Haganai: I Don't Have Many Friends

High school student Mikazuki Yozora decides to start a “Neighbor's Club,” hoping to learn strategies to make friends. Her first recruit is Hasegawa Kodaka, a recent transfer student who does not remember that he was actually Mikazuki's best friend long ago. Yozora doesn't anticipate attracting more members, but by the end of this 2011 first season, the Club has transformed into a harem anime of quirky female students each joining for her own reason and fixating on (uninterested) Kodaka. While Haganai boasts a promising premise, the series is frequently overwhelmed by fierce humor and fan service. Daring to make some of its characters unlikeable, the show fails to flesh most of them out, relying on shouted insults in place of genuine interactions, although it does shine when poking fun at cultural trends, such as eroge (erotic video games). Based on light novels and subsequent manga, Haganai will appeal to lovers of harem comedies, fan service, and boundary-pushing, but not general anime aficionados. Compiling all 12 episodes on a dual-language Blu-ray/DVD Combo set, rated TV-MA, extras include a bonus OVA and episode commentaries. With its sexualization of underage girls, panty shots, and rape jokes, Haganai is not a necessary purchase. (L. Martincik)