Warming this review may contain spoilers.
First impressions, ok to be completely honest I only originally checked out this show because it had a trap it in and I liked all the memes that where coming from this series was what originally got my interest, but of course once I started watching it there was a lot more than to the series than I first thought.
(Also quick Side note i will be covering both seasons of the anime in this review)
Story, 6/10
So in today's modern anime where half the series that are coming out are about ether about high schools or cute girls doing cute things how dose a series My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU stand out in a market which at this point has already reached peak inflation, besides being about a bitter, anti-social teenager named Hachiman forced into a school club called service club, the that help people fix their problems, totally haven't heard about this before a seruies about a high school student being forced into an excuse for plot club with cute girls and sarcasm aside.
The story is basically the three of them trying to fix poor, poor Japanese high school students problems and there some sort of love triangle forming because light novel. which at first thought I figured this is just going to be another generic school romantic comedy that I would forget in a week, and considering my experience with the medium you can't exactly blame me for having that viewpoint.
But i was very surprised in how even though this series is mostly about high school bullshit, i did find it interesting that this series actually talks and criticiszes human society. Well to be more specific it's more aless socal commenty and the problems that can arise which i find very interesting and the fact this series trys to more thought provoking than your average romantic school comady with teenagers is really impressive to say the least.
The ideas of don't always go with the crowd, be yourself and some people are going to be two-faced assholes. the fact it doesn't devolve into otaku culture to get it point across just adds weight to the commentary because whoever wrote this dose has this understanding of how people tick and doesn't use it for an excuse for edgelord bullshit, but more a less is telling you this is normal human behaviour and it isn't perfect, but that's fine because even if problems do come up there are ways to fix them to get around them.
But the major prolem is even though it's a lot more thought provoking and actually trys to be interesting with its messages and etc, it is sadly constrained by the fact that at the end of the day it is still a teen romantic comedy in high school and you can only take it so far intill it implodes on itself, and another prolem I have with this series is that it has this meta commentary asspect where its makeing fun of the tropes and cliches of its genre, but also realays on sied tropes and cliches for its plot beat.
So comes off more like its mocking itself rather than any meaningful commentary on the subject and I for one hate that kind of humour in anime with a passion because it just isn't funny. When Hachiman is being an asshole that's when I find the series funny because I find his brand of no fucks given just comedy gold and this meta humour or references to other series just feels very forced.
Speaking of forced the love triangle in this series between Hachiman, Yukino and Yui is the most forced thing In this series, because even though I find the "friendship" they forms together really sweet and endearing. But at the same time, I feel the romantic dynamic to there relationship feels tacked on for the sack of waifu wars or stretching out the story longer than it has to.
Characters, 6/10
When it comes to main charter Hachiman, he is a breath of fresh ear if you are used to the generic Japanese high schooler template that may series use nowadays. Becuase What makes Hachiman so great as a character is that he has a personality that you can define and isn't a just a blank self-insert.
He is this cynical, anti-social asshole that just doesn't give a fuck, and what him really interesting as a character is that despite the zero fucks personality. There is a part of him that does care for people, it's just most people misunderstand his intentions. Becuase Hachiman is basically an anti-hero in a way because he is willing to shower the burdens of being hated in order to shit done.
I feel as far as teenage characters go Hachiman is very feel written for what he is, at times he feels almost human in a way instead of being this cardboard cutout.
When it comes to the other members of the service club Yukino and Yui.
Even though their personality is kinda standard fare, there is a lot more depth added to them and a lot more thought put into them so they come off charming than anything else. But besides that there not really that memorable when compared to Hachiman.
Side characters are in the same boat as Yukino and Yui but worse.
Their personalities are really watered down even if there is a tad bit of depth to them. I don't remember their names and I will forget they even exist within a week because I found them so boring.
Now I will say that the dialogue and interactions between the charters are a lot more intriguing than the actual charters themselves. Because this series likes to dive into social interactions into more depth and thought than most series of its genre. For an example, there is a scene where characters could seem happy on the outside, but inside there really angry and are dropping this passive aggressive comments. Which I liked.
Art, 6/10
The animation runs quite smoothly and the art keeps up a decent quality,
But background looks like they were painted on at times. Of course, the second season lessens these issues I have to a degree with everything looking a lot more polished and slighty more detailed.
Art style is basic and the character designs are pretty standard fare, but I will say that the main charter little sister would look really great in some doujins though.
Sound, 5/10
The first oping song was pretty good, but everything else hoping and ending wise was kinda lacklustre at best. There nice to listen to i guess but they didnt really get my interest. The ost was done my some japanese music studio named MoNaca who have some very fumous people under them like for example keiichi okabe, satoru kosaki and kakeru ishihama who from who i can gather so far was the main dude behind the ost for this series. Its not that bad of an ost to listain its just nothing really got my interest and make me feel like woh i need to download this and listain to it over and over again.
Enjoyment, 6/10
So when it comes to enjoyment, i enjoyed this seruies for what it was and i have even got 10 volumes of the light novel. I think what really got me into this series it that it actually tries to provide some sort of thought-provoking content, which is very impressive for a series that is about high school bullshit.
Overall, 6/10
If you like romantic comedies I would say that my romantic comedy snafu is worth at least checking out, because it tries a lot harder than most of its genre. Which I think the effort alone should be prised to some degree But that doesn't mean it is the masterpiece that some people would claim it to be.
Because it is highly limited in what it can do because of the high school setting, if its setting was in college or maybe the Japanese workplace it would properly have a lot more impact in its social commentary and it could talk about more things.
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