This premiere is one of the best anime adaptations I have ever seen.
Tomoko is a mojo, defined as an unpopular girl who has no real-life experience with men and has never been asked out. She has no friends and a severe case of social anxiety. She can barely speak in public. However, as far a Tomoko is concerned, this is not her problem. It’s everyone else’s fault. She’s played tons of otome games and is convinced that she’ll know exactly what to do once she gets a boyfriend. The only problem is, she can’t seem to figure out the magic formula that will get her the popularity that she wants.
Watamote is a strange series in that most of the laughs come alongside the cringe-worthy moments. Look no further than the scene in this episode where Tomoko goes overboard with her “makeover” for a good example of this. Of course, that’s not the only source of humor; there are some dead-on anime references here, the Death Note one easily my personal favorite so far, but unlike most otaku-humor shows, it doesn’t rely solely on pointing these out in order to keep the audience interested. Instead, the entire show feels like it’s constructed to showcase Tomoko’s worldview.
If you’ve ever been a loner or suffered from the same anxiety that Tomoko does, you’ll find a lot to relate to in this episode. However, this series gets its humor from the situations Tomoko ends up in, not from laughing at her shortcomings. The lighting in this episode was used to great effect, usually putting whatever Tomoko desires in that scene (a hot guy, a group of friends, etc.) in the light while leaving her in shadow. It also doesn’t shy away from the angst that is lurking right under the surface, and I mean real angst, not typical teenage whining. When she looks at herself in the mirror for too long, she throws up. When her brother initially refuses to help her with her conversation skills, she says that she’ll kill herself since if she can’t improve, she’s got nothing to live for. There’s a raw side to Watamote that I wasn’t sure would show up in this adaptation, and the staff did a fantastic job at bring that out.
As for the brother, I’ve heard people compare that scene to Oreimo, which is something that personally never came to mind while I was reading the manga. However, there is an “antithesis” element to it that isn’t present in most current anime. It’s the exact same setup, but with an infinitely more realistic execution. Kirino in real life would probably be something closer to Tomoko (but I’ll take Tomoko over her any day).
Overall, I’m really pleased with the transition from manga to anime. This episode captured that double-standard mindset of blaming everyone else for a problem only the character can fix without condemning her for it. The art direction is amazing, taking a new spin on the manga without feeling like it divorced itself from the original style. Tomoko’s voice actress deserves praise as well, capturing all the different sides of her–the directness with her family, the vitriol in her monologues, the meek whispering in public–without any of them slipping out of character. I was very excited when I heard that this would be adapted, and I’m even happier with the result. This is an episode that everyone should see just to watch how all of the pieces come together to show the world and mindset of Tomoko.
This series is streaming on Crunchyroll.
