Even watching the anime for the first time I thought it was pretty obvious he had feelings for her early on? 2nd chapter on the ln confirms he already has some type of feelings for her. I see people all the time say that the romance is a "subplot" when it's literally the driving force for a majority of the plot?
For awhile I've always felt alone, I couldn't understand why I felt that way even though I had "friends", putting aside the genuineness of those relationships I hadn't considered it had something to do with myself until now. I've always held a very cynical outlook on people and relationships, but I never questioned why I still had "relationships" despite holding this outlook. After long retrospection I've found that the people in my life don't really matter to me, that since the beginning I've built up walls and purposely positioned myself in a passive state with my relationships, I've constantly withheld truth about myself and told lies to purposely distance myself from others mentally. I'm just stuck honestly, I want something meaningful but I don't know where to start with myself, any tips?
I've seen a few analysis about this topic and they seem pretty convincing but is it later confirmed in the lns?
When Yukino says "I thought you'd of all people understand" is she saying it because she thought he shared the same view about their relationship being strong enough to last even if she became president? Or because she thought he'd realize that after his original method was rejected
Hachiman obviously does cherish their relationship but does he not view it as "genuine" to keep his mental image of himself consistent as a loner, or because he thought that their relationship was on rocky terms after the Tobe request?
Hayato and Hachiman's dynamic is so complex, two people so alike and not at the same time, the duality in every aspect of their character is so interesting as they interact, Hachiman's jealousy of Hayato's status and hate for preserving the status quo to not alter the superfical relationships around him, and Hayato's jealousy for Hachiman's ability to act selflessness to situations, and his hatred for his methods. I do like what we got but I feel like we could've gotten so much more.
Does Hachiman 100% reject youth from the very start or is it just to make himself believe that he's above youth, so he doesn't have to confront that want for something genuine?
After hearing Hachimans response to Hayama's "When you save others, don't you wish that you could be helped in return", and taking into consideration Hiratsakas, "When it comes to somebody you truly want to save, you won't be able to", I've come to this conclusion about what Hachiman gains from "helping" using his method: Hachiman immediately defends his self sacrificial methods by saying "these things come naturallyto me", basically saying that being hated and losing is something that he always is, so it doesn't matter. But what stook out to me was what Hachiman said after leaving the cafee, just thinking about his methods being called a self sacrifice angers him, and he reiterates that he and the person he brings down in his methods both believe that he already lost, saying that since he's aware that hes already lost it can't be called a sacrifice.
What all of this means:
Putting this with everything else Hachiman's done in the last few episodes, Hachiman is continously lying to himself, ignoring the feelings of yui and yukino after his superfical sacrifice, and ultimately his own for doing something that he hates so much, Hachiman continously justifies his philosophy and self view by Intellectualizing his feelings to silence them, and using any leverage he can to further convince himself that he shouldn't change.
Finally, why Hachiman "saves" people using his method:
Hachiman uses his methods to further convince himself that he is "hated". I believe that Hachiman uses this "hate" he gets after the fact to reinforce his mentality of "the hated loner", so that he isn't in a position to confront his genuine desire and all the pain that would accompany that desire. I think the greatest piece of evidence to this is his conversation with Ebina, more so his monologue after "Everyone has something they want to protect, so they tell lies, but the biggest liar of all, is me." The effect of his method was canceled out because he was reminded that he doesn't want to do any of this at all, that he disapproves of what he did but continously lies to himself to keep his mentality, to push down his desire for a genuine relationship.