Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai - Episode 1

As if the blonde hair and angry-looking eyes were bad enough, turning up late on his first day as a transfer student in a new school and the misunderstandings that follow means that before his new school life even begins Kodaka Hasegawa is thought of as a dangerous delinquent.  As a result he's shunned by his peers and left friendless... then again, he isn't the only one.

Returning to his classroom after school one day leads him to bump into Yozora Mikazuki and her friend as they idly chat by the window - except he doesn't bump into Yozora's friend.  Because she doesn't exist.  With no actual friends to call her own, Yozora has instead opted for having an imaginary friend, the wonderful Tomo.  Despite this, even she has to admit that she'd like some real friends, as would Kodaka, and in the blink of an eye the premise of the show is set, as Yozora creates the "Neighbours Club" - no, not a club to talk about the latest goings-on in Ramsey Street, but rather a group for fellow friendless individuals to come together under a united banner of loneliness.  Hell, even the club supervisor at this religious school is a lonely teacher/nun.

The trouble is, the first proper entrant to join Yozora and Kodaka's merry little group isn't exactly what the former was hoping for after all - a popular (with guys anyway), beautiful girl named Sena who loves nothing better than to use and subjugate guys yet still has no proper friends.  To say that Yozora and Sena hit it off would be a massive over-statement, so it looks as though Kodaka has some headaches to contend with before we've even really started.

After that dull and rather off-putting short OVA, this was a somewhat better opening gambit for Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai - it wasn't good exactly, and it's already running around with more anime clichés and tropes than I'd care to mention, but it's nicely animated and it has at least the occasional slither of snappy dialogue.  Hopes that this series might follow in the footsteps of Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai seem like nothing but a pipe dream right now, but hopefully the series can find something to offer beyond what its presented us with so far.