Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai - Episode 6

It's almost the beginning of the summer break - what better time for the members of the Neighbours Club to spend with all of their new-found friends outside of said organisation?

Ahh... I see the problem now - perhaps it would be better if the club members just hung out together in that case?  This is the general train of thought as discussions turn to karaoke, with Sena (amongst others) professing to having never been to a karaoke joint before.  Thus, a decision is made to go on something of a club trip, albeit not before Yozora has taunted and bullied poor Sena to the point of total submission.

Then again, things don't go much better when the group actually arrive at Yozora's choice of karaoke venue, with the pricing structure of the establishment and its pay per person cost going against the grain of what Yozora was expecting.  Thanks to a "bright" idea from Sena, both of these girls pay separately for their own rooms, leaving them both alone while the other four go off and have a good time in a room of their own.  That said, even putting them in different rooms doesn't seem to stop the constant struggle for supremacy which wages between Yozora and Sena, although it's the latter who gets the upper hand thanks to her pronouncement come the end of this week's instalment.

Having rather enjoyed much of this series (susprising myself in the process) as a guilty pleasure of sorts, this is perhaps the first episode of Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai that didn't really work for me.  The karaoke setting is always a good place to drag some great comedy out of a series, but this episode failed pretty badly in that regard, preferring instead to turn most of its attention to Yozora and Sena and the now tiresome bitching between them, which seems to have transcended witty put-downs and snappy one-liners in favour of what is more or less outright bullying.  These particular shows of verbal aggression really aren't fun to watch, leaving Kodaka as the only voice of reason (and some half-decent quips).  I really hope this show doesn't go too far off at the deep end with its bitchiness, particularly when the rest of the supporting cast seem rather like one trick ponies, as it feels like this could fracture what has been a surprisingly entertaining series up to this point.