I disagree with you, SeanW. Even if you did not like either story, I disagree with your reasoning for why "Friendship" should get the tie-breaking vote.

Even though, Thousand Dicks was a gaudy story, it was well told, and it was humorous. Even the punchline - in fact there were two punchlines. 1) Chapter 37 is titled "The man with the magic compass." Nowhere is a magic compass mentioned until the very end of the chapter. It made me laugh out loud, because that was SUPPOSE to be the subject matter of the chapter, but another matter was explored, instead. 2) The final line about no one understanding why he made the comment about the 500 character limit made me laugh too. Yes, it was a very silly tale, but I didn't have to ask too many questions. Although, there were a few questions. We are not told why the mayor was evil. What made him evil? But then again, it may have been "covered" in the "previous chapters", so the author may be able to get away with not telling us what made the mayor evil, and why he was on Shinji's hit list.

Friendship seemed like a sappy story about friends, and making friends, but a second reading makes you realize you don't have enough information to understand the reason he has no friends - except for the girl. You are left to speculate. Why, precisely, is he a loner? Was it a traumatic experience? Why doesn't he make any effort to participate in other activities where he may encounter others and form friendships? I like watching anime, but I do other things and meet with people, BECAUSE, not all of those other people will watch anime with me. Not having friends because all he does is play Pokemon is not a strong enough reason to not have friends. At the end, he remembers her fondly, but he's more excited about the game she gave him as a goodbye gift. Where is the longing for her companionship? Where's her present from him, eh? If she had time to dig a hole in the ground and bury a present in it, he had time to get her something too - and actually present it to her before she moved away. Maybe, burying the present was her way of saying, "All you cared about was Pokemon!" But I'm just speculating. The point is, that so much was NOT covered in the story that I could speculate, and had to ask all of those questions.

Additionally, there was not enough character development nor enough conversation between the two to make you care about their friendship. I agree with you, that all you read about was their common interest in Pokemon. Here I go, again, with my questions. Who is this girl? Is she in his class, or a different one? Did they eat lunch together? They had a whole school semester to call one another and visit each other at home. None of that happens in the story, so it either did NOT happen, and he IS a serious LONER, or it was not adequately covered in the story, and it is missing from the story.

Because there is not enough to describe the building of the friendship - aside from playing pokemon, and only at recess, and only at school - I can't really buy into the story.

Thus, I think the tie-breaking vote should go to Thousand Dicks.