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

“Really Hagrid, if you are holding out for universal popularity, I'm afraid you will be in this cabin for a very long time” ― Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (book) High school can be tough. It is, no one denies that fact. As the years go on and one gets closer to senior year, the number of assignments and homework starts to pile up. Some may dismiss all of this and just live wildly. Others might not (like me) and do in fact do their homework like a good boy or girl (Santa gave me presents last year because of that).High school is not a popularity contest, popularity was something that you thought was super important in middle school, but gradually lost importance as the years rolled by. You enter high school with your group of friends that you made in middle school and everything is nice and dandy, right?

Well, maybe not for everybody. And certainly not for Tomoko Kuroki, our main protagonist. Watashi ga Motenai no wa dō Kangaetemo Omaera ga Warui! (No Matter How I Look at It, It’s You Guys' Fault I’m Not Popular!), or WataMote for short, is your not so generic slice-of-life anime featuring our main female protagonist Tomoko Kuroki as she struggles with her high school life. But, as with most high school animes, she doesn't struggle with class since teachers in Japan are mythical creatures, but instead with her underwhelming popularity and her overwhelming desire to increase her nonexistent popularity. Sounds simple right?

A socially awkward person since a young age, Tomoko seeks to rectify her lack of friends upon entering high school. She has spent countless hours playing otome games in order to learn the mystical and sublime art of talking to men. However, two months into high school and Tomoko is as lonely as ever. Without a clue as to what is failing due to her belief that high school makes her instantly popular, Tomoko, who by the way has a very positive image about the way she looks (meaning to say that she thinks she's a total hottie), takes a good long look at the mirror for the first time in who knows how many years, only to find the exact same opposite of what she thought of herself.

This is where WataMote kicks off and generally what drives the series through twelve very painful to watch episodes as Tomoko tries her best at becoming popular. Why is it painful, you ask? Let me give you what I believe to be the most cringe worthy moment of the entire anime. After entering a crowded train, Tomoko feels something rubbing up against her. She starts feeling nervous and scared, believing it is a molester. The thing rubbing her then goes farther down, and Tomoko starts fearing for her life. As the train arrives to its next stop, Tomoko goes out running, only to be stuck by this thing rubbing against her and unable to move with dozens of people watching. We then hear a voice of a young girl apologizing that her naginata equipment got stuck on Tomoko. After experiencing a tremendous amount of public embarrassment, Tomoko breaks free and goes on with her life as usual.

WataMote carries a comedy tag to it, but to say that this show is comedy would be kind of an insult. I actually felt sorry for her on many occasions, like on episode three when her umbrella breaks and she gets stuck taking shelter with two boys. After making a run for the bathroom, she return to the shelter only to find the boys gone and decides to take a nap to wait out the rain. When she wakes up (still raining), she finds a new umbrella beside her and goes on home, silently wishing that , for once, a boy would do something nice for her, all the while not noticing that it was these same two boys who bought that umbrella for her. It's really disheartening and it pains me to watch at times because of scenes like this one.

Getting back to the topic at hand, WataMote has in total twelve episodes. The story is episodic in nature with the over arching story being, as said above, Tomoko's resolve to become popular. It's a story about character development and you really want to see her get some friends, but at the end of the day you realize that the character development is almost nonexistent. WataMote just doesn't end, it basically tells you to deal with it or just go and read the manga. I know its twelve episodes long, but a little closure for our main character would have been much appreciated.

As for characters, there's a few that caught my attention. First off is, of course, Tomoko. A fifteen year old recluse that borders into being a deranged person, craving for acceptance. With heavy bags under her eyes, she is supposed to symbolize many shut ins that exist nowadays. I've already said enough about her for you to have a clear picture of her, so let's just move on.

Tomoki is Tomoko's younger brother. A talented soccer player, Tomoki is what Tomoko isn't: popular. He often questions Tomoko's sanity and weird behavior and is often annoyed by her personality. Tomoko usually goes to him for advice on how to talk to men seeing as he is the only male character in the series she can talk to normally.

Yu Naruse is Tomoko's best friend from middle school. No wait, she's her only friend from middle school. She first appears in episode two having invited Tomoko to hang out, given that she went to a different high school than Tomoko. A recluse at heart, Yu actually managed to garner popularity by changing her appearance, ranging from dying her hair to breast implants. Tomoko is at first afraid that she isn't the same Yu from middle school, but soon finds out that she still enjoys everything that she did in middle school, such as watching anime, reading manga and playing video games. As such, she like Tomoki is what Tomoko isn't: popular.

On the topic for animation nothing to say here really. Its good, but nothing that stands out. The studio that worked on WataMote is studio Silver Link, known for their work in Kokoro Connect. The director for WataMote is none other than Shin Oonuma, known for his role as director in shows such as ef: A Tale of Melodies/Memories and Kokoro Connect. Bottom line, it gets the job done, but its nothing spectacular.

Similarly, the soundtrack for WataMote was nothing amazing. It just sounds like any other slice of life anime out there and none of the tracks stand out except for the opening. Watashi ga Motenai no wa dō Kangaetemo Omaera ga Warui! by Konomi Suzuki and Kiba of Akiba is the opening that spans across all twelve episodes of the series. This opening is, in my most humble opinion, a true masterpiece. A song filled with heavy metal and angry vocals accompanied by dark grim images of Tomoko in chains symbolizes just how angry and lonely Tomoko is in correlation with the rest of the world. It really shows the main underlying theme of the show which is Tomoko wanting to break free of her social anxiety. Beautiful to watch, one of my favorite openings of all time just because of its connection with the show.

The series sports various endings indeed. The main ending theme, Dō Kangaetemo Watashi wa Warukunai, is featured in all but four episodes. Episodes two and five use Musō Renka and Yoru no Tobari yo Sayōnara respectively, both performed by Velvet,Kodhy. Episode six uses Natsu Matsuri by Utsu-P & Toka Minatsuki, featuring vocals by Hatsune Miku (yay) while episode eleven utilizes Sokora no Chaku-Gurumi no Fūsen to Watashi by Velvet,Kodhy.

This review has gone long enough so let's wrap it up. I initially started watching WataMote because, from an outsiders perspective, Tomoko looks a bit like a friend of mine. I wanted to watch the show and then show her how Tomoko and her looked alike. But after watching a few episodes, I knew Tomoko and my friend were nothing alike. I honestly cannot comprehend the purpose of this show. Is it a parody on recluse and otakus or just a very mean black comedy show? I don't know and I prefer to leave it that way because it adds a certain charm to it. Speaking of charm, this show contains some scenes that parody other famous animes like Death Note and Ghost in the Shell. See if you can find them all!

With all that in mind, it is time for my final verdict.

I don't know if I enjoyed WataMote or not. It certainly was disturbing, painful, and sad to watch. Animation is good, but nothing spectacular. The music is meh with the exception of the opening and the character development is, well... meh as well.

Overall, I give Watashi ga Motenai no wa dō Kangaetemo Omaera ga Warui! a final score of 6.2 out of 10.

This is my second review here on MAL, so any feedback, as usual, would be very welcome. Have a great day, and you can be on the lookout for my next review.