This review was written after reading volume 6, which is the last english-translated volume released when it was written. (I had also watched the anime before reading this light novel.)
(This review contains light spoilers for things up to the point the anime ends at.)
Jaku-Chara Tomozaki-kun is a story about a class in highschool, and in it the various mechanisms that run class politics are analyzed like it's a video game. Although not entirely realistic, I think some of the things from this viewpoint could've been nice if I had read this when I was in highschool (where I was the ugly loner no one liked) - most of the class politics side of things actually does seem very legit.
The overall structure of the story involves the protaganist (the bottom-tier character, Fumiya Tomozaki) learning how to play the game of life (highschool class politics) by getting coached by an expert (the top-tier character, Aoi Hinami). Through various assignments, Tomozaki learns how to better converse and manipulate people into achieving his goals.
The main thing I like is how this story is not made to be a romcom. The main focus of the story is the class politics rather than romance, and the issues that show up are issues that are reasonable and I think make a lot of sense given how the characters are. They're also not one-dimensional; always a big plus.
Onto the main part of the review:
Fumiya Tomozaki is the protaganist. He's tasked with the goal of getting a girlfriend, and although there's an obvious girlfriend candidate he just can't quite pull it off. He looks down on himself excessively like in true protaganist fashion, which is the main thing that makes me cringe about him. He's also very good at Super Smash Bros, and prefers to redefine the meta rather than to refine current strategies (as Hinami prefers).
Aoi Hinami is a Mary Sue character, but she actually just puts up a really strong mask which only loosens when near her fellow pro gamer Tomozaki (though Tomozaki beats her in Smash). She treats the world like a game, and so struggles when people have something that they want rather than just maximum efficiency - and she doesn't let her own wants get in the way of what she does (until she does). I don't think she's very popular of a character, as most people don't like people who are extremely manipulative as she is.
Her training involves getting Tomozaki to treat the world like a game and so adopt her views, which causes a clash when he can't. After this point, while Tomozaki still gets coached, he begins a lot more independant action rather than simply doing something due to being told to do so; in essence, larger quests rather than small immediate tasks, which lets a lot of Tomozaki's real personality out rather than just mimicking Hinami's. I think it's when Tomozaki isn't just failing horribly at reaching some quota that the story shines, anyway.
Along the way, we also get to learn about a bunch of the other classmates that stand out. The most significant are:
Yuzu Izumi is someone who had always gone with the flow, but gets inspired by Tomozaki to gain a bit of her own will instead of going along with others. She's a good vanilla friend.
Minami Nanami is the class clown. She's also someone who does really well at almost everything, but just can't beat Hinami at anything, which is something she gets mad about... but she still can't do it, because Hinami wants to be the winner more than anyone else. She's the most popular character for some reason; while her arc was good, I don't think I could stand her usual clown activities if she was actually around. (I'm sticking with team Gumi.)
Fuuka Kikuchi is a quiet person who blatently loves Tomozaki. Whenever she's around, the descriptions (specifically of her) get a lot more verbose, which I think is nice because it makes it easier to imagine how things are. She originally lives life like it's a boring task and so reads books to get absorbed in their worlds, but gets inspired to change by the way Tomozaki changes from thinking in much the same way (although with games) to living a "normal" highschool life. I really like her; someone who spends their time always reading their books reminds me of my highschool life, and I like the style of the advice they tend to give.
Hanabi Natsubayashi (Tama for short) is someone who cares about their own opinion a bit too much, to the point that most people don't really like her. Since Tomozaki is exactly the same way and yet is actually accepted in the class, she gets some advice. Once she gains some charm and learns that everyone can be likable if you just learn their backstory first, she becomes a lot more openly approachable and joins the popular crowd without really having changed at all. Minami is her best friend (comedy partner). I like her too; she's small, and a bit of distance is fine.
And the more minor ones that I still feel like pointing out:
Takahiro Mizusawa is a guy who, like Hinami, puts on an act in their daily life. However, his act is nowhere near as strong as Hinami's is, as he probably doesn't actually distance himself from his... self. Overall very supportative of Tomozaki and his antics, and tries to teach him how to pick up girls (but Tomozaki's too much of a wimp to try). I find him hilarous.
Shuuji Nakamura is the leader guy in the class, and mutually likes Izumi. He's a background character in terms of the actual plot, though.
Erika Konno is the class queen. She can't stand showing weakness or getting looked down on, so she spends great effort on maintaining her position.
Tsugumi Narita is Tomozaki's coworker who attends a different school. She's absurdly apathetic about life and always puts the least possible effort into everything, but she's still my favorite character because I like how shameless she is about it, and of all the life advice in this story, I like hers the most since I think it's the one most easily applicable when dealing with people who are only doing something due to it being mandatory (which is common in my life).
Overall, the cast is mostly likable, but the story does induce a decent amount of cringe (though I think the LN is better than the anime in this regard). As with any good drama, cringe at the beginning is necessary to leave room for characters to grow; but in this story's case, I find a lot of the value comes from the way it teaches a bit of the basics of conversation skills and the dynamics of large groups, which is something that's always handy for a loner.
Also, the afterwords analyze the color illustrations, which I think is sweet because they're not really details you notice unless you spend too much time analyzing them. It gives a good sense as to what the author's like, which I think is the most important thing to do in an afterword. I don't find the illustrations particularly cute, though; it's just nice seeing how the illustrations match the character's personalities.
(I made this way too long...)
45.5 out of 50 users liked this review
