Oregairu fans erupted over the recent news that a new OVA was on the way, to be bundled with the game for season three of the series. To tell the truth, I’m not completely sure what the OVA will be about. Will it follow the others and cover light novel material that didn’t make it into the TV season? Will it be original? Or will it adapt the newly written material from Watari, which has been derided by some as a harem cash-grab? I don’t know, and though I will watch it, I’m don’t really care much where the story goes. It’s run it’s course. I’d much rather having something more original, like say, a spinoff series.
Below are seven ideas for spinoffs from Oregairu. Most, however, are not traditional ones—they’re more like alternate universe series, taking the same characters and in varying degrees, their backgrounds and relationships, and placing them in new situations. I would die to get even one of these. Watari-sensei and all you folks that make anime happen, are you listening?
Ahem, anyway. Let’s get started:
Free Kick! — The Hayama series
Hayato Hayama is the most popular kid in school—athletic, smart, conscientious, and rich. In fact, his parents are pushing him toward taking over the family business (a conglomerate), and expect their always-respectful son to accept that he’ll need to drop out of soccer in preparation. But this time, he’s not going to be “Everybody’s Hayato.” Supported by his best friend, the outlandish and clueless Tobe, irascible team manager Iroha, tennis ace and love interest Miura, and a brand new cast of characters, Hayato is going to try to make his dreams come true by reaching nationals and going pro. And if that sounds trite, it’s not—everything is on the line, thanks to his frenemy (and another possible love interest?), Haruno, who brokers a deal with Hayato’s parents—win the entire championship, or drop soccer and his friends forever.
I’m a Fujoshi (But I Don’t Want These Boys to Kiss) — The Ebina series
Hina Ebina is free! Out of the bonds of having to “play a role” in high school, she’s happy about her college life, where she can show the world her love for all things yaoi, beginning by joining the anime club. And things are progressing perfectly, as she finds that the club is full of hot guys, and she’s been named vice president, behind only the mysterious and rarely sighted club president. So, basically, she has free reign to make it the yaoi hangout of her dreams! But things go haywire the very next day when Ebina discovers that the beautiful boys have sabotaged her, leaving her on the hook for their misdeeds as they branch off into a different club, leaving Ebina to clean up the trash with only a group of slovenly, male misfits. Can she turn the club around, keep track of these otaku members, and realize her yaoi-est of dreams? It could be that all these goals are connected to that mysterious president…
Iroha and Komachi: Junior Star☆Detectives
Bonded by their mutual love for the latter’s brother, Iroha and Komachi can’t otherwise stand each other. Iroha is a little too manipulative and worldly for Komachi’s tastes, and Komachi is too “real” and no-nonsense for Iroha. But when chance brings the two together to track down a cat-napper, and they successfully do so to the tune of a 50,000 yen reward, the pair decide that their mutual strengths outweigh their differences, and start a detective agency! Aided by the surprising wisdom of the gentle tennis student athlete, Totsuka and the gumption of over-eager Taishi, and under the guidance of the kind but sharp Meguri-sempai, the two will take any case, from the most mundane to those that stretch their wits and put them in utmost peril—as long as they get back before closing time and their coffee and macaron sandwich.
Great Teacher Hiratsuka (GTH)
Shizuka Hiratsuka’s life is starting to spiral. As she transitions to a new school, she’s grieving about leaving her most recent group of students, with whom she was particularly close, and at a recent wedding is once again reminded that she’s virtually the last of her group of college friends who remains single. Not to mention that her new school is the roughest of the roughest, a place with the lowest graduation rates in the country and renowned for gang violence, reflected in how the study body treats her car on the first day of class. When it seems that she’s about to explode (or at least get drunk…again), she finally meets the school principal—a certain blonde (with hair still obviously dyed…it should be gray by now), and in the most unexpected of ways, finds the motivation to teach this group of lost cause kids and maybe once again find a meaning in her own life that’s not connected to her relationship status.—though it seems that good things sometimes come to those who wait.
My Middle School Life is Miserable, As I Expected — The Rumi series
Rumi Tsurumi’s middle school life was supposed to be better than elementary, she thought. She tried, she really did, but once again found herself on the outside looking in. But that’s how it is, she realized. I’m just a loner and don’t really want to be a part of all this meaningless chatter and those fragile relationships anyway, which is precisely when the unthinkable happens—the most popular boy in school confesses to her! As predicted, it’s a cruel joke, but what happens next wasn’t something Rumi could foretell: A tough, quiet boy and goofy, talkative girl from her class, people whose names she barely knew, stand up for her. Could it be that a new school life is on the horizon? Well, with the weirdos being attracted to this new group of friends, it’ll still be miserable, as expected. Also featuring Orimoto, because why not (preach!), this series is a true spin-off of the original.
Rewriting Myself as the Protagonist Hero in Another World! — The Zaimokuza / Saki series
College did not go well for Yoshiteru Zaimokuza. Failing the creative writing class he assumed he would ace, ridiculed by fellow anime club members, and otherwise not fitting at all into university life, he dropped out after just one semester. Now, the only time Zaimokuza goes out is to eat at his favorite ramen place where a former classmate, Saki Kawasaki, works while putting herself through school. On the way home from dinner one day, the unthinkable (actually totally thinkable) happens when Zaimokuza is hit by a bus, and awakens in a fantasy land that seems strangely like his light novel draft. However, this protagonist wakes up back in his own world—it seems his rather large body absorbed the bus’ blow and he survived. But now, every time he completes another chapter, Zaimokuza returns to the alternate world, though things aren’t exactly as he had planned due to some inconsistencies in his writing, and rules have started to come into place that don’t make this quite a fairy land (it also seems to be missing the heroine character he wrote). When Saki picks up the novel that he leaves behind, she finds herself also dragged into the world, one that she wants no part of.
From Sky to Heart — The Yui series
Yui Yuigahama is Miss Popular, but she’s not happy. Everything seems so fake—most of all, as the only boy in the school who throws shade at her states, her. While walking home one day, she chases a funny looking rodent into a field where she begins to fall…upward, finding herself in a world full of anthropomorphic animals, with the rodent offering her a chance to make her life into “something genuine.” Yui takes it and finds herself in a world of adventure where she’s able to free humans and creatures alike from the physical manifestations of maladies that are haunting them. And as she finds meaning in her life, Yui also develop real friendships with other fighters that have their own tales, and finds one boy particular in romantic pursuit of her, though that mean boy from real life? He likes the changes he’s seeing in her, too. Hopefully, Yui can keep these lives separate…it’s not like boy #1 is going to transfer into school with her and boy #2, right? Right?
If you want to watch the real Oregairu, it’s currently streaming on Crunchyroll. The light novel from which its adapted, My Youth Comedy is Wrong, As I Expected, is available through Yen Press.
Your Iroha-Komachi idea made me laugh. I’d have never thought of it before reading it. Now I can’t help but think it actually happens.
All jokes aside, anything centered on Ebina would be interesting. Her scene with Hachiman at the end of the Kyoto Trip was one of the best of the series, on par with the big moments featuring the main characters. It made sense why she didn’t play much of a role after, but she’s a side character who could have held her own in a bigger role. I’d be game for any series about her, whether comedic or serious. The Rumi idea is clever too – that would probably be the most natural follow-up.
Nice content, I think you covered all the most interesting possible point-of-view characters… and Zaimokuza.
LOL thanks for the kind words. I agree about Ebina, btw—her importance in the series is relatively on the same level as Tobe, but as a character, there’s so much potential there. I wish we could have come to know her better, that Watari would have dug a little deeper.
I almost made a joke in my initial comment about being glad that you didn’t come up with a potential Tobe series.
My larger vision is that these series are all actually in the Tobe-verse: The same Tobe appears in all the different OVAs.
I begrudgingly accept your vision on the condition that all of the Tobe-verses come with volume control.