After filter and find keyword, it’s possible “that person” would be the owner of monologue in Oregairu LN v10.
In “Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Come Wa Machigatteiru. (やはり俺の青春ラブコメはまちがっている。), Oregairu (俺ガイル)” LN v10, it’s the first time Watari-sensei wrote 3 memorandums for us to read. We don’t know who is owner of each monologue but they vent their feeling/problem that they never reveal to anyone before. (or should I say, they revealed but no one notice.)
For the first memorandum, I read many comments of a certain site that discussed who is the owner of this monologue. Some people think that person is Hikigaya Hachiman, some people think this must be Yukinoshita Yukino but no one can decide for sure. For me, I picked Yukino but when I read comments that this can be Hachiman too, I began to be not sure about my answer. So that’s why I will try to find who might be the owner of the first memorandum. And if I found the most possible answer in this analysis, I will find that the past of this character I think s/he owns this memorandum, will be consistent with things this person in this memorandum reveals or not.
ps.
- Spoiler alert!! Before proceeding more than this, I recommend you to read LN. Because the first memorandum is in LN only.
- Before you read this work, I will tell you first that the story/past of this owner is dark/heavy more than you can imagine. The painful past of a certain character lies here. So I will not stop you to read, but prepare your mind before reading this.
- All analyses in this blog are not absolutely right. Please read Attention to understand more that some posts in this blog might make you feel not well.
Updates
16/5/2020 – And I found out the final answer who owns this memorandum.
26/7/2018 – I added more filter (Priority) into this post that is one of the interesting circumstantial evidence.
Filter possible answers.
In all memorandums, I can tell the first one is the one that made me feel confused the most because after I read it many and more, I still don’t know whose monologue is this. Maybe this is a labyrinth? So instead find the answer, I should cool my head and filter possible answers.
Find who likes to read books.
In this memorandum, s/he organizes book collection. S/He reads a certain book since middle school so it means one of his/her hobbies is reading. So the next step is filtering anyone who has this hobby.
- Hikigaya Hachiman (比企谷 八幡): As a loner, reading is the best.
- Yukinoshita Yukino (雪ノ下 雪乃): When you enter her club, what she always does is reading.
- Yukinoshita Haruno (雪ノ下 陽乃): One of her hobbies is reading. And in doughnut shop (LN v8), we see there’re thick books at her table.
- Hayama Hayato (葉山 隼人): Are you surprised? I never know when he reads any books. He likes sports but reading is his hobby too.
- Hiratsuka Shizuka (平塚 静): She likes ramen and manga too.
- Ebina Hina (海老名 姫菜): Yes, as a fujoshi, reading is one of her skill (but please ask me which manga she likes to read). Her fav is LN.
- Zaimokuza Yoshiteru (材木座 義輝): He aims to be a writer, then reading (manga & LN) is necessary.
…Is it just me but it seems Watari-sensei likes to create characters who have the same hobby as his? The problem is there are many choices. What should I do?
Filter candidates.
In this memorandum, this person wants his/her true nature to be hidden. If so, the true answer is not Haruno, Hiratsuka-sensei, or Zaimokuza.
- In the case of Hiratsuka-sensei, she shows the sincerity and carefulness sometimes, when she is talking marriage topics or she got drunk. We will see she doesn’t mind letting people see her suffering. So she is out.
- In the case of Zaimokuza, I can see the shows his determination and flaws many times. I really don’t know Zaimokuza we see in LN, is his true self at the first place or not. But if I never see he tries to hide his true (another) nature, I will count him out.
- In the case of Haruno, she has the orihalcum mask that makes people misunderstand her so easily. But she always wants someone who can understand her, or else she would not want a certain person gazes into her. She also is the type that wants someone to know her true face that leads to reaching her. You can see why I think like this from the third memorandum, it seems she is in despair and one of the reasons is she tried her best for the one she loved, to the point she becomes the perfect person to show her love and sincerity, but what she gained is different. That’s why it’s very different from wanting to hide from people with the image.
However, it’s not like Haruno and sensei are not the strong people to the point they can reveal their worries to others. That’s normal and I notice this in LN v12. For example, sensei almost tells Hachiman about something that I guess she will be going to relocate soon but she can’t say it. For Haruno’s case, after she was talking about something that means her little sister will be going to be “the adult”, Hachiman asked her if this opinion came from her own experience, she convinces him to not interest about her and continue to talk about him and her younger sister. I notice she doesn’t want to show her own state, it’s normal for a human to hide the truth like this because they will feel something heavy in their mind. So the candidates in the final round are Hachiman, Yukino, Hayama, and Ebina. They have images and want to hide their true natures.
- Hachiman – We know he is a loner and he insists he always will be, always reveals his own attitude. I, the reader, and watcher ever believed in his words. However, the
trueimage of him at the beginning until the half of the story is not like I always believe.
However, in v6, after he launches two judgments to Sagami Minami (相模 南) and Hiratsuka-sensei makes him realize that there are people who will hurt when they see him hurt. I don’t think he is strange because it’s normal but one of the reasons he can do something like that because he has no anchor in his heart because of the loneliness that he held almost times. What he did is cool at the beginning but seeing him crush his enemy because he suffers until now is not what I can see it is so cool, I just want to cry with him instead, cry to the unfairness in this world. This also makes me realize that he wants to cry to that unfairness.
Since he believes he is the loner, he never notices that other people will sorry for him. So when people were gossiping about him, all mediums show how other people (Hiratsuka-sensei, Yuigahama, Totsuka Saika (戸塚 彩加 ) and Kawasaki Saki (川崎 沙希)) were discomforted. From that time on, his image starts to melt and shows his true feeling. A normal human who yearns for the carefulness. Loner mask is just the mask he wears to survive, to continue to live but the environment around him convinced him to wear it too.
And in LN v11-12, there are many times that show how he wants to avoid some people who can see right through his original desire behind his helping people. When those people are going to touch his truth behind his action, he tries to …evade despite he knows they are right. These signs make me decide to include him in this category inevitably.
- Yukino – Creating the issue about honest and strong but melting it, made me feel that everything is changeable. It’s true she is strong, I admit but these things are not stable and were revealed to Hachiman and Yuigahama clearly in v11.
- Hayato – If you read LN (especially v8,10-11), you will see that nice actions and words can’t explain his true feeling. Things he did during the double date and the rumor can confirm that he doesn’t want people to know his will.
Oregairu Analysis – Why Does Hayama Hayato Want Him & Hikigaya Hachiman To Be Equal? And His “Silent Plan”.
In case you want to know what I wrote about him is true or not, I picked one of my posts that will show you his true nature (partly).
- Ebina – She intends to be a fujoshi clearly so other guys would avoid her. I don’t know about her past but maybe she would have some bad experience that involved with guy(s). So she created a barrier to repel guys away. However, I notice she also wants someone to understand her that is the nature of humans but how she insists to hide her true feeling makes me decide to include her to the next round.
Then, how about this quote?
I read this memorandum many times to look for any hints. I found something that can help me filter candidates and that is …this quote.
Could it have been a divine oracle, or possibly fate?
This quote is from the owner of this memorandum that beautiful words were used. “divine oracle” and “possibly fate” made me look for possible candidates. These words should be used by girl/woman more the opposite gender. For example, can you imagine Hachiman or Hayato will use these words or some words similar in his thought once? I never find out that Hachiman ever uses dignity words like these once in LN, anime & manga.
For Ebina’s case, I don’t know she uses dignity words in her thought or not. However, it’s highly possible for Yukino to use these words. I mean, she is the daughter of an elite family. When she talks with people at home, her conversations and social interactions should be in a polite manner. But this is just my opinion only.
So is this possible that the owner’s monologue should be Yukino more than Ebina or not? I am still not sure since I never have a chance to read Ebina’s monologue. I will not use just this to decide who is the owner. However, with this, Hachiman and Hayato would not surely be the owner.
Priority – (New!)
Since I filtered until I get two characters who might be the owner the most. I considered these two people and owners of the second and third memorandums. I will not say that which characters are the owner of each memorandum for now but if you read my two analyses about those two memorandums (links are below of this post ⇓), you can remember them and take them to the consideration like this.
Yukino (the owner of 1st) ♦ the owner of 2nd ♦ the owner of 3rd
Ebina (the owner of 1st) ♦ the owner of 2nd ♦ the owner of 3rd
And I will assume that you read my two analyses about the 2nd and 3rd memorandum already so I will paste their names into these.
Yukino ♦ Hayama ♦ Haruno
or
Ebina ♦ Hayama ♦ Haruno
Do you think which one will be the most …correct? This filter is not solid evidence to judge who is the owner of this memorandum but I will look for which patterns are the most possible that these three characters must be the most important people in the finale. So I can’t avoid my own bias but I will consider more if the author chose which group for the last trial that he began to launched in the story of LN v10 and up clearly.
Therefore, if my bias about the finale would be involved with the former trio, Yukino, Hayama, and Haruno, this is consistent with an epilogue in anime Oregairu season2 ep10 that there are monologues between four people. So it means that Hachiman will get involved with the whirlpool that this trio (the first version – Yukinoshita sisters & Hayama). That’s why this structure makes me believe that Hachiman and Hayama also are not the owner of this memorandum because I don’t see how Hachiman will get involved with Hayama and Haruno while Yukino, the main character will not be included (except this will be the l*** triangle that it is highly possible but I still don’t see how Yukino will be excluded from helping her older sister either that will be happening in the finale), and I don’t see how it will be Hayama ♦ Hayama ♦ Haruno either. Another thing is I don’t see why WW wrote Hachiman’s memorandum if the story is his monologue at the beginning and it hid his true feelings/desire already. With all of these reasons, I think the main people who will get involved in the finale are Hachiman, Yukinoshita sisters and Hayama. So the pattern is like this. ⇓
⇓
Hachiman -> Yukino ♦ Hayama ♦ Haruno
Maybe the true answer is in that keyword.
Many people would never notice (and me too!, before) that WW wrote keywords in memorandums (at least I found in two memorandums) that point who is the true owner. Each keyword represents the symbol of the owner of each monologue and they are unnoticeable that you might not know these are keywords.
For the keyword that I mentioned before, in this monologue, this person was in the middle of cleaning with the upcoming New Year. Guess who has the birth date during New Year period?
The filtering process is finished, the final result is…
Yes, the final answer or should I say, it’s possible that the owner of the first monologue is Yukinoshita Yukino, as her birthday is 3rd January!
What’s in the second memorandum?
When I made it halfway through the second memorandum, I closed the book in a hurry and never managed to read much of it beyond that.
Why can she not finish reading the second memorandum? When I read her reason why she can’t continue, it is…
In that book, it felt as if I was getting dragged to the surface, as if my true nature that I was still continuing to hide to this day was getting exposed.
So I checked this memorandum to find what makes her closed the book because it must be about the inner nature or something. When I checked this memorandum, I admit I am still not sure this is the reason why she can’t finish the second memorandum, and I don’t know where the halfway she reached is either. But in my assumption, this might be the reason…
Ooba (the main character of this book) shows his classmate, Takeichi the ghost-like paintings of Amedeo Modigliani (Amedeo was the epitome of a tragic artist, a Jewish Italian painter, and sculptor). He realizes that some artists will express the inner truth of human cruelty through their own trauma. So with inspire by these artists, he paints a self-portrait, it appears that his work is so dreadful and he can’t show this to anyone except Takeichi.
Maybe, just maybe, if I connect the inner nature she wants to hide and the drawing that can express the inner truth of human cruelty through their own trauma, I assume this is the point she reached but can’t continue to read anymore.
Her true nature is still part of her.
So with the middle of the second memorandum of this book, she feels like it is revealing her true nature that she wants to hide until now.
the reason I was reading this book this late now was because I thought it was just something to be thrown out. I took it with my hands in astonishment.
But thinking about it even more, there was no way I could throw out this book.
To close the book is the self-defense. Anyone who suffers from painful past, it would be at least once we want to throw these memories away because we want to forget it, we don’t want that truth to be shown clearly. But since this book expresses her truth, throwing it away is like throwing something important for her away.
They say that bookshelves are a reflection of a person’s personality.
In that case, I’m sure this book was a reflection of my true nature. That’s why, the only thing I could do in the end was just put it away without tossing it and pretend as if I had never seen it.
This… shows us how she doesn’t like something about herself. Since her true nature is something she mentioned many times, I think it is the main issue of this memorandum.
Yet here I am, reaching out to it again.
Could it have been a divine oracle, or possibly fate?
I wasn’t one to take those words seriously, but it wasn’t very pleasant knowing how it seemed like I was reinforcing the notion instead by being up in arms and denying it.
I don’t need to interpret this anymore but in LN v9,10 (I forgot), since she said she is aware of her action toward her true nature, her wish that she told Hachiman during the amusement park event is interesting because it is the result of seasoning her own thoughts until she reaches that wish to save “something”.
Maybe she knows the ending of that book.
Because it’s likely that I needed to see what will happen from there on.
If she continues to read the second memorandum again, I don’t know she finish reading this book or not. But it’s possible that she would know “the conclusion” already. Ooba is doing well when the environment (people) around him is good for him. But when the bad environment comes to him again, the ending of his story is…
The question is if she knows Ooba’s fate, how is she feeling after finish reading it?
Personally, although this memorandum makes me realize some important truth or the state of the owner, I also believe that this state will not exist forever. I believe that the owner (who might or might not be Yukino) can understand her/his own value, can understand s/he doesn’t need to be like anyone. Since s/he is not unpleasant about her/his truth, changing to be like others s/he admires is one of the exits. But if she can destroy the root of her own problem, I believe she can recover her self-confidence and love herself in the end, by her own self and everyone who wish well for her.
Possible, It’s That Person’s Monologue.
Although I still believe that Yukino is the owner of this memorandum, this is my answer at the story level. Until I found out something that I will call “the deepest layer” and “the core” by analyzing this post of anime Zoku ep5. So I reviewed these three memorandums again. It appears that all 3 memorandums belong to just one person. If you want to know the owner of them, I recommend you to read the post I pasted its link because if we can’t find out that core, it’s impossible (in my opinion) to realize about that person.
After I realized that person or that being, the truth impacted me and I thought that “…So it’s like that.”. With the final answer I found, it connects to the memorandum in LN v12 that I really think that Yuigahama is the owner but it appears that if we are talking about the core level, the owner of those three memorandums also owns this memorandum.
Since I found out the core or the true person who owns these memorandums, the next question for me is “then, is it possible that characters I analyzed might be not the true answer?”. I think at this point, I can’t judge this anymore because it’s up to the creator who designed them. If the creator intends to direct characters in the story will be the owners, so it’s like that, if the creator has no that intention, so it’s not.
End.
However, it also is possible that my work can be wrong or this is the memorandum of another character, so if you have any thoughts, you can write in Comment below. If you have more notice that I don’t know before, how about tell me too?
If you want to Share this analysis with someone and discuss what is on your mind, this will be my happiness.
If you want to receive the latest Oregairu analysis, follow Yahari Bento blog by click Follow button in this post will help you get a notification when the newest post is published. ;3
Memorandum List
I pasted this list so you can explore all memorandums in Oregairu v10. Dozo!
Oregairu Analysis – 2nd Memorandum: Or, It Can Be This Person’s Monologue. [Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Come wa Machigatteiru.] - Who is the owner of the second memorandum? This analysis will reveal some part of her/his story, before s/he will decide to plan "another ridiculous pitfall".
Oregairu Analysis – 3rd Memorandum: If so, just whose monologue was it? [Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Come wa Machigatteiru.] - If we know who is the owner of the third memorandum, so many detail that you might never know about this person will appear.
If so, just whose monologue was it?Related Oregairu analysis you should not miss!
I collected clues in LN v1-4, about Yukino and Haruno before Haruno decides to help her sister. There I also analyzed how Yukino feels about the car accident.
If you want to know about Yukino more and about her manipulation, this way.
Yahari Bento 
That’s a pretty difficult enigma! The romance No Longer Human, together with Kokoro, is one of the main inspiration for Oregairu, and as such its influence can be seen trough-out all of it. I won’t single out the characters who may represent best the unknown narrator of the memorandum since you already did it, but what I want to do is not to guess, but to ask another question.
Why did Watari decide to disguise the narrator?
It seemed unlikely for him to do such a thing, after all Oregairu is a character work, so the inner monologues of the characters are the best way to give them personality, and yet this happens! Why would he do this, why would he disguise their identity? Did he want to test us? But to what end? This sure is not a mistery novel!
Dang it, what is the answer! Why are you doing this to us! Is there any reason for this ambiguity?
….Yes, there may be!
Y’know, now that I think about it, this reminds me of an interview I translated some time ago. In it a translator was asked how he managed to understand really ambiguous phrases of a story, and he responded that we cannot understand the text, since the ambiguity itself was its message. Basically, I think that Watari decided to make it unclear who was the subject of the monologue because he didn’t want the memorandum to apply to a specific character, since it is to be applied to everyone! As I said, we can see the influence of No Longer Human trough-out all of the series, most of its characters (especially Hikigaya and Yukino) are very similar to the protagonists in those other books, meaning that most of them can relate to them.
I wonder what you think about this, does it sound reasonable?
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s very fortunate for me to has a chance to discuss about this, and you give me this chance. Thank, @SEPHYXER.
I will take steps slowly…
Q: Why did Watari decide to disguise the narrator?
A: I want someone will find a chance to interview him and question about this, but since we still don’t know the reason, I will GUESS his reasons. (My guess can be right & wrong, so if anyone want to discuss about these reason more, “comment form” here is your place.)
1) I think LN vol 10 is like umm… new arc and the last arc of Oregairu. This vol is like Introduction and Watari-sensei focus on 3 characters. (Yukino, Hayama, Haruno)
When I saw your question, @SEPHYXER, I look at “the content” of this book again so I can list it correctly. Each monologues weren’t written continuously, but was written to divide the whole story in vol 10 sectionally.
1.1) 1st monologue started before ch 1-6. (This section was written about many character but the story started during “New Year”, the unease of Yukino within her family, the rumor about her & Hayama.)
1.2) 2nd monologue started before ch 7-8. (Focus on Hayama & Hachiman and ended at Hayama’s conclusion.)
1.3) 3rd monologue started before the last ch (Focus on Haruno & Hachiman, she is worried about her sister and wonder about “genuine”.)
I’m not sure my guess is right or not but I think sensei pours the carefulness to his work/LN very much. I think he would plan into structure before write this vol. I will not dare to say that I can read his mind but I will guess he would plan that vol should be like “open the curtain” to focus on these 3 characters about their unhappiness.
2) Boost reader engagement & increase LN sales.
I guess sensei didn’t reveal who’s each monologue’s owner so readers will discuss/guess about this. This way will boost reader engagement more effectively. I can say sensei is the writer who always is interested to improve his writing skill. He put “unknown narrators” so readers will wonder/curious -> discussion happens. The interest of people can increase sales. Look at the titles of each memorandum.
2.1) Possibly, it’s “no one”’s monologue.
2.2) Or, it can be “anyone”’s monologue.
2.3) If so, just whose monologue was it? (thanks to a certain blog for translation)
Let me guess again that sensei pour the carefulness again in these titles. “no one” or “anyone” & he put a question “whose” in the end. No wonder he wants readers to look for the answers. His question makes discussions happen.
In Oregairu Zoku ep 10, Haruno, Yukino, Hayama & Hachiman’s monologues in the end of this ep are like whirlpool for me. In the end, their feelings still don’t reveal who’s the owner’s of each monologue. Or maybe sensei wants people who watch anime only but never read LN before, will wonder and want to buy LN.
Maybe there’re other reasons but I can’t think more than two. All of these are just my guess only.
Your comment: “Watari decided to make it unclear who was the subject of the monologue because he didn’t want the memorandum to apply to a specific character, since it is to be applied to everyone!”
My comment: So this is your conclusion and I think yours is reasonable as well. Your conclusion is the same as many readers’s comments that I read at other sites before and their reasons are interesting. It’s too bad I don’t know Watari-sensei wants who is the owner of each monologue. What I can do is guess again (T3T). (If I’m in Drgon Qust, I would prepare my coffin in advance, for has one skill only.)
For me, I believe that each memorandum has a specific character already. Even if our comments are different, I can say one thing that our conclusions have the possibility. In the end, if sensei might reveal about this someday, I’m fine with any answers. But right now, I just want comments of Oregairu readers/watchers so we can talk about this more.
Your comment: we can see the influence of No Longer Human trough-out all of the series, most of its characters (especially Hikigaya and Yukino) are very similar to the protagonists in those other books, meaning that most of them can relate to them.
My comment: To tell you the truth, I never read No Lnger Humn before, forgive me please. Is this book very interested? Is it my imagination that this book would has dark energy more than enough to make the owner of 1st monologue can’t continue to read the whole book?
Q: I wonder what you think about this, does it sound reasonable?
A: Certainly. :3
LikeLike
Hmm, at this point I ran out of ideas! Truthfully, I only followed the anime and the first three volumes of Oregairu. After you wrote this post I soon went to read the memorandum to understand the matter, and then started researching a little on No Longer Human via wikipedia and reviews, finding out how it really is similar to Oregairu’s themes! There’s also a manga inspired by it and the first four episodes of Aoi Bungako which narrate the facts of the book, so one day I’ll read/watch them to understand even better.
Anyway, while my hypothesis may be possible, it’s most likely that there is an actual character behind the memorandums, other than that we can only wait for a word from Watari himself. As of now, I think that your guess may be the right one!
LikeLiked by 1 person
So you got new motivation. Do your best!, @SEPHYXER. If you done researching No longer Human, I hope you’ll let me read your post someday.
It’s fun to guess who’s owner of each monologue or in the end, It can be no one as well. I found that just to look for answers, I can find a new topic to analyze about Oregairu. I hope Watari will reveal them, or else I will end up ?? in my head.
There still are 2 memorandum & they might be new topics in my queue. :3
LikeLike
I disagree with your filtering methods. I think you eliminated too many people there. Just because someone doesn’t seem to have a mask doesn’t mean that they don’t, as you claimed with 8man and the other two. Regarding Haruno, even if she doesn’t react when her mask is seen through, and just because she seems to allow people like 8man to see through that facade, that doesn’t eliminate her from the running–after all, she still has that fabricated personality there. And the narrator never explicitly stated that they didn’t like being seen through, it only said that reading the book felt “as if my true nature that I was still continuing to hide to this day was getting exposed.” Haruno’s thoughts, even though Hikigaya had seen through her mask of a “convinient woman,” were still very much an enigma to him. So don’t eliminate her just yet.
As for 8man himself, I’d consider him the most likely candidate for this monologue (although Watari does love his red herrings). Why? Two reasons.
1) During the monologue, the narrator mentions middle school multiple times. Hikigaya is obviously the only person we know of whose backstory mentioned his middle school years specifically.
2) At the beginning of Vol. 10 Ch. 1, the chapter directly following the memorandum, it begins with 8man sitting on his couch, reading a book. After 8man laments how easily one can become distracted from spring cleaning, the LN continues as normal. But the memorandum had just ended with 8man reading “No Longer Human” on the sofa! Perhaps this hint was a bit obvious and too heavy-handed to take literally, however. After all, when he makes serious hints, wataru likes to make them really subtle, and having the directly subsequent chapter continue right where the memorandum left off seems a bit obvious…
But wait! There’s more! Remember the discussion of middle school backstory? Let’s briefly make a list of canon backstories:
Middle school–8man; Orimoto? (She’s not important…)
Elementary school–Hayama, Yukino, and… Haruno?
But this brings up a good point. Haruno is about 3 years older than Yukino and Hayama, so she could be anywhere from 2 to 4 grades ahead of them. Recalling the vague details and speculations of Hayama and Yukinoshita’s elementary school drama, it’s possible that whatever happened may have occurred when Haruno was in middle school (or perhaps because she was in middle school, and not around to take frighten people away from messing with Yukino…). At any rate, whatever happened to those two in elementary school probably affected the (possibly) middle-school Haruno significantly, potentially causing her to read “No Longer Human.”
It’s also veeeeery interesting to consider the plot of “No Longer Human” itself. According to Wikipedia, “This tale is told in the form of notebooks left by one Ōba Yōzō, a troubled man incapable of revealing his true self to others, and who is instead forced to uphold a facade of hollow jocularity.” Hrm… Does this possibly sound like anyone we know…?
“Second Memorandum: Ōba becomes increasingly concerned over the potential penetrability of his cheerful facade by his schoolmate Takeichi, who sees through his false buffoonery. Ōba befriends him to prevent Takeichi from revealing his secret.” Again… Suspiciously familiar…
One final, if subtle, point to bring to the table would be the narrating style of the First Memorandum. Rather than the traditional, slow-paced and reflective way that the LNs usually progress with 8man at the helm, this mini-chapter goes a bit faster and with a bit more reckless abandon. Mentioning casually how one of the reasons that the narrator stopped reading the book was because “I had plenty of other fun things to read too, so it wasn’t like I was starving for entertainment that I needed to go through the trouble of reading a fastidious and offensive book like this.” Haruno always has “plenty of fun things to do,” as we know from profiles into her adept social life. Another quirk that seemed out of place for an 8man narrator was the question, “Could it have been a divine oracle, or possibly fate” that caused them to reach out for the book? Even though the narrator refutes the question summarily, it still seems like an OOC comment coming from 8man, the eternal realist.
That’s not to say it couldn’t have been 8man–after all, remember his chuunibyou tendancies from middle school? Which brings us to one of the main refutal points of the argument that pins 8man as the narrator: If he’s the narrator, then what facade could he possibly have? After all, 8man frequently and harshly condemns fakers and the like. Well, there’s more to the story. The argument I’m about to make is very complicated, so I’ll try to make sense.
Recall how 8man was rejected by Orimoto in middle school. Although he thinks nothing of Orimoto in the present day, he is still incredibly resistant to “nice girls” like Yuigahama, convincing himself–even forcing himself–to believe that they really do think nothing of him, and it’s all in his imagination. This forcing of that idea, the self-convincing he has to do to remember his policies, and the mantra he drums into his own head regarding that concept all make a rather interesting conclusion. His personality–a cynical loner detached from society, immune to infatuation–was really a shell, a protective coating, a facade that he created to avoid getting hurt again. 8man purposefully removes himself from the social landscape, accepting his default position at the bottom, because he has concluded that it would be worthless and foolishly hopeful to try to be anything more than a cynical outcast. He creates this personality about himself of an “ideal loner,” forcibly aware of his lack of self-worth, purposefully estranging himself from society in order to protect himself. Therefore, his cynical loner-ness might be the real facade.
What’s behind it, you might ask? A mental image comes to mind of a man with dead fish eyes that are full of tears, face scrunched up as he tries to hold it in, as he hoarsely croaks out his true desires that he hid behind the mask of self-deprecation. That’s “the true nature that [he] still continues to hide to this day.”
But in the end, is it 8man or Haruno that’s telling the story? Perhaps that ambiguity, too, serves a purpose. After all, the fact that it might be either of them makes us readers subtly aware of the striking similarities between two so-very-different characters. As always, Watari Wataru, you da master. And I can’t wait for volume 12. Whenever it comes out.
Also, even if I had a different take on the analysis, I still like what you do here with Oregairu analysis, and keep up the good work m9
LikeLiked by 2 people
Woohoo! You really nuked my face! No wonder this is the longest comment in my blog. I like it. WordPress has Like button but hasn’t super like button for me to click in comment.
1) You got a point about v10 c1, but like we knew, 8man and Yukino should have bookshelf in their home/condo. So it’s not surprised they will do big cleaning before new year.
2) It’s true in this ch (that next to the 1st monologue), 8man is the one who did clean things. However, I doubt he is the monologue’s owner. I mean s/he in this memorandum is worrying to read No longer Hum*n book again but 8man in ch1 didn’t has any problem or worry after read his book at all.
3) Moreover, we don’t know the title of book that 8man read.
4) With 1-3 above so I will not jump to Watari’s trap in ch1 so easily. IMO, WW will not write solid hints and threw them to us, readers so easily at all, that’s not his style.
About Haruno
1) It’s possible Haruno read No longer hum*n book since she asked 8man (in v10) he read Dazai’s or not. However, I can’t find any hints she read it or read after her sister’s extremely bullying. IMO, I will believe 90% she read it.
2) I am not surprised when the owner of this memorandum thought s/he has other fun things to read. I mean, Almost every books in this world are not in the “deep dark zone” like that book. S/He didn’t prepare to reach that deep dark zone when read that book for the first time so s/he can’t allow that book to reveal her/his real face to be shown but it did. So that’s why s/he closed that book and find other bright/gentle (or should I say, fun) books to heal her/his spirit. Haruno said she has “fun” but please don’t believe her “fun” words. If you watched her in ss2 ep3, she said it’s because it looks fun! but I think she didn’t mean like that. (So I recommend you to read her fire doughnut operation at doughnut shop part 1-2.) Moreover, I doubt she has plenty of fun things to do in her social life.
You got that right about “Could it have been a divine oracle, or possibly fate”. I mentioned before in a community it’s odd to be 8man since this speech should came from someone who lives in ideal/fantasy and should be woman than man. I should move my earlier comment to this analysis.
Yes, I remember 8man was chuunibyou from middle school but I doubt again chuunibyou’s style will make him think speech above?
Your theory about 8man’s loner image is very interesting but it’s possible that “the true nature that [she] still continues to hide to this day.” too.
1) Three memorandum should be represented by three persons. In anime ss2 ep10, Haruno,Yukino,Hayato and 8man’s voices were mixed in the end of this ep and their monologue were linked in those three memorandum in LN.
= If you cut Hayato, it’ll be 8man-Yukino-Haruno.
= If you cut Haruno, it’ll be 8man-Yukino-Hayato.
= If you cut 8man, it’ll be Yukino-Hayato-Haruno.
I don’t know you will pick which choice, but I will pick the last choice. Their shattered relationship should be the most suitable stage. The LN v10 is like “the theater curtain”. v12-13 still are not released so we will not see the overview of this last arc but IMO, WW chose “3 characters” to be in the stage and waited for 8man to solve this.
You said you like my analysis but I right now have few things to write more in this analysis so I can’t say I am proud in this work. At least for now. Your analysis make me want to add this and that again. So I will “Pin it” as my draft. Our analysis are different but when I reply, it’s like in anime “umineko no naku koro ni”. I’m really enjoy this.
ps. I agree WW is the master and I will add more “the master in this century”. Can’t wait for v12. I’m starving.
LikeLike
1st one belongs to Hachiman. “Could it have been a divine oracle, or possibly fate?
I wasn’t one to take those words seriously, but it wasn’t very pleasant knowing how it seemed like I was reinforcing the notion instead by being up in arms and denying it.”If you remember he does say that he doesnot belive in fate in v5 when Yui crashes onto him in train. “I didn’t believe in coincidences, fate, or destiny.” guess this much is enough to prove my point.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Also narrator says that s/he was in the middle of “new year cleaning”. If the narrator was Yukino she would have not say New year cleaning, just would have said cleaning since she lives alone. Also book was first read first years of middle school but during that time Yukino was not in japan as you remember she mentions this at v4. Also can not be haruno either because she would have not done the cleaning herself but her maids would have done it for her. Although I don’t know if she lives alone or not. Even if lives alone she wouldn’t have use an excuse ” difficulty was out of my league as middle school student” since she takes pride in her capabilities (this can be said for Yukino as well). Hayama also aout of the question because of the maid reasoning. That leaves Hachiman. Since his sister preparing for exams she couldn’t do it. Also new year cleaning seems like a moms coercing. That means Hachiman is our answer.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Your assumption is reasonable because you consider timeline and life of rich people. It’s very normal to let maids do cleaning. And their rooms must be big. But we can’t tell that Yukino cleans the bookshelf by herself or maids do that.
If she wants maid, I don’t think it’s very hard to hire maid to clean no matter where she lived. But I think she takes care her books very well and like reading books. So I doubt she will allow maid to touch her own properties that she bought them by her own will (they are not like some properties that her family provided) that it means maid can touch them or even read the title of her books that will let them realize her interest.
I interpreted that the owner of the first memorandum is her, but I also believe that she will find the path of the correctness in the finale that she will learn by herself and other people that will reach the bright future and can live with her bitter past and suffering.
LikeLike