‘I don’t need memories.’
This series has really surprised me. At first I thought it would be a shallow replica of every other harem/romantic comedy show out there and in no way am I saying I was wrong, I mean, every romantic comedy these days retains a modicum of similarities with other romantic comedies, but this show was in no way as boring as I thought it would be. Granted, this episode was the worst one so far in the 7 episode run as of now, but that doesn’t take away from the WHOLE experience and that’s what this first paragraph is about! Now let’s get down to business…
So Hachiman is tricked into a ‘group trip’ by his sister and ends up at a child’s summer camp… alright. It’s not the most original plot, but I can deal with it. Hachiman and Yukino are enthralled by loner and cynic, Rumi Tsurumi, and decide (indirectly) to help her 
become a more sociable person. Am I the only one who sees the hypocrisy surrounding this quest of theirs? Surely they wouldn’t use this as a cheap ploy to force a change within the personalities of our favorite character Hachiman? He’s fine as he is! Leave him be! But I digress, I not sure what I think of Rumi… she’s exactly what I imagine Hachiman and Yukino’s child being like and at the beginning of the episode I initially thought that she might be Yukino’s younger sister but that thought was immediately dispelled… I don’t know, the who plot just seems weak. We don’t even hear Rumi talk until near the end of the episode and what she says isn’t even surprising… in fact I pretty much quoted it word for word before it had even be said… but that might just be me… I’ll admit, I’m skeptical as to where this plot line is going to be taken. As it is now, I can only see it going a couple ways… A. Rumi is the first step in Hachiman’s change, B, Hachiman and Yukino bond in their attempts to help Rumi and or C. it’s just a plot line to keep the story going… C would annoy me the most, simply because I’m done with shows that through filler into their main storyline. If this turns out to be filler that does nothing for character development then I’ll be pissed… That’s just the kinda guy I am.
The comedy was all but gone in this episode and (due to the lack of romance (0 romance + 0 comedy = fuck all) that annoyed me. Without romance (it’s none existent at the moment, let’s be honest) and with no comedy what does this show even have? The only reason I managed to get through this episode was because of Hachiman… I’m into that cynic thing, y’know? Not in a sexual way… Just… y’know? ‘But what about character depth and emotional plot lines? Aren’t they important?’, I hear you asking. No. Go die…. that was a joke and a sick one at that… I apologies profusely. Emotional plotline? Yeah, sure… if it’s done well. Look at Chūnibyō! That was an emotional plot right there at the end that almost had me in tears… an ’emotional’ plot line about a lonely girl who we’ve never seen before is just boring and stale… get your act together Oregairu! The Yui drama from two episodes back was good! This… this isn’t even worth screen time. We’ve seen it too many times before and unless they really pull something out of the bag next episode, it’s gonna fall flat on its face.
In the end all I can say is that this was an (in general) weak episode. A lack of character development and a seemingly almost forced attempt on making the viewer feel anything just makes the episode seem as if it was an entirely different show at some points. I still don’t like Yukino, why? Because she lacks exposition and character development required to make her an interesting character. As she stands, she’s one my least favorite female protagonists in romcom history (that’s an exaggeration but I wanted to get my point across effectively)… Yui barely received any screen time this episode and why are the popular kids even here? To show the contrast between Hachiman and themselves? How many times do we need to see that? The rivalry isn’t even that good! Fix it Oregairu! But like I was saying, it wasn’t an entirely bad episode – it did have some good points. The small amount of humor that was in it was good as expected and the inner monologues of Hachiman kept me entertained for the whole episode… in the end though it left me wanting something more, something that it didn’t/couldn’t deliver..