It's fun to see the pretty boy squirm. But there's a flipside to all of those pithy smiles and unbuckled bouts of laughter. Painful and annoying as it is to realize this, the throaty keening of an infantile ego on the cusp of growing up defines but one fraction of the manufactured discontent roiling in the belly of one Hayato Hayama. MY YOUTH ROMANTIC COMEDY. . .#10 centers its lens on the golden child, strips him further of his guise of sociability and broader, social intuition, and enlists a few unconventional perspectives in pondering if it's worth putting the pieces back together when it's all said and done.
Surprisingly, as important as Hayama has been to the exterior framework of this novel series, the author has yet to dedicate a whole volume to the young man. Make no mistake, Hayama is a terrible person. Indeed, one might ask as to whether he is a person at all. Hayama smiles because it is convenient to do so. He bumps shoulders, high fives, and snickers to alleviate tension that very well might dissipate on its own. He speaks with a winking softness that betrays a profound lack of learned interest. And most critically, his thoughts and opinions are only such that perfection and succor are the only options available. Hayato Hayama, in short, has built a life trying to be the best of everything to everyone. In MY YOUTH ROMANTIC COMEDY. . .#10, second-year students are charged with completing their personal career-track assessments. How, then, is a young man whose entire existence is dedicated to pleasing others supposed to contort himself to select a personal path forward that is, for once, justifiably selfish?
The Service Club is concerned with Hayama's course selection by way of a request from Miura. But it turns out the class queen isn't merely poking around so as to pair up with her beau for appearances sake. Miura's genuine, emotional attachment to Hayama has pushed her to the brink. She wants to know if the golden boy actually likes her or merely likes hanging out with her. Is she a prop to him? A necessary inconvenience? (Hikigaya: "What was he thinking? What was in his heart? [..] She just wanted to know his feelings. [..] She wanted to know him," p. 119)
The book proceeds apace for well over half of its length. Hikigaya asks around the class, to discern Hayama's course selection (arts or sciences), often to no avail. In doing so, the cynic stirs up the usual trouble: unraveling an awkward rumor involving Yukinoshita, stumbling across an increasingly confident Totsuka, and later, hemorrhaging awkwardness under the darkening gaze of Haruno. MY YOUTH ROMANTIC COMEDY. . .#10 saves its most impressive action for the closing three or four chapters. As Hikigaya later realizes the reason for why Hayama is being so tight-lipped about his future coursework, so too does he acknowledge the weighty variables the golden boy must circumnavigate in his ongoing quest to be everything to everyone.
Hayama often claims his ultra-niceness isn't actually niceness writ large, and on this note, he may be correct. However, it's arrogant for him to believe, even for a moment, that such an illusion is at all sustainable.
The problem, of course, is that always winning, always seeking perfection, never rocking the boat, and forever hoping to keep everyone happy almost never works. Servicing and defining individuality with supplication to the will of an ignorant plurality isn't individuality at all. Sooner or later, the individual must choose a path. Otherwise, whoever ascribes to this illusion of contrived goodness will crash and burn.
So enters Hikigaya. It's long past time Hayama admit the truth, to himself, as to whether his emotional dithering (which hurts those close to him) and pathetic social engineering (which reeks of personal insecurity) can once and for all be ascribed to his environment or to himself.
The question remains: Why is Hayama, Hayama?
Is it environmental determinism? The pressures of inheriting the family law business, marrying into a powerful political family, and being at the top of the student hierarchy? Or is it the unscrupulous discernment of self? The desire to be personally responsible for circumstances beyond one's control?
MY YOUTH ROMANTIC COMEDY. . .#10 relies on the blunt-force unwrapping of tightly controlled ego by way of clinically incisive accusations of derelict social ethos and a staggeringly sinful adherence to filial piety. As much as one enjoys witnessing Hikigaya strip Hayama of his affectations, one cannot deny the collateral damage.
There are a handful of unspoken hypotheses in this novel for readers to parse. One of them being the author's intelligent misalignment, realignment, and then deliberate misalignment of the Hayama and Yukinoshita households. Hikigaya acknowledges this multiple times, at once admitting the union of the two would require he "imagine something that [his] heart didn't want to imagine" (p. 184). It's typical of Hikigaya to actively refuse a solution simply because he doesn't like it. But this one sticks in his craw. And for the first time since perhaps the second volume in the novel series, readers witness, on more than one occasion, the lingering gazes, the modestly upturned smiles, the simultaneity of thought, and the gentlest of laughter that brings Hikigaya and Yukinoshita closer together. Indeed, how long was Yuigahama standing outside the door to the nurse's office?
The novel's characters also debate the growth of Yukino Yukinoshita more substantially than before, albeit in the very closing pages. Both Hayama and Haruno levy their assessments, relative to Hikigaya's, as to whether Yukinoshita-the-younger has changed or simply convinced herself she has. Growing up is never quick, never easy, and never without a bit of suffering. Stepping out of a sibling's shadow or reconfiguring one's goals relative to one's family's goals are not life trajectories to be amended lightly.
Hikigaya shrugs his shoulders through these conversations, but he knows, intuitively, it's not his place to adjudicate whether someone has "changed a little." Maybe Yukinoshita has differentiated herself from Haruno enough to be her own person. But how much is "enough"? Maybe Yukinoshita has rightfully convinced herself that remaining socially and emotionally at a distance is best for her personal development. But how distant is too distant?
MY YOUTH ROMANTIC COMEDY. . .#10 concludes on a knife's edge. It's not entirely clear whether Hikigaya believes his own interpretation of Yukinoshita's growth, actual or perceived. And it's not entirely clear if he believes his interpretation is worthy of recalibration. Indeed, if the question the novel sought to ask rested on whether Hayama wanted to stop being the person everyone wanted him to be, could not the same question be asked of others?
Este volumen es… más profundo de lo que esperaba. Y Hayama Hayato es un tipo muy, muy complejo.
El drama arranca con un encuentro incómodo en el cual participan Hikigaya y Yuigahama por un lado y Yukinoshita Haruno y Hayama por el otro. Continúa con Haruno prácticamente forzando a Yukino a que acuda al rescate de sus amigos (ahí es cuando se revela que las hermanas Yukinoshita y Hayama fueron amigos de la infancia) y empeora aún más en el instante en que aparece la matriarca de la familia Yukinoshita. Y el drama solo escala desde ahí… el drama emocional, eso es. Primero, se desata en la escuela un rumor que dice que Hayama Hayato y Yukinoshita Yukino están saliendo y luego, se presenta el formulario mediante el cual los alumnos de Sobu deben decidir qué tipo de carrera van a seguir en la universidad. Esto determinará, a su vez, qué clases van a tener el próximo año escolar. Para Miura Yumiko todo eso es, bueno, un problema. Principalmente porque Hayama, el tipo del que está enamorada, se niega a decir a nadie su elección de carrera, lo que hace que ella no pueda elegir una trayectoria propia. Así que ella hace una solicitud (encubierta) al Service Club. De ahí en más, el camino es el siguiente: *En el Service Club y gracias a la ayuda de Isshiki, los miembros descubren lo que Miura realmente está pidiendo así que, después de descartar a Yukinoshita y Yuigahama, Hikigaya decide preguntar directamente. Eso no resulta y Hayama se molesta por el cuestionamiento. *Miura acude al club personalmente, confronta a Yukinoshita para saber si está saliendo con Hayama, ambas casi tienen un enfrentamiento físico y Hikigaya pregunta a Miura si quiere obtener su respuesta aun si Hayama no se la ha dado simplemente porque no desea que ella sepa más sobre él. Ella dice que sí. *Hikigaya intenta sacarle la respuesta a Tobe (un amigo de Hayama que no la sabe), Yuigahama intenta preguntar a Hayama (de nuevo, no resulta) y trae a Ebina al club (ella también dice que no sabe lo que Hayama ha elegido, pero a solas con Hikigaya le comenta que el modo con el que está buscando información no es el correcto) *Hikigaya siente que se ha quedado sin ideas;sin embargo, tras enterarse de algunas cosas sobre la familia de Hayama y compararlas con su forma de actuar en la escuela, llega a la conclusión de que este último siempre intenta cumplir con las expectativas de todos, lo cual lo lleva a ejecutar un último plan: para intentar aprovechar un momento en el que Hayama esté cansado y pueda tomarlo con la guardia baja, participa en el maratón de Sobu y les pide a Totsuka Saika (e indirectamente al club de tenis) y a Zaimokuza que aparten a la gente del grupo que va corriendo en cabeza (Hikigaya y Hayama) *Hikigaya provoca a Hayama al decirle que Miura le fue útil para mantener alejadas a las chicas, que su elección fue ciencias porque quería dejar de ser quien todas las personas deseaban que fuera y distanciarse de ellas sin lastimarlas y que realmente no le importa lo que haya elegido, pero que si no ha elegido eso que lo cambie. Hayama no le da una respuesta, pero sí murmura que nunca podría haber sido su amigo y, más claramente, que lo odia y que no hará lo que él quiere. El resto es historia: Hayama gana el maratón (porque es lo que se espera de él), disipa el rumor sobre su vida amorosa (usando a Miura y a Isshiki para hacerlo) y, en la fiesta posterior, le dice a Hikigaya que no quería decir su elección porque “si tomas una decisión cuando no tienes otras opciones, entonces no puedes considerarla tu elección, ¿verdad?”; Hikigaya tropieza consigo mismo, se lastima, acaba en el grupo final y tiene una charla con Yukinoshita en la enfermería y Miura recibe su respuesta (que no es tan fiable, se le recalca) y se le aconseja que no haga su elección tan casualmente.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I started reading this series, more as a lark. I had seen a few episodes of the anime, and was curious. The series has really grown on me. I enjoy the way the characters have grown, and feel more comfortable with each other. Makes me wish I had done more during High school. IN the book, it's getting closer to when the students have to pick, what path they are going to take for their studies. Everyone wants to know what the popular kid wants to do. The service club, gets tasked wish finding out. I m glad I read this book, right before watching the part of the Anime, that covers this. The anime left out a lot of interesting detail.
After the memorable last volume, this book has the same quality. We are starting to reach the end game and the progression of the characters and their dynamics are nearly complete now. Of course Hachiman changes his mind in every volume, but slowly he will hopefully find what he wants. Yukino is still a mystery but her story is the main plot in the series probably from the perspective of Hikigaya so that will be the last arc. This bingeread is nearing its end, only 2 volumes are left out of the translated ones.
This series is like wine, it gets better with time. The later volumes have an exceptionally well-designed structure. Besides some fan service dialogues, everything that happens has a purpose and contributes to the main plot.
When I watched the anime, Yui was my favorite, but in the light novel, the strengths of the Yukino ship shine through and Yui comes off bland in comparison. They are both not my fav characters though. I like Iroha, Komachi, and Hayato more. Feels like my youth aromantic comedy has gone wrong as I expected.
I think this story must conclude at this point when Haruno said to Hachiman that I really don't know why she ( Yuki ) would tell him about her future decision. But the author ptolonged it and made the the story tasteless in later volumes.
Nooo the next volume will be the last and the season 2 of anime will be aired this spring. Yukinoshita's dark side will be revealed. I sense a bitter ending.
Well, the youth romcom IS definitely wrong as expected...
Walaupun dalam kategori light novel tetapi dengan gaya penulisan yang mantap, terasa macam baca novel biasa. Cerita hanya berkisar tentang hidup remaja sekolah tetapi dapat rasakan betapa teliti dan tajamnya pandangan penulis dalam setiap perkara. Gaya bahasa yang menghiburkan dan jalan cerita yang kuat menjadi penyebab utama kenapa buku ini antara yang terkenal di Jepun (kategori light novel).
Secara peribadi saya tidak suka anime nya. Jalan cerita yang agak sama, tetapi lari jauh dari maksud sebenar buku.