itzel81 - 2015-08-12 03:53:13

SNAFU is a very character driven show that manages to explore the main characters, along with many of the side characters in a spectacular and realistic fashion.

While the first season introduced a plethora of great characters and presented them in a set of light-hearted episodes, SNAFU TOO explored them in a depth that I could have only dreamed of. While Hachiman is undoubtedly still portrayed as the main character in the series, almost all of the side characters feel like the main character in their respective stories. I won't go into much detail about any of the characters as I believe it is better to go into the series and experience them all first hand. The large amount of development that the majority of the characters receive makes their actions and relationships with others mean far more than in the first season. 

One of the many things I love about this series is that you don't just get everything handed to you on a plate. As the characters are explored through their interactions with people, you get to understand them and sympathize with them in all their conflicts with others, some of which may be hard to understand at face value, but if you discern each characters personality then you are presented with an abundance of interesting and in depth relationships.

The animation is a great improvement from the first season, as SNAFU became ever more serious, the art style changed dramatically to compliment it. It works magnificently, the new designs allow the characters to express their emotions and thoughts through slight changes in facial expression, this creates more realistic characters that allow you to be completely enthralled with every single aspect of the series. I would love to rate the animation 5, and I would if not for the occasional awkward movements that several of the characters make throughout the series.

The sound fits spectacularly with the series. The music really adds to the already incredible atmosphere in many of the scenes. None of the music intrudes too much on either the emotional or comedic moments at all, it compliments every single scene beautifully. The voice acting is also spot on in most cases. All of the voice actors capture the characters personality and emotions magnificently. Notably Hachiman's voice actor (Takuya Eguchi) manages to portray his emotional, philosophical and comedic moments perfectly. The opening is nothing extraordinary, but it fits the series well and is pleasant to listen to.

Despite my seemingly everlasting praise for the show, I do posses a couple of gripes with it. One of them being the ending. During an emotional conversation with a few of the characters, the series seems to come to a somewhat abrupt end. The cliffhanger is unexpected but not terrible, it merely means that a third season is required if not inevitable. If or when a third season is actually announced then my excitement will reach a new high and the main problem I had with this series will be rendered obsolete. 

In the words of Hachiman Hikigaya: 'A problem is not a problem as long as nobody sees it as one', this quote pretty much describes the 'problem' I have with this series' story.  The story as a whole does seem somewhat lackluster, but the characters more than make up for this. Many of the events that unfold in the series aren't anything overly unique that have never been explored before, but it's the way that the characters react to these events that make this show stand out, sometimes it feels like the story is there to simply complement the characters and assist in bringing out the characters complexity which works really well. Every event no matter how minor does effect the characters in some way, it isn't simply brushed off like in many other series, this presents the characters brilliantly and realistically which is why i'm not sure that the lackluster story can be seen as an issue. The story does also gain more depth later on in the series which sadly does not come to any sort of conclusion, this however as mentioned previously will be rendered obsolete with the announcement of a third season.

Overall, while I was skeptical about the studio change, Studio Feel did an utterly fantastic job with the sequel to an already great show. Putting aside the ending, almost everything about this series is prefect in my eyes. If you have not yet watched this and have watched the first season then I suggest that you stop what you are doing and proceed to watch this series, you will not be disappointed.

If you enjoy this series then I would recommend White Album 2.

brandy.marks - 2015-08-11 19:40:24

The first season of Yahari SNAFU was a very solid character driven show that did a fantastic job in humanizing its characters and some really fun character interactions, not to mention a fantastic character dynamic between the main leads and some of the side characters.

Yahari's first season did a fantastic job building up the characters. Hachiman in particular stands out because of this, even ending the first season solemnly vowing to not change his ways of working alone and solving things.

This is finally truly brought to the test, and everything the characters stood for in the first season is questioned or changed in the second. This season resolved to an extent the inner conflicts of the characters, helping us understand them better and introducing conflicts to all the various characters of the show, including the first season.

There is a sense of balance now, since while Hachiman is undeniably the main lead and the show mainly focuses on him, it became more about the side characters as well, all of whom develop in some shape or form in the second season.

This works. It works brilliantly. The drama the conflicts cause feel extremely realistically developed and very tightly written, and not once did I end up feel that the show was being melodramatic for the sake of being melodramatic. The show feels more...meaningful, and almost every character's actions in this season carry a certain amount of weight, even their words which was something we took for granted in season 1.

Artwork and animation quality is absolutely beautiful to look at, and while many were skeptical about the studio change, this is all but gone now. Studio Feels have done a perfect job in bringing the show to life, and it is consistent in its beauty throughout the show, not even once dropping in quality. The visual effects and background are every bit as smooth and beautiful to look at, so I really can't thing of a single complaint here.

The soundtrack is incredibly better than the first season and has high hearing value outside of the show, never feeling like it wasn't fitting the scenes where those respective tracks were playing at.

The ending song of this season is easily among my favorite songs to emerge out of anime in recenty memory, and is increibly nostalgic and sentimental, fitting the tone of the season extremely well.

I honestly don't have more to say. Even if you disliked the first season, you're bound to find this enjoyable and engaging in some way or form.
Those who did enjoy the first season will find one of the best character dramas to come out of anime in recent memory, a bold statement, but one I feel this show deserves. 
I can't think of anything this season did wrong and I simply cannot await another season.
I cannot recommend this highly enough.

ybraun - 2015-07-22 22:52:33

The studio change was a big +. The anime looks even better than in the past, the characters are amazing as always and this season ads more story and makes you feel invested, and this is not a conclusion to the series.

evelyn.franecki - 2015-07-11 04:39:36

My Teen Romantic Comedy is Wrong As I Expected. 2 is without a doubt a phenomenal anime series coming back from the predecessor series, My Teen Romantic Comedy is Wrong As I Expected.

orville58 - 2015-06-30 18:58:26

SNAFU was one of those shows I could watch multiple times and never get bored of it with it being one of my favourite romcoms. I really liked the characters, the comedy, the presentation, the writing and just the show as a whole, and the second season took almost all that to the next level.

The second season was a lot heavier than the first season's light-heartedness which I really liked. The show became much more of a focused story and less episodic than the first season which allowed everything that was built up really hit the fan in a big way which I think was executed very well.

There were things however that annoyed me starting with the presentation. For the second season the studio changes, the design changes and I believe even a voice-actor or two changes which annoyed me at the start, but I got used to it quickly. While I preffered how the first season looked I did still like the presentation of the second season even if it was noteably worse.

There is also a dramatic shift for one of the main characters which feels rather sudden. It works in the end but it was certainly distracting for a large watching period.

Another thing that annoyed me was the ending, that did not exist. This show needs a third season more than most shows and if it doesn't get one it hurts the show almost to the point of not watching it and just a recommendation to read the novels instead. Without spoiling anything, the show pretty much ends mid-sentence which more than annoys me. This would however be fixed with the announcement of a third season and even with that ending I highly recommend the show.

This is a second season to one of my favourite romcoms and it does far from dissappoint as long as you realize this is a continuation and not a conclusion of the show.

Score: 8/10 (and almost 9/10 when we have a third season announced).

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wilfred.hackett - 2015-06-29 01:07:50

My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU (OreGairu) has always been an odd series. It has always been a bit different. Is it the cynical protagonist with his twisted world view? No that's normal. Is it the plethora of female characters that surround the protagonist? Nope definitely not that. Or perhaps it is the setting? Ha.

OreGairu is unique in its presentation. It doesn't tell you what's going on. You don't see anything more than the protagonist. Everything is left in a confusing mess of conflicting actions and words that ultimately make little to no sense, and it works. OreGairu presents the life of grouchy teenager through his eyes with little else added. The viewer only knows what Hachiman is thinking and hearing and very rarely anything else. It leaves the viewer guessing why a character suddenly changes behavior. Or what that character is thinking when they do. It makes an effort to remove the disconnect between the viewer and the main character by blocking out most outside information, and it works. Put simply, OreGairu is a true first person experience.

OreGairu is simple. Cynical teenage protagonist Hikigaya Hachiman goes to high school and is drafted into a club with pretty girls. Sounds like a hundred other shows right? It is. There's nothing different about it. Only in presentation. OreGairu is first and foremost a drama like any other school drama out there. The protagonist is cynical but brilliant so he saves the day but in doing so he messes up other things that cause drama. In an ordinary presentation these things would likely be considered shallow and stupid to brood over, however, given the entirely first person experience, these things aren't even revealed. Only the effects of the actions are shown. The motivation can only be guessed at as if the viewer were dealing with another person with another life.

When the information behind an action is withheld from the viewer, it prevents the viewer from making any judgements based on motivation. As such only results and actions can be observed. This allows any piece of drama, no matter how small, to have nearly the same level of tension as an incredibly well thought out piece with realistic background. By holding back information, preemptive judgement is withheld and only the merit of the actions can be judged. This is what makes OreGairu unique.

OreGairu thus becomes a character study. With hidden motivations and unknown agendas each character becomes a puzzle that both the viewer and the protagonist must solve. However, this is the easiest place for the series to fail. If the viewer realizes things too quickly the drama loses effect and the scenes become dull. If the shows moves too quickly then the viewer may easily be lost and become bored and lost interest. In my opinion OreGairu 2 found the perfect in between for brilliant execution, however, I have noticed that many people, mostly younger, felt the series moved too quickly and as such the demographic was limited.
Character:

Yukinoshita Yukino:

Yukino's primary character motivation and internal conflict is an issue with her family and how she refuses to be compared to her sister. This stems from her inferiority driven superiority complex (Ironic right? It's rather brilliant if you think about it.) It seems to me that Yukinoshita has a very difficult time reading people which distances her from others and makes her socially awkward. This trait contrasts sharply with Hachiman who's in the same socially awkward position for the exact opposite reason, he can read people too well. Because she can't understand people and people tend to avoid her, she's developed an inferiority complex where she doesn't think she's good enough which is why she follows in her sister's footsteps like when she tried to be the student council president, however, I don't think she's aware of that herself. Instead she sees herself as superior to those around her. It likely comes from that, despite the fact that she's a social outcast, she is far more gifted than most people are, so she has developed a superiority complex out of her inferiority complex as she sees herself doing things others cannot. So because of this she subconsciously believes she can't match up to her sister and the expectations that her family has put on her however due to her incredible natural ability that can meet those expectations she's twisted that around in her mind to where she thinks she's better than her sister and the expectations set upon her so she believes that willfully not meeting those expectations is apt because they are beneath her.

In short she's escaping the fear of failure by acting too superior to even try in the first place. Ironically her superiority complex forces her to meet many of those expectations in the end.

Hikigaya Hachiman:

The 8 man is probably the simplest main character to describe as all his thoughts and actions are shown to the viewer. In the most simple way possible, he's lonely and wants friends. However, due to his nature, he sees most friendships as artificial. This creates an interesting situation for him that causes the majority of the conflict in this season. I won't go in too deep on Hachiman as that treads dangerously close to spoiler territory, just know that his desire for friendship and his actions to maintain the status quo put him in the same position as those he believes are artificial, and wow is the resolution amazing.

Yuigahama Yui:

Yui becomes somewhat of an enigma. She has a hidden agenda that takes time to come to the surface. Yui is still the normal girl in the group and that makes her influence rather, interesting. The second season spends a good amount of time building up Yui and Yukino's relationship so as to make Yui's actions later on mean more. She starts to personify more or less Hachiman's problem with normal friendships. They say they have friends but are unwilling to let the status quo change and their relationships to evolve as the change.

Changes from Season 1:

With the shift to Studio Feel for season 2 a lot of things changed with the series. One thing many people did not notice is that the show dropped off the comedy aspect a lot to focus more on the drama, which, in this case, was a good thing. The most notable change was that the production values increased. A lot. The animation style also took a drastic shift. The character designs were altered to match the new style and while Hachiman took a generally unfavorable alteration every other character took a step up. The entire series was given the film like lighting effects that are becoming increasingly more popular in anime. This actually does a lot for OreGairu as the lighting becomes grayed which just matches the feel of the series much better than the original vibrant colors. The soundtrack also took a step up with a wider variety of pieces and some brilliant sound direction on a piano version of the new opening. However aside from the new opening nothing particularly stood out. The voice acting remained quite good however there were no definitively standout performances and at times the voice acting felt too stiff for the scene. Despite this the cast managed to pull of one hell of a scene in the later half.

(Best I could find. The copyright is strong with this one.)

Conclusion:

OreGairu thrives in presentation. It manages to disguise a generic story by withholding information that would otherwise reveal the nature and direction of the story thus keeping the viewer guessing the whole time. This clever strategy only works due to the amount of time the series has invested into developing a strong cast of characters with their own quirks and issues so that each problem stems from the character rather than some outside force. It manages to patch up a weak story through strong characters and good execution to be one of the best series of early 2015. While not without its quirks OreGairu 2 is absolutely worth the watch. It surpasses the first season in every way and is 100% worth the watch.

After a long and not so complicated formula accounting for the unique strengths of the series I award the second season a score of 7.4/10 It was good without a doubt.

nicola64 - 2015-05-22 15:58:02

ok this is not a riview [flame me if you want] but i really need to get spoiled, WHO WILL BE THE CHOSEN ONE FOR HIKKI, YUI OR YUKINOSHITA? PLEASE SPOIL ME......

wmarquardt - 2015-05-07 06:52:41

this anime affect to my life and almost describe my self as a loner :)

auer.orland - 2015-04-30 01:01:11

SNAFU season 2 is just what I hoped it would be. As it stands (at 4 ep. in) it is an improvement on what was an excellent first season.

I was worried when I heard that studio feel was taking over the animation production because they have produced a lot of low quality shows but I was astounded at how much better it looked. The first season's animation was passable but now the show looks as good as it deserves to.

It is truly rare to find a show like this that is so well written. The characters act realistically and watching them is heartbreaking as they so often are put in unpleasant social situations. Hiki really is one of my favorite main characters and I find him immensely relatable.

ncollins - 2015-04-10 06:03:31

a good slice of life anime with a lot of drama and who have stay like the Season 1 just in better graphic and more strong drama and development this anime have been created for drama no doubt on it but lets begin

About The Story
compared to the Season 1 the Season 2 have a better sense you have more thing than the S1 this is more interesting have multiple good point at the beginning i dont have expected thats gonna be great like that they have totally change the thing more interesting without destroying the old anime we have watched before they have stay with all the same elements and thats make the thing more good and now the story is more focus on what is gonna happen with the Friend-Trio i talk about Hachiman-Yui-Yukino , but we have others story with the others characters too ... thats a very interesting Season , thats a little surprising to see thats better than the Season 1 because normally the most of anime when they make a Season 2 without their real passion (Money) they totally fked up the thing but.. this one have clearly win and i think this is in one of the best anime of the season !

About The Animation and Sounds
the animation have become more worked and the characters design have a little bit changed but thats not making the things bad thats the old characters we have know before.. thats not gonna bothers you and some background with the light can be amazing to watch , for the Opening and Ending they are calm and i like that i dont know what to say more about it i will just leave you the vids

Opening

Ending

About The Characters
they have made a nice characters development in this season everyone have liked this point of the anime and thats why this is soo interesting just to see the characters change and thinking different this is a little bit like growing up with them if you know what i mean..

Hachiman Hikigaya / the guy who i have liked how he think and solve the thing in a rude manner , but this is the better solution but people dont like that but he dont care about it.. LOOOl but thats a nice character

Yui Yuigahama / the little energic girl but not too much thats a bestfriend if you know what i mean .. she will be here for you if you need her she will try to cheer you up when you feel bad but she can be a very kind person too

Yukino Yukinoshita / very calm and direct but have some complication in his life .. we can say she have some little trouble poor girl but anyway this is not a bad characters.. she have a nice personality and like cat.. ! yeah she like cat and she is cute if she wear neko ears :3 the more cute is when she say Nyaa.. dam...

About The Enjoyment
with the lot of drama you have in this anime you cant say this is boring.. plus the characters development who make the hting more interesting you will like that and not be bored thats sure this is a really nice Slice Of Life and without forget about the dose of Realistic.. i mean they need to think about their life too..!

so yeah i recommand that if you like Slice Of Life with Drama and you like anime with Realistic thats can be good for you too but i warning you the Season 2 have more thing than the Season 1 but wait dont think i say the S1 is bad i clearly not say that... they are both awesome but the Season 2 is more interesting.. !

Season 1 = 4.0

and the Season 2 i give him a perfect note ! this is a really good anime with a good potential who have been correctly used and the new studio have done a fking nice job no doubt on it.. !