Haganai: I Don't Have Many Friends (2011)

[僕は友達が少ない]

Volume 3

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

Synopsis:
For their latest activity, the Neighbors Club practices humor as way to get friends.

Story/Characters:
I'm sure you can imagine how the club fares when it comes to being the life of the party. Poor Kodaka really thought he had a winner with the scary manjuu story. Next, we're introduced to Maria. She's fairly obnoxious and despite supposedly being a kid genius, she acts about half her age, but you could argue the pieces actually fit. Yozora's pretty dang mean to her (surprise, surprise), which brings us back to the whole thing about needing a taste for comedic sociopathy to enjoy yourself, at least at this stage of the story. Next, we round out the main cast with the introduction of Rika. Rika... what a character. Right now, she's mostly there for comic relief, but the way she's so up-front is a refreshing change of pace. It's also amusing to watch her mess with people with her unvarnished perversion. Afterward, we have Kodaka's big brother instinct kick in for Maria, which sets Kobato's jealousy into overdrive. Kobato's rivalry with Maria mirrors that of Sena and Yozora, but the playing field is more level and the spatting isn't nearly as mean-spirited. It's for the audience to decide whether Kodaka is lucky or not to now have two little sisters.

Art:
While I tend to find Maria fairly annoying as a character, I can't deny that she's dang cute. (Yes, Kobato's cute too and it's fairly fun to see the two of them go at it.) For some reason I find the censor bars in the Gumdan x Ova doujin to be rather amusing.

Other:
We open on a full-color illustration of Kobato and a two-page spread of Maria, Yukimura and Rika. We close on another illustration of Kobato with thanks from Itachi and the staff that also celebrates the announcement of the anime and an afterword by Hirasaka.

Conclusion:
Things continue to warm up as we get the full cast in place. Not everyone is going to go for Rika's antics (or Maria's either, for that matter), but that fits in with the divisive nature of most of the other characters.

Rating:
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