(L) Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai - Manga Discussion

[Falkor]

Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai is a light novel series written by HIRASAKA Yomi and illustrated by Buriki, with 3 volumes so far released. The manga adaptation is done by Itachi and is serialized in Comic Alive.

This thread is intended for the manga adaptation of Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai. Please, do NOT post spoilers from the light novel.

A spoiler is anything that discloses an event, character, plot or other information before it is revealed within the specific work being discussed---Spoiler Policy.

Originally Posted by B-U

Hasegawa Kodaka has transferred schools, and he's having a hard time making friends. It doesn't help that his blond hair tends to make people think he's a delinquent. One day, he runs into his bad-tempered solitary classmate Yozora while she's talking animatedly to her imaginary friend Tomo. Realizing that neither of them have any actual friends, they decide that the best way to alter this situation is to form a club and start recruiting.

That is how "Rinjinbu" was formed, a club specifically designed for people who don't have very many friends. As other lonely classmates slowly join their little club, they'll try to learn how to build friendships through cooking together, playing games, and other group activities. But will this group of relationship-challenged misfits really be able to get along?

Links: Manga.





Novel Illustrations:

Spoiler for Novel Illustrations:

a few comments:

Read the first chapter and found it pretty interesting. Loved the facial expressions and the neat artwork. I read the light novel afterwards and liked it, too. The male character reminds me of Toradora's Ryuuji's; he is also a kind-hearted individual misunderstood by his classmates due to the way he looks, and thus the few friends he has (actually, does he have any friends at all?). So far, only two girls have been introduced---there are a couple more, though---and the interaction between them, oddly enough, reminds me of Selnia and Tomomi from Ladies vs Butlers---for how they hate each other to incredible levels. Loved Yozora slightly more because she is cunning and cute, and has an imaginary friend, lol; her "friendship" with Sena---who she hates just the for the heck of it---is one of the the most interesting aspects of the work. it's the moment you can appreciate her character in all her splendor, so to speak. Sena, though, hasn't quite clicked on me yet, probably because she reminds of Selnia---from the looks down to the personality, she is a mirror image of her---which doesn't help at all, given that I didn't like her character. However, when these two are together, you can't help but find the girls quite likeable and thus the situations very enjoyable and entertaining. Forming a club of weird individuals and for dubious reasons, at first, reminded me of Haruhi, but that's probably the only thing I found in common so far. The manga/novel seems more akin to Seitokai, but with more interesting and strange characters---and a quirky humor to boot.

With regards to the first chapter, I've seen the '"Yami Nabe" setup before in GA Art Design Club, so I sort knew what kind situation/humor to expect. and even so, it was surprisingly funny and entertaining with all those facial expressions. you can't help but love those two (Yozora and Sena) fighting each other over every thing, from the beginning to the very end, from blaming the current situation to the other to arguing over the food. the prologue is a good setup for the manga and in many ways superior to the light novel. But I would like to see more exposure of the other characters; glasses girl seems to be particularly interesting, even though I know little to nothing about her.

By the way, both the light novel and the manga have really good and eye-candy character designs, which makes the work the more attractive; I will put the novel one step ahead, though.

I wouldn't be surprised if we see an anime out of this, but we can only hope. :P

[Bonta Kun]

oh yea checked this out other day when I saw the release, was curious so had a little read and for me it's a keeper.
Prelude chapter starts off little oddly but very funny and then the yaminabe "game" is just lolz

should maybe try that some time

looking forward to more.

[Kunagisa]

I think I'm in the middle of the 2nd translated novel (cn of course), and I like it a lot just from reading the novel so far. I had actually bugged one of my friend to scanlate the series when it came out in manga form, but he doesn't scanlate any series if they aren't released in Tank version (good thing someone else picked it up though).

The characters are really fun, and the Monster Hunter thing in chapter 3 (or was it 2?) of manga (I forgot which part in the first novel, definitely before the galgame? part though) had me covering my mouth reading it at work (quite impossible to keep a straight face reading that). I personally prefer the art in the novel (very beautiful drawing) for eye candy, but the manga art is very lol as well.

I can see this is either a hit or miss series though.

[shaolinx]

is this a one-shot or running?

[yongshun]

have any of you read read chapter 0? I thought it was rather funny, chapter 1 standard introduction chapter although it reminds me of Haruhi with the way the girl just decided to start a club and just added the guy without asking him to join.

[Suzuku]

So what's the genre for this.

[Bonta Kun]

Originally Posted by shaolinx

is this a one-shot or running?

I believe it's a running series but only the prelude chapter has been scanned.
Would have sucked big time if it was just a oneshot really, more like a omake more than anything else.

Originally Posted by yongshun

have any of you read read chapter 0? I thought it was rather funny, chapter 1 standard introduction chapter although it reminds me of Haruhi with the way the girl just decided to start a club and just added the guy without asking him to join.

Haven't seen ch 1 but even with ch 0 it's odd how it gives that little Haruhi feel to it. Probably the whole misfits banding together and well doing nonsense stuff.
Somehow I just think of Haruhi whenever that setting comes up.

Originally Posted by Suzuku

So what's the genre for this.

Comedy, School and Seinen

[Irenicus]

I, ah, I was deeply offended by the incredible ugliness of his uniform. No wonder he couldn't make many friends when every male in the campus looks horrifically gaudy in those horrible, horrible striped pants.

Oh, what? The manga? Yeah, I like it fine enough.

[Bonta Kun]

Originally Posted by Irenicus

I, ah, I was deeply offended by the incredible ugliness of his uniform. No wonder he couldn't make many friends when every male in the campus looks horrifically gaudy in those horrible, horrible striped pants.

Oh, what? The manga? Yeah, I like it fine enough.

hahaha so I wasn't the only person to think so, def reminds me of Ken from Seitokai no Ichizon.
Do they really have such trousers as school uniforms in real life?

[Mizuno]

Originally Posted by shaolinx

is this a one-shot or running?

Running. The original source is the light novel.

[frubam]

Read chap 0 and 1. Personally, while I thought TMoHS was a cleverly written narrative, I HATED Haruhi herself and, eventually, hated the how the activities of her club were carried out. As interesting as this might be, I'm not in the mood to continue reading story that is similar on so many fronts. I do foresee this being made into an anime at some point though.

[Irenicus]

^Haruhi doesn't have to compete with another girl willing to bite her head off rather than listening to anything she says. I imagine the dynamics will be slightly different.

Also remember that the one who nonchalantly tazed him in the prologue was a yet-to-be-introduced genius girl. The SOS Brigade, aside from their reality-altering superpowers, was a much gentler bunch, not counting the supreme leader herself of course.

Oh yeah, and he still looks fugly in that uniform. He isn't that bad looking but he really needs a fashion makeover, shoujo magic style. Asuka-chan (of Otomen) where art thou?

[Kunagisa]

Originally Posted by frubam

I do foresee this being made into an anime at some point though.

Well according to AkibaBlog (scroll down), the novel broke 400k sales with 3 volumes (4th one coming out soon), and as I've mentioned in this post, this looks even more likely to get an anime adaptation at this rate (especially after MM, IS, and HnA).

So far, the manga adaptation is pretty faithful (art quality non-withstanding).

[Bonta Kun]

I dare say I think I might like this more than Haruhi and I liek Haruhi alot.
Beside the art it's all pretty good, humor reminds me of the silly stuff me and my friends used to do.
For instance the lines

"Oh, did the flat one say something?"

"Well, if I kill all the women who have bigger boobs than me. Then mine would be considered big."

It's this type of silly comeback that we used to come up with all the time.
Silly friends having silly arguments and silly fun. ahhh good old times

I like Sena alot, her narcissism is quite funny really and the fact she's a idol of the school makes her all the more interesting.
Yozora is great also she is not ashamed about her actions and her retorts make me chuckle quite alot.
The guy is well I think atm mediocre would be fitting, he's kinda in between something like that guy from Seitokai Yakuindomo and Kyon.

looking forward to the rest of the gang, especially Taser-chan!

[Falkor]

chapter 01

Yozora's air friend situation is one of those things that captivated me in both manga and novel. it's just funny how she doesn't want to admit that she was talking to an imaginary friend, going as far as to changing words around and hoping he wouldn't notice. but her words didn't sound so convincing and only served to worsen his "good" impression of her. there's nothing wrong about having imaginary friends, but calling them air friends does not make it sound any "better". :P

chapter 02

gotta love those two girls fighting with each other. ahhh, this is why I love the manga/novel so much...

Originally Posted by frubam

Read chap 0 and 1. Personally, while I thought TMoHS was a cleverly written narrative, I HATED Haruhi herself and, eventually, hated the how the activities of her club were carried out. As interesting as this might be, I'm not in the mood to continue reading story that is similar on so many fronts. I do foresee this being made into an anime at some point though.

I think you are about to miss a great series, though I can understand your feelings.

However, I want to believe that there's little similarity between the two works, especially when it comes to the story or the characters---Yozora and Sena couldn't be so different from Haruhi herself.

[BlueDo]

Wow.
I read chapters 0-2 yesterday and instantly loved it.
Don't know how it managed to pull my interests so easily. Maybe it's the writing style. The art style also contributed a lot.
Or that the premise hits a bit too close to home ;__;

People who have read the novel, or specifically Falknor:
What do you suppose made the light novel sell so much?
I glanced at it, and the writing style seems to be fluid compared to the few others I've seen.
Either way, I'll get to reading the first volume soon.

[Lime soda]

I'm guessing its the first impressions based on the novel illustrations that made this a eye catcher. I would probably be suckered into buying this based on the cover/pictures.

The manga's art is pretty decent too. There's alot of humor in Yozora's body language/expressions. Like how she shrugs while saying something outrageous, with those sparkles floating by her in the air. There were a few more but I can't remember them clearly. They really complement with the conversations alot so I really appreciated it in the manga.

I'd like to see how the story goes but the novel's translation was only a teaser so I only have the manga to rely on. Romance isn't in the tag but I'm hoping there's something between them developing at least.

[Kunagisa]

Originally Posted by Lime soda

Romance isn't in the tag but I'm hoping there's something between them developing at least.

Maybe a couple more chapters and someone might add that tag since this is the manga topic afterall if you get what I mean =D.

Volume 1 of the comic and Volume 4 of the novel goes on sale on the 23rd, and supposedly with the comic this gets some type of major announcement (already said it's not anime). People are guessing this will get an OVA thing instead.

[Falkor]

Originally Posted by BlueDo

What do you suppose made the light novel sell so much?
I glanced at it, and the writing style seems to be fluid compared to the few others I've seen.
Either way, I'll get to reading the first volume soon.

I'm guessing here that the eye-pleasing character designs + the delicious artwork/covers may have helped to boost the popularity of this series. how many of you were convinced to read the manga after looking at the color pages and the nice-looking artwork? that's usually what first catches the eye of a potential reader; after that, I have to say that the premise is an interesting one that really works. Having "friendless" characters befriend other "friendless" characters, who then try to do interesting activities among themselves certainly ensues that something unique and enjoyable is about to happen. I think that's where the manga/light novel shines: in the activities the characters try to perform, and the different interactions that may be created as result.

[Xacual]

Spoiler for Chapter 3:

Just finished reading it. I kind of like that they made fun of his character in the game and then spent the rest of the game killing each other. Like repels like I guess.

Also when they mentioned 4 students at a restaurant playing Monster Hunter my first thought was of a Hayate no Gotoku chapter.