Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru. (Oregairu)
Zoku Finale
Well, first, I'll admit here that I made a mistake earlier.
These stories aren't from the bonus Volume 6.5. Rather, they're from the newly released Volume 11. Ergo, episode 12 last week was *essentially* a sneak peak. This confounds me as I could have sworn I heard there was a Iroha-student council-Valentines request story in 6.5, but, meh...
~
Anyway~, nuances this episode
abound, and in my first watch through the dialogue was admittedly losing me. Not since
Evangelion have I had a need to so carefully scrutinize the verbage; looking up and watching multiple subs so that I could triangulate what the most probable meaning in the scene was.
For instance, Haruno mentions how Yukinoshita imitated her in the past in one translation, but not in another. In the latter, she's translated to have said "...been watching you all this time to decide what should be done". The latter sort of sounds like she's beating Yukino over the head that she can't make a decision, and is insisting that her own decision making ability is superior.
This may not be out of character for Haruno, but I don't think this was the true meaning, as it doesn't track as well with what follows. "
Can you really talk about your own ideas?". Harping on the imitation act better justifies why she would be calling out Yukino's lack of self; rather than insisting that she herself is better at something.
Really, it's all just making me anxious to get my hands on volume 11. The same to moments like when Haruno calls Hikki "nice", which are just
begging for his thoughts to spill out and describe what it is he feels she's provoking. He doesn't remark on it, but I don't think Hachiman is unaware that she's essentially been pulling strings the entire episode. Yukino and Yui staying together was itself likely her intention, as was the whole "date".
That Shark pet thing; Hikki acting sarcastically to Yukino's comments. Haven't seen that in a while.
"
They tend to stay with one partner until one of them dies"
Uh, lets hope this isn't foreshadowing, eh?
"
Yukinoshita should solve her own problems herself"
This most of all is why I needed to review the scene. At first I thought this sentence was comparable to what Yukinoshita said to him back in the "genuine episode" (right before he opened up, and she ran away).
But that's not it. Rather, it's addressing directly Yukinoshita's "reliance" problem. It wasn't simply Hachiman trying to once again reinforce distance between himself and the girls.
Though, that equally isn't to say he wasn't trying to invoke distance entirely. His words "I'll end up with nothing"; I'm uncertain of it, but it sounds to me that his pessimism is still guiding his thoughts.
So to wrap up: Series ends on a cliffhanger. This season successfully moved Yukinoshita from being a close (if adversarial) acquaintance, to a full-blown love interest, and got Hachiman to expose the true desire of his underlying his actions. Up to the Genuine episode,
Oregairu Zoku worked pretty great, but it proceeded to rush its story in the episodes following, which severely cramps the quality it had otherwise been bringing.
Regardless, it's well worth the watch; it was the second season all by itself that convinced me to invest in the story to begin with, and it hasn't left me disappointed.