Anime Review Haganai: I Don`t Have Many Friends

Haganai: I Don`t Have Many Friends. AIC Build. Funimation

High school can be very hard on people, especially those who aren't social butterflies and today's review deal with an anime called Haganai: I Don`t Have Many Friends that is just about that. For clarification this review will deal with the first season that was recently dubbed and released by Funimation. 

Haganai: I Don`t Have Many Friends is about a group of outcast that join together in hopes that together they can figure out how to make friends. The animes is a odd ball slice of life comedy with some romantic harem comedy mixed in. Each episode is another misadventure for the club while there is an underlying arc involving the childhood of two characters. The plots are easy to follow so each episode can be watch in a nice leisurely pace.

Let's get into a basic run down of the characters. Kodoka Hasegawa is the new transfer student and despite being there for a moment hasn't made any friends due to a mix of a misunderstanding on his first day and the fact that he looks like a delinquent. He's the most balance and socially adept member of the club. His trade mark and unusual spotty blond hair makes people think he's a delinquent but since his hair is the one trait he inherited from his late mother he refuses to dye it, it causes him trouble but it does show how much he cares about his mother. He's just a nice average down to earth guy who people judge by his appearance which makes him a very relatable character overall and more than a little endearing.

Yozora Mikazuki is a black haired girl who tends to be rather cruel. Yozora has a difficult personality that pushes people away, it doesn't help that she is manipulative, can be physically abusive and has a tendency to argue. Despite everything there are moment when the viewer does see she does have a heart underneath everything that pushes people away. One thing well handled in the anime is it shows why she became the way she is, the anime goes into her back story and childhood showing her first friendship and how it ended badly and why she doesn't get close to people. 

Sena Kashiwazeki is the rich headmaster's daughter. She's pretty, smart and athletic but because of this other girls hate her guts and every boy in her class have become little more than her servants. Through the course of the season Sena does learn that Kodoka is different and does not value her only for her looks but actually worries about her as a person and it turn she holds him to different standards. Also because of her lack of friends she joins the club and in trying to play video games to learn to interact with people she become addicted to video games for hilarious results. Though she remains a spoiled rich girl she does show great growth in the season and starts to act differently towards people she's close to.

Kobato Hasegawa is Kodoka's younger sister and unlike him has a pure blonde hair and takes after their mother's in appearance. She's a rather shy 13 year old girl and has developed a vampire persona based on her favorite character from a supernatural series she watches. It is an interesting contrast to see her shy nature come out and compare it to the brash commanding fake vampire persona. It doesn't take much to see why someone as shy as her would love to feel confident  as that fictional vampire. She also has a sitcom rivalry for her brother's affection to another member of the club.

Yukimura Kusunoki as another member of the club. Though the other members assumed that Yukimura was a girl Yukimura insist that it's not the case and is a boy. Yukimura explains that other boys tend to exclude him from activities because of his feminine appearance. Yukimura joins the club hopping to become truly mainly by learning from Kodoka the secrets of being mainly. Even by the end of the seasons there is reason to doubt if Yukimura is actually a boy or not. Still Yukimura is a stoic character and provides a nice contrast to other outlandish characters in the group.

Rika Shiguma is brilliant inventor and member of the club. Despite being so smart Rika lacks a lot of common sense and social skills, she's also a rather large huge pervert. Rika has no qualms about talking about what she likes and sometimes what she likes is robot on robot action which she is the only who thinks is sexual rather than a robot fight that everyone else see. She also happens to make everything into a double entendre. Still Rika has a hidden deeps as she is the one in the club trying her hardest to make friends.

Maria Takayama is a nun working at the school and she just so happens to be ten years old. She's your basic naive ten year old girl with a lot of energy who likes to play and eat snacks, she also happens to be a know it all.

Overall the character have all unique traits and are individuals. They all stand out in their own way without over powering plot or overshadowing all the other characters. The interactions between the characters are just wonderfully lively and enjoyable to watch. The romantic elements don't over power the comedy so this series is more of a comedy than a romance but there are enough hints to make any romantic watcher happy. The plots were well paced and no episode felt slow, mind you as a slice of life no episode will make you need to watch the next episode right away. The jokes are well played and that is all thanks to both the writing and the actors delivery. There are also some very touching scenes in the final episode of the season and those are pulled off wonderfully by the voice actors. The animation is well done, clean and crisp. All the character have a unique look; the guys are handsome, the girls are cute and some characters are both. Overall the season was well done. Rating Haganai: I Don`t Have Many Friends I'd give it a four out of five.