Haganai Season 1 Review

I'm here today to review  Haganai or Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai ("I Don't Have Many Friends"), one of the new anime I started during my absence. I was going to do Okami-San & Her Seven Companions this week because I was following the order in which I watched them, but I lost a sheet of paper of unique quotes so I decided to do this one and then next week I'll do Okami-San.

This anime is really filled with humor, and it's rated TV-MA so I'm sure you know the kind of humor I mean (more evident in later episodes), it is also a herem. A quick heads up or SPOILER depending on how you look at it: there is some scenes of nudity later in the anime but only breasts and butts. 

From left to right: Sister Maria (back), Yozora (front), Kobato (back), Kodaka (front), Rika (back), Yukimura (back), Sena (front). 

The show is about a second-year high school student named Kodaka Hasegawa who doesn't know how to make friends and has only had one his whole life. It doesn't help that he has blond hair that looks like the dye is coming out (dyed hair has been associated with juvenile delinquency in Japan), but this is his natural hair color, or his naturally sinister looking expressions. It is later revealed that other things he unintentionally does also make it really hard for him to make friends. He is also voiced by my favorite voice actor of all time Jerry Jewell, who also voices Neko from Okami-San & Her Seven Companions which is another reason why I had intended on posting this next week, Lyon from Fairy Tail, a cop from Panty & Stocky with Garterbelt, Ko the Bat from Rosario + Vampire, a clown from Soul Eater, and Cliff Cleese from Tenchi Muyo! War On Geminar; I plan on writing reviews for all of these anime and this is the only time I will tell you what I have planed for you.

I can tell you that no matter how much I write about this anime it won't do it justice, but it is my duty to try my best none the less. First a quick intro to our main characters:

You already met Kodaka, but not his sister Kobato Hasegawa- a junior high student at St. Chronica's Academy; she is very close to her brother, who she calls "An-Chan" (Big Brother), and behaves in a jealous and clingy way whenever she feels that he is not giving her the attention she deserves. After having watched an anime show called Iron Necromancer, she begins to call herself "Reisys V. Felicity Sumeragi", a vampire who has lived over a thousand years; she wears a Gothic dress, wears a red contact lens as to appear to have heterochromia and drinks blood (tomato juice)
Yozora Mikazuki- A cruel and selfish black-haired girl who says she understands and respects bullying but resents being called a bully herself; her difficult personality drives away anyone who might wish to make friends with her before she meets Kodaka. She is physically abusive towards, and often argues with, Sena and manipulative towards Maria, whom she cons into giving up an empty room for the use of the Neighbor's Club, and Yukimura, who she fools into working for the club as a cross-dressing cosplay maid. The only person she can't insult is Rika, as Rika takes whatever insult she gives her and deflects it back with a dirty joke that leaves her tired – to the point where she just does what Rika says (like cross-dress for example) rather than argue. SPOILER: she is actually Kodaka's old childhood friend "Taka" (I had a feeling since Kodaka's flashback when he was trying to figure out his old childhood friend's name) and she created the Neighbors Club just to be with him again, he later finds out in the second to last episode of the season.
Sena Kashiwazaki- The wealthy blonde daughter of the school's headmaster, Sena shows a dislike of all things "ordinary". She is both attractive and academically successful, but her resulting arrogance excludes her from making friends with girls, and she treats her male classmates only as servants to be used, although many of them would like to be her boyfriend. Nonetheless, she holds Kodaka to a higher standard.
Yukimura Kusunoki- Yukimura is first introduced as a stalker of Kodaka. A gullible student with low self-esteem, Yukimura admiringly believes Kodaka to be a romantic and masculine outlaw who lives life the way he wants to, and eagerly pledges to become his "underling" to become manlier. Despite claiming to be a boy, Yukimura dresses in girls clothes, typically that of a French maid, or a bikini when at a water park or beach. SPOILER: In Volume 5, chapter 6 of the light novel (and most likely some where in the second season; I haven't gotten there yet), Kodaka discovers that Yukimura is actually a girl, even to Yukimura's surprise. I truly had a feeling Yukimura was a girl from the beginning and speculated that she was probably confused and unaware of her own gender.
Rika Shiguma- A first-year student who is a highly capable mad scientist that the school gives her a special room for her research, and excuses her from attending classes. Kodaka saves her when she falls unconscious during a disastrous lab experiment; she offers to repay Kodaka's kindness with sexual favors, and joins the Neighbor's Club just to get closer to him. Among the girls in the series, Rika is the most sexually forward member. In her first speaking appearance, she describes the attractions of rape to Kodaka in the middle of a stunned class. She has a habit of inserting any sexual innuendo possible in her sentences, to the point where she finds it normal to convert any innocent thought into something perverted. As a fujoshi (rotten girl, or naughty-minded girl), she is a passionate consumer of BL (boys love) self-published magazines, but is especially aroused by stories that involve intercourse between mecha. She uses her genius-scientist and glasses-wearing image to divert others from her perverted nature. To compound her eccentricity, she speaks in the third person.
Maria Takayama- is the supervising teacher of the Neighbors Club; she is a ten-year-old nun. While a child genius, she is also very rude and immature, and often uses a variety of expletives when annoyed. She develops a sibling-like relationship with Kodaka, who regularly makes her packed lunches, and is affectionate with him, much to Kobato's annoyance. She is easily manipulated by Yozora into doing things for her, usually when Yozora mentions that she gives her tasks an adult would do, or bribes her with a bag of potato chips.

Now with that out of the way I can begin to tell you about the story. Well I really shouldn't have to but I like to hear myself talk (I do know that I'm typing, shut up). The story is about a group of acquaintances who don't understand (that they are friends) how to make friends, so they join the Neighbors Club that Kodaka and Yozora start to make friends (after this post both you and me are going to hate the word: friends). These club mates go on an adventure of sorts in which they attempt to learn how to make friends by doing normal "friend things" with each other so that they can do it with others to make friends. For example they go on club field trips to the pool, to a karaoke lounge, and even an exercise retreat to Sena's family's beach home to learn how to do beachy things. Like i said earlier this is a herem anime so everyone has a crush on Kodaka, except Maria who thinks of him as a brother or more I don't know, I also believe Kobato has a brother complex of sorts or she is a very clinging little sister. Frequently Rika is trying to have sex with Kodaka, but fails (sadly), Sena wants to date him, Maria wants him to be her big brother, Yukimura wants to be his slave (in more ways than one it is led on to believe, and Yozora secretly loves him as well. unfortunately there isn't anymore i can really tell you except that the second to last episode is a retelling of the entire first season through Yozora's eyes (I would explain more about the episode but it would only take for ever to do so but it would also be a massive spoiler that if someone read by accident it would ruin the under lying plot) and that the last episode serves as a fan service of sorts (not really :[ ).

Well I feel this is my longest post so far, sorry about that. Well I'm going to rewatch this season tonight because writing this review reminded me why I liked it: "plot" and plot. So before I leave I ask you my readers to comment and follow and also tell your friends. Please comment I feel all of my page views are people who came here by accident and then leave, post a comment even if its just a "hi" or "why the hell did you write so much asshole make your reviews sorter!" I don't care what you say. Well see you next week!!! :[)

As you can tell this anime evolved into a heram tords the end, I enjoy herams XD and most of the anime that I will review will be this genre. I enjoyed all of the characters' personalities, mostly Rika's. I give this anime season an 8/10. I would have liked a slightly more coherent plot line through all of the episodes, and perhaps more of a relationship development between Kodaka and Yozora.

Okami-San & Her Seven Companions Review

Hello every one, this week I bring you the review for an anime that was going to be posted last week, but due to complications was delayed until this week, but at least it is finally here, Ōkami-San and Her Seven Companions. I sarted this anime shortly after I started Wakfu, I found out about it by seeing a cute photo of the main character on Facebook. And yes this is how I found most of the new anime I have to review for you, I start to watch for the "plot" but I stay for the plot. This was true with Haganai which I'm sure I told you already.

 This is the picture I saw that "sparked" my interest. *Ryoko does not act like this in the anime*

This anime has fairy tales twisted into it, what better example than that of our main character Ryoko Okami, her last name means The Wolf. Our next main character and fairy tale friend is Ringo Akai or Little Red Riding Hood. Next is Ryoshi Morino who plays the role of our fairy tale Hunter. 

Now as always, our characters:

Ryōko Ōkami- The protagonist who is fierce, like a wolf, and flat-chested, fights thugs using special Neko Neko Knuckles developed by Majolica ( I'll explain in a bit). She tends to put up a strong and fierce front to disguise her inside nature, where she is a bit more kind and frightened of certain things. Although generally hostile about Ryōshi's wimpiness, she soon accepts him as someone who can watch her back in fights. Later in the series, she would sometimes blush when she sees Ryoshi. It should be noted that Ōkami-san's character fits into the tsudere category. She is a close friend of Ringo Akai and is based on the wolf from the fairytale Little Red Riding Hood, though on several occasions she is shown to be very different from her base character; she mostly tries to act and be like the wolf, "wearing a wolf's clothing". She'd originally been an honest and innocent girl, but in Junior High her former boyfriend Shirō attempted to rape her, and when she told her friends, they refused to believe her and accused Ryōko of fabricating the story in anger after being dumped. After this, she transferred schools and struggled to be "strong" enough that she would need no one and not risk being betrayed again. She develops feelings for (Ryōshi) Morino later on in the anime. Her last name, Ōkami, means "wolf".

Ringo Akai- A petite red-haired girl who has been longtime friends with Ryōko. She is the one who recruits Ryōshi into Otogi Bank. She is a close friend of Ryōko Ōkami, and is always trying to involve herself with her best friend's love life. Like Ryōko, she tends to smile to hide her true feelings, and admires Ryōko for trying to become stronger. She is based on the Little Red Riding Hood from the folktale of the same name, though some aspects of her scheming, manipulative personality closer resemble the poisoned apple ("Ringo" means apple) of Snow White, a fact which is occasionally referenced by the narrator and other characters. She is also the half sister of "Snow White" Shirayuki Himeno and feels responsible for her past. However, thanks to Ryōko, she moves on from the past.

Ryōshi Morino- A shy boy who cowers when confronted by other people and so keeps his distance. It is explained in the anime that he suffers from Opthalmophobia. He has a crush on Ryōko and following a failed confession to her, he is somehow enrolled into Otogi Bank, where the others hope to use his low noticeability to avoid being detected. However, Ryōshi is much braver when hidden in darkness, and fights from afar using a wrist-mounted slingshot armed with pachinko balls with extreme precision, as shown when he knocks a baseball flying in midair about to hit Otsū. He is also known to perform well in fist fights if Ryōko is in danger. He is based on the hunter in the fairytale Little Red Riding Hood who captures the wolf or Ōkami-san.

Liszt Kiriki- The president of the Otogi Bank. His skill is cross-dressing, which he uses to gain information normal men cannot obtain. He is almost never seen working. He is always seen with his eyes closed, but he would open them when he's dead serious, revealing gold eyes. He is most likely a parody of the Aesop's fable The Ant and the Grasshopper as during the opening and ending scenes he is shown playing a violin while his usual pairing, Alice, is working on her computer, and in the closing sequence he is further shown buried under snow while Alice is in an underground "nest".

Alice Kiriki- Liszt's cousin and secretary in the club. As said above she most likely fits the ant description in Aesop's fable The Ant and the Grasshopper as she is shown working and usually in a serious manner. Also, her hair's front resembles the antennae of an ant, and the first two syllables of her name, "Ari", is the Japanese word for "ant" ( I explained the resemblance in Liszt's description).

Otsū Tsurugaya- The club's maid who has an obsession for returning favors. When she was young, she was saved from a car accident by a boy who died before she could thank him, resulting in her having a fear of not being able to return a favor, this lands her in the hospital because she refused to rest while trying to return a favor. She is based on the crane from the Japanese tale Tsuru no Ongaeshi.

Tarō Urashima- A first year transfer student who is a year older than everyone else. He shows no interest in men but goes completely amorous towards girls. Although he is very flirtatious, he seems to have special feelings of love for Otohime. He is based on the title character from the Japanese tale Urashima Tarō. It is heavily implied that he is in an intimate relationship with Otohime, and he occasionally enters a "gentleman mode" after Otohime drags him off and "extracts various things" from him.

Otokima Ryūgū- A girl with an obsessive crush on Tarō, who cares for her greatly but on some occasions, is scared of her. It was thanks to Tarō's motivation that she changed from a chubby bullied elementary student to a thin beauty. She constantly grabs Urashima and drags him into the closet, and the narrator remarks "I'll let your imagination figure out what they're doing", giving hints that they have some kind of sexual relationship. Although Tarō often runs from her advances, he does have special feelings for her, and can even be considered her boyfriend. She is based on Princess Otokime from the Japanese tale Urasima Tarō. The reason she is called turtle is because Otohime from the legend was a turtle on land when she met Tarō. Her relationship with Mimi Usami is also resemblant to the fable, The Tortiose and the Hare.

Majolica Le Fay- Called Majo for short, she is a self-proclaimed mad scientist who builds various devices such as Ryōko's Neko Neko Knuckles special boxing gloves that are shaped like cats and even meow when they make contact, one pair even acts as a taser when Ōkami hits someone. She is based on the sorceress Morgan Le Fay. She also takes the role of a fairy godmother at times.

Saburō Nekomiya- A third-year student at Otogi described by the narrator as a "pretty boy." Knowledgeable about Ryōshi and the Otogi Bank, he takes it upon himself to "train" Ryōshi, even taking part in joining Ryōshi and company to Onigashima High School to save Ōkami because when he was younger, he was saved by Ōkami from a bunch of delinquents. His hair is shaped into cat ears, and his name, attitude and mannerisms are catlike (i.e. meowing after every sentence). He is apparently a skilled fighter who easily overcomes Ryōshi. He is based on Puss in Boots. He is first shown in episode 6 where Ryōko saved him from the delinquents in a flashback. Neko means cat in Japanese. He is not a main character but I included him because he is a cool character and is voice by my favorite voice actor Jerry Jewell.

And now with the characters out of the way ( Im sorry if there is any repeated information anywhere, I'm pretty tired when I write these and I try my best not to repeat myself but I'm sure something's still slip through), the actual story of Ōkami-San and her seven companions. Again, like the last anime I am unable to do it justice and won't beable to explain everything since there is literally a different plot for each episode.

In order for me to give my review I must tell you about the one who tells the story I can not, the narrator. The narrator apears to be a women by her voice and loves to criticize the main three characters. A running joke through the anime is the narrators jokes about Ryokō's and Ringo's flat chests, this begins with the quote "unfortunately the flat chested wolf and little red riding twerp are this shows eye candy, hmm, heroines." She quickly changes what she has to say about the two of them when they stare angerly at the camera/sky indicating that she exists as a true disembodied voice the main characters, or at least the wolf and little red, can hear.

Both Ryokō and Ringo work at the Otogi bank, "it's like a yearbook club, but of a different kind" (narrator). Like a normal bank students can take out loans in the form of favors that must be paid back in full at a later date. The bank will handle any favor, meaning the loanee must too. I believe, if memory serves me correctly, that there was a favor in every episode, with the exception of one episode. 

The underlining plot that carries through the series is Ōkami's ex boyfriend keeps trying to ruin her life and has her kidnapped twice, Ryōshi and the bank come to her aid. During the second time Ryokō was kidnapped the bank called upon many of their favors. 

I enjoyed the workmanship and the individual plots per episode, I also enjoy the character's personalities. Having the main character as a tsudere really appealed to me. I give this anime an 8/10 : it could have been longer and I would have liked to see a real admittance of love from Ryokō. ( I am rating each anime/anime season from now on will go back later to rate the past ones).

I know it's a little late but Toonami was on and I need my two and half hours of anime. See you next week for a new anime review. Thank you for reading.

Wakfu Season 1 Review

Sorry for this not being on time with what I said, but i had a lot to do with school starting this week. I am aiming to get a new review every Saturday night or Sunday morning. I will, and I truly mean WILL, not only have this up tonight, Friday, but also the one on Saturday.

Without further a do, the review I promised you. (I did not mean to rhyme, I apologize to those of you who are offended).

I really enjoyed this first season, it perfectly married humor with action with an affair with drama (get it, drama). The personalities of all of the character truly adds definition to the show, you get the naive youth (Yugo), the tsundere (Evangelyne), the thick headed dimwitted loving warrior (Sir Sadlygrove), the selfish but loyal princess (Amelia), the stingy skinflint (Ruel), and the loyal pet (Az); there is one other main character the makes up the Brother of the Tofu (the gang I just mentioned) and his name is Adamai and he is the loyal dragon brother of Yugo the Eliatrope. This is as far into the characters as I am going to go since I already talked about them in one of my earlier posts.

The story follows the gang on their quest for Yugo's true family, the long lost Eliatropes and their dragon brothers, through the vast and magical lands. It also follows many small side quests, a few of them have to do with finding funds for their adventure, even though Ruel is load which is revealed in the episode "Ruel's Bag"(episode 9). My favorite side quest would have to be the Boufbowl tournament, because it had the most action and suspense out of all of the side quests, this lasts through three episodes (episode 10-12). After getting the prize money from the tournament, the gang buy a boat and set sail to an island hidden by magic in hopes of finding Yugo's family. There Yugo meats his brother the dragon Adamai and half-brother (or rather just his brother, it was a little confusing to me) Grougalorgran the old, wise, and mighty dragon (episode 15). The Brotherhood of the Tofu is formed in episode 18 whose title is the same. After this point the show starts to decline with the brotherhood splitting so that Adamai can train Yugo and so that they could retrieve Grougalorgran's dofus (since dragons and their Eliatrope siblings are immortal [the original six that were born first] their wakfu [life force] returns to an egg called the dofus where they will be reborn as babies) also for the rest of the brotherhood to warn the Sadida Kingdom, where Amelia is from, that Nox is going to attack. From there it gets sadder when Grovy (Sir Sadlygroy), under control of Rubilax the shushu (unholy demon) that usually resides in Grovy's sword, breaks Eva's (Evangelyne) bow. Having her bow broken is the most dishonorable thing to happen to a Cra, she becomes heartbroken and hates Grovy for it, but she really loved him so it was an even bigger blow to her. Grovy is able to regain control and after realizing what he has done he leaves the Brotherhood of the Tofu and flees to the desert.

Now the story starts to pick up again, Yugo has finished his training and with the help of his brother they retrieved the dofus. But back in the desert, Grovy finds his old master believed to be long dead and gone, but it turns out he is quite alive. At Grovy's bafflement he simply says that "being dead is overrated" (episode 22). Grovy is then involved in one of his greatest fight scenes against Rubilax to take full control as the shushu's guardian. He then dons a cape made of his old shirt that was riped down the middle and heads off to the battle against Nox. Yugo and Adamai also return in the nick of time to save the Sadida Kingdom against Nox, but Nox attacks with his strongest clock-based robot-puppet, Razortime. Yugo and Adamai bypass Razortime to confront Nox himself and take part in the final epic battle of the series.

Warning the next paragraph describes the very end of the season! I sugest you watch the first season first, but if you do not intend to you may read on at this time.

Yugo is able to defeat Nox and with his defeat Razortime is also defeated but not before he kills Grovy, who jumped in front of an attack that was meant for Eva. Grovy died in her arms, Eva's true love for Grovy as more than just a friend is finally and truly revealed. After Nox is defeated he escaped and his helmet and armor lay in a pile of ash next to three grave markers believed to be his wife and kids, who he hoped to travel back in time to see again and make things right. This Season had a sad ending and I'm sure you are wondering how the next will start, well you'll either have to wait for me to get off my lazy ass and wright the next review in a few weeks (I plan on doing one review per week, but already have plans to do others first) or just watch it yourselves, I suggest the earlier one so I can have more views on my page.

Thank you for waiting and I know it is technically Saturday morning, but give me a break its close enough. See you all tomorrow night.

 

This a link to a playlist on YouTube by a fellow YouTuber named Morgie Corgie that contains the entire first season of Wakfu, check it out and subscribe to his channel: http://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLS7gBe322Ttawhx-4eK11xfnIZ6_1okr8.

 

I very much enjoyed the over all plot line to this season and the simplicit flash animation style was a nice touch. I liked how the writers were able to merge romantic drama with action adventure. I give this anime season a 9/10. I would have liked a little more character development from our tsundere Eva and also from Amelia.

Sorry

I know I know, it's been a long time since my last post and I'm sorry. A lot has come up in the last few months, also to be perfectly honest: I was lazy and had completed whole anime instead of reviewing them episode by episode. That is why I have changed my plans for this blog and have decided to write review for the anime series as a whole in season intervals. I will begin tomorrow with a complete season review for Wakfu. I apologize again for the wait.

I take this to heart and have a lot of new anime to review for you. I will also take suggestions, just leave them in the comments.