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Sep 4, 2014
First of all, I’d like to go out on a limb here and say that Nisekoi’s genre represented here on MAL is actually inaccurate and can be quite misleading to newer viewers. If you’re expecting a complexed and hilarious love story…well, you will get that for the most part, but be forewarned that this is also a harem in the making. While having a strong start in the lines of a romance comedy manga, this convection flails as the series progresses. However, do not let this factor hinder you from reading. Being ranked 44th here on MAL, I think its popularity says for itself just
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how amazing this manga is. And Nisekoi certainly does provide quite the exciting read, from problems issuing from a school cultural fest to helping a friend confess his feelings, Nisekoi leaves you on the edge of your seat even without the intense fighting of a Shounen.
To strip it down to the basics, Nisekoi is about a boy named Raku, who is your typical 1st year highschool boy. He gets decent grades, knows how to cook, and has a faithful childhood friend (who is, sadly, a huge pervert) and aims to become a civil servant someday. But unlike normal highschool boys, Raku has a family background that is, to put it mildly, quite…unique. Well, that is unique with a capital “U”, as no typical highschool boy have a Yakuza family. Due to this, many people at school are intimidated by him resulting in Raku not having any friends. However, despite all this Raku is not discouraged, as he has a reminiscence of 10 years into his past, where he made a promise with a girl he loved, and although he does not remember the details, he holds a pendant as proof of their relationship, with her in possession of the key. And so our MC hopes to some day reunite with his love and to uphold their promise-that is, to get married.
Due to delicate circumstances, our MC is forced into a fake relationship (thus the name Nisekoi) with a beautiful and talented “gorilla”, Chitoge, which creates a huge problem, as he already loves another girl. Through this relationship, they encounter dilemma after dilemma, many of which will get you laughing your head off, from convincing their families that they are real lovers to conflicts with a cross dressing hitman, the comedic humor is endless. Under all this however, the commitment to solving the mystery behind his past never eludes Raku, and as the intricate love story progresses and it is discovered 4 different girls were present 10 years ago, all of whom holds keys, the romance story is thrown into a mass of exciting confusion. As their group overcomes various obstacles, from making chocolates on Valentines Day to viewing exhilarating fireworks on New Years, more mysteries from their past are slowly revealed, and it is completely unpredictable as to what will happen next.
Nisekoi does take detours from the original plotline, and between chapter 50 to chapter 90, the whole pendant issue seems to have been momentarily forgotten in replacement to a harem-like build up where every dam girl just irresistibly falls for our MC through the progression of events. While it was initially annoying to see such a great romance story turn into a generic harem, it was not disappointing. In fact, contrary to what many people are saying here, it was not unenjoyable to read these in-between chapters. Instead, it serves as a great character development, and not at all lacking in the hilarity of the beginning chapters. The harem element does not detract in the least from the actual romance storyline. Honestly, the only thing that pisses me off is how there is so much budding romance, but it just doesn’t seem to be heading anywhere. But with the good outweighing the bad, it definitely is worth the read.
Not much to say about the art, but that it is really cute. All of the characters look really nice. I fell in love with Marika’s character design instantly, but then her personality kind of screwed it up for me. Nothing too out of the ordinary, but the varying clothing designs is certainly an added bonus, from the elaborate kimonos to Romeo and Juliet style dress. It is quite impressive.
I thought the characters were really well done, with each having distinctive character traits and back stories. From the tsundre like Chitoge, to the shy and introverted Kosaki, to the persistent and determined Marika, the cast is a colorful crew who guarantees hours of enjoyable reading. And while not completely original, all these diverse personalities all coming together and interacting is something of a miracle on its own, take for example Marika’s clinginess to Raku, and Chitoge’s jealously of said clinginess. What seperates Nisekoi from other mangas of the same genre is the background behind all the characters. Some people argue that as readers we do not know much about the pasts of many characters and the story offers very few flashbacks so we are left guessing as to what might have happened, and thus has a very low view on Nisekoi. However, keep in mind that this sort of thing is intentional, as this is a romance story focused solely on the events 10 years in the past, and that said past shrouded in mysteries would slowly be revealed in time. As for things we do know, the story provides a sense of connection between all the characters, and serves to offer an emotional depth at the same time. All in all, each of the characters are very strong (in Chitoge and Tsugami’s cases, physically as well) and there is a strong sense of idiosyncraticness not seen in the likes of, say, 1/2 Prince. If anything, I’d suggest people read Nisekoi just for the characters.
Overall, Nisekoi was one of the best romance mangas I’ve ever read, and will continue reading. With such a creative storyline, intricate situations, both in the past and present, leaving you on edge wanting to find out just who the chosen one is. And so, I’m going to stop digressing and end it here. However, I just want to say one last thing, no matter if you are a newer viewer or seasoned otaku, you will not regret it if you give Nisekoi a try, as contrary to what many people are saying here, Nisekoi certainly does give off a vibe of its own,
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jul 7, 2014
Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai is one of the many light novels to there which is receiving a lot less acclamation than it deserves. While this is not unusual, it still is shocking to realize a majority of anime fans out there are missing out on such a great work of art and cannot truly appreciate its’ existence. In the anime world, light novels are often looked down upon for their brevity, many viewers seems to have the notion that due to the shortness of light novels, the character and plot development cannot be that great, they also commonly assume that there would be many
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holes in the story line. While it is true that many light novels seems to fall under this category, such as Kore wa Zombie desu ka, it is also undeniable that there are others which, for some inexplicable reason, the manga-ka chose not to prolong the series, Club to Death Angel comes to mind, and it truly is a shame that such anime are not recognized for their sheer amazingness. Personally, I have nothing against popular manga and anime, I am a big fan of One Piece and Fairy Tail, and I agree that new viewers introduced to the world of anime should start with those, however they should also realize that Big-Timers are not the only anime that they need to grab popcorn and lock themselves up 25/8 for. Some light novels, such as SAO and K-ON, are appraised for their ingenuity despite their shortness, but it bothers me that people should not look deeper for equally great anime, and this is why I am writing a review for Boku wa Tomadachi ga Sukunai.
Story
On the most basic level, this series is about a teenage boy named Kodaka who has moved back to his hometown after 10 years and tries to make new friends, but because of the colour of his hair, people generally mistake him for a delinquent and avoid him, thus the name of the piece (literally: I don’t have many friends, which I am now going to refer as Haganai). Until he meets a girl named Yozora, who also is a bit of a loner (seeing as how she was talking to “an air friend”), and together they create the Neighbour’s Club, with intentions of learning how to interact and make friends, “A place where outcasts could just be themselves and not care”. The setting and plot is a complete slice-of-life, with nothing seemly out of the ordinary (besides Rika nearly killing Kodaka with flying metal balls near the end of the second season, but that’s beside the point), as Hirasaka evidently wanted viewers to be able to relate to certain events in the storyline. While this is a Harem, with Kodaka being our male protagonist with many adorable female characters revolving around him, it is not just your typical, generic fan service series, the story actually has deeper meaning and legit purpose for all of them being in the same club (in this case making friends), as opposed to the other harems out there where characters stay together for the sake of being together. Sure, there are some eye-candy screens which will arouse some excitement within our male demographic, but the story is also trying to teach us something, which is to value our friendship. We do not truly appreciate the friends we make, but as we watch Kodaka and the others struggle for the desire of friendship, it makes us think. What is friendship? IS it formed simply by being members of the same club? Through the interactions of our characters, we slowly begin to comprehend these values. The irony being that they are learning to make friends, all the process becoming friends within the club. These things are a part of what makes this series so great, as you would not expect such questions to come out of a series of just 25 episodes. The cast of this story is a colourful bunch: we have Kodaka, the cool-headed yet dense protagonist, we have Yozora, lacking in every aspect except for her looks, as well as Sena, the other female lead, self-proclaimed goddess and perfect at everything besides her personality, and others including Yukimura, Maria, Rika, and Kobato, all of whom have a distinctive character and defining trait. With a bunch of misfits such as these coming together, the romance which brews and relationships which follows is pure gold. Many of the events which take place with the Neighbour’s Club are just normal activities, ranging from Karaoke to a training camp at the beach, but the development of said relationships is what makes it so intriguing. Are there any flaws to the story line? Sure, while the cast is wonderful, we don’t know much about their backgrounds besides a general outline. Also, while the drama of some confrontations leaves you on the edge of your seat, Kodaka usually ends up ruining the emotional build-up by being his ignorant self. However, considering this as opposed to, say, Zombie desu ka where the plot line is completely disjointed and half the time your are trying to figure out what is going on, I would give this a try any day.
Art
A strong point which I precieved of Haganai, is its’ artwork. Originally, I had picked up this series seeing as how the characters looked cute, not realizing I would be getting so much more out of it. Not much to say about it, just that the artwork is amazing, even going so far as to say the best I’ve seen in anime by far. The way FunAnimation was able to give life into the character’s eyes to the point where they seem to come to life, especially Sena and Yozora, is just intriguing. Also Maria’s child-like face, Kobato’s shyness, and Rika’s eccentreicity are all depicted so well to portray the various personalities. While most of us would just be enjoying Sena’s fan service, other things sucha s the detailsof the background and even no-name characters, the fact is that the artwork never fails to surprise, and viewers could easily tell the amount of effort put into make the anime aesthetically pleasing.
Characters
This, in my opinion, is the most prominent asset to Haganai. As mentioned earlier, Haganai is a story that circulates around a group of social outcasts who seek to make friends, and the on going development of relationships is what makes this anime so enjoyable. Each character has different life problems and conditions which opts them from making friends, whether this be being an isolated genius, child prodigy, a girl who believes she’s a guy, or an arrogant idol, the Neighbour Club brings them all together with the purpose of making friends, and the interactions are hilarious. The characters do not seem to all be held together by Kodaka, but instead develop their own relationships. A central focus would be the constant discrepancies between Yozora and Sena, as they disagree and compete in next to everything (besides Sena’s Girl’s Love games). From multiplayer video games to a roller coaster in an amusement park, there seems to be a constant unsettled animosity between them. This could be due to Yozora’s dislike for popular people such as Meat (Yozora’s nickname for Sena), but either way it’s funny. Similarly, Kobato and Maria are seen often fighting for “Onni-san’s” (Kodaka’s) brotherly affections. Being the two youngest members, Kobato and Maria could most relate to each other, and due to their credulity both believing that Kobato is a vampire while Maria being a nun, thus the allusion to conflict between light and dark. Among this, other relationships develop, such as Meat’s creepy obsession over Kobato due to her resembling characters from Meat’s eroge games, or Rika’s open perverseness towards Kodaka, all lead for great laughs. In terms of love relationships, seeing as how this is a harem, the feelings from the girls develop gradually, and the confrontations are all very realistic, while dense Kodaka either doesn’t understand or chooses to ignore the emotions involved and continues to treat everyone as “just club members”. Unlike its counterparts, Haganai treats the situations realistically, and it isn’t just some slug fest due to Kodaka being the only male character, Rika being the only one who openly expresses her feelings (which Kodaka chooses to ignore). In season 2, our cast seems to have mature more, with the exception of Kobato and Maria, and thus acts as such. While on the surface, these characters are just here to offer enjoyment to the viewers, however Hirasaka actually offers a deeper in look of our characters. While Kodaka is your typical male protagonist with “a bad-boy look” and a seeming tsundre attitude, at heart he is really a kind teenage boy who cares for the people around him. Kodaka is not just your unoriginal, cliché harem male, through him, Hirasaka is telling us to be who we are and to not judge by appearance, seeing as how Kodaka is bullied due to his naturally blonde hair but despite this refuses to dye it. It truly is amazing to see how well the characters are developed and their relationships within such a short series.
Sound/Music
Again, not much to say about this besides the fact that the developer, FunAnimation, incorporated the perfect OST into this anime. The OP of both season 1 and 2 are extremely fun to listen to, and one could sit there for hours listening to them as they sit in their room alone playing chess by themselves (not like I’m telling from personal experience, no never). There’s just one thing that bothers me with the music, and for the fact this goes with most Japanese anime music, and that is the inclusion of English words. Sure, “friend” and “bend” rhymes, but that does not always great song make. Also, the Japanese dub is excellent, wit the voice casting of each character perfectly suited to their personalities.
Enjoyment
Great character foils? Check. Adorable and realistic art? Check. Comic relief? Check. Sena running nude and making erotic poses? Check. Haganai has got it all. I have already watched and rewatched this series, and would go for it again, that in itself should speak for enjoyment. The comedic relationships on its own should serve as a purpose to watch this. If you’re looking for arousing screens, Sena says hi. While not as fan service heavy as FunAnimations’s last work, Heaven’s Lost Property, Haganai has got its own fair share of eye candies to gawk over.
Overall
As I said previously, I often feel that light novels are underrated and just aren’t receiving as much attention as it deserves. Viewers often perceive short series as mini-mangas/anime and treat it as such. Many don’t take them seriously, and most tend to read a couple of the crappy ones out there before coming to the conclusion that all light novels suck, and decide to stick to only the popular series. However, comparing light novels to longer series would be like comparing an old man at the park to rainbows; they’re just totally different entities. For this reason, and considering how short the series is, I strongly recommend anime viewers, both armatures and seasoned viewers, to give Haganai a try, and decide for themselves.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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