12 Days of Aniblogging, Day 2Oh, Watamote. It’s been forever, hasn’t it? I’ve had a messy on-and-off relationship with this series for the better half of a decade now, so it’s time to write about what it means to me and why I ultimately learned to love it.I was introduced to Watamote through its fall 2013 anime adaptation. At this point, I was a fledgling young weeb, having just gotten introduced to anime via watching Death Note in three parts on YouTube. Watamote was part of the first batch of seasonal anime that I followed as they came out, and I absolutely despised it.In case you’re somehow unfamiliar with the work, Watamote focuses on a high school girl named Tomoko whose defining trait is being a complete social trainwreck. Her brain is wracked with anxiety over every single social interaction, and the decisions she makes as a result of her anxiety end up being extremely embarrassing and cause everyone to notice just how awkward and weird she is. She tries so hard at everything she does but is so misguided that it all ends up being a disaster. As a high schooler prone to both social anxiety and secondhand embarrassment, Watamote fucked me up! I’d put on an episode and just spend the next 24 minutes dreading how exactly Tomoko was going to fuck up this episode. I dropped the show around episode 6 and moved on to greener pastures…the loneliness of this show is gutwrenching…until 2015 or so, when I felt compelled to un-drop the series and give it a fair chance again. “I’m older now”, I thought at the time, “so maybe this time the social awkwardness stuff won’t hit as hard.” It was about as rough, except I had learned to endure my secondhand embarrassment just enough to make it through each episode. I finished Watamote, gave it a low score on Myanimelist, and moved on with my life. Last year, something very surprising graced my tumblr dash. A friend talking positively about Watamote! According to them, the manga had developed swimmingly, and was on the verge of turning into a yuri harem any one of these days. Tomoko had a bunch of friends now, and things were going pretty comfily. The next time I needed something to read, I picked up the Watamote manga. The beginning of the Watamote manga starts off just like the anime adaptation, with a scared anxious girl fucking up over and over again and never learning. These chapters weren’t very fun to read and I’d seen most of it before, but one of the wonders of manga as a medium is that unlike anime, you can take it at your own pace. Instead of slowly and painfully reveling in each of Tomoko’s fuckups, I could just skim through the chapters that weren’t doing it for me and try again next time. I still can’t decide if Tomoko’s manga-dead eyes are more painful or less painful than her anime-dead eyes. As a girl with awful eye bags, I take this very seriouslySurely enough, once I got about 50 chapters in, Tomoko begins the gradual but inevitable process of making friends as an awkward person. You keep encountering someone and end up in a standoffish relationship with them, and then it eventually morphs into more regular hangouts, until suddenly you’re friends in everything but name with no idea how it happened. Tomoko makes friends with a girl just as weird as her, and surely enough, soon becomes the center of gravity for all the slightly misfitty girls in her class. I spent years convinced that Watamote could only do cruelty unto its main character, but it turns out that that was just a flaw of the anime.how to make friends when you’ve isolated yourself via the internet for years and forgotten how to do any meatspace human interactionsShort adaptations of long-running anime often fall into this trap. They’ll only be able to fit 3-4 volumes worth of content into their cour, so they’ll have to conclude at an inopportune place. Shonen adaptations can play around with pacing in order to end on a climactic fight, but slice of life adaptations don’t have that benefit. They just have to pick a random chapter and stop right there. Often times, they’ll go for anime-only endings that establish a cyclical or unchanging nature to the characters. The downside of this is that any slow and gradual growth that any of the characters have is eliminated in one fell swoop. When the Watamote anime ends, Tomoko vows to stop caring about how others view her, giving up and falling into the same hikikomori despair that ensnares her at the start of the show.I read through most of Watamote while I was just starting my job this summer. Stuck in an unfamiliar office environment trying my best to act like a composed woman when I had very little experience being either, I frequently made mistakes, had horribly awkward conversations and meetings, and all-around just messed up what should have been very simple social interactions. But this time, Tomoko’s mishaps didn’t feel like a personal attack on me. I was able to laugh alongside her, knowing that even if I was a bit of a mess, I was still so much better off than where I was back in 2013.Tomoko breaks the Secret Girl RulesOne of the things that Tomoko struggles the most with is Gender. Frequently she’ll get the sudden idea in her head that she needs to find a boyfriend, and to do so she’ll need to learn how to “be a woman” and make herself attractive with makeup and fashion. Even though Tomoko is cis, these are surprisingly trans moods – she’s spent so long as a shut-in that she managed to avoided all female socialization and has no idea how to do girly things that are socially expected of her. Her desire for a boyfriend never feels sincere – she never has explicit fantasies or desires or anything beyond just the ethereal concept of “having a boyfriend”. There’s an interesting element of compulsory heterosexuality going on there, and I hope future volumes attempt to address it. Tomoko displays a lot of questionable sexuality towards her female friends too, looking up their skirts and groping them for reasons she finds herself unable to explain but still compelled to do. It’s as if Tomoko was socialized more on anime than anything else, and as such feels moved to perform these creepy rituals and acquire her shoujo romance ending. fuck fuck fuck how do I be a girl againOverall, I’m happy to say that Watamote is good! My concerns with the anime’s unrelenting cruelty were healed with the slow growth of the manga, and I’m happy I had this manga to reassure me that even on days where I’m so awkward that I don’t even particularly feel human, we’ve all been there before. One must imagine Tomoko happy.
Dec 15, 2019 • Subscribe
More like this
Spiraken Manga Review Ep 182: Watamote/No Matter How I Look At It, It’s Your Guy’s Fault I’m Not Popular ( or I Swear It’s Not Our Fault!!!!!)
In this episode, Baz stops by to be weirded out as he and Xan review that Slice of Life Parody manga Watashi ga Motenai no wa do Kangaetemo…
Juliet, Kiba, WATAMOTE ~No Matter How I Look at It, It’s You Guys Fault I’m Not Popular!~
"It's Not Animation. It's Anime!"
Tadaima. Peep my Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/CaribouCoon Channel 2: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8y4X8xL_jMWvYn2IM26apQ Video used: TheCynicClinic's vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82AfN3R8V_8 Animation Maestro Gisaburo I don't exactly know how effective saying it here will be, but this is for entertainment and education.…
This Week in Games - If 'JRPG' is a Dirty Word, It's America's Fault
In a recent interview, Final Fantasy XVI producer Naoki Yoshida shared his distaste for the term "JRPG" and he has a good reason: the American game industry has…
My Relationship With Isekai Anime Over Time
We live in a time when isekai anime is everywhere. Ever since I got into anime, I saw the dominant setting shift from Japanese high schools to medieval…
My Love/Hate Relationship with D.Gray-Man
Hello! And welcome back to Otaku Thursday. You know…something has been on my mind a lot recently. And when I say it has been on my mind a…
My Relationship With Romance Anime Over Time
As someone who watches a lot of slice-of-life anime, I am bound to watch a lot of romance anime or anime with lots of romantic themes. I recently…
WataMote
No matter how I look at it, it’s you guys’ fault I’m not popular! No not me, Tomoko-chan! Apparently that’s what the full Japanese title, shortened to WataMote,…
Episode 517, "It's Not Delivery, It's Sanji"
On this week’s episode of The One Piece Podcast we go through One Piece Color Walk 8: WOLF, with Stephen Paul (translator for One Piece in Weekly Shonen…
Episode 517, "It's Not Delivery, It's Sanji"
On this week’s episode of The One Piece Podcast we go through One Piece Color Walk 8: WOLF, with Stephen Paul (translator for One Piece in Weekly Shonen…
Episode 517, "It's Not Delivery, It's Sanji"
On this week’s episode of The One Piece Podcast we go through One Piece Color Walk 8: WOLF, with Stephen Paul (translator for One Piece in Weekly Shonen…
TheOASG Podcast Episode 140: It’s Not My Fault That This Winter Anime Season is No Good!
Justin and Helen have returned from their break to talk about all the new licenses and the Winter Anime 2022 season in this week's podcast!
Jojo's Part 9 Is Out and It's AWESOME So Far
What did ya'll think of the Jojolands Chapter 1? Also, it would mean the world to me if you subscribed and stuck around for future videos if you…
"It's not that deep bro"
From my full video, here on this channel. SUPPORT US ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/totallynotmark FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER: https://www.twitter.com/totallynotmark FOLLOW ME ON TIKTOK: https://www.tiktok.com/@totallynotmark
Episode 589, "I Can't Believe It's Not Nami" (with @MHAPod)
On this week's episode of The One Piece Podcast we have hosts Zach , Ed , Steve & Alex on with special guests Stephen Paul (translator for One Piece in …
Episode 589, "I Can't Believe It's Not Nami" (with MHAPod)
On this week's episode of The One Piece Podcast we have hosts Zach, Ed, Steve & Alex on with special guests Stephen Paul (translator for One Piece in Shonen Jump and Manga Plus), and the hosts of the My Hero Academia Podcast Kendra…
Episode 287, "Spandam: It's Not a Metaphor" (with Christopher Smith)
On this episode of The One Piece Podcast we have an interview with the voice of Spandam in FUNimation’s One Piece, Christopher Smith, from Anime USA in Washington,…
Episode 287, "Spandam: It's Not a Metaphor" (with Christopher Smith)
On this episode of The One Piece Podcast we have an interview with the voice of Spandam in FUNimation’s One Piece, Christopher Smith, from Anime USA in Washington,…
Episode 589, "I Can't Believe It's Not Nami" (with MHAPod)
On this week's episode of The One Piece Podcast we have hosts Zach, Ed, Steve & Alex on with special guests Stephen Paul (translator for One Piece in Shonen Jump and Manga Plus), and the hosts of the My Hero Academia Podcast Kendra…
Episode 589, "I Can't Believe It's Not Nami" (with MHAPod)
On this week's episode of The One Piece Podcast we have hosts Zach, Ed, Steve & Alex on with special guests Stephen Paul (translator for One Piece in Shonen Jump and Manga Plus), and the hosts of the My Hero Academia Podcast Kendra…
Episode 287, "Spandam: It's Not a Metaphor" (with Christopher Smith)
On this episode of The One Piece Podcast we have an interview with the voice of Spandam in FUNimation’s One Piece, Christopher Smith, from Anime USA in Washington,…
My Complicated Relationship With Fanservice and Yuri in Anime
This blog post was incredibly hard to make. I may say some things that you may not agree with, but if you’re really interested in what I truly…
My Girlfriend is Shobitch (Episode 9) – I Told You, Not So Suddenly!!
Akiho can’t make her date with Haruka when her father injures his back during the night… Luckily, Shizuku bumps into him at the mall and decides to step…
My Senpai is Annoying 10 (No Relationship Progression Allowed!)
AstroNerdBoy reviews My Senpai is Annoying 10. Sakurai wants to spend more time with Kazama, but a group outing hinders this.
THIS IS NOT MY CHILD!
Hello and welcome back to another video today we will be covering a pretty solid horror manga titled This is Not My Child! A whole lot of delusional…
Housing Complex C is Terrifying
Hello, and welcome back to another video today we will be talking about the Housing Complex C (C Danchi) anime and going over some of the horror elements…
Fault StP: Lightkravte
Lightkravte features gorgeous art and is interesting both as a prequel and as a game in its own right.
Episode 24: WataMote
In this episode, Shaun delves back into the cringiest sides of our pasts as he explores the edgy slice-of-life anime WataMote (AKA: No Matter How I Look at…
Slowly Gaining a Relationship with Tokusatsu
With my post on The Ultraman anime and the last two manga related posts, I am slowly dipping into the larger Tokusatsu franchises. I even am watching one…
The Appeal of "So Bad It's Good" Anime
I'm a big fan of "so bad it's good" shows. There is just something special about them that makes it worth watching, even if the story doesn't make…
My (Not So) Geeky Past brought to you by Voyager
Huzzah. I have been tagged and must share the deepest secrets of my geeky backstory. Well, maybe not the deepest secrets, maybe only the somewhat deep secrets. OK.…
Violet Evergarden: The Movie (Second): My Not So Lovely Rambling
Conveying what you want to say can be difficult. Sometimes you cannot find the right words or understand them. Maybe you are unsure what to say or the…
The End of Demon Slayer ~Air/My Purest...wait, it's not over yet
I like Touyama Nao, but tone it down, Suma.
The Saint’s Magic Power is Not So Omnipotent After All
After careful consideration, I’ve decided to pull the plug on The Saint’s Magical Power. Even for an ostensible comfort food pick, it has proven extremely pokey and uneventful. The…
![Featured image for It’s All My Fault (2022) review [Camera Japan Festival 2022]](https://cdn.aniblogtracker.com/live/20220917/1663403340.43797.74307.jpg)
It’s All My Fault (2022) review [Camera Japan Festival 2022]
A touching narrative that explores how difficult it is for subject to assume a place for himself, a place from where he/she can desire, without the structuring influence…
It's Totally Not 𝕙𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕒𝕚 - Talkōbon EP9: Sweet Guy
EARN FREE MONEY AT: https://freecash.com/r/BaronJ I MADE A PODCAST FINALLY In this episode, BaronJ gets a little spicy with Sweet Guy, a classic story about a man with... abilities.
“So what is my favourite anime” project begins
I don’t know what my favourite anime is. I used to know. I even found a word document I made in 2009 where I had a list of…
A Not-so-significant Post
Then again, since when was there a rule that said posts needed to be important? Hey guys~ Still remember me? No? D;< Sorry for not updating in such…
Oregairu is over and so is my youth. – Reflections on Oregairu
*And immediately I have to make a disclaimer that Oregairu is technically not over, as I found out while looking up things for this piece of writing—there’s a…
This Week in Anime - So, Is Sound Euphonium Queerbaiting or Not?
The third season of Sound Euphonium reignites the fandom controversy over Reina and Kumiko's relationship. Chris and Steve delve into it and why 'queerbaiting' is such a loaded…
Ragnarök: Into the Abyss: Everybody is After Chaos... It's Not a Hope or a Dream; It's Like a Hunger, a Thirst...
Born in April 12, 1974, Lee Myung-Jin got his start in South Korean manhwa in mid-1992 with the series It's Going to Be a Wonderful Night (...
Blue Lock #01 — Foot Fault
Maybe we should've gone with a different acronym to avoid "BL Rating." Impressions: As always, the lack of self-awareness is what stands out to me among this…
My Wife is a High School Girl 08 - Baby, it's Cold Outside
This exciting and controversial episode of My Wife is a High School Girl actually features some plot continuity between its two halves, alt...
What's with the relationship between Mecha and Idols?
I talk about the relationship between Mecha and Idol anime, why they are so similar, and the origins of the two different fan groups being so close. I started…
Boruto – A not so great continuation
Hey guys what is up welcome back to my blog I’m so thankful that you guys took the time out of your day to read my blog post.…
VG Pulse 364: Not So Pro
Editor Note: The day after this was recorded, Valve felt it was good to go and announce some shiny new things. We will go over them next show!…
Popcorn Pulse 155: Not So Bond
What was it with the nineties and heist movies? Was there a memo somewhere in Hollywood that was said “money is boring, they must steal art!” There might…
Letters from Japan: “Not So Serious”
Savvy Tokyo's resident "Love in Japan" columnist, Hilary Keyes, answers anonymous questions from readers on everything from dating in Japan to women’s health issues. Got a question you’d…
Makoto Shinkai’s Suzume Is a Spectacular but Limited Look at Our Relationship with Natural…
Makoto Shinkai’s latest film takes a very intimate look at humanity’s struggle with natural disasters, but is something lost along the way?
Weathering with You is not the next "Your Name"
While I've personally been a Makoto Shinkai fan for a long time, his fame has skyrocketed since the release of Your Name, the second largest grossing anime film…
Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie – 10 – So Cute, So Cool
Hot on the heels of the cultural festival is the athletics festival, and while I was fully ready to throw my hands up and shout “no more festivals”, this…