Reviews for Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai

A review of "Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai" This book was recommended to me by a certain place, and I find it extremely interesting. I also got it at a very reasonable price. The characters all felt like they were just copies from other works I've read, and that's quite alright, cause I love when an apathetic guy gets dragged into the creation of a club! Looking at you Kyon, you lovable, sarcastic, unwilling club member. Oh, and Kodaka too I suppose. The plot development is what you'd expect from a romantic comedy, full of the standard anime shenanigans and your share of odd characters.It's a hotblooded and rebellious adventure about trying to make friends! No friends? Look no further than to this story to encourage and inspire you to stop staring at your computer screen and make some comrades! Not once was I bored reading this.

I can't say the writing was very good, b-but it's not like it was bad either! I-It's just that...ah! Go away!

The paper (?) used for the cover was nice enough. Buriki proves once again that s/he is amazing at making Sena and Yozora jaw dropping. If you see this somewhere and the cover caught your eye, give it a shot. You can also get it at a very reasonable price!

Overall score: ☆☆☆☆

(If you get the joke, good for you. If you didn't...read the book and find out! It's really enjoyable. You can also get it for a very reasonable price!)

I generally enjoy the typical love comedy harem type of anime, manga and light novels. For Haganai, however, not only did I simply like it, I absolutely LOVE it. The characters in the novel are interesting, and slightly unique in their own ways. I love how the members of the neighbours' club converses amongst themselves, throwing in a whole lot of insults and unwholesome things all over the place. Take for Mikazuki Yozora,whom probably has the best choice of words I have ever seen in any manga, anime or light novel. Its not just simple insulting and swearing. Its aninfinite chain of words that would completely, utterly, entirely pwn you, as she has clearly demonstrated on Sena, leaving poor ole meat with absolutely no room for any comebacks whatsoever. Sena, may appear to be the typical proud all-rounder, good in grades and athletics and such, but what I like is how she goes about, conveying and proclaiming her pride, demonstrating her superiority. This is especially so when she describes other girls beside her, stating that "there are two kinds of girls in this world, those that get along with me and the other bitches that don't". I absolutely love all the trash talking they do. Their conversations and choice of words are unique and frankly, rather witty, and the author does not hold back in using any foul language, which I greatly appreciate.

One other thing that I found in this novel, that I am rather fond of, is the author's precise and well-timed manipulation of words. When the characters are shouting some ridiculous nonsense, the font tends to be enlarged. You may not notice this, but it truly adds to the effect of the speech or conversation. The author, at times, would also reduce the font size, creating an effect of meekness, subtlety and shyness. All of this play around in your head very well, creating extremely vivd and vibrant imagery in the readers' minds. The author has one of the more engaging styles of descriptive writing there is. This is perhaps one of the things that draw me to Haganai so much, the fact that you can very vividly, accurately, precisely imagine what is going on in the novel, completely grabbing my attention and interest.

The art, is rather interesting. The hair highlights are different from what can be typically depicted in other manga/anime/light novels, and gives the characters an entirely different aura. The art can create a "standing out" effect upon the characters, giving them a more complete, vital, and a somewhat angelic presence. The only shortcoming about the art, is that at certain times when the characters are shouting and displaying great and strong emotions, the art does not do justice to the words that have just been said, the manner of conversation which had transpired, by half-heartedly conveying and illustrating the characters' emotions, giving a reduced and weaker effect of the characters' strong, overwhelming emotions. Other than that, the artwork is spectacular.

The theme of friendship is unconventional, but still extremely well-conveyed, in this novel. Most shounen manga/anime that I have watched, often have friendship being depicted as doing the right things together, accomplishing the same goals, with united spirit and purpose of mind. Haganai, on the other hand, depicts friendship as, being comfortable and relaxed, being who you really are in front of those whom you call your friends, that is the rendition of friendship I have garnered in this novel. Far from those thematic friendship stereotypes, Haganai often has the members of the neighbours' club waging constant war and conflict amongst themselves, all in the good sense. Friendship is in this unconventional sense, but it is well conveyed, nonetheless, to see even this other perspective, of comfort, and unpretentiousness amongst those whom you call your friends. One of the best lines, or quotes about friendship that I have seen in any manga/anime, was said by Yozora, about that of true friends. Many other shounen manga/anime that I have come across do not depict this at all, making Haganai unique in its rendition of friendship.

The plot itself(I realised I had completely left this out), is rather simple and generic.It is not too different from other works out there. However, maybe due to my own ignorance and inability to think, I had never thought that this was going to be a harem story. The characters do not show any particular, strong interest in Kodaka at the start, but would gradually show and expose their feelings. Before, I had only thought that it was just a regular club, going about in their slice-of-life activities. Then, the love interest starts coming out, and before I knew it, the story became that of a harem. Perhaps this is also another selling point of Haganai, the gradual, inconspicuous development of a harem.

Overall, I completely enjoyed myself throughout the read, from start to end(please don't end yet though). Never once did I find myself not smiling while reading the novel, and at times rolling on my bed in sheer laughter. There was never a boring bit to the novel, and this novel is probably one of the best there is of the genre. Of all things that I have read/watched, the manga/anime of the same genre of love, comedy, harem and friendship of such, at most I would say that I like it. Haganai, on the other hand, is absolute LOVE.

This book reminded me a lot about the rom-com genre as a whole. It can be just so infuriating at times but it still somehow manages to spin grip me and get me invested in the world. The funny thing is… even though rom-coms are generally supposed to be a new world with new characters, somehow every single rom-com feels the same at the start. The pacing, the plot point, the jokes, the tension, the problems, the solutions, and even the ending. It is very rare that you see a rom-com doing something new, without failing. This novel did just that. At first, you will feelthat everything is the same, the same old cliché protagonist who has no interesting qualities, and his harem. At times, this novel felt like that but I bet you, it’s not. It is something that you probably have read or seen before but with a new perspective with realistic features. The MC doesn’t feel like a jackass nor does he feel like an overly powerful person who knows everything but tries to hide it. Nope. None of that shit. Our MC has some good points and some bad points which he tries to fix to get some friends. The novel covers his journey to get friends with other people who are there alongside him, people who also want friends. Every single character who is in the ‘main squad’ is really deeply explored but not over-explored. It doesn’t feel that you don’t know anything about the characters but it doesn’t feel boring to see the characters again. Everything isn’t spoon-fed to the reader and some things are just hinted at. It doesn’t feel that a character is being very hugely emphasized. One character gets highlighted in a volume and then in the later volumes, characters are developed together. It’s really beautiful the way the author chose the routes that the story progresses throughout all the volumes. The way the characters are developed, the choices that are taken by them, the things they do, their goal, every single thing was really well thought of and I loved this beautiful lore of students struggling to get some friends and live a ‘normal’ student life.

Talking about the main thing- romance, well yea… it was at best, good. Every girl was given their time to shine, and every girl despite having some-or-the-other flaws, really made you forget about them for some time… This is the first novel where I am satisfied with the ending despite the MC not ending up with the ‘best girl’ for me.

All of this doesn’t mean that it’s perfect. The novel had some seriously major flaws in it. Sometimes what the MC or the other characters did were seriously either very badly explained, or just straight-up rubbish i.e., way out of their personality. This was particularly visible in the last few volumes where characters were developing faster than the speed of light. It felt refreshing but felt a little too abrupt for my liking. I have mixed feelings on this topic. This novel would be a 9/10 if not for the weird last volume. The rushing in the last volume could be felt deep into my core while I was reading through it. I felt as if some things could be explored a little more but I understood that there was just not enough time to do so. I felt seriously weird about it. A few characters felt a little hypocritic at what they preached compared to their actions but well that is normal if the characters are tried to be kept as humane as possible.

The artwork in this novel is just… NOICE. I have no comments on the artwork because I feel that they couldn’t have been better. They fit the theme of the novel perfectly.

Conclusion: Read it if you like slice-of-life and rom-com. Wouldn’t recommend it if you like something high-paced as this novel is one of the slower ones I have read until now.

First of all HAGANAI is not the classic harem maybe fits better the definition of Harem deconstruction and school growth, besides that four things, explain this work for me and maybe fits well as light summary FIRST: Mixed feelings SECOND: perfect example of how a battle between the author and editor can destroy a work. THIRD : writing two pieces at the same time especially the end of one while you are starting another is not a good idea FOURTH: good ideas bad execution at the end First, I have to say that I first watched the anime then I started de LN from the beginning The animealways brings back really good feelings and the LN too until the last 2 volumes. I will not make spoilers but I have to say that most of the things that take place in those 2 volumes through away everything.

STORY:

The story is quite interesting and a bunch of people without friends looking for something they don't have,( A family, a true friend, self-confidence...)

Everyone looks for something different, here starts all the relations between them, for the sake of that the pacing is quite slow sometimes but fits with the spirit of the LN.

And here comes the problem, the last chapters of Vol 10 and especially 11 which fit one year in one volume, rush up everything and come with a ton of things that I cant understand.

I can accept that the final idea of the author was the ending he wrote but the way everything comes to an end is poorly explained, you can find contradictions here and there even in the final decisions of some characters. Everything mixed destroys the spirit of the LN.

Here you can come with the typical excuse of many LN and mangas -you have the dotS you only have to join them-, no men you fail at the end simply as that

ART

Very good art all the illustrations are top for me not much to say about that.

CONCLUSION

As I have said until volume 9 everything was ok, then last chapters of volume 10 and the entire volume 11 breaks all the good memories the anime and the first 9 volumes bring to me every time I think about this work

As i have firstly said deconstruction fits well and the growth through school too but the way the work reaches those two goals is by far not the best one having in fact contradictions whit somethings that happen at the end.

For me, all the problems come with the battle the author had with his editor, and the starting of inmouto... the new LN he was starting at the moment he was writing the end of Hagenai