Oregairu’s excellency lies in its overdramatization of normalcy.

(heads up, i dont know if this is the right place to post an analysis/essay type piece but i wanted to share anyways lol)

Oregairu is a really interesting series. Its tone shift from season 1 to season 2 was one of the most ballsy stunts I’ve ever seen an anime pull. Even at the expense of possibly losing a large chunk of their audience, they went for it with an unparalleled payoff. Oregairu is a piece of media that has truly transcended its genre while still keeping what made the original so good. One of the most important aspects of season one that carried into season 2 was the intense overdramatization of the scenarios throughout the show.

High school is a different experience for everyone, but one thing that most people seem to agree on is that the moment you’re living in right now feels more important than it should. Irrationally so. That is why the fact that Oregairu seems so overdramatic at times is an amazing rhetorical device that resonates throughout the whole show. From the moment that the show begins, we can clearly see that this is a different show than its predecessor: unfittingly beautiful visuals, a much darker color palette, and deviant character designs. This is the same show, right? It’s not the same light-hearted comedy we came to love anymore. This is something else. In season 1, the main way we see overdramatization was through the eyes of Hachiman. Every seemingly small thing, he scrutinized to the limit. Every single second he breathed; he would find a way to mention his backstory. For the most part, this carries over into the second season as well. This time however instead of Hachiman having to explain to us why the scene is so wrong to him, it is carried out by the medium itself. The directors never shy away from inserting sad music, using dark and contrasting color palates, and beautiful scenes and characters. This is done with a purpose in mind. Oregairu communicates what it means to be in the stage of your life, through these elements. Oregairu is overdramatic on purpose. The problems in Oregairu are not complex, if you were looking for a show with a complex and convoluted plot, there is a lot to choose from. I would go as far as to say that even the characters are not fleshed out as they could be in the traditional sense. Oregairu relies on its masterful execution to tell a story. As I said before, you live in the now during high school. Everything matters more than it should, and as a result, you stress about meaningless things. Oregairu is a piece of media that perfectly exemplifies that. The reason why the visuals and audio are so dramatic and overdone for seemingly trivial high school problems is that this is what the world feels like when you’re going through that phase in your life. The problems that these characters face are not really that big. However, to the eyes of a high school, who have a multitude of other things to worry about like college applications and their own health, their minds still find ways to worry about these seemingly irrelevant things. These “small” problems still seem to hold weight in a world where there are so many other things to worry about. This overdramatization is also a reason why some of the themes in this show are so easily able to shine through. Primarily the theme of how people have a really hard time thinking logically. Just as the anime itself, is over the top, people similarly, think of things in a very similar manner. In Oregairu, there are a lot of instances where the over the top visuals and audio are necessary because we, the audience, are looking at these problems through the lens that Yuigahama, Yukinoshita, or Hachiman would look at them through.

In the end, I don’t think I’ve ever been happier and warmer watching an anime before. There were times when I wanted to smile and realized I’m already grinning wide as possible. I write this because, I was a high school up until quite recently, as such, this anime really struck a chord in me. Thank you for reading.