Book 3 of the above
Things that happen in this book. Tomozaki gets a practice date with Aoi Hinami, and then goes on several real dates with a girl from his class. He gets a part-time job, goes on an overnight camping trip with several of his classmates, participates in a fast-moving scheme to get two of their classmates to go out with each other. Things actually move at a reasonably decent click, and while Tomozaki still has his loner moments (and has a chapter later on where he loses motivation and becomes a recluse for a week again), he's shown visible improvement with each passing novel.
At one point, Tomozaki plays Hinami again in the Smash Bros. expy, Atafami. He notes that the one difference between Hinami and everyone else he plays in Atafami is that she is capable of improving at the game more quickly than he does, whereas with any other player, Tomozaki leaves them further and further behind over time as he's always getting better than the other person. I assume the series endgame would be him becoming socially on par with Hinami, but doing it in his own way and terms, and not needing to follow her advice all the time. There's a section near the end where he's able to debate with her about how she socially manipulates everyone to basically be on top of the school hierarchy, and winning as the actor behind the character in the game, versus winning as the actual character.
Anyways, I've seriously raved about this series. I dunno. Maybe it's just the zeitgeist of my mood, that it somehow captured my imagination. Perhaps it's the way the two character leads interact, in a weird friends-rivals-mentor dynamic that's always shifting around and drives the entire series. It's kind of like a toned down version of Death Note but with less supernatural deaths and mind games and more self-improvement, if I'm to search for an analogy.
Things that happen in this book. Tomozaki gets a practice date with Aoi Hinami, and then goes on several real dates with a girl from his class. He gets a part-time job, goes on an overnight camping trip with several of his classmates, participates in a fast-moving scheme to get two of their classmates to go out with each other. Things actually move at a reasonably decent click, and while Tomozaki still has his loner moments (and has a chapter later on where he loses motivation and becomes a recluse for a week again), he's shown visible improvement with each passing novel.
At one point, Tomozaki plays Hinami again in the Smash Bros. expy, Atafami. He notes that the one difference between Hinami and everyone else he plays in Atafami is that she is capable of improving at the game more quickly than he does, whereas with any other player, Tomozaki leaves them further and further behind over time as he's always getting better than the other person. I assume the series endgame would be him becoming socially on par with Hinami, but doing it in his own way and terms, and not needing to follow her advice all the time. There's a section near the end where he's able to debate with her about how she socially manipulates everyone to basically be on top of the school hierarchy, and winning as the actor behind the character in the game, versus winning as the actual character.
Anyways, I've seriously raved about this series. I dunno. Maybe it's just the zeitgeist of my mood, that it somehow captured my imagination. Perhaps it's the way the two character leads interact, in a weird friends-rivals-mentor dynamic that's always shifting around and drives the entire series. It's kind of like a toned down version of Death Note but with less supernatural deaths and mind games and more self-improvement, if I'm to search for an analogy.