Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Come wa Machigatteiru – 11
A disheveled Yukino is fine too.
So everything turned out better than expected, which is good. I know I was raging pretty hard last time thanks to Minami and Haruno, but Minami pretty much gets her just deserts and Haruno turns out to be not as malicious as I had initially thought. Maybe I was just overreacting after all. Tehe~
Culture Fair
We left off last time with Yukino falling prey to the deadly anime illness. Ok, I jest. She was just exhausted, which is understandable considering she apparently carried all the burden of the culture fair on her shoulders. So Hachiman and Yui decide to pay her a visit at her apartment. Or maybe condo would be more appropriate, considering the size of the place. Anyway, during their brief get-together, Hachiman spouts his usual philosophy of not relying on others since obviously someone will always end up taking one for the team. Once again, I have to disagree with his words. I don’t think of myself as someone as naievely idealistic as Hayato, nor am I someone who commands as much popularity as he does. But even in all my experiences of working with others, I’ve never once experienced the majority of the work being forced upon one unfortunate person. There have been times when other members of my group were as lazy as Minami, but the thing to do there is not to shoulder their work for them. Instead, you just inform the instructor of their worthlessness and they get a lower grade. See, not so hard after all. There have also been times where I’ve actually done a little more than what my work load should have been if the entire task were divided up perfectly evenly. But when has any task ever been divided up so fairly? That’s just not feasible. And moreover, I took on the extra work of my own accord, not because it was forced upon me by some lazy prick. My point is, while Hachiman may spout impressive-sounding manifestos about the “truth” of life, he is just about as idealistic as the views he scorns so much. The only difference is he sees things from the other end of the spectrum.
Returning to Yukino, Yui tells her that she can rely on Hachiman and herself, since relying on “everyone” is apparently taboo. I guess maybe the issue is having to open up to others? I’m just as skeptical of this though, as I’ve had to work with people whom I never opened up to either, but no matter. Yukino takes this to heart and upon her return to school assigns a boatload of work to Hachiman. Here’s to further affirming his beliefs that someone always gets the short end of the stick. Anyway, while I may not agree with Hachiman’s philosophy, I can’t deny that his actions have been rather effective at changing the committee. By directly calling attention to Minami’s uselessness, which the others were probably purposefully overlooking to avoid stirring trouble, he’s not only spurred the committee into action by serving as their common enemy for being so “inconsiderate”, but also pulled Minami back down to Earth as she realizes how unneeded she is when the committee is working in high gear. The guy may say some weird things, but he certainly knows his way around manipulating others. And for this, I must applaud him, as he’s singlehandedly brought down the snobby Minami. If her plan was to gain popularity and recognition as the great chairman of the culture fair committee, that has been completely ruined. It seems everyone now knows her true character; a lazy wannabe. And that’s quite satisfying, though obviously now she’s going through a hard time herself.
Romance?
We haven’t much in the way of romance lately, even though it’s written right there in the title. So SNAFU brings it back with a little intimate moment between Hachiman and Yui. I must admit, I didn’t like Yui very much when she was first introduced. She seemed like a leech who tried to fit in with the popular crowd when she really doesn’t. But now that I’ve come to know her better, I understand that she’s really an honest girl who just has a soft-spoken nature. That said, she’s certainly come a long way in my mind from an unlikeable third wheel to a better candidate for Hachiman’s affections than even Yukino. Both girls have been on a “date” with Hachiman, but while Yukino hasn’t had much progression, Yui has made leaps and bounds in her relationship with Hachiman. Namely, things are “in the clear” between those two, while the matter of Yukino’s car hitting Hachiman and her not telling him all this time still remains. And come this episode, it even looks like Yui has managed to secure yet another date with Hachiman, this one potentially being more “proper” than the previous. Heck, the two were blushing madly during their exchange at the table, and Hachiman appeared to be seriously warming up to her1 despite he previous traumatic experiences with women. I especially enjoyed Yui’s comment that while she’s willing to wait for Yukino to come around, she’s not going to wait for Hachiman. Instead, she’s going to go straight to him. Well, she didn’t quite say it as explicitly, but I think they both understood what she meant.
But while things are all peachy between these two, it’s not as if Yukino is down for the count just yet. There’s a brief moment where she honestly expresses her gratitude towards Hachiman for helping defuse the committee situation, though it only comes in the form of an unassuming little wave and a “see you tomorrow”. But at least it’s progress. She may not have reached the point where she’s finally able to open up fully to Hachiman, but for now they have returned to their previous relationship of bickering at each other. And we all know that only those who are close enough to each other can truly bicker harmlessly.
I’ve spent far too long rambling in the body of this post, so I’ll keep this outro segment short. The “cold war” within the Volunteers Club and the culture fair drama appear to be over for good now, although we may still get some trouble from Minami in the future. In the meantime, however, I like to think that we may get a bigger focus on the relationships between the club members. Particularly, I would really like to see Hachiman get together and go strong with one of the two girls. At the moment, it’s looking like Yui might have a better chance while Yukino might actually fall into a supporting role. But who knows?2 With two more episodes left, anything can happen.
1Amusingly concurrent to his warming up to the idea of the honey toast.
2Ok, so you LN readers obviously do know already.
About Sumairii
POWUH: 400-499 with 445 comments
See, I tried to tell people that Yui wasnt a phony chick tryna score with the popular crowd, but just a soft-spoken person who, even though she exibits a little bit of tsun, is very honest with herself and her feelings. she just has a hard time fitting in due to her sometimes meek personality even though her looks should say otherwise. Honestly, I think Hachiman and Yukino work better as friends; the fact that they have almost similar personalities and cynicism only reinforces that.
I like the fact that Yui gets Hachiman out of his comfort zone because that’s the type of push he needs for him to realize that there are one or two people in the world who will care for you and not betray you or have ulterior motives. Yui may not have that cynic wit that yukino has that makes her interactions with Hachiman somewhat interesting to watch, but Yui has this energy to charm that she brings to the table when she interacts with Hachiman that is just as good.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
That Prince scene? How far out of whack was that? I loved it thou….
POWUH: Occasional (51-75) with 63 comments
I’ll never read The Little Prince the same way as before. Damn yaoi fangirls. Though I couldn’t help but laugh at Hachiman’s “I was supposed to take part in THAT?!”.
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 77 comments
That was hilarious, especially how Hachiman revealed his deep yaoi desire towards Saika. That was the best scene in the episode. I love how all the people in the crowd where girls and how the producer had one of the biggest nose bleeds after Master Roshi. It will be interesting to see who will open up to Hachiman first, and even more importantly, who he accepts. I would laugh if he trolled and chose Saika instead, but it will still be interesting since I haven’t seen the LN.
POWUH: Occasional (51-75) with 63 comments
Saika is kinda his Mikuru, in an “I’ll watch and adore from afar” sense.
Then there’s this chance that he will go for sensei…
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 77 comments
Now sensei is a logical choice since she seems to be the only one who actually gives a deep care about him and his future and was the first one to suggest to get his life on track for the better. Of course that’s most likley out of the question. There is always Saki Kawasaki to be considered.
POWUH: 800-899 and Mad Scientist with 814 comments
What? That was absolutely the least relevant scene of the entire episode… But like what you will.
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 77 comments
I know it was the least relevant but it helped provide some excellent comedy. I know there are some deeper and more important themes that have come out of this episode, like how Hachiman absolutely hanged it on the committee, but it’s good to have some fun now and again, and this was one of those scenes. Another good scene was when Yui had the honey bread and Hachiman was thinking how terrible it was but had to pretend to enjoy it. It was exactly like the cookie scenario.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Huh, I understood the Honeytoast scene differently. I thought it was more that it really wasn’t that bad, and he was more digging for ways to not be enjoying eating it with Yui. Maybe in part to keep from feeling like he was enjoying spending time with her, and part to keep from feeling like he had an obligation from it.
In hindsight, it reminds me a lot of the later episodes of Hyouka, where Houtarou was fairly desperate in trying to cling to the remnants of his quiet, unexciting world while the reality was that Eru had already pretty much transformed it into a sakura-colored life.
POWUH: Occasional (51-75) with 63 comments
This was an awesome episode for both comedy and romance and a couple of d’awwwww moments.
The funny part.
1. That Little Prince play. There MUST be something similar to Rule 34 in relation to yaoi fans.
2. Hachiman’s “me as a common enemy” strategy, which was quite funny on its own right since Yukino offered him that very same strategy in the third episode. Besides that, Hachiman in that scene was just plain awesome for his directness.
The d’awwww parts.
1. The scene in Yukino’s apartment between Yukino and Yui. Short, but warm and touching. (and spawning a metric ton of yuri doujinshi, trust me).
As a side note, seeing how Yui tries to reach up to the other member of the club, the story is indeed a harem. Yui’s harem, that is.
2. That Yukino’s parting gesture. Brief but sweet.
3. Hachiman and Yukino’s bickering at the opening ceremony. For the first time it stopped being “who can outsnark the other” and started to look a lot like flirty banter. And judging by Yukino’s expressions, she clearly enjoyed it.
As for Hachiman’s monologue at the appartment, I quite understand it. “Rely on people” is all good, but seeing those “people” simply start slacking off after a single phrase of the chairman, well… The thing is, it’s not about the grades or punishment, it’s about getting things done. And I think they both understand that clearly. And Yui’s reply was really awesome– don’t rely on abstract “people”, but on those you know and can trust.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Not to get all “in the real world…” I do have to point out that if something needs to be done or there are more dire consequences than ‘someone gets a bad grade’, then there will be the guy that gets all the work shoved on him. School work is a very specific subset with a different victory condition. Most of the time, it’s a binary victory condition: The event happens / the project gets done / the client is happy or it does not. And if it does not, there is hell to pay, and nobody’s really interested in excuses. I can definitely see in a culture like Japanese culture, when you take on the responsibility of putting on a public festival, you MUST get that festival done. Minami’s whole bet was that Yukino wouldn’t complain and would just get it done. That backfired when others complained on Yukino’s behalf.
POWUH: 800-899 and Mad Scientist with 814 comments
A very good point. I’ve only barely been working in the real world, and I’ve not really seen many cases of someone having all the work shoved on him. Maybe my workplace is just particularly well organized or our employees are all responsible and competent. Everyone knows what they’re responsible for, and there’s no obvious case of someone doing an outrageous amount more than others.
POWUH: 800-899 and Mad Scientist with 814 comments
As a follow-up, I’m not saying everything is absolutely perfect where I work. I regularly deal with paperwork and procedures regarding cleaning up someone else’s mistakes. Even so, the issue of failures and customer dissatisfaction in this case has little to do with the distribution of work. The only connection I can see here is that more work is created, but this additional work isn’t piled on to one single person either.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Good companies will generally weed out those people who cause problems with this process (although there’s always some who manage to stay around). But it can also take a while, and it’s probably fair to say that it’s less often that all the work gets shoved on one person, and more often that one or two people don’t really do their job, and the rest of the people have to pick up their slack.