Haganai: I Don't Have Many Friends (2012)

[僕は友達が少ない]

Volume 5

Author: Yomi Hirasaka
Artist: Itachi
Publisher: Media Factory Comics

Synopsis:
The Neighbors Club exchanges contact information to better coordinate their activities over summer vacation.

Story/Characters:
It's not surprising that you can fill a whole chapter with our gang exchanging contact information with their sterling social competence. I do, however, feel a lot of resonance with Kodaka and Yozora being several cycles behind the latest in telecommunications. Next we have Kobato come up with an excuse to dress lighter that's still consistent with her chuunibyou and then Maria, like a particularly unintelligent dog, doesn't recognize her. We then make plans to beat the heat by going to the pool (more accurately, a water park) and the outing has some friction to go with it. Yozora tries to make up for it, debuting as an abomination that shakes poor Maria to her core. Sena proposes inviting the club to her family's private beach and leading up to that, she invites Kodaka over to pay his regards to her dad, something he's been meaning to do for a while now. Pegasus (that's Sena's dad, by the way) is quite the character and it's interesting how he sort of transfers his friendship with Kodaka's dad to Kodaka himself. The snarky valet Stella is also rather nice (even more so when her greater significance is revealed later on).

Art:
There are a number of the more memorably stand-out visuals from the series in this volume. Yozora's demon form will haunt Maria's nightmares if not yours as well. During the stay at Sena's, there's a particularly infamous scene. The "niku" censor is pretty funny (and even funnier when applied in a different context).

Other:
We get a color illustration of Yozora and Rika playing instruments, plus a two-page spread of the gang with a focus on Yozora and Sena. There's a thank you page with an illustration of Rika and a new feature where we get color commentary from the cast on different episodes in the volume.

Conclusion:
There are some really good character moments this volume. I feel like the trip to Sena's place is a particularly big milestone, but there was quite a bit going on in the pool trip as well. It's definitely worth a read, so give it a shot.

Rating:
Read It