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Haganai Next 2 – The Homos and the onee-sama
Was expecting to be entertained wholeheartedly on a Friday evening, but guess not.
In this episode, The Neighbours’ Club watch a ‘M’ version of a supposedly full-blown homosexual-esque anime called ‘Homo C’.Yozora is initially against watching the ‘lewd garbage’ but is then convinced to watch it as a whole club.They react unanimously in a positive manner, praising the movie.Sena questions Yozora’s double standards on the activities that are permissible inside the club. Sena is then forced to read out a line from the Visual Novel game she has been playing in order to justify the lewdness of the content. She successfully reads out the suggestive line — the club becomes bewildered — then is criticized for her lack of sensitivity towards such type of content. She storms out of the clubroom in her usual burst of tantrums. The next day, Kodaka is called out by an unknown sister as he walks through the park. She attempts to proselytize Kodaka because of his hair colour — only to have Kodaka say that it is of a natural shade of colour. The sister reveals her own name to be ‘Kate’. Maria appears out of nowhere and cheerfully hugs Kodaka, but is surprised to see Kate, ‘the old hag’ hanging around him. Kate teases her, and then reveals that she is Maria’s sister. She is actually grateful to Yozora and Kodaka for changing Maria’s behavior which used to be that of a passive shut-in.
Walking towards class, Kodaka is joined by Yozora. She requests for Kodaka to compare his answers with hers as they have just finished their finals. Soon, Kodaka could see that Yozora was just attempting to bring up conversation topics so they could talk with each other. Sena comes in out of nowhere and brags about her ‘perfect answer sheet’, then engage Yozora in the usual heated conversation as they walk towards the school block.
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I summarized the episode plot like a true scriptwriter. Way to go. Apologies if it was boring, but subtitles are present in the gallery for the sake of communication-because, as you can see, this episode wasn’t very emotive.
our thoughts are in unison
I have mixed feelings about this episode. It was a rather poor attempt at deepening the relationship between Kodaka and Yozora. If it wasn’t for Rikka’s oh-so flowery tongue in the language of suggestiveness, this episode would have been a total let-down. The cheeky references to the other two anime (go figure) that AIC has produced were absolutely hilarious, if not ridiculously lewd- but hey, that’s Rikka for you alright. And as for Yozora’s assertiveness over club activities – I think we have covered this in the first season ? And also how they have gone over how hardcore Sena’s ecchi games can get ? I’m sorry, but recycling the same sequences and applying new fillers just don’t cut it for me- and for the more conscious audience. If i must point out a positive; the scene where Yozora reacts to how ‘friends can kiss each other’ did well to show us Yozora’s perception on personal issues. Okay, deep stuff. We know for sure that Kate, Maria’s sister has been added to the cast and things will probably pick up to become more interesting as she becomes more involved in the orderly chaos that is the Neighbour’s club.
Perhaps I over analyzed the screenplay.. emphasizing proper character development of SOCIALLY INEPT people from the very moment i picked up season 1..
Because my little show about the neighbour’s club can’t be this bad.
Perhaps I need to
.. let my hair down.. like what Rikka did.
Keerakun
Cheers
My lazy ass twitter:
https://twitter.com/lolztrollz
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- justification of otherwise suggestive material
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- The uniforms really remind of Yu Yu Hakusho – an awesome anime
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- ditto
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- This is why Rikka should never shut up
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- Reminiscent of Season 1
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- Deliberate camera angle
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- She can be pretty direct
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- Prejudice
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- Why do they employ preadolescences as nurses again..
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- onee-sama vs onee chan
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- Good for her
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- This scene to develop character and further their relationship was pretty weak in my opinion
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- Typical Rikka behavior
Be my friend ! Haganai NEXT 1
Boku Wa Tomodachi Ga Sukunai NEXT / Haganai NEXT
At long last the ‘bishojo-ladden ecchi adventure’ can resume. The wait for shows worth watching has been aggravating ( at least for me ) but that burden has been alleviated a bit by the arrival of this interesting harem off-shoot. The last season was interesting enough – yes, i’m talking about all aspects of the show, not just how well-endowed Sena is or how much of a bitch Yozora can be – and i’d be crazy not to look at this one.
First things first, we continue from where the last episode of season 1 left off, but after an uncertain amount of time. The way Neighbour’s Club has it, everyday has just been as fun and fulfilling as K-ON -esque houkago activities !
Neighbour’s club being related to HTT ? hahaha–no
Okay, maybe the above statement would have been true if you took away the pseudo-sadistic nature of Yozora and Sena’s haughty tendencies, plus the many other elements that come together to comprise the Neighbour’s club — and then add music into it.
Clubs aside, the first episode had the club resuming its activities ( whatever the the hell they may be ), activities that has never been quite defined concretely by the almighty leader Yozora. Sena becomes the usual fodder for Yozora’s wide array of prank and as usual, it ended up rather hilarious, if not amusing. This time, they talked about how nobles used to have all sorts of ‘funky’ and ‘thick’ hairstyles- these were supposed to reflect their nobility. Being the royalty she is, Sena’s pomposity got the better of her as Yozora and Rikka proceeded to give her hair a total makeover. Yes, Sena never learns.
Then Kodaka gets invited to study with Sena at her house. You might be surprised at what Niku has had in store in her room all these times – and so I was. Kodaka remained unproductive and was invited to stayover at her house. The episode ends in what may seem like a yaoi bathing room scene, but with Sena’s father genuinely asking about Sena’s welfare in school , to which Kodaka gladly answers truthfully.
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Contrary to what many people say about the ‘better visuals’ I would beg, no, PLEAD to differ. Most of the scenes with lights were overexposed, making all the character’s skin tones look much brighter than usual. The contrast is rather off. The colour tones themselves look under saturated and thus the Neighbour’s club looked like as if it had anemia after season 1.
The animation, as it is dependent on what happens in the episode, will be looked at later, though I am generally satisfied with– BE MY FRIEND — hell yeah,
Season 1’s visuals were superior. Period.
Not really that appealing for a first episode in terms of screenplay, but the few laughs and the carried-over feelings from season 1 were in place, so no problems with character development right there. Which is why, I look forward to the next few episodes with great enthusiasm, just as much as how Sena swears her revenge on Yozora every night before going to sleep !
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- What a bunch of pu— F-f-f-orgive me, Kodaka !
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- Entertaining as ever
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- OP stuck inside my head soon as i heard it
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- Be my side ?
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- Luring
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- Lured
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- I find her blatant obliviousness very amusing
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- Whoop Whoop
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- Getting mad at the ‘wrong’ aspect of things– So Sena
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- ‘Well, i’ll just leave two adolescents alone in a room to study’
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- And you thought otaku rooms were worse ? pfft-
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- Stella easily saved this part of the show
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- scrub scrub scrub
Cheers
Keerakun
What do you think of this second installment ? Leave your comments about Sena’s Ni– this episode !
Let the bishojo-ladden ecchi adventure resume ! Boku Wa Tomodachi Ga Sukunai Season 2
MEAT AND WITCH
After the 12 episodes of whacky, ecchi-filled action and unravelling Yozora’s true disposition against Kodaka in season 1, we were left with an extremely cliffhanger ending. So the story was going ‘oh, here’s how the real story begins’ for about 12 episodes. Only now, albeit not yet, we get the much-anticipated continuation to the adventures of the Neighbors’ Club. Real sneaky, Yomi Hirasaka.
I finished the whole of season 1 within a day, because of how appealing I found it to be, no joke. If you’re really conservative and don’t like dogmas or religion being infused into anime along with sporadic scenes of inappropriateness, you probably won’t like this anime – because it thrives in doing that. This is also a story of taking on human relationships in an unconventional way; while being hilariously entertaining at that. The previous statement was what truly made the anime worthwhile for me. My take on this can be found here.
In the meantime, if you haven’t caught up with this series, there’s always time to do so. Don’t be a 肉 [meat] and do it ASAP !
Cheers
Looking Back: Boku Wa Tomodachi Ga Sukunai ( Haganai ) – An insight into introverts’ lives
The Witch and the ‘Niku’ (literally translating to meat ); with a trap behind.
If you are a forever alone and was offended by the title of this post, do come and forward your complaints to me. This anime does depict socially reclusive and introverts people pretty accurately to certain extent ( speaking from experience ), nevertheless. So be grateful that you knew this piece of work actually existed, oh , introvert, you.
Intro aside, I set away a couple of nights to finish up Boku Wa Tomodachi Ga Sukunai (alt. name ‘Haganai’. Why ? because I watch whatever I want and whenever I want. I guess it was pretty worth it pulling an all-nighter to finish up this series. Note that the content of this post would solely be based on the anime, as I rarely read any manga.
So, if you didn’t know already, this story is about Hasegawa Kodaka, a student transferring into St. Chronica’s high school, a Catholic High School. This blond-haired boy finds it difficult to socialize and form bonds with people around him due to the oh-so conservative notion and stereotypes of rowdy-looking foreigners being very ‘kowai’ (scary ) people, as well as his looks further aggravating the aforementioned situation. One fine day, he stumbles upon Yozora Mikazuki, a classmate of his, talking to an imaginary friend of hers. In a swift epiphany, Yozora realizes that the best way to make new friends would be create a club of her own and start from scratch there onwards.
Thus, the adventures of Neighbours Club begin. ( Though I can’t help but point out that The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya probably heavily influenced this scene)
-SPOILERS IMMINENT-
The Plot
“Let’s think of new stuff to do everyday, so that we can be friends, as well as meet new ones.” Yes, the whole twelve episodes ran along that tangent. I’m a sucker for video games and this anime deserves a plus for featuring Monster Hunter on its second episode. Another One for Haganai. Of course, it wasn’t that simple – each episode was about how these awkward people become increasingly bonded together and picking up social skills so that they can step out of their reclusive shadows and actually form palpable bonds with other humans. Or so I thought. Sad to say there was little of that actually happening.
Disappointment imminent if you think this is another one of your ideal yandere
Most of the episodes were about Neighbours Club members loafing around in their club room ( again, like Haruhi Suzumiya ), with the occasional wacky stuff and comic relief occurrences happening. Coming to Club Activities, they would mostly separate into their own cliques: Yozora-Sena and Kodaka with the youngsters. I observed that there wasn’t much interaction across the cliques outside of comedy and mere pleasantries. At some point, It did feel like a Harem anime, where Yozora and Sena are vying to get Kodaka’s attention, albeit being tsundere and hardy about it. (yet another anime came into my mind: Baka To Test ) The relationships became better towards the end of the anime, but the idea of forming a huge clique inside of the Neighbours Club doesn’t really sound to me like ‘making new friends’ since you’re virtually just mingling around people who are hold roughly the same ideals – at least personally, my own sense of making sense would include stepping out of the comfort zone to interact with other humans. It sure didn’t have a solid, central plot, but was rather about Kodaka’s relation with the people around him and how he unravels it all.
Though, I find it kind of ridiculous that Yozora only reveals her true disposition to Kodaka after twelve episodes – which is a bit of an overkill action, even as much as the tsundere she is. Wouldn’t you feel pissed if a long-lost friend trolls you for two whole months only to reveal himself or herself to you and say that ” Hey, I was that friend of yours.” ? Pretty damn would be.
Fret not, this is only its first season – i’m sure more of ‘making new friends’ will be more relevant in the near future.
The Characters
This is where the anime truly shines. Kodaka is the usual mature, responsible and capable brother, though with an unfortunate case that results in a poor social life. Yozora’s a cunning, rowdy, opportunistic and quirky tomboy and also lacking in the social department. Kodaka’s sister, Kobato, is an anime-obsessed girl who speaks in a manner heavily influenced by Vampires, mythical beings and what-not from her idols. Sena, on the other hand, is a rather spoiled brat who’s haughty as hell but somehow is honest enough to join the club due to her happenstance being the most ‘worshipped’ girl in school and as a result making friends with just about anyone seem odd and out-of-place for her . Being the tsundere they both are, it’s rather hard to discern whether Sena’s intentions of making friends are truly sincere, but hey, which person would go all the way to a club just for ‘making new friends’, when they can already meet new ones without the help of a club, no? Rika, a first-year is a genius but also a HENTAI (pervert) to the maximum, and gets as erotic with Kodaka as nerds can be. Maria, the club’s moderator, is a 10-year old intellectual loli nun (*cough* Index *cough* who’s also mentally immature. Lastly, Yukimura ? Couldn’t think of a more ideal scenario better than a Yaoi BDSM between Kodaka and him ( it makes total sense if you watch the anime and actually look up what’s BDSM ).
The girls are all gunning for Kodaka, with each their own reasons, though Yozora and Sena are the quickest to put up their tsundere facade and hide their feelings, no surprise over there.
As much as I’d like to point out how there are no socially acceptable females in the anime, it’s what makes this series appealing ( no offence intended ). Though, each of the character’s behaviors and attitudes were consistent, unique and appealing throughout the anime.
True enough, I didn’t give a damn about phones when I was a child either.
There was one memorable scene where Kodaka and Yozora gets new contact numbers on their phone for the very first time. Their reactions to infrared transfer via phone and the idea of communicating using phones was just golden. It was as if for the whole sixteen years of their life they did not once need to contact their friends, families and what-not using their cellphones, excluding other means of course. Well I’d be damned to say that this is an accurate portrayal of introverts, albeit with this one being a bit extreme, because, as much as the introvert most people are, it’s rather important to have a method of communication ready at hand and be accustomed with it.
True story there.
Thus, as far as character development is concerned, the anime has done well in creating distinct characters that possess their own unique sets of behaviors and not generic in any sense.
Technical Stuff
I don’t really know much about animation production, but clearly this anime is quality work. The animators made sure each key frame was carefully done, and never half-assed in the process. The colour tones were suitable for the anime’s genre and so a a thumbs-up from me to the animation department – nothing else to say over there.
The music ? Nearly all of my Japanese music libraries are made up of anime OPs, EDs and OSTs. Zannenki Rinjinbu (Hoshi Futatsu Han) and Watashi No Kimochi are both great additions to my library.
It has been entertaining, and the cliffhanger ending really left the masses to hunger for more of Sena’s goddess touch and the relation to develop further between Yozora and Kodaka !
P.S I don’t give ratings too. Tee hee.
bagnochokoreto 