Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai

Now, who remembers this Anime? I am sure many of you do, as this Anime was one of the better known/popular Anime of 2011. As of the time of me writing this, this Anime has a total of 445K+ members – amazing, isn’t it?

I remember watching Haganai, while it was airing, back when I used to watch Anime as soon as they aired – I also remember enjoying it. I took a few hours a few days ago to re-watch this Anime and like all things, my liking towards this Anime faded; but that didn’t stop me from bringing you this Anime review.

Today, I will just be chatting about Haganai and my thoughts on the Anime. So if you’re not into readin’ the whole thing, then you have been warned, this blog today will be just that.

“Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai” follows the misadventures of our assembled group of social misfits as they chase after the ever elusive rose-coloured campus life of “popular” people. And what a daunting task this seems to be. After all, when your club is made up of such interesting people as a misunderstood “Yankee”, two girls who assert themselves as goddesses, a gender-confused-full-of-fighting-spirit-samurai and many others, the task of making true friends would seem quite difficult. Unknown to them, however, perhaps they will make friends with the very misfits they set out on this journey with.

Let us quickly get this out of the way. The artwork in “Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai” is flat out awesome. Those familiar with “Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko” will immediately recognize the similarities since they were done by the same artist. And how fortunate that is, because depictions of Meat are as glorious as they can be. Backgrounds and characters are very colourful and animations are fluid enough, giving the viewer delicious eye candy.

“Haganai” gives us the rather touching message that it is not necessarily the number of friends one has, but it’s about the one friend that is worth a hundred. The de facto leader of the Neighbors Club, Yozora, once wisely proclaimed this as a child, but now has trouble even maintaining normal conversations with other people. She above all wants to make friends, along with the rest of the club.

However, most of the show is focused on comedy that usually arises with clashes between Yozora and Sena, and not actually making friends. I mean they try, and by that I mean Kodaka tries, but they usually end up having their share of laughs without establishing that close connection they desire. The club is already in trouble in the beginning, seeing as we have two tsunderes with a liking to the main character, Maria and Kobato fighting for Kodaka’s brotherly affections, and Yukimura and Rika, who are both plain weird. Rika more so.

The sound of “Haganai” is quite enjoyable in its own charming kind of way. The opening theme is “Zannenkei Rinjinbu” by all the female members of the cast, and is an extremely cheesy J-Pop song detailing aspects of friendship. It is upbeat and disgustingly catchy, with a good indication of what the show is about. The ending theme is “My Feelings “by Marina Inoue (voice of Yozora) and fits well enough. It is yet another disgustingly catchy theme accompanied by a very enjoyable sequence of Yozora and Sena interacting in a rock band. The voice acting is excellent, and Marina Inoue’s deeper voice for Yozora is quite enjoyable, in particular when she is on one of her many rants and shenanigans concerning Sena and general social values.

“Haganai”s comedy is generally pretty funny. Most of the comedic scenes are the club’s fruitless attempts at making friends, such as establishing connections through multiplayer gaming, karaoke, and keeping in touch via cell phones. Of course, these attempts go horribly wrong, such as briefing each other and keeping things too literal. It is a fun and cheerful series, but Yozora is usually there to give the brutally sarcastic remarks she characteristically has, giving glimpses of her underlying attitude.

I did not dislike her, but I certainly wished that she had tried a bit harder in making friends with the others, rather than step all over Sena and try to get closer to Kodaka. She may even have become much closer friends with Sena if she did not act that way, giving her just one more friend. The last episode just might change your opinion of her.

However, there was a slight plot interwoven throughout the episodes, but it does not really leave much of an impact, at least not on me. You will have to be the judge on that. I simply watched “Haganai” for my weekly servings of Meat and shenanigans of the “Neighbors Club.”

“Haganai” is an entertaining show depicting the doomed attempts of the “Neighbors Club” in making friends and ultimately becoming popular. Even though most of their attempts fail, it gives a rather nice message that friendship can come from the most unexpected of places. It covers basic methods of interacting with others and the hilarity that follows. The comedy is good, and the delicious eye candy may be enough to draw you into the series. Check it out if you ever need an anime guide on how NOT to make friends!

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