Haganai: I Don't Have Many Friends (2013)

[僕は友達が少ない]

Volume 9

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

Synopsis:
The Neighbors Club go to an amusement park together.

Story/Characters:
We open with Sena trying to lure Kobato into going to an amusement park with her, only for Yozora to step in and make it a trip for the whole gang. It's only after that's settled that we pick up on the cliffhanger at the end of the previous volume. So we learn Kodaka and Sena have a childhood marriage promise similar to the one in Ranma 1/2 and now that Kodaka's been made aware of it, he's becoming more and more conscious of Sena. The trip to the park works as much as a distraction as it does to ship tease the two of them. It's cute how at the hero show Kodaka and Sena are confused for being Kobato's parents. The roller coaster bit is pretty funny, too. After Yozora and Sena start competing over the roller coaster, the inevitable happens with Kodaka being unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end. Fortunately, this amusement park has an onsen included, so our unfortunate hero can get cleaned up. Now, there's no way for me to talk about what comes beyond this point without spoiling, although I don't think it'll be too much of a surprise for most people. While Kodaka is getting cleaned up, Yukimura comes in and offers to wash his back. A comment from Maria (who's in the men's baths just because) prompts Kodaka to turn around and... well, turns out Yukimura is a reverse trap. Kodaka has to enlist Rika's help to convince Yukimura of the truth and Yozora has a fit when she learns that she's set up this near-perfect girl next to Kodaka and had her dress up as a maid as the cherry on top. Yozora doesn't handle the situation well, but Kodaka does, although this is just one more thing he's going to be more conscious about.

Those of you have been paying attention have noticed that Rika's been changing her hairstyle a lot recently and only after a more drastic change does it actually get a comment, prompting a discussion of her inventions. She later goes on to unveil a time machine that she tests on Kodaka. He goes back ten years to try to correct the mistake that broke his friendship with Yozora. When he comes back around, the whole thing turns out to have been a bluff by Rika, only everyone in the room heard him crying out for Yozora, which blows the lid off the whole thing. We're left hanging as to how this reveal is going to change things from here on out.

Art:
The roller coaster sequence is a prime bit of nightmare fuel. In the onsen scene, the censor bar is being quite generous to Kodaka, but to underpin the gravity of the Yukimura reveal, there's none of the censorship we've seen up until now. (After all, the drama would be shot if there was big strategically placed "niku" covering things up.) The scene of the girls sleeping on the train afterward is really cute. The new Butler!Yukimura is also quite nice (ironically with more of a girly hairstyle despite her being dressed as a guy).

Other:
We get a one-page color illustration, a two-page color spread with an Alice in Wonderland theme, an afterword with a 4-koma, and the character commentary.

Conclusion:
Yukimura is quite possibly my favorite character in the series, so for the impact this volume has on her makes it pretty close to my heart. The amusement park is a fun sequence and the reveal of Kodaka's past with Yozora at the end further raises the stakes after what we learned about Kodaka and Sena. I really like how everything is building up and when take the whole package together, I'd say it's worth adding to the collection.

Rating:
Own It