Hikigaya
Hachiman (Hikki for short) is one of those fabled loners, those unfit for
company by anyone, let alone people who normally fit into society’s mold. In
OreGairu, he takes the role of observer with unique insights gained from
viewing people from afar. After all, such social interactions are clearly
tiring and dull. But, more than that, they are for the normal and even the
sub-normal under certain circumstances – a loner has no true position in such a
hierarchy, except transiently at the bottom when noticed. And a loner trying to
enter such a field will simply result in being cast out, at least ordinarily.
Episode
five of the series illustrates this concept of social exclusion as power
through Hikki’s return to his domain as a loner. After his efforts to help Saki
with the Service Club, Hikki realizes that he and Yui had met before – he had
saved her dog on the first day of school, leading him to break his arm. Towards
the end of the episode, Yui waits for Hikki as they go to finish the request
for the Service Club. Hikki suddenly tells her, seemingly out of context except
to himself and his little sister Komachi, that, if she is being nice out of
guilty, she should just stop. Then Hikki delivers a very bitter monologue about
nice girls. Talking to them makes him happy but in the end, if they are nice to
him, they are nice to others. And each time he is forced to realize that he
misunderstood the kindness; it was just niceness, not something meaningful. And
so, the loner returns to his domain, away from the people who fit into such a
scheme, as suggested by Episode 6’s title – And Again, He Returns From Whence
He Came.
Hikki’s
monologue conveys a bitter attitude that conveys a strong feeling of isolation.
Being in that position means conditional acceptance at best, hence his comment
about Yui being nice out of guilt; in his mind, her friendliness cannot
indicate anything other than that. This situation which causes him to feel he
just misunderstood again, testifies to the power of social exclusion, which need
not be performed by any individual but simply anyone and everyone. Though such
efforts often come out of more overt forms of bullying, simple exclusion is
more generally applicable in its ease of use. Thus, kindness seems akin to
either a pure lie or something transient – the nice person then appear as
someone who will inevitably play a role in that exclusion despite their
niceness. Such an effort, in this view, will become undone the moment that
other person stops acting that way. Hikki’s claim that kindness is a lie stems
from the view that the kindness is out of guilt or pity that will end soon,
which again leads to furthering of the isolation. His dejected tone at the end
of Episode 5 reveals this expectation. Yet kindness is expected by humans
because of the desire to be included. Therefore, Hikki’s expectations of it are
not unreasonable but he is led to this perspective based on how he is treated
by others. In particular, his comments and insights are seen as upsetting the
normal balance and are therefore unwanted and unworthy of positive attention.
Hikki is thus stuck in a difficult situation.
In
particular, few people are nice to him, so he gloms onto kindness, creating
misunderstandings – except in the case of the angelic Totsuka Saika, who is of
course always genuine. As a result of his overt exclusion, Hikki is led ot
these bitter observations that, when he is involved, niceness is likely fake.
Though this exclusion obscures his self-worth, Hikki has the capacity to grow
beyond this perspective. Despite the power of social exclusion, it can still be
perfectly undone. Later in the show, he resolves his conflict with Yui and
their friendship further grows, rather than seeing a maintenance of the status
quo.
No comments:
Post a Comment