I love slice of life and romcom shows. Toradora!, Nichijou, and My Teen Romcom are some of my favorite shows of all time. His and Her Circumstances is brilliant to me because it has the slice of life and romcom that I've come to love, but it has just enough of Anno's presence to make the series far deeper and far more interesting.
Characters outside of the main two generally act as plot devices, creating a brief conflict and resolution for Yukino and Arima to overcome. Although some of them have more depth than others, none really stand enough on their own. Even though they don't really have the depth of say, our main characters, that isn't super neccesary or crucial to the story, they've served their purpose and they have more personality than a lot of romcoms tend to have. You can empathize with most of them, at least during their arc.
The styling of frames and character movements has Anno scribbled all over it. I love it. I know that I'm a bit of a sucker for weird avant-garde style filmmaking techniques, anime like Bakemonogatari or Evangelion get me riled up because I love looking for details and having to look for more than just what's on the surface. Anime that force you to look at the details, and actually reward you for it, are brilliant in my book. His and Her Circumstances is no different. Entire episodes that look like they're animated with pieces of paper held on wooden sticks are a breath of fresh air and breath life into the series through the subtle almost-fourth-wall break.
The art also constantly changes between chibi and regular animation, most notably whenever Yukino "switches personalities". The switching is purposefully over the top and almost obnoxious, but it isn't quite. There's a fine line that is walked, and boy is it walked well.
The sentence "There is a fine line that is walked, and boy is it walked well." pretty much encapsulates the series up to episode 18. There are moments where the romcom is heavy and fun, like an episode of Toradora, there are moments that are just straight up over the top, like an episode of Nichijou, and often there are emotions as strong as the final season of Oregairu.
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Episode 18 is great. Arima and Yukino have their night alone and we start to really get to know more about Arima. It really digs into his battles with rejection and being alone. It gives an interesting perspective on the idea of "The Void", or the idea that nothing you do will ever make you truly happy. For Yukino, it continues to bring home the concept that she really loves Arima and depends on him often.Episodes 19-23 seems a little bland on the surface. It's a pretty generic "Let's do a play/class movie" arc out of something like Haganai. The difference is, of course, this arc is actually good. It lets us get to know some of Yukino's new friends far better, and fleshes out Sakura specifically, for her arc with Tonami.
Unfortunately, though the characters do get some interesting development, most of them don't actually really go anywhere. We learn some interesting backstory, but not much past that. Most side characters basically stop developing outside of "their arc".
Episode 24, however, brings us back to our main couple, and though the start of Yukino's dream sequence thing is a little abrupt, it does show us her thoughts on her relationship with Arima. It also begins to lay the seeds for one of the main conflicts in the final episode. It's disappointing that this was essentially a half-episode, as the second half is all recaps.
Episode 25 doesn't really contribute to the overall plot in a very noticeable way, though it gives some developments to Yukino's siblings. I think it's enjoyable and adds to the atmosphere, however it doesn't work well for a penultimate episode.
And so we've arrived, the final episode of the series. What could the last episode have in store for us?
As it turns out: A lot of really cool stuff!
The last episode of His and Her Circumstances is still roughly following the whole "class play" arc, but it focuses really heavily on Yukino, Arima, Sakura, and Tonami, and how they all relate to one another.
Arima has some startling realizations about himself, and about Yukino Miyazawa. He realizes that he's completely dependent on her, and, as we the viewer have also learned an episode and a half prior, Yukino doesn't need Arima to continue to live. Armia's fear of rejection becomes even more apparent throughout this episode, and it comes to a head in his distaste for Tonami.
Tonami and Sakura's arc is really interesting and important. Tonami finding out his love for Sakura is fulfilling in it's own way, but it is more in the impact that Tonami has on Yukino and Arima. Tonami and Yukino are very similar in terms of personality, the idea of changing one's entire self for revenge or self-satisfaction brings them together. It's exactly this, which is what causes Armia's new hatred of Tonami. When Tonami finally figures out what's going on, and attempts to leave Yukino and Arima be, he begins to realize what he's feeling with Sakura. It fleshes out Tonami really well and makes him feel like a far more in-depth character compared to most of the side characters in the series.
The series ends without much changing, but it's a satisfying ending. We still don't know exactly what's going on in Armia's head, but that adds to his character, wanting to protect Yukino. Sure, we don't exactly know how the play, or Class F's dinner show, are going to turn out, but it was never super important to the plot anyway. We never find out if Sakura and Tonami actually get together, but the series leaves an open door that allows you to interpret the series how you would wish to.
His and Her Circumstances is a brilliant show. I love it personally. There are many who will talk of the drop in quality after episode 18 or so, and while it is noticeable, I think it's something that most people can get over. The story is strong, the characters are strong, and the humor is strong. Sure, the ending may not be as satisfying or wrapped in a bow as something like Toradora or Oregairu, but it's sweet, mostly wholesome, and deals with real and heavy topics in good ways.
