Anime Review | Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai
Before we begin I feel I must say that I really, really like this anime series. I’ve watched both the first and second season back to back and could have watch a third if there was one to be watched. Sadly there were only two seasons and I’ve decided to break them up in to two reviews. This being the first of the two.
Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai or I Don’t Have Many Friends, or I Can’t Make Friends is an anime based on a manga by the same name. The story is about a boy named Hasegawa Kodaka who has transferred to a new school and is having a hard time making friends. This is not helped by his naturally blond hair which he inherited from his mother, or by the fact that he always seems angry. The other students in school assume that his hair is bleached and so they consider him a delinquent and avoid him as much as possible. The sad thing is that Kodaka is nothing like what they assume. He is actually the exact opposite of a delinquent. He is a very caring older brother to his little sister, and he’s so nice to other that he’d reluctantly allow himself to help others even if he doesn’t want to at first.
The main character is the cool reserved type of character that speaks his mind no matter what sometimes even going so far as to speak his thoughts out Loud.
One day while at school Kodaka forgets something in class and goes to retrieve it, only to find one of his classmates, Yozora, who also has no luck making any friends, talking to her imaginary friend Tomo. After interrupting the strange occurrence the two get to talking and something Kodaka says gives Yozora an idea to start a club, “the neighbours club”. This clubs main purpose being; a club for people who don’t have very many friends who would like to have friends. As other lonely students slowly join their little club, they’ll try to learn how to build friendships through cooking together, playing games, and other group activities. Each new member that joins the club has their own quarks that has kept them from making friends to this point, and mixing them all together makes for one hilarious anime series.
Other than an amazingly charming story, this anime also boasts some pretty beautiful animation. The artwork is all just gorgeous, an aphrodisiac for the eyes. Each character is well designed and none of it seems to be out of place. It’s all just wonderful to look at, or call it super kawaii (cute) if you like. Oh and I watched this in beautiful 1080p goodness. It should also be noted that this anime is ecchi and comes in two flavours. One being uncensored (my personal preference) and censored. When given the choice between the two I always pick uncensored, don’t ask me why — insert man card here —
As far as ecchi goes it was handled well. It wasn’t the centre of the attention for the anime and when we did get a scene with ecchi it was nice.
Awww I feel all fuzzy inside
The art complements the style of story greatly which is what I like to see in the anime I watch. I’ve found that over the years I have started to appreciate this style of animation more so than others. It’s an art style that seems to bring sunshine into my heart and I think it will do the same for you.
Good art, check. Good story, check. What’s next? Oh right voice work and audio. That’s all great too. The voice acting is pretty good, and not just for the Japanese voice acting. The English voice acting is also as good. In fact I watched entirety of both seasons with the English dub. Something that a lot of so called hard-core anime fans would never do. I however do not consider myself to be a hard-core fan of anime anymore, and I’m happy that I don’t let that sort of thinking affect my choice in dub. This is because as the story progressed I was treated to the voice of one of my favourite, if not my favourite anime voice actor ever, Brandon Potter, voice of School Rumble’s Kenji Harima, and One Piece’s Red Haired Shanks. Had I stuck to the Japanese voices I would have missed out what I consider a treat for my auditory senses. Potter’s voice is not the only good one in this anime either, It is one among numerous others, and this is well complemented by the wonderful music that fits perfectly with each theme of the show. From the beginning to the end of each episode I found myself totally immersed. I even ended up listening to the both the open and closing music of each. Something I barely ever do when watching anime. It’s all that good.
All the girls in this anime are interesting and different enough to keep you entertained from beginning to end.
Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai is a wonderful romantic comedy anime with very diverse characters that are well developed and explored throughout the 12 episodes that make up season one. It’s a series that I highly recommend to everyone no matter your preference in anime. Just remember though, If watching it with the family choose the uncensored version. 😉
if you’d like to hear more of my thoughts on this topic, then I suggest you listen to the Buttonsmashers podcast.