Haganai is based on a light novel, which, as fans of my reviews will know, means it’s most likely in a range between god-awful and above-average. I’ve gone on countless rants about light novels in the past so I’ll refrain from doing so and instead destroy the story (for what it is).
Kodaka is the new kid in school and scares everyone because he looks like a punk (because it worked in Toradora, so why not rehash the idea here?). He has the most ridiculous off-color hair I’ve ever seen as well as a passion for high-water pants and boat shoes. As he prepares to leave school after a rough first day he encounters a smoking hot girl talking to herself and is suddenly forced into joining a club he accidentally helped create (because it worked in Haruhi Suzumiya, so why not rehash the idea here?). The club, founded so Kodaka and his new friend, Yozora, can meet more friends and try to gain a social life, is quickly peopled with strange girls such as the rich Sena, the sexually obsessed Rika, and the girly-boy Yukimura. In true harem fashion Haganai quickly shifts gears a few episodes in, going from the construction of a club and finding of friends to doing generic harem things.
And of course, as with all harems, every girl (and boy) in the harem is madly in love with the main character to some extent. This means lots of feuds. The two main girls, Yozora and Sena, are constantly bickering while Kodaka’s little sister, Kobato, fights with the ten year old teacher/nun (that makes sense) Maria over who is Kodaka’s true little sister.
Aside from that, there’s no plot to speak of. After all the characters have come together each episode is a bunch of loosely connected events, most of which are boring outings to the beach, the pool (twice!), a festival, and karaoke. There’s also a bullshit PTSD storyline about Yozora actually being Kodaka’s best friend from when he was a kid. She remembers it and knows him; he’s forgotten and doesn’t recognize her. It’s groan-worthy for sure.
All this culminates in what I think is the single most underwhelming final episode I’ve seen in a long time. Rather than an emotional revelation or any sort of progression or closure with the cock-tease romance, we get a bunch of clips of shit we’ve already seen followed by enough open-endedness to ensure future seasons and OVA’s.
Characters
I can summarize the cast as being lackluster, but that’d be unfair to the few mildly entertaining girls.
Our main character Kodaka is the typical harem guy. He’s completely boring aside from one thing that sets him apart from the rest. And he, of course, also has some past event that ties him inexplicably to one of the girls. Project yourself into his boat shoes like the writers wanted and you’re doing it right.
Yozora appears to be the main love interest though I see the series going another way (which would be especially nice considering the predictability of these type of shows). She may be one of my most despised anime characters of all time. Kodaka sums her up pretty well in a later episode when he says she’s “Gorgeous but evil”. She’s very pretty, yes, but a total bitch. She has pictures she can use to blackmail characters; she forces Maria, the loli, to run around naked; she treats Sena like complete crap out of spite but also enjoyment. She’s a sick human being. You don’t have friends because you’re a cunt!
I’ll defend Sena because I don’t think she’s that bad, especially compared to Yozora. She has some affluenza issues and is a lolicon, but is an otherwise pleasant character to be around in the quieter, less comedic moments of Haganai. She’s given a lot more time to gel with Kodaka which endears her more to me. You also see her get type-cast as the tits when she’s really smart and just…autistic for lack of a better term, which further makes her more than just the piece of meat Yozora wants everyone to believe. Sena is best girl.
Kobato and Maria are the lolis. What disturbs me most about the DVD version of the series is that they are sexualized a lot. The first naked pair of tits we see are Kobato’s. We also see Maria’s. While Sena’s are shown twice I don’t take as much offense to that as I do the unneeded explicit sexualization of the ten year olds. It’s unneeded and weird considering other characters, especially Rika, get censored during more racy moments. Aside from that these two bicker as much as Sena and Yozora and neither are developed enough (not in that way) to be worthwhile.
Rounding the club out are Rika and Yukimura. Rika is obsessed with sex, talks in the third person, but is also an extremely successful scientist. She brings the funniest moments to the series despite her only character trait being “She’s sexually repressed and needs to get laid”. Yukimura is the trap/feminine-boy. This character’s necessary only to lure in a certain crowd and the strange blushiness and near-boners of Kodaka around him (I.E the swimming episode) lead to some awkwardness that is otherwise unneeded.
Animation
Fantastic animation is Haganai’s strongest point. The characters, for the most part, look unique enough to be memorable in that regard and every scene has beautiful lighting and color. There are some derp moments when characters are in the background and their irises are in strange spots but, for the most part, I have no complaints. Even four years later, it’s still high-quality stuff.
Sound
While the opening isn’t exciting, it is catchy. The ending song is much better, though still nothing worth putting on an iPod. Music during the show is what you’ve come to expect of this type of anime with happy music punctuating silly scenes and bringing an air of joviality that isn’t fully utilized. I watched the English dub (sacrilege to most, but dubs sometimes pull me into an anime more than subs) and found it to be watchable. Kodaka’s voice actor is as boring as the character himself with a phoned in, lazy performance. Sena and Yozora, for their part, do a pretty decent job. The loli’s are as annoying as you’d expect and other performances are serviceable. Some of the reworking of the Japanese script is where the most cringing comes, especially Sena telling Yozora to “lay off the Hateorade”. I’m shivering just typing that.
Entertainment
Despite all complaints, Haganai is a watchable and fairly entertaining show. It’s predictable and some of the comedy is flat merely because it’s nothing but girls calling each other lame names (meat, cow, floppy). I’ve been more entertained by other harem series, but Haganai is one of the better of the mediocre ones. It made me laugh (a feat some can’t even manage) and it did, despite the characters being relatively two-dimensional and generic, engage me in the pseudo-romance.
Overall
Haganai is a lot of cut-and-paste from other shows of the same genre, but it’s also got a grasp on keeping character interactions interesting and funny, even if some of it comes across as forced and annoying at times. The exclusion of a plot makes it hard for me to recommend based on any sort of writing merits, but the animation sure is pretty and the show comes across as harmless (except for the pointless nude scenes). It’s nothing new, but it’s good for what it is. Fans of harems and ecchi will enjoy this; people who aren’t into those genres will want to steer clear. My original review gave Haganai two and a half stars, but I think it’s more deserving of three, above average but not quite good.
