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Well, its actually happening. It was announced roughly a week ago now in a Japanese magazine that Oregairu, or My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU, is getting a third season, which was done shortly after the announcement of the release date for the fourteenth volume of the light novel. Since this series is one of my favorite shows of all time, I thought it only appropriate to talk about it.
My Thoughts on the Series Thus Far
Since the only time I have really talked about the show in any depth was on an OWLS post a few months back, it would make sense to summarize my thoughts on the series so far. Now, I don’t often use the word masterpiece, so I won’t here. However, Oregairu is by far and away one of the best slice of life series, possibly even best anime period, I have ever watched. The first season was a pleasant surprise back when it first came out, and when I finished watching it, I thought about it a lot. At the time I was about to be in my freshman year of high school, and I was nervous. The first time I watched it, I was really just interested in Hachiman’s attitude of taking no prisoners, and always being brutally honest. I went back to watch it a second and third time, though, and I started to notice a lot more nuance. Less and less it became about Hachiman fighting his social situation and more about what it was doing to him as a person.
The second season piggy-backed off of this in a way that was both extremely well executed and yet also somehow extremely jarring. More and more Yukino and Yui were confronting him about his self-sacrificial nature and his tendency to always go with the easiest solution, and not necessarily the most graceful one. It was a turning point that signaled an the beginning of the end for Hachiman’s isolationist attitude, and by the end it seemed like all of them were starting to change for the better.
Where the Series Will Go
There are a few things to consider here. First, while I am not familiar with the light novels on a personal level, I do know that the second season adapted volumes seven through eleven, leaving only twelve through fourteen for the final season. Now, assuming that the last three volumes have a similar amount of content to the first eleven, that means that we likely get an anime only ending of some kind.
As for the content, my guess for right now is that much of the third season will focus on the three of them pulling back the personas that they were hiding behind at the end of season two.
A PV that was also recently released for the show seems to imply that there will be some romantic tension between the three of them.
Where the Series Should Go
What the end of season to also seemed to imply heavily is that each of our three main protagonists still have a lot of demons that need to exercised, so one thing I don’t want this season to be is happy-go-lucky. Of course, at the end of the season it would make sense for the three of them to triumph, but if the show doesn’t address any of the problems left after season two, it will be incredibly disappointing.
One other thing that would interesting to see is there life after high school, and what it is they end up doing. Now, of course, there are many anime that center around high school, but in Oregairu’s case especially the idea of social hierarchies is such a core part of its ethos that it would be interesting to see how each of them deal with a new dynamic.
How do you guys feel about the announcement of Oregairu’s third season, and about the show in general? Let me know in the comments below. If you would like to support The Aniwriter, or are just feeling generous, consider donating on ko-fi, or using one of my affiliate links below:
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Animated Observations 