Anime: Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai

I want to say I enjoyed this series, but I’m not entirely sure that I did.

Straddling the line between a slice-of-life tale and a fan-service-laden comedy, the story revolves around a group of socially inept high school students who are so bad at making friends that they join a club to make friends.

The main character is Kodaka, the accidental delinquent whose clumsiness and foreigner-looking hair consistently get him into trouble even though he means well. He’s accompanied by Yozora, perceived by many to be the school ice queen, and Sena, the perfect and popular blonde girl who’s so amazing that she’s never had any real friends.

The love triangle goes back and forth between these three. In classic style, the main man doesn’t ever seem to get that the two main girls are into him, but everyone is so socially awkward, no one is about to make any confessions of love here.

Then there’s the rest of the harem cast, who are all about professing their love, but are never given the time of day to do the carelessness or sheer awkwardness of their advances. We’ve got the science nerd girl who wants to hop right in the sack and loves gay robot porn. We’ve got the really effeminate boy who dresses like a girl and seems to want Kodaka’s love. There’s the 10-year-old little sister who acts like a vampire, she doesn’t want Kodaka sexually, but she’s competing for attention, along with a 10-year-old nun who is the club’s sponsor and also treats Kodaka like a big brother despite there being no relation.

The whole thing is fantastically contrived and there are little bits of fan service here and there, between jiggling and outright nudity in the Blu-ray release. Unfortunately, since everyone is socially retarded, there’s very little motion in terms of character development. No one makes a real confession of love, no one achieves their goals (except maybe Yozora coming clean about her secret), and the only developments that occurred seemingly were that the club was formed and two people remembered something important.

The animation is good, the characters are largely likable and the humor is decent; I just have trouble getting behind an anime that has no real developments in it. Even slice-of-life series tend of have some sort of personal growth or graduation, something.

There’s not enough humor for this to be a no-progress slapstick, there’s not enough romance for this to be a rom-com, and there’s a little bit too much hijinks for it to be a proper slice of life. The jack of all trades manages to be a master of none. Despite that, I still enjoyed it. It’s a very unorthodox combination, but it’s just interesting enough to keep watching.

Final Score: Worth a look, but the strange blend may be catering to a very niche audience. Somehow, this got a season two. Maybe something important will happen then?

I honestly had no idea why I was expecting to be pleasantly surprised by Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai. Maybe it’s because the show’s premise of social misfits being in a club to make friends could make for some insightful social commentary. Maybe it’s because the main character, Kodaka Hasegawa, wasn’t a complete loser and is only a victim of chance. Or maybe it’s because the character designs for this show were delicious. Actually, we’ll go with the character designs because looking back on it I was drawn into the show for its artstyle. Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai is not disappointing as eye candy and its premise looked to add its own twist to the harem genre. So what went wrong?

Almost everything went wrong apparently.

The first four episodes were actually very nice to watch. Being the only focus of the story, Kodaka, Yozora Mikazuki, and Sena Kashiwazaki were able to ingratiate themselves to the viewers. It is here where we see Kodaka, Yozora, and Sena at their best. Awkwardly practicing to make friends and perhaps not realize that they’ve become closer already. While it wasn’t the most well written interaction available it was still reasonably amusing as Kodaka kept Yozora and Sena’s antics in check and by extension allowed the show to hit that special middle zone between gratuitous and outrageous. Best of all the mood of the series was consistent and knew what it wanted to do. The early episodes of Boku wa Tomodachi wa Sukunai are the best in the series.

Unfortunately, once the first four episodes pass the anime starts to add more characters than it can handle. Of course, as a harem anime not having more than two choic—err, I mean heroines was inevitable. The problem is that there was simply no time for a new character to ingratiate themselves to the viewer because more often than not another member of the Neighbors Club was introduced before the audience could be familiar with whoever just joined the cast. Worse still is that the anime’s tendency to show every character as much as possible has nothing to show for it. Either the series has no development to let the supporting cast stand by itself or what little characterization they have becomes dispersed by the imprecise ensemble focus to the point of being unrecognizable. A spotlight episode for Kobato Hasegawa, Rika Shiguma, Maria Takayama, and Yukimura Kusunoki would have actually been welcome since Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai focused on everyone instead of just Kodaka, Yozora, and Sena anyway.

Of course, even if the characterization and development took a hit there was no reason for the interactions between everyone not to retain any quality. I assume you would go into this anime expecting certain clichés and humor. It makes sense. What doesn’t make sense is how inconsistently the dynamics are treated. At times Yozora’s cruel jokes on Sena are merely played for laughs while at others the outcome of the humor produces drama. Some people might say it shows Sena no longer tolerating Yozora’s antics but that explanation makes no sense because the first case of the humor being treated seriously doesn’t mark the end of it as a gag. The inconsistent mood is further worsened by some of Kobato and Maria’s bickering that reaches a point where it looks like it might become dramatic only for everyone else to treat their banter as irrelevant. Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai can’t decide how seriously it wants to take itself.

Most damning of all, however, is how the show tries to seem meaningful at the end by showing flashbacks of mostly the Kodaka, Yozora, and Sena moments. Not only does it undermine the side characters that were introduced at the expense of the main characters in the first place but the main characters don’t have many moments to reminisce about because the side characters diluted the show’s focus on everyone. Ironically, if the side characters weren’t in the anime then this attempt at reminding the audience of all the time Kodaka, Yozora, and Sena spent together would have actually have had the nostalgic effect it was going for; Either the entire 12 episodes would have had more chances to develop their relationship or the series would just be compressed to the Kodaka, Yozora, and Sena moments. The side characters are ultimately pointless in the overall plot of Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai and end up bringing down the main characters as well.

I say the anime got almost everything wrong because if nothing else the opening song, Zannenkei Rinjinbu, is very catchy and is sung by a group of prolific seiyus with Kana Hanazawa among them. The rest of the show’s soundtrack is decidedly average mood matching but at least there’s nothing particularly out of place.

However, as I believe I’ve already implied, the best part about Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai are the visuals. This is one of the few anime that piqued my interest solely for the delicious character designs so hey, at least I’m getting the fanservice I expected. There’s a variety of designs too so I’d imagine it’d be pretty difficult not to find some meat—err, I mean character appearances you’ll like.

Yet that’s about where the good points of the anime stop. The show looks delicious but has more characters than it can handle, nothing to show for it, inconsistent in mood even with its own dynamics, and ultimately defeats itself by trying to give everyone the same amount of focus; that doesn’t sound like a series that should be digested. On a side note, “Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai” means “I don’t have many friends”; if you’re making an anime as disappointing as this then you probably shouldn’t have any friends.

A nice show all in all. Just recently caught up to it on my watch list and noticed the artwork is well done, the storys are a bit wild but it gels with the characters and its a funny trip though the episodes. Only problem I found was in the lack of any closure in the ending, sure we found out who was who, but there wasnt anything more than that so it was a massive cliffhanger with no idea what was going on, but then again there is Season 2. I'd just prefer it if there could be some closure and opening between having a major time off air :-D

Haganai is an interesting UNFINISHED tale about a group of misfits who share one trait: an inability to make "friends". While wildly popular in the visual novel form, how does the anime adaptation hold up?

On the surface, haganai is just about a group of people hanging out, reminiscent in multiple ways of Haruhi. Underneath, however, it's a story about relationships and fitting in your own way. As roriconfan pointed out, it really isn't a series about how to make friends, the most blatant "how to" example being 30-sai no Hoken Taiiku. It's more about finding and accepting one's own place, quite similar in theme to Denpa Onna (as well as animation style). In this case, they were able to present all this without having to resort to magic, espers, or aliens.

If you want a character-driven slice of life comedy with a vary lively and varied set of characters, this is an entertaining bunch. However, due note that while the characters are quite developed, you won't find any real conclusions as the visual novels are still ongoing.

Animation:
Haganai is well drawn with a lush, colorful styling. They visit all the "required" slice of life destinations (festival, beach house, pool, karaoke) so you get a nice variety of scenery. They do occasionally use CGI though it's not too bothersome. The characters also spend a lot of time playing games so there's some fantasy-ish scenes (think Tears to Tiara/Shukufuku no Campanella styling). Character design is sure to please with a wide variety of characters. For some reason, I find the general character styling very similar to Denpa Onna (perhaps it's the lips?). Maid, loli nun, busty blonde, heterochromia... they've got you covered. The one thing I don't buy is how scary the main character appears.

There's a lot more direct ecchi than AIC's previous work Oreimo, as well as implied ecchi through Rika, though in general it's still fairly toned down compared to shows such as Yosuga no Sora. Expect a few topless scenes and a lot of other implied scenes and namings (a company named LargeHard...). There's some vague action sequences but nothing worth tagging as action or bloody.

Sound:
From the moment you hear the OP, you get the sense that this is a very light series, which for the most part is true. The ED is for some reason a rock piece- I guess going off of Yozora's "air friend" she plays an "air guitar". The BGM is light and generic, but fitting.

As this is highly character based, expect a strong VA performance. At first I found it odd that Marina Inoue gave Yozora such a low voice but it makes sense later on. It's also nice to see Kana Hanazawa playing something outside her quiet/shy background girl norm. But in the end, best performance goes to Kanae Itou as Sena for just the right mix of Tsundere (esp. ep 9).

Story:
The story starts out in an identical fashion to Haruhi- a disinterested boy meets an odd girl who then decides to start a new club after just a few lines of dialogue. At that point, most similarities end as basically more people join the club and we just watch people having fun. There really isn't a strong central plot line other than the passage of time. There is a childhood friend subplot but it really isn't very important in the grand scheme of things. Oh, and you don't get a conclusion either, as the visual novels are ongoing.

However, each individual episode is well developed, though it shouldn't be too hard considering that the story follows many well-established paths. The real value though is more on the character interaction side.

Character:
The wide variety of lively characters creates a fun atmosphere where comedy is bound to show up. You have not one but two lolis, you have not one but two tsunderes - though in both cases the pair members hate each other. It's a fun dynamic that works well wherever the group travels. There are also multiple girls developing feelings for the main character, though by no means is this a harem.

My primary complaint has already been addressed- how does cutting one's hair define who a person is? It's a bit of a leap, almost as big as how having gradient-colored hair makes one a fearful gang member. Another more minor complaint is how some of the supporting club members are only briefly developed (Rika and Yukimura), I feel that they were significantly underdeveloped considering the amount of screen time allotted. Otherwise the characters are a fun group that are enjoyable to watch, perhaps a bit annoying with the little girls fighting at times.

Value:
Overall, this is a fun, light watch that just happens to lack an ending and has some major character development plot holes. Despite the fun aspect, there isn't any further value to the series- there's no overall message or philosophical depth. A fair watch overall but nothing exciting to chain over.

Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai a.k.a. "Haganai" (the "ha" there is an alternate way of transliterating the は kana) is an adaptation of a light novel series that has been ongoing since 2009. This anime's 12 episodes cover volumes 1-3 with a few chapters skipped. While there is no complicated jargon or sci-fi/fantasy element in Haganai, this series still has many of the staples of light novels: a wide variety of moe and ecchi character types, with cosplay, beach episodes, otaku culture, nuns, comic SM undertones, bakabaka, etc.

So what sets the story apart from tons of other light novels, making it a top seller in Japan? Two things.
1) The character types and their fanservice are constructed masterfully. You will not think "just another nun" or "just another tsundere" if you are someone who appreciates the potential of those character types.
2) The writer is very talented, creating likable and funny characters who thrive in a quirky atmosphere that succeeds in portraying these friendless people in a sympathetic light rather than as ideals of any sort.
And the studio succeeds in delivering this. I had read the novel translations already, so I was impressed that I ended up watching the whole anime. The anime doesn't try to end the story prematurely when it only covers part of the novels, but the last episode was really well-done, better than I'd imagined possible, by adding clever filler (or maybe an actual flashback from a later novel chapter I haven't read?) that doesn't divert from the novel's canon. As a reviewer, I imagine that I will represent the typical perspective of someone who liked this anime without going crazy for it.

Art & Animation (Very good): Haganai's strength is in the character interactions, and light novels don't have the guidance for facial expression and posture that manga provides. But the studio really got it right, as all of the characters are really expressive and I found myself actually quite drawn to their expressions every once in a while. That specific bonus aside, I observed no issues with how the animation flowed, and the OP and ED animations were the nice standard fare.

Sound (Good): The seiyuu were very good. I would rate the seiyuu alone an 8. Sena's character in particular is frequently feeling a mix of emotions, and the seiyuu did a nice job bringing her to life. The OP and ED music were, like their animations, standard fare. I can't remember the background music at all, so I assume it was just decent or good quality without standing out too much, as BGM should be in a typical anime.

Story (Good): There is ongoing exposition of the backgrounds of the characters, but it never really "comes to a head" in this anime. The focus of Haganai is on the character interaction and on the character development. Although you can tell that the setting is actually well-considered by the author, and the author's not just making up background that sounds plausible--which I appreciate because it shows me that the author is inspired and attached to the story. But the setting's potential is unused at the moment. So do not look to Haganai for plot, as it doesn't even have character-centric plot. That said, it's not a story that is designed to require plot to be good, so the story itself is still good.

Character (Excellent): Haganai's strength is in the characters. They can be adequately referred to as "the ojou-sama tsundere" or "the loli nun" or "the fujyoshi mad scientist kouhai" but those brief titles do them no justice because every character has a lot of other little quirks that show up frequently and the way they express themselves is never repetitive.

Take Sena, the most popular character among fans and the second main heroine of the story. She's the ojou-sama I mentioned earlier in this section, but don't expect a typical ojou-sama. As a friendship-obsessed tsundere, all of the ironic ways she tries to figure out how to become friends to Yozora, the main heroine, effectively characterize Sena as a lovable dope. On top of that, Sena can't read the atmosphere and often complements herself and espouses money when those subjects are relevant, which is why she can't make friends, but she makes those statements with naively good intentions, because those are just speaking habits rather than real complexes, since at heart she's a kind person who just really wants to experience friendship but is totally awkward. Another fun point is how Sena ends up getting obsessed with dating sims (i.e. galge) because she wants to feel what it's like to befriend the virtual girls (though the games' protagonists are going beyond that and romancing them) but she always embarrasses herself trying to defend to Yozora the presence of sex scenes in them.

There's also Sena's father, a tsundere who is good at making the protagonist Kodaka feel REALLY awkward, as an example of a Haganai-style character who is funny and likable but doesn't fall under any kind of moe or ecchi character type. Anyway, these characters should all be pretty likable to you if this is the series for you; if you don't like the characters after a couple of episodes, drop it without looking back, because the characters just experience more and more exposition as the series goes on. Haganai is truly all about the characters.

Value (Good): So according to the review guidelines, "value" might mean rewatchability, sentimental value, or historical value. Some of its observations on modern culture (like cell phones) are amusing, but Haganai is not metaphor-heavy / tragic / historical fiction like something out of noitaminA... It is a school life comedy about relating with other people, with few hints at romance here and there, that doesn't take itself too seriously and desires to entertain its viewers. Rewatchability, for me at least, would be proportional to how much I like the characters. Well, I just finished watching it, so I'm not gonna do so again.

Enjoyment (Very good): Characters who articulate themselves in detailed and considerate ways that show the author really has an understanding of their own complexity are really enjoyable to me. As a vehicle of the characters, the story itself never felt stale. Haganai is not a top-tier anime for me, but I still really enjoyed it.

True overall rating (because I'm anticipating AniDB averaging everything with equal weight): 8.5 (Very good / Excellent). Characters, seiyuu, and art/animation are what really count in an anime like this one, and Haganai doesn't falter in any respect. Plus the anime actually ended on a high note. It's simply well-done, and has earned its acclaim. :thumbup:

Boku wa Tomodachi is a rude & crass comedy, edging towards Hen Zemi territory. It twists the typical harem into a dysfunctional nightmare for the protagonist. They use him, abuse him and clearly treat him as their puppet, even though they all secretly (or openly in Rika's case) adore him. Anyone complaining that this anime does not show and deal with anti-social behavior in a realistic light is clearly mentally dysfunctional themselves. This is a COMEDY. Repeat after me - COMEDY. Complaining that this show doesn't address the serious issues of anti-social behaviors is like taking Macross to task for relying too heavily on music to advance the plot, or taking a Rumiko Takahashi title to task for encouraging domestic violence. If you're criticizing this show for being what it clearly is, maybe you need mental help yourself.

The characters have a stereotyped surface, but underneath each is similarly broken and needy. Sena, the beautiful rich girl has admirers and servants but no real friends. Yozora, the cruel and poison-tongued manipulator has noone she can rely on since she lost her only real childhood friend. Likewise the supporting cast has similarly outrageous problems, and Kosaka the transfer student victimized by misunderstandings is the only one who can and will tolerate their abuse.

If you're looking for something slapstick and outrageous, without the craven pandering to stereotypes of the usual fighting and harem shows - of which there are plenty this season - watch this instead. You will enjoy.