Review of WataMote: No Matter How I Look At It, It's You Guys' Fault I'm Not Popular!

I have a personal attachment to this show. I watched a Mumkey Jones Anime Review (which was joking and ironic) about the show, and it struck a chord with me. It seemed to be very "real" and had a unique premise. It's a story about an incredibly socially awkward girl beginning high school, trying to live the ideal High School life (particularly in the social, romantic and sexual departments). Tomoko Kuroki is her name, and she's my favourite anime character. She's adorable, in a creepy kind of way. I'm not sure if people in real life can pull off this look, but large anime eyes canhelp bring this aesthetic to success. She is quite short and has a small build too. She wears her uniform in a way none of the other girls too, it seems a little too traditional and perhaps out of touch (shocking for Tomoko to be out of touch of course, no way that would happen).

I can relate to Tomoko to a degree, but the extremities it reaches in this show are way too much. It's cringe comedy that's difficult to watch at times. I'm not exactly sure if it's comedy though. Sometimes it just seems like sad/cringe fuel. Tomoko's perverted nature is sick and twisted. Playing eroge games alone in her room has shifted her sexuality into a sad and pathetic direction. I mean at least it seems vanilla in terms of kinks lmao. There are some classic cringe moments that come from this part of her that I won't spoil.

I'm not sure if girls/women like Tomoko exist in real life. I wouldn't wish her hell onto anyone, particularly for women, who are usually more socially adjusted than their male counterparts. The gender swap perhaps makes the story more interesting, albeit less believable. But perhaps I'm just not aware and women like her actually do exist.

You may be wondering why I've fixated only upon Tomoko so much, but that's because that's the character the show is all about. You don't really learn much about others. Her one friend has some depth and is chill, but that's about it. It's a very self focused world, a reflection of one of Tomoko's key issues - focusing too much on herself.

Her problems are a few things. She has a very distorted view of reality, she is deathly afraid of social interaction, she resents and thinks down on others as a result of her lack of social success, yet desires their approval badly too. It's an extreme form of social anxiety I believe, alongside some unbridled lust. This whirlwind leads to cringe moments in the show obviously. I honestly expected to find it harder to watch than I did, I was always preparing for the worst and was able to handle it most of the time. But the uncomfortable moments, when they actually hit hard, are atrocious. You would assume I'm more hardened against these cringe kind of moments given my resistance to the lighter ones, but honestly when watching shows with cringe (in the classic sense not the newer sense) I'm usually the first to turn away from the screen.

The opening song is badass, it works well. It's pretty iconic and people tend to say it's better than the show lol. I think the overall sound animation etc. is done very well. From the manga source material its exactly what you'd want, it doesn't do anything wrong in these departments. It's well animated and has good sound is what I'm trying to get at.

A key focus critics/YouTubers will often focus on with this show is the lack of progress. Tomoko doesn't really make much in the way of progress the entire time. It's a little unsatisfying, and it would have been good to see later seasons explore that. Speaking of which, I recommend reading the manga after watching this. You'll breeze through the adapted chapters quickly and find yourself in a story of actual character development. I'm all caught up on it and it's worth it emotionally to get to where Tomoko is now. It's a much happier place than before.

I haven't touched much on plot points because I'd rather not spoil them, but you know what to expect given how I've written this, if you haven't seen the show already. I don't know why but I have a certain feeling of nostalgia towards this show. It's the good old Mumkey review I think, I used to enjoy that YouTube channel a lot. But despite the nostalgia Watamote still holds up. It isn't excellent or anything, but it's worth a watch in my opinion, even if it can be difficult at times It's a 7/10 for me.