Haganai NEXT

Haganai NEXT

Haganai: I don't have many friends NEXT anime cover art
Haganai NEXT Cover Art

Overview

Haganai: I don’t have many friends NEXT is the second season of Haganai and picks up from exactly where the first season left off. Yozora and Kodaka have just recently realized they were friends as kids, and have decided to keep it a secret from the rest of the club members.

As far as the general plot of this season goes compared to the first, not much has really changed. The Neighbors Club is still composed of the same seven members, and their relationships with each other haven’t progressed any since the first season.

The biggest change this season was the lack of nudity which was present in the first season. I can only remember one time in the second season where anything 18+ was shown, and it came in the beginning. This could simply mean that I saw a censored version of the second season, but that’s unlikely considering both seasons were on the same website, Crunchyroll.

This season was also slightly more plot focused, but not much. Instead of practicing things in order to be prepared for when they have friends, the various girls are all trying to get Kodaka to see them as romantic partners, although they still say it’s for the sake of practicing for when they have friends.

In the latter half of the season the club decided to make a movie for their school festival, and I couldn’t help feeling as though I’d seen this exact plot somewhere else. That’s right, this is the plot of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, as well as various other high school slice of life anime.

It would have been nice if Haganai did something different, but I guess old tropes die hard. That said, by following this same trope the season lost my interest in the second half. I didn’t care for this plot in Haruhi or any of the other anime I’ve seen it in, so why would I care this time?

Character Updates

There are a couple of new characters introduced in this season, but unfortunately two of the three are introduced at the end of the season, and none of them are main characters. These are Kate, Aoi, and Hinata.

Kate is Maria’s older sister, who’s also a Sister at the school/church, but who’s still only 15 and so refers to Kodaka as her older brother just like Maria does. Despite hiding it from Maria, Kate is constantly worried about her younger sister and needs to continuously check up on her.

Aoi and Hinata are introduced towards the end of the season and are members of the student council. Aoi is Sena’s self-proclaimed rival, and Hinata is the Student Council President for the second year in a row. Unlike most people in the school, these two aren’t put off by Kodaka and want him to join the Student Council.

If there was ever to be a third season, I think these characters would be brought in to be more recurring, but since the second season of Haganai came out back in 2013 I doubt a third season will ever happen. I also don’t think it needs a third season; it’s a pretty standard high school, harem, comedy.

Besides those three new supporting characters, three of the new characters also got upgrades this season, and by upgrades I mean we learned some new, game-changing information about them. I’ll start with Rika because she’s my favorite of the girls in this series.

Rika Shiguma depressed and in a maid outfit from the anime Haganai NEXT
Rika Shiguma depressed and in a maid outfit

The big reveal about Rika this season is that she actually doesn’t need glasses despite wearing them throughout the entire first season. That’s right, Rika’s glasses are just for show, and so she opts to go without them for much of this season.

We also learn that despite her personality, Rika is actually the only normal girl in the group. Unlike the rest of the Neighbors Club, Rika’s the only one who recognizes that the club no longer needs to practice for when they have friends because they’re all already friends.

Next up is second best girl, Sena. It’s revealed that Sena is actually Kodaka’s childhood friend from back when they were toddlers. Worst-girl Yozora’s character had become defined by the fact that she was Kodaka’s childhood friend, so it was nice to see her get beaten by Sena.

Additionally, Kodaka and Sena are technically engaged due to an arranged marriage between their fathers. This next part is more of a spoiler than anything else I’ve written so far, but Sena is also the only girl throughout the series who actually professes her love to Kodaka.

The final and best new character development comes from Yukimura, Kodaka’s sworn brother. It had generally been accepted throughout the first season that Yukimura was an extremely feminine male, however, it’s revealed that Yukimura was actually a female the whole time, but just didn’t know.

This revelation was probably the funniest part of the season, if not the entire series. The fact that the series had committed to Yukimura being male for so long before it was revealed that she was, in fact, female, made it so much better. Needless to say, Yukimura is still Kodaka’s sworn brother nonetheless.

Conclusion

In the end, Haganai NEXT gets the same rating as Haganai6/10. It was a good watch, but it wasn’t anything special. It had its funny moments, but there are other comedies that are funnier. But, most of all, I don’t like Kodaka nor Yozora’s characters, and if two of the main characters aren’t good, the series probably won’t be any higher than a 6.

I’d also like to mention that the OP for Haganai NEXT isn’t all that good. However, if you’d still like to check it out, it’s available here.

So what are your thoughts on Haganai NEXT? Let me know in the comments, and while your down there click the like button if you enjoyed this post. You can also follow me on Twitter or Tumblr, or subscribe to my blog via email, if you’d like to be notified every time a new post goes live.

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