English Dub Review: My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU Episodes 1~4

Overview:

An awkward social outcast, Hachiman, is forced to join a new club.

Our Take:

Despite being marketed as a romantic comedy, there isn’t… much comedy? I guess there’s Hachiman’s quips, but I don’t think I found myself laughing at all, or being amused by any of it? The tone is instead is rather serious, with some lighthearted moments in the absurdity of some situations, but it seemed rather played straight rather than being a comedy, or a romantic comedy. I kind of kept waiting for the funny parts, but it was instead a very straightforward story about two people opening up to the idea of interacting with others by helping others.

Hachiman and Yukino form the Service Club, where they both help people who come to them with troubles. Considering the people are students, they get various daily proposals, such as offering to taste-test cookies, read a potential transcript, help train for sports, and figure out what’s causing drama within an in-group. Considering everyone (all but the resident peppy newcomer Yui) are social outcasts, they go about helping people in different ways that break the mold, especially because they’re not bound by toeing the unspoken roles of cliques.

A lot of stories would have people learn with the power of friendship, and I think that’s what this story is shaping up to be. However, what makes this unusual is how it shows that even the outcasts are still a part of society, and have a unique perspective and something to offer that most would traditionally not think of. That’s a pretty cool perspective, rather than deigning people to either stay popular or not, and ending the thought there.

I don’t really see anything wrong with it, per se. It was fine. Perfectly passable. I think the reality isn’t really in the story, but more the fact that I’ve outgrown high school stories. High school stories that are extremely compelling, such a A Silent Voice, or are really funny, like Nozaki-kun. A lot of the manga that’s adapted is marketed towards either teenagers or young adults, which usually falls into the high school demographic, or at least people who would sympathize with the high school experience. I think this series is supposed to provide some acceptance or sympathy for the outcasts, for people like Hachiman. I can kind of get that, because who I was in high school was a weird combination of Hachiman and Yukino, with some side characters sprinkled in. At the same time, the two are so eerily self-congratulatory about themselves that it kind of erodes the relatability of them. I think maybe this story might have possibly spoken to who I was a long time ago, but in the meantime, it’s no longer for me.