Haganai: I Don't Have Many Friends (2015)

[僕は友達が少ない]

Volume 13

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

Synopsis:
The school festival begins with the Sports Day activities.

Story/Characters:
As we kick off Sports Day, we focus in on the student council president, Hinata Hidaka, and how much Yozora hates her. At first, it just seems like Yozora's twisted personality lashing out on someone who isn't saddled with the same psychological baggage, but hold on to that one. It'll become a whole lot clearer in the near future. As Yozora buggers off to malinger in the nurse's office, Kodaka notices Rika up on the roof and goes to see her. Now, you may have noticed Rika noticing things, altering her behavior and such. Though roundabout, she tries confronting Kodaka about things and nudging him into facing the situation he's been avoiding. Surprise, surprise, he doesn't. It looks like the problem has been avoided for the time being, but as the deadline draws near for the movie to premier, Rika ends up collapsing from a mix of exhaustion and a cold. When Kodaka checks in on her, they have a nice chat and he even agrees to read one of her BL novels to her as a bedtime story. Once she gets better, she finishes post-production and while everyone else at school is preoccupied with the closing festivities, the gang watches the completed movie. What a nice place to end. Only it's not the end.

As the gang can't have too much of a break, not long thereafter, Aoi comes in swinging around her authority as a member of the student council, only to get it with both barrels from Yozora. Unable to beat Yozora's arguments, Aoi retreats for the time being, only to come back later to challenge the club's legitimacy on the grounds that Maria isn't actually faculty. She then learns the hard way that when it comes to swinging around your authority like a big stick, being the chairman's daughter affords you a much bigger stick and Sena doesn't hesitate to use it. While Aoi is in an antagonistic role and her jealousy of Sena is more of a motivation that upholding order in the student body, I can't help but feel sorry for her being so strongly overpowered twice in a row. The fact that she's so tiny is no small part of the reason, I'm sure. Anyway, Kodaka's feeling pretty good about seeing Yozora and Sena both working together to protect the club, Sena ends up casually dropping a bombshell that'll blow away the whole house of cards.

Art:
Rika is the MVP this volume both in the story and the visuals. Man, the broken smile she gives Kodaka when he once again avoids his problems rather than face them is crushing. Contrast that with the starry-eyed look she gets when she presents the BL novel she wants Kodaka to read to her. I mentioned feeling sorry for Aoi up above. The visuals of her being overpowered by Yozora and later Sena play a big part in that. She's like a chihuahua that starts yipping at a couple tigers and realizes how out of her depth she is only too late. And then there's the last few pages of the volume, which do a great job of selling the cliffhanger.

Other:
We get a color page of Yozora and Sena, then a two-page spread of them, an afterword, and the character commentary.

Conclusion:
I need to give due credit to Hirasaka for his work with Rika, taking what was initially a comic relief character and building her into one of the most insightful and sincere members of the cast. Her two big scenes here really sell this volume. If you're anti-authority, Yozora and Sena tag-teaming Aoi can be pretty cathartic as well. Blowing the shakily maintained status quo to bits with the cliffhanger also leaves an impression. In light of this, I'm going to bump up my rating this volume and say it's worth a space in the collection (though, admittedly, if you're collecting one volume, you're going to get the other 19 as well).

Rating:
Own It