Anime Hajime Review: My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU TOO!

Original Run: April 3, 2015 - June 26, 2015
Number of Episodes: 13
Genre: Comedy, Romance, Slice of Life
Based on the Series Created By: Wataru Watari and
Ponkan⑧

***Warning, the following may contain spoilers for My Teen Romantic Comedy TOO. Reader discretion is advised.***

Series Synopsis

Our story picks up right where it left off.

Following a successful Cultural Festival and Sports Day, the Service Club members feel confident in their ability to solve any problem. However, things are about to hit much closer to home.

Hachiman Hikigaya, Yukino Yukinoshita, and Yui Yuigahama (voiced respectively by Takuya Eguchi, Saori Hayami, and Nao Touyama) have yet to realize how much their friendship has meant to them. Little do they know that their relationship is about to be put to the test.

It turns out, solving people’s problems may end up exposing one’s own demons.

Series Positives

I suspected something like this might happen.

For context, this review was written during a three-part marathon session of My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU (MTRC). Specifically, this is part two, highlighting the series’ second season, My Teen Romantic Comedy TOO (MTRC 2). Thus, with all its pluses and faults, the first installment was fresh in my mind when I wrote this sentence.

As such, I might need to go into some season one spoilers to adequately explore events that happened in season two. More to the point, though, any deviations to the standard set by chapter one – be they good or bad – were prominently noticed during chapter two’s viewing.

I bring all this up because MTRC 2 retained everything that made its predecessor outstanding, and trust me, there were a lot. Nevertheless, there was a drastic shift in tone and atmosphere between the two seasons. The first installment leaned more heavily into this series’ comedy and silliness. This one, on the other hand, was willing and happy to twist the knife; it hit so much harder.

And it was absolutely brilliant.

Don’t get me wrong. MTRC 2 didn’t abandon humor; this show remained hilarious. However, be prepared to be slapped across the head with a sack filled with tension, grief, and plenty of melancholy. But although there was a real thickness to this season, it was never heavy-handed, a direct result of season one’s outstanding character development.

By the start of MTRC 2, we understood who Hachiman Hikigaya, Yukino Yukinoshita, and Yui Yuigahama were. We knew how they operated when they, as the Service Club, worked on a problem. The thing was, throughout season one, the difficulties the trio faced were much more general. The club helped people overcome obstacles: Plan Sports Day, practice for an upcoming game, teach someone how to bake cookies. These issues centered around an individual, and that individual was usually along for the ride.

This meant no one else needed to get involved, lowering the chances of competing interests. Still, season one gave us a peek of what could happen when things went beyond this narrow scope.

If you remember, at the end of season one, the Culture Festival committee chair asked the Service Club to help plan the event. Initially, that fell in line with all the other requests Hachiman, Yukino, and Yui had handled. Unfortunately, the magnitude and intentions of those involved quickly spiraled out of control. More and more people were brought into the fold, and by the end of it, someone was bound to get hurt.

As we know, Hachiman took it upon himself to be the sacrificial lamb; he decided to be the villain everyone else could rally against. At the time, it appeared as though Yukino and Yui understood Hachiman’s thought process. It turned out, although they got why Hachiman did what he did, Yukino and Yui were not a fan. The two girls didn’t like seeing someone they cared for choose to be the bad guy. Plus, he did this without even consulting them.

MTRC 2 was the progression of this sentiment.

Throughout this season, Hachiman thought everything could work out as long as he was the one who took the hit. He assumed his actions were logical. In a cold, matter-of-fact way, they were. Be that as it may, just because a move makes sense under a black and white lens doesn’t make it right. MTRC 2 focused on the fall out from Hachiman’s self-harming tendencies.

For Yui, she hated it whenever Hachiman was willing to degrade himself in his effort to help others. She knew he was kind and thoughtful. Yui hoped other people would see that too, but Hachiman did everything in his power to make that impossible.

For Yukino, she was much more torn up. When this series started, she had little-issue with someone acting as “soundly” as Hachiman did. After all, she saw the world in a purely logical sense, too. As MTRC 2 progressed, Yuikino grew more and more confused and conflicted because although Hachiman was often technically correct, his methods were beyond flawed and closed-minded.

And don’t go thinking this was a one-way give and take; it wasn’t Hachiman’s actions against Yui and Yukino’s disapproval. They each were troubled by the others’ growing sense of worthlessness. Yui, who had feelings for Hachiman, didn’t want to see Yukino give up and deny her own heart towards him. Yukino didn’t want to risk her friendship with Yui, the first real relationship she ever had, by getting her involved with Yukinoshita family matters.

It was an interconnected web of emotions, and more than once, this season delivered an insanely powerful scene because of it.

If this review is sounding a bit vague, that’s because that’s how I’m writing it. I have no idea how the next season, which I believe to be this series’ conclusion, will go. One thing MTRC 2 was willing to do was to let its characters make mistakes. Right answers didn’t come naturally. A course of action would sometimes lead to more trouble and completely miss the point of a situation.

The tone of this season’s ending was exceptionally well-done because it basically admitted the future was unknown. Hachiman, Yukino, and Yui were about to enter uncharted territory, and they weren’t sure how or if their friendship could get through it.

I am keeping this review vague because any more detail I give will require a great deal of speculation. And if there is one thing this show has made clear, doing that is a bad idea.

Series Negatives

You could easily copy-and-paste season one’s negatives here. This installment ran into many of the same problems, but with a few significant caveats.

First, MTRC 2’s episode thirteen actually ended on a high point. Unlike season one, which just stopped, this season suggested there would be more to the story. However, it was still quite sudden, and it did feel like this installment came to a close in the middle of a conversation.

Second, if we recall, the gap between season one and season two was two years. That is a long time to wait after getting an ending that didn’t really end. The same notion applied to the gap between seasons two and three. Although MTRC 2 does keep you wanting more, it didn’t deliver either a cliffhanger or a satisfying breakpoint. But the primary difference was, season three didn’t release until 2020, five years after this installment’s ending.

All I can say is, I hope it was worth it for fans of this series who put up with the wait. Fortunately, based on everything I have seen, my hopes are high.

Final Thoughts

I know the Series Negatives Section was short; really, it was non-existent. However, this show was that good.

This was a total improvement on something that was already fantastic. Although we got the same great characters, the entire atmosphere was different; it meant a lot more.

There was much I didn’t talk about in this review. For example, I didn’t even mention Iroha Isshiki (voiced by Ayane Sakura). She may have been critical to this season, but much like everything else, I want to see where things go to get a better sense of how it all fits into the puzzle.

But there is one thing I can say for sure.

My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU TOO has earned a recommendation.

But these were just my thoughts. What are yours? Have you seen this series? How would you advise My Teen Romance Comedy SNAFU TOO? Leave a comment down below because I would love to hear what you have to say.

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For Anime Hajime, I’m LofZOdyssey, and I’ll see you next time.