Warning! This review on Yahari ore no Seishun love Come on wa Machigatteiru Kan ((Oregairu 3) Chapter nine contains spoilers. If you haven’t seen the episode yet, I recommend watching it and then going back to read the review.
# 9 Surely that smell will always remind me of a season of the year
Oregairu 3 Chapter nine begins with Hachiman putting his thoughts in order in a conversation with Komachi. To keep her word, Hikki meets with Yui to find out what she wants. She has nothing specific, but she has several requests. They both spend time together and even cook cakes for Komachi. Graduation day is finally here, Iroha and Meguri are giving their speeches to fire the graduates. Preparations for the success of the prom begin now.
Yui’s inquiries
The end is imminent, after Yukinon marked his line and sent Hachiman with Yui, he did what was agreed. In order to grant Yuigahama’s wish, you have to know what it is. It is not enough to understand it or to think for yourself, so Hikki goes straight ahead and asks Yui personally what she wants. There are two reasons to do it this way: the first is to remove the ambiguity and leave Yui the choice, the second is a containment measure. Although Hachiman actually responds to Yukinon’s request and has a vested interest in helping Yui as well, this does not mean that he can grant every wish. Hikki is not a tragic hero who cannot learn from his mistakes. Self-sacrifice is no longer the approach he will take.
Yui’s wish is greedy, she has not stopped thinking that what comes closest to her ideal cannot be. It is not realistic to maintain the club, his friendship and even a closer relationship with Hachiman. Therefore, he took a step aside, which in the end put the greatest strain on the happiness of his friends. But be careful, even though this is your final choice, you still want to squeeze the last thing you have left. At some point she will have to give up completely, but before this moment catches up with her, she wants to collect memories.
Your wish list is a good material for this. His desire to help Yukinon with the prom serves his true desire to maintain his friendship with her. The desire to celebrate Komachi’s entry together is an expression of their desire to keep everyone’s relationship normal. Going out and having fun is the hesitation of your desire to have a relationship with Hachiman. The latter didn’t put it into words, but Hachiman caught it, Yui’s gaze was lost as he thought about a couple, but both knew that this would not be a request that could be granted.
After all, the true desire that generates the greatest anticipation is that she wants to grant Hachiman’s wish. That annoys the boy a bit, he didn’t imagine that someone would help him, least of all Yui himself. Hikki continues to evade and does not express his wish. Yuigahama does nothing to put pressure on him either. They both know this desire deep down. But the fact that this implicit understanding exists doesn’t mean it should stay that way. So Yui asks him to share his true wish with her when the moment comes. Because only then will Yui be able to see the end and it will be less painful to hold on to those faint hopes that she has allowed herself to hold on to all along.
Time in suspension
As the conflict resolution progresses, new ones appear. There is no longer any inconvenience to the prom celebration, but there are still small delays in the preparations. At the same time, we find that now that Gahama-chan’s breakup is clearer, the tension is palpable in the relationship between Hikki and Yukinon. Both are in a stalemate, we would say that they are in virgin territory of their interaction, they cannot be openly ignored, but neither can they be used. There’s a huge gap between the two, although neither really wants it, that’s why there is such tension. The impossibility of ignoring each other is not only due to the previous relationship they had, but also the obvious concern they both experience for the other. You are terribly aware, even more so than before.
Although this situation extends not only between Hikki and Yukinon, but also with Yui. It is not a situation of tension like with Yukinoshita, but a worrying one.
Currently, he is required to spend time with Yuigahama, it is necessary to grant his wish. However, this does not mean that you will become less aware of the effects, the end of your relationship, and your own feelings. Time with Gahama-chan is fun because it’s casual, they’re friends and can have silly fun together, but that’s it, he can’t offer her more. It would be easy if he could be mistaken and stay that way forever, but that won’t happen, it’s not in his nature to leave things halfway. If he did that, he would do what he least wanted, he would build a fake relationship, which is the furthest from the real one that will exist.
Memories of a season
Between the cooking scene and the closing speeches, good news was printed about nostalgia in retrospect. Gahamama mentions this in relation to the taste of the food. In the future, Komachi would remember this taste with nostalgia, not because the ingredients were at the right time, but because the fact that it wasn’t there would make it more meaningful. This seasonal lag impresses the memory of nostalgia. I think it’s an analogy that fits very well with the situation of the three members of the volunteer club. When the day comes when you look back to remember those days of your youth, you will surely remember them with nostalgia. Not because of what they did well, but because of the mistakes and setbacks they had to face to get the result they wanted.
The theme of the closing speech is a bit similar, it is a reminder of the good of the past as a stairway to the future that awaits us. It must be said that speech is an ideal ingredient for the mistakes of the present because it is an event that adapts to its season of the year. It’s not just about nostalgically remembering the mistakes, but also about the successes. Just as there are seasonal delays, there is also the perfect time of year. The moment is ideal, it is right to conclude at this climax in the relationship of our protagonists. Closing ends something to begin the new. We experience these moments for our trio, currently we have reached the point of no return. The season will change.
Final comment
Oregairu 3 Chapter nine was an uneventful episode, but full of analogies and subtext. It is becoming increasingly clear that we are only a few steps away from the end of this story. Great conflicts are beginning to come to an end of their own. Needless to say, this is just about to reach its true climax. It’s a shame the animation quality degrades so much sometimes. I don’t want to be Yukinonfag But the miserable treatment they have given him this season is inevitable. I understand the topic of cutting your links needed to be addressed, but your screen time is just ridiculous.
Before I finish with that, I’m going to say how bad I feel about the direction of this anime. I have my own reasons for not liking Yui, and it wouldn’t be so terrible if she took so much camera if Yukinoshita wasn’t completely forgotten. At this point, empathy for Yui is inevitably immense, while Yukino continues to be the cold and heartless witch. Although she suffers the same. Either way, we’ll see how this plays out in these final chapters.
Anyway, these were my impressions of this chapter: What do you think of the episode? What are your impressions of the direction of the anime so far? How will the prom play out amid so much tension?
