ended up the way they did.

Cue season two. The first mini-arc felt as much a continuation of the first season's style as any, and Yukinoshita played her part. But her character is, and was, becoming dry. I understand she's confused; she doesn't understand the fundamentals of 8man's character and every action he takes seemingly betrays her expectations. Yet at the same time she treasures her bond with him (or at least with the club as a whole) and so she's torn between embracing the things she values and rejecting the things that continually make her uncomfortable.

The problem is that we, as the viewers, don't have access to her thoughts and inner monologues. We get plenty of 8man, yes, and it's largely thanks to that limited omniscience that the series has succeeded so much thus far. But from the viewer's (and 8man's) perspective, all Yukinoshita does is complain. She sits there in her shell and acts distant and bitter. When people reach out to her, she stabs them in return, and when people take actions she doesn't agree with she rejects them altogether. Then she holds grudges and refuses to let bygones be bygones without melodrama.

She played a huge role in the first season, but now it seems she's just there to provoke conflict and draw out drama. Maybe this arc is just an outlier, but there's no counting on it. In any case, I've never been especially fond of her type of character and her recent actions on top of that just hurt her (in my eyes) even more.

I wish we, as the viewers, got access to some of her own internal monologues, since I feel that could make her a much more sympathetic character than she is right now.

Spoiler

Ah okay, that makes a lot more sense and I see where you're coming from even if I don't agree. You're right in that she's become a bit impenetrable this season, but that's because the recent arcs have shifted focus away from her and the club to focus on 8man's development. The series has been juggling a lot of different characters this season and she's suffered from a lack of screen time.

However, I think we can extrapolate a fair amount about what is going on with her from the context of this season's events. As for melodrama, well stupid melodrama is part of being a teenager. It's a time when emotions are especially high and everything that's happening feels like it's the biggest thing in the world. It's one of those points where the series captures that awkward embarrassing part of being a teenager. A lot of these moments are the ones that they'll look back on and cringe when they're older and have gained some more perspective.

I can see why you'd find that annoying about her. She's not exactly my favorite kind of character either, but I think this series handles it much better than most other series I've seen.

I expect that a lot of your issues with her will be resolved in the upcoming episode as she's now accepted his request and they will be working together again. This episode was a pretty big breakthrough. I dunno if we'll see more of her internal monologues but we should still be able to grasp more from the context of her actions.

 

[WeiJingsheng]

I don't consider it stupidity but naivety. She's extremely innocent which sometimes makes her come off as sounding dumb, but from her dialogue she clearly understands when things are happening but doesn't know how to deal with them.

Just realised, my impression is informed mostly by reading a little ahead from the light novel.
As for Yui, she often looks confused when Hiki and Yukino are talking and isn't very articulate or practical. Has moments when she can be intuitive, I guess, and does have other qualities.

 

[Etue]

Just realised, my impression is informed mostly by reading a little ahead from the light novel.
As for Yui, she often looks confused when Hiki and Yukino are talking and isn't very articulate or practical. Has moments when she can be intuitive, I guess, and does have other qualities.

Yui is basically the normal girl in the group or the ''Heart'' a person who wears her heart on her sleeve. ( but of course she keeps secrets like a normal person, this anime is all about defying character archtypes, afterall )

Yukino and Hiki are both types of silent pragmatists but have complete moral dissonance at this point in the story. Despite her dislike of Hikki hurting himself she hurt herself emotionally quite often and perhaps is somewhat realizing how hypocrite both of them are. That said Yui has had her dose of knowing how hypocrite she is as well.

Eitherway, Yui is the sort of normal girl between two people who a gifted in different ways which considering this anime is a mildly more realistic piece on real human nature than most highschool anime has a place. Remember Yukino's character has the most mysteries behind it at the moment. That said, I don't like her much either at this point in time in the second season. She was good in the first but this season she's been rather ''bleh'' despite this presumably having a good explanation.

 

[Gens]

I'm going to play devil's advocate for a moment here because I like Yukino. But for this season in particular so far, I've found her the least interesting of the trio. And I think that yeah, it's mainly because of that screen time issue she's suffered for it. Also, I still find her way too ambiguous at times in what her true motivations are and thoughts. I mean, it's of course nice and all, to infer as much as I can just from the way she acts and her body language but it's not that obvious in certain instances. I'd probably like it more if the show goes to explore her issues more in-depth in the future and I get something more concrete since as Etue said, she is pretty much the most mysterious out of them. It's not a bad thing though, but I pretty much think she's losing the character development race in comparison to Yui and Hachiman in terms of being fleshed out. I mean, I personally don't feel a complete connection quite yet because we haven't taken a significant amount of time to know her on a more personal basis and those circumstances.

But anyway, I'm sure whatever follows in the future will more than make up for it as the focus comes back to her.

 

[ZetsubouKaiji]

Can't really argue with that. There's only so much that can inferred from her actions especially when she's such a closed off character. Knowing a bit about what is going on in her head would flesh out the context and more her more relatable. I've pretty much just put my faith in this series doing that before the end. However, it's hard to argue that she hasn't been the least interesting of the mains this season thus far. I just don't think that it has taken away from the anything in the series yet, but if it doesn't change by the end of the season then I would have a different opinion.

 

[Yami]

Weekly reminder that Komachi is bestgirl. Unfortunately only got one still shot of her this episode, though.

Koma-chan was obvious choice from the first episode she appeared in =D

 

[ZetsubouKaiji]

Oh you guys and your imouto complex. It's just another sign of just how good the writing is that Komachi is both an adorable character and written to make fun of typical sis-con tropes in anime. In the first season she grew into a full fledged character rather than just an archetype. She hasn't had much screen time this season, but it has been used effectively.

If we're talking about cutest then my money is on Saika:

I can see exactly why 8man gets confused sometimes,

 

[nezra132]

Koma-chan was obvious choice from the first episode she appeared in =D

Preach it!!

Spoiler

Oh you guys and your imouto complex. It's just another sign of just how good the writing is that Komachi is both an adorable character and written to make fun of typical sis-con tropes in anime. In the first season she grew into a full fledged character rather than just an archetype. She hasn't had much screen time this season, but it has been used effectively.

Bestgirl is bestgirl, with nothing on her being an imouto. In fact, her being an imouto (in this case) is almost better because it reduces the chance of a dumb romance route/arc with her. Anyone with a real imouto knows that imouto complexes are nothing more than a mistaken fantasy by those who do not have an imouto.

 

[tootalls]

Yeah, when I think best girl, it's just generally my favorite one, not the one I want to see Hiki end up with, if he ended up with his sister, It would totally destroy this show for me..................


Oriemo..blah

 

[Yami]

Preach it!!

Spoiler

Preach it!! xD

Bestgirl is bestgirl, with nothing on her being an imouto. In fact, her being an imouto (in this case) is almost better because it reduces the chance of a dumb romance route/arc with her. Anyone with a real imouto knows that imouto complexes are nothing more than a mistaken fantasy by those who do not have an imouto.

Though, I wouldn't actually be surprised if it went imouto route in the end =D

 

[Gens]

Though, I wouldn't actually be surprised if it went imouto route in the end =D

I'm sorry but this line practically makes about zero sense to me. I would be extremely surprised a million times over if a show like this ended up pulling that.

 

[ZetsubouKaiji]

Anyone with a real imouto knows that imouto complexes are nothing more than a mistaken fantasy by those who do not have an imouto.

Yeah, that was the big running joke between her and 8man during the first season and one that I found particularly refreshing because I will never understand anime's obsession with this type of relationship. Shows like Kiss x Sister are one thing because they're meant to appeal to that particular fetish, but I've also seen it crop up in far too many normal anime as either a recurring bit of service that gets played for laughs or as a serious plot point.

I was just joking with the imouto complex remark. Even if she isn't my favorite girl, I can see Komachi's appeal.

 

[tootalls]

I'm sorry but this line practically makes about zero sense to me. I would be extremely surprised a million times over if a show like this ended up pulling that.

Yup, Komaichi doesn't fit the "into Onichan" bill. She's a caring sister which can be confusing because in these things either the little sister doesn't get along with her brother or she has an incestuous attraction to them. The in-between is a rarity.

Thats were we are though, Komaichi gets along with her bro but she doesn't throw up those signs like jealousy towards almost every other female that comes in contact with her bro. It's quite the opposite, instead of comedically trying to repel them, she tries to bring them closer to him. e.g..

Season one. Komichi, Hiki and Yukinon go to the mall together to shop for a present for Yui. Hiki quickly tries to separate the group claiming they would cover more ground quicker going to different places, Komichi dispels that idea convinces them to stay together and then she ditches them so Yukinon and Hiki could shop alone essentially turning the event into a date.

For Hiki's point of view, sure, he loves his sister more than any other character, he actually tells her he loves her, but it's normal. Hiki is a loner and his sister has been his only true friend for his entire life so I'd call their relationship touching. far from weird.

If anything, Hiki shows the most apparent sexual attraction to that trap character.

 

[ZetsubouKaiji]

Saika is only a trap in 8man's fantasies. Other than that he's just a really cute, feminine looking guy. If anything he's always a bit befuddled by all the attention he gets from guys. Not that it takes away from your points about Komachi.