Number of episodes: 12 + OVA
What Wikipedia says: "Kodaka Hasegawa is a recent transfer student to St. Chronica's Academy, a Catholic high school. As with every other school he has ever attended, he finds it difficult to make friends there because of his naturally-blond hair (inherited from his deceased English mother) and fierce-looking eyes, which make him look threatening to his prejudiced schoolmates.
One day, Kodaka accidentally comes across the equally solitary and very abrasive Yozora Mikazuki while she converses with her imaginary friend Tomo. Realizing that neither of them have any social lives, they decide that the best way to improve their situation is to form a club – the Neighbor's Club – precisely intended to make friends and learn social skills.
Five other members soon join the club, starting with the school's well-connected but arrogant idol Sena Kashiwazaki, who has no female friends of her own because of their jealousy over her many male admirers. The next to join is Yukimura Kusunoki, a feminine underclassman of Kodaka's who rather idealizes him and follows him in the hope that it will teach him to become manlier. Maria Takayama is a 10-year-old "genius" teacher and nun at the academy whom Yozora recruits to become the club adviser. Rika Shiguma is an underclassman and well-known scientific genius with fujoshi tendencies who joins the club after Kodaka rescues her from a laboratory accident. Finally, Kodaka's younger sister Kobato is in St. Chronica's middle school division and is a fan of Gothic anime. "
What tTPO says: I liked this series. However, being a harem series it hit my reviewing weak spot fairly hard. Yes, there were an enormous number of anime cliches present, but there was also a very basic story of a childhood friendship that wove its way through the series that helped hold it together and give it some heart. This, combined with some individually imaginative episodes (especially those involving computer games), elevated it above the above some of the very worst of this genre. I am not ashamed to say the were a few times I was perhaps a little more keen than I should have been to find out what happened in the next episode.
How about the music?: OP - did someone just rip off K-on? On the other hand, the ED, Watashi no Kimochi by Marina Inoue, has a nice rock riff starting out that unfortunately fairly quickly takes a turn for the generic. But I really like the opening chords!
So how does it end? (Spoiler Free): It's tidy 12-episode format worked in its favour and helped prevent too much repetition, and the ending was satisfactory (not brilliant though) while shamelesslessly leaving room for another series.
Overall Grade: C (plus). Not the worst of the genre by any means but there are better harem series out there. Certainly if you are after anything resembling a plot heavy series leave right now.
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