Haganai: I Don't Have Many Friends (2010)

[僕は友達が少ない]

Volume 1

Author: Yomi Hirasaka
Artist: Itachi
Publisher: Media Factory Comics

Synopsis:
A misfit transfer student at an elite mission school finds himself roped into a classmate's scheme to make friends.

Story/Characters:
We start with a cold open that has our dysfunctional cast going at it before returning to the beginning when the Neighbors Club is first founded. When I watched the anime adaptation, I wasn't quite sure if some aspects of the characters were deliberate or not, but now I'm much more strongly inclined to believe that it was entirely part of the author's design. There's a good balance of fixable flaws that keep the characters from being more socially competent and things that they have less control over. I like that Kodaka isn't as bland and spineless as the male leads of many Japanese romcoms, nor is he prone to overreacting to the situations he finds himself in. Yozora and Sena are a couple of hard cases and it's easy to see how they can be disliked both in-universe and out of it, but if you're willing to be patient with them, their qualities will slowly shine through. (If Yozora's acid-tongued ways actually appeal to you, then you'll have plenty of fun with her and poor Sena is too dumb for you to stay annoyed at her high-and-mighty posturing.)

Once the Neighbors Club is established and Sena joins in, our first joint activity is playing a Monster Hunter stand-in, where the girls play together about as well as you'd imagine. From there, Sena picks up her gal game habit, but this first round is perhaps the most amusing, particularly with her and Yozora showing they have a lot more in common than they'd probably like to admit. We close on Kodaka picking up a stalker, which leads us to the introduction of Yukimura, who may well be my favorite character.

Art:
The art here is nicely expressive. Despite this not being in any way an action series, the Monster Karyudo chapter shows that Itachi has some good action chops and we'll be seeing some other opportunities for the artist to show off in the future. The back of the dust cover and the inner cover show off some art shifts imitating other styles which get used to good comedic effect in later volumes.

Other:
We get a couple full-color pages at the beginning, including a two-page spread with the main trio. There's also an illustration of Yozora at the end with thanks from the staff and an afterword by Yomi Hirasaka.

Conclusion:
While I personally like this series quite a bit, connecting to the female leads is a significant hurdle for some people. Things improve as they get more development, but at this stage, if you don't have a bit of a taste for comedic sociopathy, you're probably not going to enjoy yourself. In light of this, I recommend giving this volume a read so you can see how it clicks with you. If it gets its claws into you, I think you'll appreciate the ride to come.

Rating:
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