After a long absence, here is another article reviewing anime. The anime in question is Watamote. Which is short for Watashi ga Motenai no wa dō Kangaetemo Omaera ga Warui!, which translates to No Matter How I Look at It, It’s You Guys’ Fault I’m Not Popular! (because we can’t let Oreimo own the unnecessarily long titles). Released this recent fall anime season, and running for 12 episodes, let’s take a look at watamote!
Tomoko Kuroki is a shy, young girl who doesn’t exactly socialize with those around her high school class. She is an otaku and huge lover of Otome games (dating sims for girls). When first entering high school she learns that her expertise in these games doesn’t convert to real life. Being such an introvert, she spends a lot of time inside her head (with comedic results).
Now huge portions of this show revolve around the protagonist inner dialogue. Tomoko is somebody who avoids interacting with the world around her, but always has an opinion about everything. Mostly on the subject of why she is not popular, and how that relates to placing the blame on those who are. Boy does she really blame this on others. A lot of jokes about hate she seems to have for fellow students.
If only it were that easy, Tomoko. If only.
This then ties into her facing embarrassing moments when she tries break out of the shy bubble. Many,many embarrassing moments.(and then some more).
She'd be dead by now if she weren't cute.
Of course this embarrassment wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t mention she’s like most other teens (she definitely has her hormones running wild). When ignoring the outside environment she is in, Tomoko has many fantasies about what turns her on. And then this ties into the dating sims that she plays with their various sexual scenarios. To top it off she even listens to spoken word albums made up of voice actors verbally abusing the listener.
And did I mention the games?
Another key feature to the character of Tomoko is how she speaks during certain moments. When it’s somebody like a friend or family member, Tomoko is vocal as anybody else (usually as vocal as her inner thoughts). But when it comes to interacting with strangers, her voice barely is above a whisper. The voice actor Izumi Kitta handles this juggling of the voices quite well. Which works almost as two characters in away. Her effort definitely makes Tomoko a likable character.
Relating to voice actors, it is quite interesting that the voice who plays Tomoko’s young brother (Tomoki) is in fact the same guy who played Kyosuke kosaka( Yuuichi Nakamura) in Ore no Imōto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai. So he went from oniichan to younger brother (that’s quite the demotion).
Yeah, he was surprised too.
So that is the adventures in shyness known as Watamote. This gives you a look inside the internal world that Tomoko narrates. Something that people have said they’ve really relate to when talking about this show. Especially those who feel second hand embarrassment when seeing these events unfold. So this is viewing for those who want to feel what the protagonist feels (while at same time having a good laugh).
And also references to other anime.
Bonus: By the way, here’s a small, condensed review of Watamote done on my youtube channel. Along with a guest starring of my good friend AoiKatori( go visit her). Enjoy.
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