Watashi ga Motenai no wa Dou Kangaetemo Omaera ga Warui!: Motenaishi, Nazomeite Miru

Aomatsu is just an ordinary otaku leading an uneventful life in middle school. In an attempt to spice things up, he decides to visit the roof of the school, and it is there that he sees a mysterious young maiden with pitch-black hair. Unbeknownst to him, her name is Tomoko Kuroki, and she is infamous for her bizarre behavior.

The conversation that ensues from the meeting leaves a lasting impression on Aomatsu, compelling him to return day after day just to see Tomoko again. Tomoko's view of their meetings, however, is quite different from that of Aomatsu, leading to the two having significantly different memories of a particular event.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kuroki, Tomoko Main

Kitta, Izumi Japanese

Aomatsu Main

Suwabe, Junichi Japanese

Kuroki, Tomoki Supporting

Nakamura, Yuuichi Japanese

Naruse, Yuu Supporting

Hanazawa, Kana Japanese

Komiyama, Kotomi Supporting

Mizuhashi, Kaori Japanese

Satozaki, Kiko Supporting

Kugimiya, Rie Japanese

Kuroki, Mother Supporting

Hayamizu, Risa Japanese

Kaneko, Hayato Producer

Aitani, Atsushi Producer

Nakagawa, Jirou Producer

Itou, Makoto Producer

Reviews

Feb 18, 2022

mr07

Recommended

It's a cheeky little story about Tomoko when she was younger. It shows her cringeworthy personality of that period (yes a different type of cringeworthy than the current Tomoko). But there's a friend who falls for this tomfoolery and thinks she's actually cool. It's adorable and a good story.

The art, animation, music, sound etc. play out like a regular Watamote episode. It's just this one isn't as depressing and is actually a little sweet. I like how they transition to the opening at the start of this, with a bunch of fourth-wall breaking. It's very nice.

I have a very soft spot for this show. I ... watched a funny Mumkey Jones video about it back in the day and that left an impact on me. I really empathise and honestly sympathise with Tomoko and seeing her have a decent moment here was great. Such an adorable yet tragic character.

The little twist at the end is cool, it sucks this wasn't explored in the manga. Anyway, it's good and I recommend giving it a shot. If only they could adapt the rest of the manga into anime form then we'd get a more complete story with more wholesome character development. But it has been about 9 years since the first season came out. In any case, this OVA is a 7/10.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by mr07 (61)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Feb 6, 2019

Unconfidence

Recommended

This is one of three anime so far which I have given a 10/10 rating. I only give this rating when a show is not only perfect, but expands my horizons with regard to what I think is possible with the medium.

I'd never thought it was possible to relate to an anime so much as I did with WataMote. The few characters that are featured are written with a brutally realistic depth, and the show is the only example of what I might call "Slice of True Life". The realistic juxtaposition of narcissism and depression incarnated in Tomoko Kuroki belies a character depth and understanding ... of humanity usually only displayed by therapists and other psychology professionals. There was never a choice made with regard to the writing that I didn't find believable and, on a fundamental level, correct for the character. Lying to people relentlessly, cheating, mentally insulting strangers, every bit of it was exactly who I was in middle school. The way she is utterly alone in her pain is almost never expressed in anime, but this show treats loneliness like an old friend, joking with it, laughing as it dies inside. This is so much closer to the reality of being a lonely but narcissistic kid. The meta-commentary never ceases to be hilarious, which at first I thought might just be unintentional, but in the beginning of the OVA they pretty much spell out that they understand the metacritical implications of their storywriting. Some people say this show is too cringey, but I usually hate schadenfreude comedy and I love this show. It feels less to me like they're trying to get the audience to laugh at her than it feels like the audience is laughing at her despite the author's wish to engender sympathy, which of course is icing on the metacritical cake.

I could write an essay on WataMote, so I'll stop here. Suffice to say I think this is the best Slice of Life anime ever, and that I'd recommend this anime to absolutely anyone.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by Unconfidence (50)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Dec 21, 2022

GwenPineapple

Not Recommended

Watamote is a fairly decent anime, but the OVA is not - it feels a bit thematically contradictory to what actually takes place in the show; Tomoko doesn't deserve to be rewarded with the gift of an implicated destined meetup with a boy just like her, because the whole point is that Tomoko is a terrible person whose incapable of escaping from her world view that's formed from a malicious congealing of her spiteful loneliness and addiction to unrealistic romantic material, fueling her envious perception of the world, where every other woman is a "slut".

Episode 12 might have been a miserable ending to the series, ... but it thematically fit, especially as a warning about the dangers of Tomoko's type of lifestyle and thought processes, which ultimately alienate her from everybody that could possibly help her as she literally runs away from those that want to help her or like her.

It would have made more sense to have the OVA involve Tomoko changing her mindset, even just a little bit; enough to show that she's on the path to a better future.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by GwenPineapple (13)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Anime Referenced in WataMote

by ForgotEyeWasHere

47 Entries · 16 Restacks

	Poll: Watashi ga Motenai no wa Dou Kangaetemo Omaera ga Warui! OVA Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) JUMP-Senshi - Oct 30, 2014	113 replies	by Zoopiez »» Oct 16, 2023 8:56 PM
	Poll: Who do you ship Tomoko with? (cast your vote) okanagan - Oct 31, 2014	26 replies	by DoisacChopper »» Dec 21, 2022 3:47 AM
	Watamote OVA references and music identification sido - Sep 30, 2016	6 replies	by Kokujin-kun »» Nov 21, 2017 5:19 PM
	Why so far off? HandSonicvI - Sep 13, 2013	22 replies	by CXTKRS1 »» Oct 27, 2014 11:10 AM
	Any idea on what this will be about? TornRamos - Sep 7, 2014	2 replies	by Gar_Logan »» Sep 9, 2014 7:25 PM