Aharen-san wa Hakarenai - Recommendations

• TV (12 eps)
• 2021

The journey to 100 friends begins with a single conversation. Socially anxious high school student Shoko Komi’s greatest dream is to make some friends, but everyone at school mistakes her crippling social anxiety for cool reserve! With the whole student body keeping their distance and Komi unable to utter a single word, friendship might be forever beyond her reach. Timid Tadano is a total wallflower, and that’s just the way he likes it. He lives to blend in with the background. All that changes when he finds himself alone in a classroom on the first day of high school with the legendary Komi. He quickly realizes she isn’t aloof, she’s just super awkward. Now he’s made it his mission to help her on her quest to make 100 friends!

• TV (12 eps)
• 2016

Adapted from the popular web manga series published by Square Enix, this unconventional, surrealist comedy follows an exhausted high school boy who, despite multiple attempts from his friends, still manages to spectacularly… sleep. Much to the chagrin of the energetic (at times bossy) Ohta, Tanaka is often found in a blissful state of lethargy, possessing the ability to doze off in any situation, especially in mid-sentence!

• TV (12 eps)
• 2019

Hitori Bocchi, a girl with extreme social anxiety, has had only one friend throughout elementary school. When Bocchi learns they'll be split up after graduation, she makes a promise to her: "By the time of my middle school graduation, I'll make friends with everyone in my class." And if she can't do it... they won't be friends anymore?! But Bocchi has a hard time talking to people. When she gets nervous, her legs cramp. She can't look other people in the eye. She doesn't even know how to make friends! Every way she thinks of to make friends ends up failing. Will Bocchi's friend-making plan pay off?! It's a story of the persistence of the lonely girl, Bocchi!

• TV (12 eps)
• 2022

Yaotome’s the cute president of the shogi (Japanese chess) club at her high school, and she’s pretty sure that her underclassman Ayumu, the only other member, has a huge crush on her. They get together to play shogi every day after school, but no matter what she does, she can’t seem to coax or trick him into confessing his feelings! What she doesn’t know is that Ayumu has made a pact with himself to reveal his love after he’s beaten Yaotome at shogi for the first time. Yet there’s one big issue with this plan…he really sucks!

• TV (12 eps)
• 2021

My name is Futaba Igarashi, and my senpai, Takeda-san, is annoying. He's big, loud, always in the way, and treats me like a child because he's so tall and I'm so short. But he's also kind, caring, and willing to go above and beyond for me. For example, he stopped some pervert from filming up my skirt when we took the train together, gave me a drink when I was pulling a long shift, and even came over to my place when I was cooped up with a cold. What gives?! If he keeps acting like this, people are going to think we're dating or something...!

• TV (21 eps x 8 min)
• 2014

During class, a schoolboy named Seki-kun is always creating new ways to entertain himself. Even Yokoi-san, who sits next to Seki-kun, always gets sucked into watching his games!

• TV (24 eps)
• 2012 - 2013

Sorata Kanda has a real problem - he just can't say no to the cute face of a kitten! However, his lovely strays have finally landed him in trouble, as his dorm doesn't allow keeping pets. Given an ultimatum to get rid of the cats or move out, Sorata makes the mistake of standing up for himself and finds himself exiled to Sakurasou, the home of misfits the school doesn't know what to do with. Yet the more he spends time there, Sorata sees they all have their own incredible talents. None, however, enthralls him more than the latest arrival: Mashiro Shiina, a world class artist who is seemingly incapable of feeding or clothing herself! Since none of the other residents have a shred of responsibility, the onus of 'Mashiro Duty' falls to Sorata; what will become of Sorata and his latest stray, and will he ever achieve his goal of escaping Sakurasou?

• TV (12 eps)
• 2017

She is Hanabatake Yoshiko, and she's an idiot through and through. She loves bananas, and she loves her childhood friend Akkun.

• OVA (1 ep)
• 2018

• TV (86 eps)
• 1988 - 1989

The would-be hijinks of the mischievous Matsuno sextuplets are hijacked from episode one by colorful buck-toothed con man Iyami and Chibita, his bald munchkin sidekick. Nearly every episode is a standalone comedy cavalcade with the above cast as well as other quirky locals who show up in a number of different roles as the series shifts effortlessly between time periods and genres, but in most cases, Iyami and Chibita are front and center as partners in crime, a couple of sad sacks scraping by but carrying out scammy schemes in order to get rich quick.