Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai (Haganai: I don't have many friends)

When Kodaka Hasegawa finds out that he will be transferring to a new school, he is determined to make a positive impression, and maybe even some friends. However, Kodaka discovers he is out of luck when he immediately gets labeled as a violent delinquent due to his blond hair and intimidating expression. Although a month has passed, Kodaka is still alone thanks to his notorious reputation. However, his life begins to change when he finds fellow loner Yozora Mikazuki talking to her imaginary friend in an empty classroom.

After sharing stories of their lonely high school life, Kodaka and Yozora decide to overcome the difficulties of making friends together by starting the Neighbor's Club. Created for people who don't have friends, daily activities involve learning social skills and how to fit in, which will hopefully allow them to make friends. Joined by the eroge-loving Sena Kashiwazaki, and other eccentric outcasts, Kodaka may finally have managed to find people he can call friends, in this club filled with hilarious oddballs.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

In 2012, Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai Portable, a visual novel by Namco Bandai Games for the Sony PlayStation Portable, was released.

A live-action film based strictly on the novels and not the anime was released on February 1, 2014 and directed by Takuro Oikawa.

Episode Videos

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Related Anime

Adaptation:	Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai
Prequel:	Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai: Yaminabe wa Bishoujo ga Zannen na Nioi
Side story:	Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai: Relay Shousetsu wa Ketsumatsu ga Hanpanai
Sequel:	Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai Next

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Kashiwazaki, Sena

Main

Itou, Kanae
Japanese

Mikazuki, Yozora

Main

Inoue, Marina
Japanese

Hasegawa, Kodaka

Main

Kimura, Ryouhei
Japanese

Hasegawa, Kobato

Supporting

Hanazawa, Kana
Japanese

Shiguma, Rika

Supporting

Fukuen, Misato
Japanese

Takayama, Maria

Supporting

Iguchi, Yuka
Japanese

Kusunoki, Yukimura

Supporting

Yamamoto, Nozomi
Japanese

Kashiwazaki, Pegasus

Supporting

Okiayu, Ryoutarou
Japanese

Redfield, Stella

Supporting

Yuzuki, Ryouka
Japanese

Nagata, Yukiko

Supporting

Yahagi, Sayuri
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Saitou, Hisashi

Director

Motoyama, Satoshi

Sound Director

Takashima, Daisuke

Episode Director

Setou, Kenji

Episode Director

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Opening Theme

"Zannenkei Rinjinbu (Hoshi Futatsu Han) (残念系隣人部★★☆(星ふたつ半))" by Tomodachi Tsukuritai (友達つくり隊) (Marina Inoue, Kanae Itou, Nozomi Yamamoto, Misato Fukuen, Kana Hanazawa, and Yuka Iguchi)

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Ending Theme

"Watashi no Kimochi (私のキ・モ・チ)" by Marina Inoue

More reviews

Reviews

Jan 2, 2012

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 5

Detective (All reviews)

1084 people found this review helpful

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 the straight 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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Dec 22, 2011

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 9

TheArchangel (All reviews)

438 people found this review helpful

With Christmas fast approaching, I can safely say one thing: All I want for Christmas is Meat. Delicious, delicious, Meat.

Ahem.

What do you get when an ambitious and rather oddball girl drags an unwilling male into forming a club for whatever reason? You get the "Save the World by Overloading it with Fun (SOS) Haruhi Suzumiya Brigade!" Oh wait, wrong show. You alternatively could get the "Neighbors Club." Yes, that seems about right. This fabulous club is composed of Kodaka and Kobato Hasegawa, Yozora Mikazuki, Sena Kashiwazaki, Rika Shiguma, Maria Takayama and Yukimura Kusunoki. Watch as this rebellious group takes on one of the world's most challenging of tasks: making friends!

"Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai" follows the misadventures of our assembled group of social misfits as they chase after the ever elusive rose-colored 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 (though only one of them is truly worthy of the title), 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 colorful and animations are fluid enough, giving the viewer delicious eye candy. Look at those sultry lips on the females for instance...Check out official arts if you are having doubts.

"Haganai" (which is what I will be calling this show now) gives us the rather touching message that it is not necessarily the number of friends one has, but its 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, Inde--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 griefing each other and keeping things too literal....It is a fun and rather 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 that 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 however, 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!

Oh, and to those who have bothered to read this far, I am a Sena fanboy. Sorry, Yozora, move over for the REAL goddess. She, along with a certain brigade leader, will be the only Gods I'll ever worship!

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Jun 1, 2014

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 9

abhinaVADAR42 (All reviews)

279 people found this review helpful

To be honest, I came here looking for just a plain comedy, what I found was a much more. The opening few episodes were genuinely funny. At first the characters don't look particularly fascinating however, as the series progresses they become more and more interesting. Towards the end the anime is set up brilliantly for its next season which would be hard to miss if you completed the first one. An anime to get easily hooked to and one which becomes more interesting as it progresses.
I liked it a lot and overall it is quite nice.

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Dec 23, 2011

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 10

evanfa (All reviews)

80 people found this review helpful

Honestly is amazing anime. I think that this is a new kind of anime in relation to animation ....for me is the anime master piece of the 2011.

1. Each character has an special "humor" (and personality) and the mix of everyone is really cool and funny.

2. The drawings and landscapes are amazing... a master piece of art.

3. The story is creative and interesting, has few bored moments but the mix of "ecchi" and "funny" moments is fantastic.

I was thinking that would be a big mistake add more characters but honestly was a good bet.. Maria, "The maid" and the "Ero Scientific Girl" are great read more

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Hasegawa, Kodaka

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Shiguma, Rika

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Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai

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Episode Videos

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