Komi-san wa, Comyushou desu.

Hitohito Tadano is an ordinary boy who heads into his first day of high school with a clear plan: to avoid trouble and do his best to blend in with others. Unfortunately, he fails right away when he takes the seat beside the school's madonna—Shouko Komi. His peers now recognize him as someone to eliminate for a chance to sit next to the most beautiful girl in class.

Gorgeous and graceful with long, dark hair, Komi is universally adored and immensely popular despite her mysterious persona. However, unbeknownst to everyone, she has crippling anxiety and a communication disorder which prevents her from wholeheartedly socializing with her classmates.

When left alone in the classroom, a chain of events forces Komi to interact with Tadano through writing on the blackboard, as if in a one-way conversation. Being the first person to realize she cannot communicate properly, Tadano picks up the chalk and begins to write as well. He eventually discovers that Komi's goal is to make one hundred friends during her time in high school. To this end, he decides to lend her a helping hand, thus also becoming her first-ever friend.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Komi, Shouko Main

Koga, Aoi Japanese

Tadano, Hitohito Main

Kajiwara, Gakuto Japanese

Osana, Najimi Supporting

Murakawa, Rie Japanese

Otori, Kaede Supporting

Moriyama, Yurika Japanese

Komi, Shousuke Supporting

Enoki, Junya Japanese

Onemine, Nene Supporting

Aoki, Ruriko Japanese

Nakanaka, Omoharu Supporting

Ookubo, Rumi Japanese

Komi, Shuuko Supporting

Inoue, Kikuko Japanese

Agari, Himiko Supporting

Fujii, Yukiyo Japanese

Tadano, Hitomi Supporting

Uchida, Maaya Japanese

Beniya, Yoshikazu Producer

Kojima, Hiroaki Producer

Kondou, Shuuhou Producer

Taniguchi, Hiroyasu Producer

Reviews

Dec 22, 2021

Stark700

Recommended

The inevitable happened. One of the most requested manga to get an anime adaptation finally gets what it deserves. After waiting for what felt like forever, Komi Can't Communicate by mangaka Tomohito Oda gets its treat when we are graced with 12 animated episodes. Yes, the manga is much longer and is still ongoing. But as an anime, Komi Can't Communicate represent the testament of a modern school life comedy done right.

School life anime these days relies heavily on relationship building or coming of age stories that tells about the lives of characters. Komi Can't Communicate is a show that appeals to an audience seeking ... for not just those elements but also be entertained by colorful character personalities. At its center is Shouko Komi, who makes a fabulous debut at school. She's practically worshipped by everyone but has a deep anxiety. It isn't until she meets a boy named Tadano where she begins to open up. Nonetheless, the first episode makes what I'd call an intense impression. This is capitalized by Komi's over-the-top reaction to meeting Tadano and how we come to realize just the depth of her social anxiety problems.

It's made clear that Komi suffers from emotional problems related to anxiety and trouble communicating with others. The English title literally sells itself in those three words: Komi can't communicate. Because at heart, Komi wants to make friends and made a goal to earn 100 friends at school. The journey is not an easy one because even with help, she ultimately has to come out of her shell and make those friends herself. With every episode, we see Komi learning how to communicate and overcome her struggles. With every step step she takes in communicating with others, she grows a little bit stronger with herself. Thanks to Tadano's guidance, the anime makes it clear that he cares about Komi as a friend. Thus, Tadano is Komi's first true friend. Every journey begins with the first step after all and let's just say that there's pretty much no better choice in this show than having Tadano as her life coach.

With that being said, we are introduced to a host of other characters from the manga. Characters such as Najimi, Akako, Ren, Omoharu, and among others make their appearance in various episodes. They connect with Komi all in different ways, but most of them seem to trigger Komi's anxiety whether they realize it or not. But perhaps unconsciously, Komi also attempts to break from her anxiety levels and sometimes even interact with them. Remember, one of her life long goal is to make 100 friends and every person counts. What this show does to draw audience's attention is her reaction and personality. It's almost impossibe to ignore her signature wide eyed expressions that has become stable to the show. I'd like to call this the Komi-san syndrome that's exclusive to her personality. Used as a character gag and plot element, Komi's character truly is symbolic. Anxiety is not easy to overcome and obviously, this anime takes it to a whole new level. With Komi being poster girl, you'd have to see to believe just how deep her anxiety truly is.

Then again, anxiety is an issue most, if not all of us had experienced sometimes in our lifetime. Komi just takes her anxiety levels to the extreme. It's actually quite natural for her to react with such anxiety levels, because let's face it, she's just a normal girl with a graceful look and attracts everyone with her beauty and talent. Anxiety is her weakness and Tadano is there to resolve it. The relationship building between the two is contagiously fun to watch due to how different the two characters are. Both learn from each other and faces everyday challenges like normal people would. Speaking of challenges, the show had to make ways for Komi to communicate to her peers even if she almost never speaks. Through the clever usage of writing and body language, Komi is able to get her point across.

You may also be asking how on Earth this show can adapt such a long ongoing manga and the easy answer is that it can't at the moment. The anime captures the essence and general themes of the manga but the ongoing story offers so much more. Luckily, this season has graced us with such a colorful character cast. Some anime franchises focuses on friendship themes in the most monotonous ways possible. This show goes beyond expectations and tipify how a school comedy should be.

Even at just 12 episodes, OLM knew what the audience wanted and that is bringing the anime adaptation to life from the manga. From the start, we see how characters are made with simple yet effective designs. Obviously, Komi represents the Yamato Nadeshiko of the the show but we can't forget the rest of the cast either. Characters such as Ren and Najimi make us turn our heads thanks to their personality gags. And speaking of gags, a recurring one is Komi's signature bug eyes that never ceases to entertain. That is to say, if you want to experience comedy, this is where the magic happens. And finally, I have to admit that the theme songs are very well decorated with not just a catchy tone but full of youth and gracefulness.

Komi Can't Communicate is an anime that I can safely say that lives up to its hype despite being just 12 episodes this season. It found success thanks to the unique nature of its comedy and using its characters to entertain us each episode. School comedy these days can be a hit or miss. Some are well remembered for years while others are an embarassment to the anime medium. Komi Can't Communicate is where we'll all have something to talk about for years to come.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Dec 22, 2021

SingleH

Mixed Feelings

This show has two fundamental problems, and without them, it would be perfect. I read 119 chapters of the manga a few years ago, and I always thought it would be nearly impossible to adapt, because the artwork had a very particular charm to it which I felt would prove too difficult to capture in animation. However, my worries were rendered pointless, because not only is this show nicely animated, but the brilliant directorial decision was made to include the on-screen text gags from the manga, and the chibi faces were adapted with no compromise. In fact, these elements were included so faithfully, it may ... actually fault the adaptation as an anime, because most subtitles will be insufficient to translate everything on screen, and the character designs, while very cute, often look weird in motion due to their eccentric dimensions. In my opinion, this anime is the perfect realization of the manga, so by extension, its only problems are problems it also had in manga form. After all, there’s a reason I stopped reading it, even after so many chapters. Komi-san wa, Comyushou desu is the show where the cute standoffish waifu is not only the gimmick, but also the entire storyline, and if this sounds like little more than skin and bones, it is. You know how long-running shounen anime will have tiny bits of romantic tension between the hero and the heroine, but never progresses their relationship for hundreds of episodes because the real focus of the story is action adventure, and the romantic tension is really just there to bait people into drawing doujins and shipping characters? This show is what would happen if you took that annoying background joke used to bait viewers into getting invested in a functionally non-existent relationship and made it the central crux of a narrative. Now look. I’m not made of stone over here. This show is famous for its heartwarming wholesomeness and pure, distilled cuteness, and while I’m not immune to this adorable nature, these are mere cherries on top of a much less appetizing pile of sweets.

Problem 1: Not funny.
Komi is stunningly beautiful and everyone idolizes her to the point of worship, but she has extreme social anxiety and can’t comfortably speak to anyone. Undeterred, her mission throughout the series is to make one hundred friends, and our protagonist, Tadano, seeks to help her do so. This is all fine and dandy until you realize that in order for the story to actually achieve this goal, it’s going to have to juggle literally one hundred different side characters, so the author seemingly decided the only way to do this in a digestible fashion was to make every new character one-dimensional archetypes. The vast majority of the show is dedicated to setting up these extensive comedy sketches which are never funny and always overstay their welcome, because the characters at their foundation are utterly uninteresting. “You want to be friends? Really?! With me? Why of course I’ll be your dog! Oh! I meant to say friend! Woof, woof! I’ll lick your shoes Komi, just like a friend should! Get it? I look like a shy klutz, but I’m actually a huge masochist! Isn’t that so silly? Well, I hope so, I hope you’re laughing, because this bit is going to last for FIFTY MORE SECONDS!” The show is at its best when it relies on blunt comedy and overplayed absurdity, like when it hard cuts to the yandere girl wearing a demon mask whenever someone interrupts her time with Komi, or like when Komi’s mom jokes about her having a nice chat with her ancestors and the gravestone emotes. That’s comedy. The background gags are oddly funnier than the actual jokes sometimes too. Like, pedestrians on the street will just say ridiculous shit that’s so well timed, and all the starstruck students being sociopathically obsessed with Komi never gets old. There is some down-to-earth jokes, like Agari having no reaction to Komi’s summer uniform because she’s too worried about her flabby triceps showing, but those are few and far between.

Problem 2: Repetition.
The story about the autistic girl who wants to break out of her shell and make friends has been done more times than I can count, and while this show still comes out feeling genuine with all its little emotions to make everything feel worthwhile, it never truly escapes its initial simplicity or unoriginality. However, neither the simplicity nor the unoriginality is the real issue. The real issue is that those inadequacies are compounded by repetition. This show is so repetitive it hurts. A story I’ve seen a million times? Whatever, that’s fine. A cast of characters I’ve seen a million times? Whatever, that’s fine. Jokes and gags I’ve seen a million times? Whatever, that’s fine. What isn’t fine is repeating the same comedic/dramatic blueprint over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over ad infinitum. I’ve always said what matters is execution, and even the most standard concept can write its way to a masterpiece, but at no point does Komi-san attempt to freshen its formula. Every character arc is the same, every conflict is resolved the same, and even the jokes all hinge on similar punch lines. With that said, though, I think I’ve figured out why this is.

Komi-san wa, Comyushou desu was originally a one-shot, not a long-running manga. The material from the one-shot isn’t repeated in the manga, nor is it adapted in the anime, but while the literal context is different, its thematic content is identical to that of the first six chapters (the first episode of the anime). The official manga version cuts it down to its most essential elements and is ultimately much better told, but in both iterations, the story that’s there feels complete. An average boy suddenly has a chance to talk to the most beautiful girl in school, and through her unexpected awkwardness and ineptitude, he learns that everyone has issues no matter their looks and status. It’s a short, touching, satisfying coming-of-age story that feels conclusive. The anime almost seems to acknowledge this finality as well, because while every episode looks fine, episode one is ridiculously over-produced and, at times, has downright movie quality animation with super unique and striking storyboards. It’s like they put the vast majority of their time and effort into episode one, because they knew it’s all that really mattered. And the problem I’m getting at shows its face immediately. In episode two, the character Najimi asks Komi, “Why did you want to be friends with me anyway?” And while the question is brushed off, anyone paying attention should come away with the sneaking suspicion there is no answer to that question. The desire for friends is just a theme. Tadano courted Najimi on her behalf, she has no chemistry with Najimi, her relationship with Najimi is completely one-sided, and this can be said for every friend she makes throughout the series. There is simply no real connection being made with anyone other than Tadano, and it makes the show feel dishonest and superficial when it truly does have the best of intentions. It obviously wasn’t meant to be a long-running story; it was meant to be a one-shot. Needless to say, this problem is exacerbated greatly in the manga which is now over three hundred exhausting chapters long, with no signs of stopping.

Thank you for reading.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Dec 22, 2021

Josephpaul

Not Recommended

“Why use style over substance, when you can use style to fake substance”
~RealKurapikaTard (RIP)

--SPOILER FREE REVIEW BECAUSE ABSOLUTELY NOTHING HAPPENS IN THIS CRAP WORTH MENTIONING--

This was a frustrating watch to say the least. Expectations were non existent and this still left me in a sour mood.Comedy is a genre that is the most controversial to work with and critique, after all what someone finds funny differs from person to person.
But never have I seen such a bland, repetitive, generic piece of media that has ridden the hype train so far, that a vast majority of viewers actually think it is good in any way.

I went ... into Komi expecting a story similar to A Silent voice(Koe no Katachi) where the work atleast attempts to tackle social issues and disorders present in kids and young teens head-on seriously, but instead all I got was an overexaggerated, pathetic, kawaiified version for otakus to call their waifu and goddess. The characters are singlehandedly the worst part of the show. Every single character is a cardboard cut-out generic excuse for substance and has absolutely nothing unique or interesting about them. Characters and plot don't always need to have excellent writing with deep morals or philosophy behind them to be enjoyable but when a piece of art fails even to suffice the bare minimum you can rest assured that it is not worth a minute of your time.

Komi and her disorder is unnecessarily exaggerated and treated as a gag joke that got old in 3 eps. She has nothing going for her except that every person in the show drools over her and are obsessed with doing anything remotely close to her.
Tadano is a bland typical dense shy nice guy that we've seen a hundred times already. Himiko the stupid masochistic submissive dog female who's name I googled ten minutes back, is perhaps the unfunniest and cringiest character ever. Her existence makes me skip scenes as if I were watching a kissing scene in a movie with my parents.

Every episode plays out exactly the same way.
-Komi has a problem
-The whole world bows at her feet and worships her
-They make a few dumb jokes. Show a little bit of teasing and hints relating to romance. Some character either gets in the way of things or Tadano is too stupid and dense.
-Problem solved everyone happy
-REPEAT THE SAME SHIT.
There's absolutely no change in plot structure, jokes or any sort of development and it was tiresome to get through.

On a more positive side atleast the art and opening is good or else I wouldn't have even completed the show. The animation is fluid and crisp, although the Music and the character designs are nothing worth speaking of.

CONCLUSION:
It is nothing more than plain average predictable unfunny comedy that outstayed it's welcome. If you're looking for a show to play in the background and still follow without paying any attention to prevent losing braincells I highly recommend this. If you don't want to waste your time find something else from the plethora of titles available for your consumption.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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	Netflix out here refusing to translate the text LRConkdor - Oct 29, 2021	21 replies	by LargeHamburger »» Feb 25, 11:21 AM
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