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Interview with My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU's Wataru Watari, Masazumi Kato, Chado Horii




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thepepin



Joined: 22 Jun 2022
Posts: 69
PostPosted: Wed Aug 31, 2022 11:16 am Reply with quote
I know that people want their favorite show to go on forever but in this case:

1. The third season was the weakest of the 3. (This is in contrast with, say, Kaguya-Sama: Love is War where season 3 was the strongest.) And this was already with season 2 - like Love is War - being weaker than the first.

2. Not certain what there is left to cover. Even though it was a harem romcom parody deconstruction it had a very conventional ending: first girl wins (even though others i.e. Yui and especially fan favorite Saki were more compelling "best girls" for much of the fandom, which is also a harem convention). All of the characters achieve their necessary character growth - even the chuuni Yoshiteru and his band of outcasts - except Saika, who had a lot of subversion/development potential that the show flat out forgot about in season 3.

I mean, Sensei-Chan is gone, and she was the main catalyst for much of the plot in the first place, not just forcing them together but in an ongoing basis all through the story. Yui has promised never to give up on Hachiman, but for her to actively take on a "man-stealing" role would be entirely at odds with her personality. So nothing left to do then but have the others pair off into couples (Saki and Saika, Hayato and Yui, Tobe and Hina)? Sure you can do the ups and downs of their relationship, but that is shoujo (plus older demos seinen and josei) not shonen. It would also be even more melancholy than the last season of Sound: Euphonium because it would just consist of people like Yui letting go of their unrealized romantic wishes, couples and friendships breaking up as they go off to different colleges or enter the workforce etc. And even then - again - no Sensei, plus Komachi (having achieved her goal of getting Hachiman to enter society plus entering high school and becoming more independent herself) would have little to do beyond cameos etc. It would be better for a one-shot followed by a Liz and The Blue Bird or Tamako Love Story type movie or OVA than a new batch of volumes followed by a 4th series.
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Spike Terra
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Joined: 21 Mar 2016
Posts: 358
Location: Maryland
PostPosted: Wed Aug 31, 2022 4:05 pm Reply with quote
Great interview, I had the chance to attend during Otakon but I went to Nando's instead. Now I feel like I really missed out.
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TKPGfan



Joined: 31 Aug 2022
Posts: 2
PostPosted: Wed Aug 31, 2022 4:46 pm Reply with quote
I will have to disagree with the thought that Yui Yuigahama is best girl. Please, Hachiman always had a thing for Yukino Yukinoshita. Not only that I recently pre-ordered a Good Smile Company nendoroid anime figure of Yukino Yukinoshita (voiced by Saori Hayami) but not of Yui. This tells you who is the main female anime character and favorite.

That said, I will agree more seasons for the anime series might not be for the best. I loved the series. One of the best anime of recent but it had a good close, more seasons might lead to it not getting tied in the same neat way. I do not want another cliffhanger ending with no closure or worst yet an ending that makes no sense.

And yes, this interview was great. It's Wataru Watari, after all.


Last edited by TKPGfan on Thu Sep 01, 2022 10:09 am; edited 2 times in total
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tywhoppity



Joined: 09 Sep 2019
Posts: 199
PostPosted: Wed Aug 31, 2022 7:40 pm Reply with quote
I think Watari has said all that needed to be said with what he's written so far; any further volumes would just be a money grab, and wouldn't advance the narrative, imo.

Saki was best girl, anyway.... Wink
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thepepin



Joined: 22 Jun 2022
Posts: 69
PostPosted: Wed Aug 31, 2022 10:08 pm Reply with quote
TKPGfan wrote:
I will have to disagree with the thought that Yui Yuigahama is best girl. Please, Hachiman always had a thing for Yukino Yukinoshita. Not only that I recently pre-ordered a Good Smile Company nendoroid of Yukino Yukinoshita (voiced by Saori Hayami) but not of Yui. This tells you who is the main female anime character and favorite. I did not pre-order a Yui nendoroid anime figure.

That said, I will agree more seasons for the anime series might not be for the best. I loved the series. One of the best anime of recent but it had a good close, more seasons might lead to it not getting tied in the same neat way. I do not want another cliffhanger ending with no closure or worst yet an ending that makes no sense.

And yes, this interview was great. It's Wataru Watari, after all.


Ha ha well the mark of a successful harem anime is the endless "best girl" debates that it sparks. No different from the "love triangle" stories in the west ... Team Edward vs Team Jacob and all. So yeah, another example of how what started out as a parody deconstruction of the genre wound up merely reinforcing its tropes. Unlike, say, School Rumble, which resisted doing so to the very end. Further, ultimately Hachiman/Yui/Yukino was merely "Archie/Bettie/Veronica". And in both, the similar character - Yukino/Betty - got the Hachiman/Archie.

Quote:
Hachiman always had a thing for Yukino Yukinoshita


You might want to go back to the first season. Hachiman became more sympathetic towards Yukino over time after learning about her backstory, which began his process of exchanging his self-centeredness for empathy. (Which is, er, what Sensei figured would happen.) Prior to that occurring - and also before Yui joined as a vital mediator, communicator and emotional support - he hated her (not without reason, and the reverse was true also).
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