Warning! This review on Yahari ore no Seishun love Come on wa Machigatteiru Kan (Oregairu 3) Chapter five contains spoilers. If you haven't seen the episode yet, I recommend watching it and then going back to read the review.
# 5 Shizuka Hiratsuka remembers the past with tenderness
Oregairu 3 Chapter 5 begins with Hachiman discovering the current state of Prom from Professor Hiratsuka. At the risk of canceling the dance, Hikki decides to step in and help Yukino. But before he can get there, he must give Iroha an account. Offering Yukinon help doesn't mean that it will be accepted, but that's okay. Hachiman's plan is to oppose Yukino and find a solution to this situation. Eventually, Yukino accepts the challenge and both of them agree to act at their own discretion and in the end the winner will listen to the loser. This fight will be the one that marks the end.
A fight without a ring
Here, too, it is fair to put the situation in perspective. Yukino agreed to help organize the dance, not as the president of the club, but as herself. The reason for this is that she needs to become independent from the club, especially Hachiman. Everything went smoothly until his mother showed up at the school representing the parents' association. The prom isn't very prestigious and at risk of being canceled, but it remains open to discussion for now. In this critical situation, Yukino is even more determined to do things without Hachiman's help. However, it becomes more complicated when the school indirectly puts the cancellation of the dance on the table.
The current situation is a race against time, and not the one in which everything first had to be prepared, but a race for approval before an actual rejection. The last review mentioned to you that the reasons for stopping the dance were vague, they still are, except that they are now the fuse that can cause the whole organization to fall apart. At the beginning of the chapter, Hachiman ponders how easy it is to deal with the flow. A problem will be one until someone calls it that. And when that happens, the critics of the dance will gain confidence because someone has a powerful backing them and will eventually have to resign. Hence, they need to fix the situation before reaching that point.
While Yukinoshita has decided on an improvement plan, I take the criticism and the negative points to exchange them for something appropriate. Hachiman thinks about a more daring idea, at the moment we don't know which one. Obviously, their ideas don't match, adding that Yukinon doesn't want their help. Then they bring us back to the beginning, it is time for a confrontation of philosophies. Both have reached a point where words are no longer enough, then only actions remain. No matter what they say, no one will be able to properly convey their feelings and intentions, so it is best to show results and resolutions. Although this was supposed to be a duel against the school and the PTA, it ended up as a fight between Hachiman and Yukino. I repeat myself, the dance is no longer important, but the feelings that are printed on your resolutions.
The excuse of responsibility
Now it is fair to say that everything has got to that point, the duel, because of the communication ineptitude that both Yukino and Hachiman have. The latter continues to make excuses for his actions, does not address the issue. To keep getting involved with the final episode, we've seen him use the excuse of the promise he made to Yukino, a promise she herself voided. This week Iroha won't let him get away, I insist that the promise has already been canceled by Yukino himself. What is the reason she continues to be involved? This time the apology is the responsibility. According to Hachiman, things have gone so wrong between them that he feels he has to take responsibility and bring everything into balance.
But everything is still an excuse, he doesn't stop repeating it and he still doesn't realize it. The reason he interferes is not because of the responsibility, the promises, and much less co-dependency, but simply because he wants to relate to them. If you don't, this is not an option. If you do, you will have to redefine the entire relationship. You are ready to do so, and this will be stated in your help offering.
The discourse of responsibility is an excuse, just sloppy, but not for Iroha. Perhaps she doesn't quite understand the conversation between Hachiman and Yukinon, both seem to encrypt their conversations, almost as if it were something very personal that others shouldn't interfere with, but she understood the most important thing: Yukinoshita is an irreplaceable existence for Hachiman.
Seeing the Hikki-Yukinon conference brought forth a truth that seemed obvious: they both have their own world and there is no room to interfere. For Irohasu, botching responsibility is a little annoying. Hachiman never intended to take responsibility for anything he did. Mainly, he won't take responsibility for what he did to her. He made her president of the student council and left her idol image in the first year. He held them accountable and considerate of those who were in their care. Above all, I help her to mature by overcoming feelings of rejection. And even with that he won't take any responsibility, he doesn't even register it as a possible conquest. Iroha's anger is understandable, it was pushed aside and wasn't even conscious.
Hachiman and Yukino, their reasons
While we've said enough about Hachiman's reasons, it never hurts to make it clear. Hachiman insists on helping out with the prom because that way he can keep in touch with Yukinon, who continues to do his best to create distance between them. So Hikki's reasons are nothing more than her own desire to bond with Yukinoshita. But he also realized the problem that this will be. When you insist so much on helping Yukinon, the code addiction label has a hard time falling off.
At this point, Hachiman must find a solution that will allow everything to return to the balance he wants. The contest will have two outcomes if it wins, which would show that Yukino is not living up to expectations, and if it loses, it will have to do whatever it takes to ensure that Yukino's win does not suffer. In any case, the result must respect Yukinoshita's independence, which is not an easy task.
On the other hand, we have Yukinon, she is in the middle of her ritual to reach maturity. Prom is an ideal excuse to prove your own worth, which is why you put so much emphasis on doing it on your own. Aside from her feelings, she has taken on the idea that her relationship with Hachiman is nothing more than co-addiction. So he insists on ending it. He's very comfortable to trust, but it's not something he can afford, so much so that he even stops wearing the glasses he gave him, not just because of the dependency problem, which in turn is an excuse to mask the truth.
It is true that she seeks independence and affirms its importance in her mother's eyes, but the main reason she eludes Hachiman's help is because she gives up. Yukinon is equally aware of the feelings of everyone in the club, including Yui's, and in order to support both of them, he has come to the conclusion that it is best to take a step back.
The ending that Yukino anticipates in his words is none other than the end of the club. Whatever the outcome, things will inevitably come to an end. Winning would eventually mean achieving that independence, and your order is sure to be one in which the separation is marked. And to lose would mean accepting your own failure and repeating the pattern of code dependency, making everyone unhappy with the choice.
But the outcome doesn't matter, the end has been predicted since Hachiman got involved. Well, by doing this I am violating the only request that remains without expiring. Even if he does not help you directly, his opposition is another form of help. Question that shows that he could not comply with the request to simply observe her without interfering. Although things are not as monochrome as Yukino saw them. But it is her responsibility and the rest that she sees that there are many angles to relate to others. Meanwhile, treacherous tears run down her face, so strong are her feelings.
Final comment
Oregairu 3 Chapter five was an episode full of emotion. Thanks to the conversation with Professor Shizuka and the declaration of war between Hachiman and Yukino, we had a great moment of nostalgia about the first season. It is these details that make us feel like we are really in the final section of this story. Needless to say, only four characters edited the entire episode makes us feel like we're getting back to the roots of this series. Every conversation and every monologue was a pleasure for the action-hungry viewer.
Before we close with that, let's take a moment to understand how beautiful Shizuka is and how sad she is that no one has married her yet. On another timeline, I think Hachiman would be very lucky to stay with such an ideal woman. Hiratsuka is the kind of teacher who appears on a youth series to really do her job and not just as a fan service. I like the lessons he gives and how valuable they are and how much those lessons put a strain on each of his students.
Anyway, these were my impressions of this chapter: What do you think of the episode? Who will take responsibility for Iroha? What do you think is Hachiman's plan? What will the winner's request be?
