Watashi ga motenai no wa dô kangaetemo omaera ga warui!

This anime was delightfully bitter. Something I truly never expected to find in this genre of all things.

Let's get the bad out of the way first: the claim that this anime is offensive. That's somewhat true. Sexual assault is trivialised with humour voiced by the female MC. There is also some fan service - a minuscule amount but totally ill-suited for the scenes they're in. Also the show gets very preachy, over using the "woman of loose morals" slur to make a point. This is hypocritical considering we're dealing with the nation that took objectification to an art form.

And now for all the good aspects. Regarding this anime as offensive towards people who suffer from social anxiety is actually a plus in my book. Not because it's actually true but because it proves the show pulled no punches when it came to how it dealt with the subject. The anguish, embarrassment and loneliness the heroine experiences were impactful for me. Tomoko's habit of conceiving plans to quickly rise to popularity at times got her comically humiliated. As a loner myself, this had the effect to thoroughly relate to her. Her witty inner monologue, sprinkled with anime and video game references, presents her as a reclusive nihilist. However she quickly morphs into a shy optimist every time one of her harebrained schemes to get accepted might have a chance to work.

And this is how the show tugged at my heartstrings... Tomoko transitions from resenting the happiness of others to briefly being hopeful for her own happiness and ultimately to deep sorrow, as things don't go her way. Stylised animation and the music score are sometimes used to emphasise these emotions. This unbearable sadness becomes bittersweet in the rare moments when Tomoko skips that whole emotional roller coaster and is sincerely acknowledging her pure need to be desired. When all of these pieces come together they make for one hell of a show.

As a final commendation for this anime all I can say is that I've never felt such a need to give a hug to a fictional character before. It absolutely deserved a more rewarding conclusion!

I've never seen a show that can so quickly move from heartbreaking to hilarious and not skip a beat. The best thing about the show is unquestionably it's main character, Tomoko Kuroki, a 15 year old asocial girl (who I personally suspect has undiagnosed Asperger's Syndrome) as she attempts convoluted schemes to try and make herself popular. On paper she should be horrible, with an unquestionably vindictive side, and a deep-rooted tendency to pass responsibilities. However, she possesses an unquestionable resilience, that no matter how dark and lonely it feels, she's still in control, with a fantastic tenacity to continue in her pursuit of social acceptance. Both English and Japanese voice-actors perfectly sell her anxiety and naivety. When she acts cruelly, the Universe usually punishes her for it, so she never reaches the point of her being unlikeable. These flaws allow us to laugh as she winds up in calamitous and embarrassing situations none of which I will spoil.

But this becomes the chief tragedy as well as a source of humour. As we see how warm and nice she was at the very beginning of childhood, to slowly see her devolve into isolation and rejection, from being almost transparent in Middle School to totally transparent in High School is hard to watch. To see that happiness drained from her face to one of cynical desperation can be hard to watch, but what is harder still is the main perversion of her character; her twisted sense of priority. Despite having the unquestionable love of those in her family, she appears almost ignorant of it, instead frantically pursuing the next scheme to somewhat increase her social standing for a brief few years at best. Her life has flown far off course and she doesn't even really understand why.

If you have a problem watching people in embarrassing situations, especially if you can relate to them, you won't find much enjoyment in the comedy. Tomoko's antics produce more 'Spaghetti' than the entirety of Italy. I found my cheeks physically hurting from the amount of cringe that was upon me, even as I laughed uproariously. We feel bad for her, but none of it is serious enough that we feel bad for laughing. We know she's going to come back with some poorly thought-out scheme next time and get right back on with it.

An obvious reason that the show took off was the similarity of the main character with many Anime viewers, who would have similar niche interests, as well as unsatisfactory social lives. It was ultimately 4chan who revived the Manga, and kept it from falling into the ether, igniting a wave of popularity in the West before the translation even came about (the creator would write a subtle thank-you to 4chan when the English edition came out). Tomoko is one of my favourite characters precisely because she is so flawed, while possessing all the right traits to keep me rooting for her, which is the basis of good writing.

I haven't even talked about the great opening which perfectly sells her anger at her isolation in the grimy prison she finds herself, the ED, which provides a magnificent dissection of her character in lyrics, and the animation, which uses colouring, and the lack thereof, to express the draining of her individuality beneath the crushing losses she finds herself enduring. Frankly, if I could have any form of interaction with her, I would simply give her a hug; she clearly needs some.

So when i first saw Watamote being released in North America i read the thumbnail and looked at the DVD/BD art work and was like hmm this could be interesting or terrible, anyways it went on sale for Black Friday this year and i decided to pick it up and give it a shot. I'm really glad i did, instantly it was very funny gave me a few honest good laughs just in the first episode. Watamote is about a awkward 15 year old girl that doesn't really know how to fit in, and i think theirs a part of everyone that can relate to some part of her, maybe not to her extent but at least a little bit and i think thats what makes it so much of a better anime. Cause even if its only a little bit i think 4/5 people will be able to relate on some level with some of her troubles and problems and thats what makes it good, cause its real! These things really happen to some people and there really are people that are really close to her level of socially awkwardness, i've met a few when i was in school. Maybe that makes me a little bias cause i've really seen people with these problems/weirdness. After finishing the series i recommended it to a friend and he watched some of it later that night and texted me saying how funny it was and how relate-able some aspects were from when we were back in middle school and that made him like it even more. The story line is pretty good for what its suppose to be about i really don't know what could of been added to make it better, i found it very enjoyable. The main characters voice was a little annoying at times but i think it did a very good job at portraying her awkwardness so i don't think it could of been better, Its a pretty hard thing to make your voice sound weird in general imo. The character design was very good imo, i loved the main character and her friend and the background characters were all appealing as well. The music was awesome especially the opening! The main opening is one of my favorites of any show, the animation in it is amazing as well.

4/5 Why not 5/5? It was good, it didn't blow me away but i found it very enjoyable, funny, and relatable in some ways. Definitely something i think everyone can enjoy and get some good laughs out of, i'd say 10/12 episodes made me laugh and about 2 were just like yeah OK. Also their is an OVA episode that i've yet to watch but plan to so technically theirs 13 episodes with 12 being English at the time of writing this. I'd love to see a season two, i'd definitely pick it up if it were to be released! Give it a shot you won't regret it!

Watamote is full of comedy and has a unique introverted funny protagonist who is a girl and she wants to be popular, to be loved by everybody,she also wants a boyfriend .This slice of life and comedy based anime has a wonderful plot and a perfect storyline. You will not detest it. I guarantee it.

This show is somewhat difficult to rate and recommend, mostly because it has very specific and mature qualities, rather than being straight up exciting like some expect out of anime. It's about a bitter, socially awkward 15 year old girl that tries her hardest to fit in and become more sociable, but her fear and misunderstanding of people cause her to fail at it over and over again.

If you are the person that gets a lot of second hand embarrassment from witnessing awkward situations you are in for quite a ride. Feeling strongly related to the heroine, personally, this is what attracted me to the show so much. If it can make you feel things, than you know it is real, relevant, and it is refreshing to experience it from a third point of view. The people who made the show understand deeply what it means to be a shut-in.

If that sounded scary, don't worry! The whole show is done in a light comedy tone. If it wasn't, watching it would be downright unbearable. There are a ton of hilarious references to other popular anime.

I would strongly recommend it to people who experienced some degree of social anxiety while growing up, or people who want to understand it better.