Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai NEXT - Episode 3

This week's Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai splits itself down the middle, dealing as it does with a pair of shorter stories.

First up, Kodaka and Kobato find themselves with an unexpected (and in one case at least unwanted) visitor to their home - Maria, who has run away from home in the most convenient way possible having been shown where to go and how to get there by her sister Kate.  In other words, she's come for an uninvited sleepover with Kobato, who doesn't mind quite as much as she makes out.  Despite having not run away from home in the traditional sense, Kate is clearly worried about her younger sister - not that she needs to, as Kodaka has everything well in hand.

For the second half of the episode, the Neighbours Club find themselves wanting for something to do with exams over and the break beginning.  But how can they pass the time?  Rika's suggestion that they play the king's game strikes fear into the heart of those present given the personalities of those involved, but thankfully Kodaka is at least sensible enough to set up a lottery that ensures that anyone could receive any action, thus stopping things from getting out of hand.  Then again, when the inevitable instruction for a participant to kiss the "king" comes along, things threaten to get a little fraught.

So goes another pretty okay episode of Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai - no huge laugh out loud moments and only very occasional prods towards development of characters or their relationships, wrapping up in a colourful and mildly entertaining package that I'll probably have forgotten all about by lunchtime.  The series certainly feels far more palatable when Yozora's bullying (and Sena's reactions to it) are strictly limited, so if nothing else I can only hope for more of the same in the coming weeks as it's the one aspect that turns me off the whole series immeasurably.