This review was written after reading volume 6 which is the last englishtranslated 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. JakuChara Tomozakikun is a story about a class in highschool and in it the various mechanisms that run class politics are analyzed like its a video game. Although not entirely realistic I think some of the things from this viewpoint couldve 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 bottomtier character Fumiya Tomozaki learning how to play the game of life highschool class politics by getting coached by an expert the toptier 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. Theyre also not onedimensional always a big plus. Onto the main part of the review: Fumiya Tomozaki is the protaganist. Hes tasked with the goal of getting a girlfriend and although theres an obvious girlfriend candidate he just cant 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. Hes 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 doesnt let her own wants get in the way of what she does until she does. I dont think shes very popular of a character as most people dont 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 cant. 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 Tomozakis real personality out rather than just mimicking Hinamis. I think its when Tomozaki isnt 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. Shes a good vanilla friend. Minami Nanami is the class clown. Shes also someone who does really well at almost everything but just cant beat Hinami at anything which is something she gets mad about... but she still cant do it because Hinami wants to be the winner more than anyone else. Shes the most popular character for some reason while her arc was good I dont think I could stand her usual clown activities if she was actually around. Im sticking with team Gumi. Fuuka Kikuchi is a quiet person who blatently loves Tomozaki. Whenever shes 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 its 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 dont 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 shes 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 Hinamis is as he probably doesnt 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 Tomozakis too much of a wimp to try. I find him hilarous. Shuuji Nakamura is the leader guy in the class and mutually likes Izumi. Hes a background character in terms of the actual plot though. Erika Konno is the class queen. She cant stand showing weakness or getting looked down on so she spends great effort on maintaining her position. Tsugumi Narita is Tomozakis coworker who attends a different school. Shes absurdly apathetic about life and always puts the least possible effort into everything but shes 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 its 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 storys 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 thats always handy for a loner. Also the afterwords analyze the color illustrations which I think is sweet because theyre not really details you notice unless you spend too much time analyzing them. It gives a good sense as to what the authors like which I think is the most important thing to do in an afterword. I dont find the illustrations particularly cute though its just nice seeing how the illustrations match the characters personalities. I made this way too long...