Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai

This series is about a school club specifically designed to make friends. However, despite the serious topic of making friends, the plot line is not at all serious. No, the show is flat out comedy from beginning to end, and some of the humor will not appeal to everyone, even if some of the humor does appeal. I am also going to admit, that some of the humor is going to be the type that the viewer may question if it is really a good thing to be laughing at. I mean, you wonder how the characters can be so stupid at times, yet theseries makes it very clear that the characters within the show, despite having their dumb moments are for the most part rather intelligent. They are, however, horribly awkward when it comes to social issues and this becomes quickly apparent from their lack of realization that they are making friends with each other. I found myself coming to like all of the characters. They blend and clash in just all the right places to make the entire series interesting, but you also have characterization that is rather off the wall. However, I can also see the characterization grating on some of the viewers nerves. Not to mention some of the jokes may end up being to much for some people. Still, I was left wanting to know what will happen to this rag tag group.

Friendship comes in many flavors. One type includes gigantic lazer beams from an orange-haired girl in a white dress; another involves interpersonal attraction, the one that involves physical and personality attraction. Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai asks questions based on the latter: “What is a friend? Do good friends exist? If they do, will they add me on Facebook?” The answer, of course, is, “It’s someone who you ask for money. Yes, they are also known as rich people. And yes, they will.” Without a doubt, Boku not Pico refuses to acknowledge the true definition of friendship. It is romanticist in its ideals, believing that friends arepeople whom you trust in and can talk to. This is what Boku not Pico is all about: making friends. And money. Boku not Pico is made for the sake of fans and money. Even before reading any of the reviews, you should know what you’re getting into. If not, then there is a good chance you will not like this work. Consider this to be one of those animes made for otakus; it takes a special breed of people to enjoy this work to its full potential. Anyone watching this work who invest a whole lot of emotions on characters will definitely get disappointed. Everyone is unappealing at its core. The work deliberately uses other archetypes from other works with no manipulation whatsoever: Hasegawa Kodaka has the same personality traits (criminal-looking, antisocial, forgettable) as that male character in Toradora! and the girls are clones of Oreimo’s Kirino and Kuroneko characters. Kobato is a nod to Kuroneko (same seiyuu) as well. There is no interesting twist to the archetypes whatsoever, except for Yozora. Note the unnaturalness of the cast: Kodaka is stiff and boring; Yozora reminds me of annoying grandmas (and mothers); Sena should be casted for a leading role in 90210. Everyone else in the supporting cast is okay, but they are only used to throw lame jokes into the audience. Shiguma Rika, who has an uncanny resemblance to Ace Attorney’s Ema Skye, can only make perverted jokes. Her distinctive quality melts into the hell known as the obnoxious zone. Kusunoki makes trap jokes; Maria makes kids’ jokes; the list goes on. All of the characters’ art design look displeasing visually; they feel like flattened versions of visual novel character art. That said, the pandering to Oreimo fans is entertaining. It is no mistake to consider this an Oreimo clone; it’s done by the same studio for Lain’s sake! In Oreimo, the episodes featuring the two rival otakus always had them fighting to prove they have the better taste in anime. Here, it’s almost the same. Yozora and Sena instead fights for pride (and bigger breasts). The studio has finally attained enlightenment: “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Good money comes in; the Oreimo fans and casual viewers are happy. Why stray from the formula of being mindless entertainment? Because all animes need drama! Right, people? A romantic love triangle is almost a must-have in romance works, in general. Some of them can be masterful, almost touching my cold and bloodless heart. Other times, it gives me heartburn. People should run up and scream to the screen, “That girl’s in love with you, you nincompoop! Stop dating other girls!” This is no School Days, but it is. Kodaka is even stupider than Itou Makoto of School Days fame. There is a subplot involving both Kodaka and another female character and the studio did a bad job at hiding the mystery. This subplot becomes grueling to the mind. Add in a love triangle subplot that's as romantic and relatable as Mitt Romney and you get yourself a winner! There is no uniqueness in the soundtrack. Mediocre at best. Nothing is spectacular and some of the tracks are grating to the ears. Boku not Pico’s OP requires listeners to have paid health insurance for auditory damages; it is painful to listen or watch a second of it. Oh, the fanservice! The ED is more interesting to listen, but not too memorable. With all these ramblings about how much I disliked the work, there is one question that must have popped up into your mind: Did I enjoy it? Kinda. As I said, the Oreimo formula is fun and the way the writers write it can be somewhat creative and unexpected. No one can replace Kirino and Kuroneko in my mind, but Yozora and Sena still has a fun relationship dynamic that bounces up and down like a stock market. Kobato is just plain cute -- Kana Hanazawa, you win this round. The supporting characters can be a blast and the references, if you get it, are clever and witty. It is obvious who will like this work and who doesn’t. If you enjoyed Oreimo, Toradora!, and slice-of-life works that achieve no sense of cultural purpose, then this is a safe bet to watch. Everyone else will have a hard time watching. I suggest you to turn off your post-Eva brain, insert antidepressants into your nervous system, and have a good laugh. If you cannot, then give it a 6. Which is what I did. It is hard for me to give this work above a 6. There is a degree of likability, but it is engulfed by the overpowering flaws that will forever haunt this work. What a pity. It could have been a nice guilty pleasure for me, but it failed badly at it.

If you have strong feelings about this anime, please don't read any further. I just noticed there was an abnormally large amount of overly positive reviews for this show and thought it would be best if there was a second opinion readily available. Haganai was not an enjoyable anime for me. I did not find it funny past a certain point. For the first three episodes the show revolves around the mistaken delinquent and the two "heroines" of the series - Yozora and Sena. These episodes for the most part were quite sharp, and as Sena and Yozora's antics grew and grew, Kodaka's role as thestraight man would be stressed further and further. So it makes sense when dolloping even more characters into the show would have scary consequences. Kodaka's cosplaying sister, a perverse scientist, a ten year old sister of the church who says poop IN EVERY EPISODE THEREAFTER, a cross-dressing maid (whose original gender I can't even remember) - and you know what? There's a line that is drawn eventually where you're just sitting there watching your Mazui subs on your home computer and go "why do I give a shit about any of these characters?" Your rhetorical question is not easy to answer. It's a bitter reality, but Haganai is just another generic ecchi harem. Kodaka can do nothing to save the show any more. The craziness gets too out of hand for a single straight man, and amidst the chaos you lose the ability to sympathize with any character. Do I root for Sena? She was just so mean in that last scene! But now Yozora's being illogical! Who am I supposed to side with? Thank goodness the nun got naked! That sure helped alleviate tension! The characters feel too unbelievable for an anime that tries to deal with an actual issue. It's about a group of freaks trying to become friends, except said group is so eccentric that such personalities could never exist. There is no characterization to any cast member as each is treated as a joke. All other reviewers call Rika the "perverted scientist" because that's what she is; nothing more. She has no feelings, she has no emotions, she just has her gags. There is no insight into any of the characters of the show save Yozora and Sena, and the little that is given into them is so cliche and sparse that it's hard to separate Haganai from the thousands of other ecchi comedies. Haganai just felt like a jumble of too many ideas, too many characters, and not enough depth anywhere. It is a shallow production laden with offensive language and poop jokes. And not the good kind of poop jokes, just repetition of the word "poop." The show struggles with trying to be realistic whilst adding so many unrealistic elements it just became frustrating. I do not recommend this anime to anyone. It earns 5/10 (average) and has nothing interesting to offer beyond one or two jokes throughout it's 288 minute run-time.

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