Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai NEXT – 05

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Yukimura looks forward to your visit this week.

Five episodes down and every week this series always brings a smile to my face! That and I just simply can’t get enough of the perverted adventures of Rika, but there might be hints of a possible serious story developing between Kodaka and Yozora this week? I can’t wait to see what happens this week and how are you doing Kara?
Well Fosh,I wasn’t expecting much at the beginning of the episode, but then they mentioned otome games. I can’t even remember the last time I’ve seen that genre mentioned in an anime (not including the anime adaptations of them). I was quite happy with the subject and then they turned it into a device that made me like Yozora more, so this was a pretty great episode~.

Video Games are romantic?

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Sena gets her time to troll this week, but fails!

I haven’t played many VN based games or dating simulations because they just don’t appeal to me all that much, but can say that I have played at least one to two routes of Katawa Shoujo. That said I can see why they are popular in terms of story and making the player feel they are connecting to the different characters. I know some of them contain sexual scenes, which is probably why most of us choose to avoid them. So why am I talking about those games? Because this episode of Haganai follows Yozora playing one of these dating games that Rika recommended to her with Sena cracking jokes? You could say that it’s the reverse of what happened in season one that had Sena playing the game and Yozora’s random comments about how stupid the video game characters were acting. I thought it was really interesting to see Yozora take some life lessons from that game, especially in the making friends department. I wonder if she will start taking the friend making club a bit more serious in the next few episodes; however, I have a strange feeling that Rika is actually trying her best to guide Yozora and the others to become friends or is she just getting lucky with all these recommendations? It seems that every time she suggests a club activity everyone gets closer in terms of friendship.

Otome Games become Relevant to the Plot~

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Rika is a professional Otome player

Oh shit, Haganai definitely stumbled onto my topic of interest this episode: otome games. Sena kind of lost points with me with her jokes and comments about them (and then Rika gained some for not only playing the genre, but also shutting Sena up), but even I have to admit that the language in them is definitely… cheesy. Rose coloured life? Yep, that’s like a standard line. You don’t realize how lame these things are until you see it from a different perspective. OTL Anyways, I had to laugh with Yozora’s first action being to raise the heroine’s IQ as well because it seems like having no common sense or brain is a standard for the genre.

However, there was a lesson for Yozora in all of this. Games can’t be compared to real life of course, but it must have been a shock that she acted the way she did in real life, she got close to someone kind of similar to Kodoka and yet in the end, she ended up alone and miserable. We’ve seen her seem dissatisfied with Kodaka’s growing harem and regretting a lot of her actions, so maybe this marks a turning point for her? She’s definitely not entirely content with the way things are going, so maybe she’ll actually make a move or something now. At least it looks like she’s ready to change her character or at least her actions a bit now, which is more than I can claim with any of the other characters (even Sena). …Or maybe she won’t change at all, but I think that the game ending might have been a good shock for her.

New hairstyles increase Rika’s power

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Rika-“Don’t worry I am not trying to replace Kobato…well…maybe…”

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I like this color and style!

Just a short thought on Rika’s new hair obsession! I just love how every week she continues to try out new things with her hair, like dying it different colors. So which Rika do you like more, her normal color, blonde or black? Besides the new color she had a side ponytail, short twin-tails with black hair and long blonde twin-tails like Kobato. Speaking of new looks I should mention Yukimura and her new butler uniform? Fans of Mayo Chiki were in for a treat with that short mention of that series which has a similar set up of a girl cross-dressing as a male butler? I have to admit his new butler look works really well for her! That said I think Yozora is being a terrible troll by convincing Yukimura that eventually she will become a guy? SERIOUSLY WORST TROLL OF ALL TIME! I can’t wait to see what kind of look Rika decides to go with next time.

Fun with friends

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Mayo Chiki is quality entertainment for everyone.

haganaiNEXT (1)

Rika-“Make fun of my game one more time I dare you.”                      Sena-“Uhhh…”

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Would you like it well done or raw?

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Sorry Sena, but the cast only supports two former magical girls.

End thoughts

Like Fosh says below, Haganai seems to be moving… somewhere. The hints at the childhood friend thing coming out are definitely there and really, it’s information that the rest of the cast should probably know. Not just because of the fact that they’re friends but not really friends, but also for the sake of any chance of romantic development for Yozora. This seems like one of those things where (in game terminology) a flag is raised once a character comes out with a secret. I know I just said that games aren’t comparable to real life but hey, Haganai is just another piece of fiction. So yeah, this episode kind of evened the ground between Sena and Yozora for me and I’m close to thinking that either would be pretty good as the OTP. Yozora at least seems to be struggling with her problems, and with the childhood friend thing potentially coming out, maybe she’s ready to move on even further as a character.

Well, that was certainly a fantastic episode in the laugh department and possible hints at everyone discovering the truth that Yozora and Kodaka were in fact childhood friends? I wonder how the other club members will react towards that bit of news, but I imagine that Sena will probably be the only one that flips out or will it affect Rika and Yukimura somehow? Part of me thinks that Rika will just imagine this bit of development like in one of her games. Besides all of that I had a blast watching Rika act completely nuts while Yozora was playing her game! Like her reaction towards Sena who was making fun of the game? I never would have imagined that Rika would get angry at Sena like that, but the best moment has to be her attempt to “excite” Kodaka with all the flag raising comments?! Also she said the word bitch like three to four times which had me laughing my ass off. Overall this was a really funny episode that is building towards something great between Yozora and Kodaka eventually getting together.

Preview

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Sena maid is fantastic.

Kodaka and his army of sexy maids

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We live, laugh, enjoy and strictly believe on "more the merrier". When together, we usually come up with very chatty, conversation-based episodics and interesting posts.
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73 Responses to “Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai NEXT – 05”

  1. Restia says:

    First Cement.

    We need more Visual Novels like DanganRonpa. Too many harem/dating sims around.

    This episode definately ended off interestingly, with Sora and Taka’s secret almost being revealed. Whether the other members will find out, or how they’ll cover it up, we’ll have to wait until next week or read the Light Novel chapter.

    MAYO CHIKI!! XD That can’t even be considered a reference! That was like exactly what happens XD omfg I was laughing so hard! Is Mayo Chiki from the same Light Novel or adapated by the same studio? or both?

    I didn’t really like Rika in the first season, but she’s making quite a big presence ever since S2 started.

    • Foshizzel says:

      YAY! Congrats!

      Yeah I wonder how they will recover after that? I suspect they will either avoid the truth by making something up or explain to everyone? I think if anyone got mad it would be Sena because of course she hates when Yozora wins or gains the upper hand xD

      Haganai’s version of Mayo Chiki looked freaking awesome in terms of animation…maybe they are hinting that they will do season two? I certainly hope so! Last season parodied Sacred Blacksmith and nope Mayo and Blacksmith are owned by different anime companies, but I also thought there were voice actor connections and that wasn’t true either…I guess they got permission or something like that?

      Hell ya! Rika is standing out more this season indeed and I love every moment <3

      • Restia says:

        “I suspect they will either avoid the truth by making something up or explain to everyone? I think if anyone got mad it would be Sena because of course she hates when Yozora wins or gains the upper hand”
        ^I think thats a brilliant prediction it might satisfy me enough not go read the light novel chapter

        Oh yeah, I invited a friend here, but seems he just voted on 2012 polls and that’s it XD Well, maybe he’ll chat with us later

    • belatkuro says:

      Mayo Chiki and Haganai are LNs that are both published in Media Factory under the imprint of MF Bunko J, hence this parody of another work running in the same publication magazine.

      The anime adaptations, meanwhile, are adapted by different studios; the former by Studio feel, the latter by AIC Build. The original novels already parodied it so there’s no need for the studios to get permission.
      It’s the same thing in OreShura where Masuzu mentions Jojo a lot because the original source material mentions it a lot as well.

      The only similarities via VAs is that the seiyuu of Maria in Haganai, Iguchi Yuka, voiced Subaru in Mayo Chiki, and the seiyuu of Kobato, Kana Hanazawa, voiced the MC, Kinjiro’s, sister, Kureha.

      • Highway says:

        Yeah, I couldn’t find information on publisher, just on artists and writers, so there wasn’t any commonality there.

        • Highway says:

          Oh, I probably could have found the publisher info if I went to Wikipedia, but there be spoilers thar! And since I’m currently watching both of those shows, I wasn’t interested in spoilers.

          • belatkuro says:

            Yeah it’s on Wikipedia but the info on the publication of the two shows are just on the top-right side, below the cover picture. And most of the character bios/spoilers are way down on the page so there’s little chance to be spoiled. Plus I’ve read the Haganai novel up to vol7(and half of vol8) already so I know most of the details in there.

            And I kinda have a useful filter in my mind that makes spoilers go *poof* when I see it. An awesome ability ;). I can’t share the secret to it though 😛

            • Highway says:

              Yeah, that doesn’t happen to me. So I just know not to go to Wikipedia for stuff I don’t want to be spoiled on. And it’s amazing how too easy it is to scroll down just a little bit and see that one sentence you REALLY didn’t want to see.

  2. skylion says:

    I’m not a fan of the games myself, but it doesn’t seem to be out of place, and I went along with the flow….everyone has something they love and follow by any means.

    Looks like the gang is not at all genre savvy. Whereas we can see the parallels between game and show, they are somewhat blind to it. Purposefully so, if Sena is any indication.

    Geez, pacing of a dream machine as a time machine? Rika does you delicious, devious mind know no boundries? Oh, I hope not.

    Twin tails rule!

    • Foshizzel says:

      Yep! Everyone out there has something they are really into like dating sim games and eroge xD

      yay twin tails!

      • Restia says:

        Touhou ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

        You know you want to come over to the Touhou side~
        I LOVE TOUHOU MORE THAN ANIME

        • BlackBriar says:

          I see your quest to convert people into Touhou followers does not take a rest. Your perserverance is to be admired. Then I’ve already got your title figured out. “Touhou Lover”. It kind of has a nice ring to it. 🙂

          • Restia says:

            BB I am… a TOUHOU LUNATIC!!
            ^see wut I did there? huhuhu Lunatic = Highest difficulty level on a Touhou Game

            Touhou 12 says –

            Easy – For Sunday Shooters – People with busy lives
            Normal – For Active Gamers – People who enjoy these types of games
            Hard – For Residents of Gensokyo – People who don’t fit in the real world
            Lunatic – For the Lost Race – People who think they’re the chosen ones

            • BlackBriar says:

              I’m curious as to what you’d do if you manage to collect a considerable amount of converts. World domination in the name of Touhou, maybe? LOL. (I’d spread my influence if I were in your place. But don’t tell anyone. Hehehehe)

            • Restia says:

              I’ve already converted a handful of people on other sites, Touhou is already spreading even without my help ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Ever heard of a viral youtube video “Bad Apple“? It’s a shadow PV with an arrange of Touhou 4 Stage 4 theme, Bad Apple by Alstroemeria Record’s Masayoshi Minoshima. I don’t remember who the vocalist was, but anywho, it was uploaded on NicoNico, and someone reprinted it to Youtube and BOOM. Basically I think that’s where the international fandom started “What’s this anime?” “ಠ_ಠ” <- basically the exact thing that happens to the Vocaloid fandom. Also, it probably spread because of Flandre Scarlet's theme UN Owen was Her? is extremely popular, and since Touhou fans keep using Touhou references on non-related topics everywhere they go lol. Including me.

              *A little note: UN Owen was Her? is not plagiarized from “Death Waltz” That thing started when some idiot reprinted Cool&Create’s piano arrangement of her theme to Youtube and for some stupid reason titled it “Death Waltz.” The only musical piece you’re going to get by searching “Death Waltz” is some impossible composition from some European guy I forgot. Anywho, the point is it’s not plagiarized >_> yet some uploaders refuse to change the title on their videos

          • Highway says:

            Yeah, if that’s the other part of it, I’m definitely not getting into it. Bullet Hell games have always confused and frustrated me.

            • Restia says:

              That’s unfortunate then :< The Touhou series is mainly BH shooter, PoFV (Touhou 9 Kaeitzuka) is a versus shooter, 2 games that had you take pictures of bullet patterns while playing were SoB (Touhou 9.5 Bunkachou) and DS (Touhou 12.5 Double Spoiler ~ Bunkachou), and there are 3 Fighting Games, like Tekken, which are IaM (Touhou 7.5 Suimusou), SWR (Touhou 10.5 Hisouten) and 12.3 (Touhou 12.3 Hisoutensoku). The latest game Touhou 13.5 Shinkirou ~ Silent Masquerade, which will probably be released at the coming Reitaisai 10, is another fighter game. The demo is was released at C83 and it's awesome~ AERIAL COMBAT. WUT. The controls are hard to get used to if since it’s aerial, but it’s really awesome. If you haven’t noticed, whole numbered games will be the Bullet Hell ones (with the exception of 9 since it’s a little different) and .3/.5/.7s are not really spin-offs, but I’d like to think of them as side-games. They take place in between the time zones of the games before and after them.

    • Restia says:

      I’ve played a few Visual Novels that were eroges, haven’t finished them though. But some of them are full of win.

      Twins tails are YOUTH!!

    • Highway says:

      I think that a lot of them did see the parallels in the game and in their lives, although they tend to see better the comparison between other people and the games. I think pretty much everyone realized that Yozora was playing as herself, and what that would lead to.

      I read an observation last night that the ‘Bad End’ of the game was actually going exactly the way Yozora desired, and it’s only the conventions of the game that kept her from getting what she wanted: to be the smart, strong character and *still* get the bad boy character. The game programmers decided that Eiji and Yozora couldn’t stay together, but real life Yozora wouldn’t necessarily have those same constraints if she, say, perhaps, maybe, happened to fall in love with the ‘bad boy’ of the school, the guy who has an intimidating reputation and no other friends, and have him fall in love with her. If only there was someone like that around…

  3. Highway says:

    Poor Rika, not getting Kodaka to realize how much she’s into him. She definitely realizes she’s been friendzoned, but she’s dealing with it. I have to say that I didn’t like the blonde look at all. Just didn’t suit her at all. I do like the long braids tho. It’s always better when she has that look. The darker hair was alright, but made her look a lot like Yozora, I thought (with silly little pigtails).

    I’ve been a Yozora fan since the beginning of the series, and think that she’s really making the most progress of anyone. Certainly more progress than Kodaka. If she’s doing it because she gets induced by Kodaka (like into trying things she would have dismissed), or because she wants to see how he’ll react, she’s still doing them and being a lot less antagonistic. I still think Sena’s the one who’s gotten a lot worse. It’s like not having Yozora as as much of a wall to push against has made Sena go overboard. Everyone else seems to be a lot more mellow around each other, but Sena still tries to abuse Kobato, still tries to get her revenge on Yozora, even though it doesn’t seem like Yozora’s really playing that game anymore.

    I don’t know if Yozora’s realization at the end of the game was that she will end up forever alone, or if she realizes she can make a difference in her life by making a friend or two like Kodaka, or even a boyfriend. I think she realizes that the way she thought she wanted to live her life, being superlative in the ‘important’ things, isn’t as important to her as she thought it would be.

    And they’re going to have to spill the beans. I hope they tell the truth, as uncomfortable as it will be for Yozora. I don’t know why it’s such a big deal, especially now, but I think Rika will think it’s an adorable story, and Sena will probably blow a gasket, completely unjustified.

    • Jrow says:

      I too didn’t like the Rika w/ blonde hair. That look reminded me of Mina Tepes from Dance in the Vampire Bund.

    • Foshizzel says:

      I am totally with you towards Yozora’s progression so far and I can’t wait to see how she explains her relationship as childhood friends with Kodaka, but you are probably right Rika will think its cute while Sena will go nuts over it! I know she hates when Yozora one ups her on everything.

      • Highway says:

        Sena’s the queen of double standards. She’s certainly not above using their father’s relationship to get Kodaka to come over and visit and even spend the night. We’ll see how she reacts if they interfere even more.

  4. BlackBriar says:

    Yukimura has her gender confirmed and still she pretends to be the opposite. I wonder what caused the start of that.

    Mayo Chiki! Does this mean there might be a real crossover episode? So many possibilities with others but few came true. The best part was Rika scolding Sena over games for Yozora’s sake.

    • Highway says:

      Well, if you’ve been trying all your life to be a manly man, you’re not going to give it up just like that, are you? And what better way to do it than actually cross dress? Right? Right?

      • BlackBriar says:

        I’m afraid how far she’ll go to reach her unattainable dream. She’s a little too determined. I recommend some therapy for her.

    • Restia says:

      lol ikr Yukimura still wants to become a MANRY MAN XD

      Also Rika stepping up was totally full of win, Sena got walled

      • BlackBriar says:

        I was like “Whoa! Demon Rika has appeared”. Sena got owned. Never diss a pervert’s love for gaming.

        • Highway says:

          I liked the way she even said she wasn’t threatening her. She just wanted to know why Sena was interfering… right…

          • BlackBriar says:

            Makes you wonder how Rika would behave if she was actually threatening someone because if looks could kill, Sena would be like a corpse riddled with bullets lying on the floor.

            • Highway says:

              Or just a corpse with the ME kneeling over her saying “I don’t know how she died, it’s like she got frightened to death or something…”

  5. Restia says:

    ..can everyone post their timezones?
    I’m all alone talking by myself right now ._.
    well, I guess I shouldn’t be up at 1:30 AM

    I’m PST California USA

    • Foshizzel says:

      East coast here in FL!

      • skylion says:

        EST, Kentucky.

        • Foshizzel says:

          Home of KFC? AWESOME!

          • Highway says:

            skylion, if you live near a Pie and Ice Cream Kitchen, I’m gonna be soooooo jealous…

            *wishes he had a Pie and Ice Cream Kitchen near him*

            • skylion says:

              That’s a Lousiville place. I live in the northern part of the state, just to the south of Cincinnati, Ohio. We have Skyline, Gold Star Chili.

            • Highway says:

              That’s good. I don’t like Cincinnati chili.

            • Highway says:

              And I knew that Homemade Ice Cream and Pie Kitchens were a Louisville thing, but didn’t want you to feel like I was outing your city if you answered yes. 🙂

            • skylion says:

              It’s a born to the region taste, it seems. I’ve lived here my entire life, and very few seem to acquire it.

            • skylion says:

              I’m cool.

          • BlackBriar says:

            There’s a KFC nearby him. I’m sure of it. And if there is, he’s lucky.

            • skylion says:

              Not a fan of KFC, nor of fast food. Taste’s like salt boiled in fat…

            • Highway says:

              You say that like it’s a bad thing…

              But seriously, KFC’s like way down the list of places I’d want to go.

            • Restia says:

              There’s a KFC near where I live.. it’s just, not AT Kentucky which makes it awesome lol.

            • Highway says:

              For whatever reason, people outside the US think KFC is WAAAAY better than people in the US think it is. Around me, it’s like the 4th best chain for fried chicken.

              *goes to visit skylion on the way to a Homemade Ice Cream and Pie Kitchen*

            • skylion says:

              You know it might be better; but the I can taste the factory farm conditions. Other countries might have better supply chains. I can only imagine what a burger would taste like in a chain joint in Tokyo.

    • Highway says:

      Eastern as well. If you’re up that late, you’re gonna be talking to yourself.

    • BlackBriar says:

      I’m Caribbean. French West Indies.

    • belatkuro says:

      Wow I totally feel so alone in here.
      East. Way East.
      GMT + 8, Philippines here.

  6. KLACMAN says:

    well give i say more hmm wonder give whole kodaka’s dream & he said in front on everyone oh my wonder what next?

    yea whole yozora & game play really it remind how her life has could be or might if she still turn her life around?

    & lots of rika develop in this season

    • Foshizzel says:

      I think it was or he was saying Yozora a lot…hahah I can’t imagine what the others were thinking during that, but for a minute there things got SERIOUS O_o

      Yeah the game thing was a possible hint at Yozora and Kodaka’s future relationship.

      YES!

  7. belatkuro says:

    And so ends volume 5 with the exact cliffhanger in this episode.
    They did cut out that bit with Kodaka mentioning every instance that Rika changed her hairstyle that he noticed, which I would have wanted them to have kept it as it kind of shows how perceptive he is, as well as enforcing Rika’s ‘Goddaman’ reaction to his denseness. Minor gripe on my part so don’t mind it.

    Other than that, it went the same way as in the novels, including the Mayo ChikiChikiMayo parody(explanation above, which Spammy ate).
    The way Yozora played that otome game and its ending did have some sort of impact on her and she got a bit of message on it but again, the subtlety of it was sorta lost in the adaptation. Oh well again.
    Kodaka using that machine and seeing that dream showed that he did regret his mistake in the past but how that will affect the present(and future), along with the reveal of his relationship with Yozora, is something to look forward to.

    Next episode will start on volume 6 and it’s one of my favorite chapters on that volume. Rika will just get better and better, and some more threads for the relationship of the 3 main characters, as well as the Neighbor’s Club, will unfold so stay tuned.

  8. Highway says:

    I don’t know if you guys have listened to the B-side of the Be My Friend single (which I have to admit I’m fairly disappointed in, Zannenki Rinjinbu, the first season OP, is one of my favorite songs, and it just doesn’t come anywhere close to that), but it’s called VS. Rivals, and is Maria and Kobato arguing – “BAKA BAKA BAKA BAKA!” “AHO AHO AHO AHO” for part of it. It’s one of those songs that just brings the feel of the series into another medium with characters that you like.

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