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Watamote, an anime put under the subcategory of "humor", may have accomplished that title. However, we all understand that it is so much more than that - it was written as a slice of life anime for all of the loners, wallflowers, awkward kids and general outcasts of the world. To anyone else, this anime would be quickly dismissed, and the main character would be seen as too artificial, unchanging and improbably far gone as a person. However, especially for the group it's trying to appeal to, it targets deep subconscious emotions and memories of our past and present, granting us with a powerful sense ... of catharsis. We feel her as a blurred reflection of ourselves when we stare into the mirror at our broken figures.

As a character, I would give her almost a perfect score for these reasons. However, as I stated, her inability to evolve and grow as a character makes the anime a little painful to watch. You sit there twiddling your thumbs, gripping your thigh, waiting for the sweet release of tension as Tomoko accomplishes feats or gets bits of luck. Don't hold your breath though, the manga is very similar to the anime in the sense of those characteristics. Personally, I am someone who enjoys watching animes that are unchanging and not very concerned about plots because they feel more authentic and realistic. As a slice of life anime, it achieved its sole purpose and recognizes that we, as people, take ages to evolve into anything besides what we are used to.

The animation style has some seriously unique traits - the characters that are irrelevant are typically given grey silhouettes as to divert focus away from them. Typically, it's done to classmates, but when Tomoko feels irrelevant, the shadow is passed onto her instead. One other interesting trait is how the characters are not always drawn with eyes, as to display how their individuality and uniqueness are severely limited - a trait that is seen as passed onto boring, superficial characters with no backstories.

All in all, Watamote is an anime that requires the individual watching it to fit their target audience, in order for one to enjoy it. Reasons being is that it lacks plot, does not evolve and is impossible to get through an episode without feeling vicarious embarrassment from her awkward encounters. On the other hand, the feeling of being able to sympathize with Tomoko provides a beautiful sense of catharsis. It is wonderfully written in the number of relatable situations they provide you with. It's a true story of fighting and willingness for achieving acceptance, but lets you down much as real life does. But perhaps Tomoko is not as unfortunate as she personally believes, as many characters will express interest in her when she does not notice.

This is an anime you must decide beforehand whether you fit the criteria of their target audience, because this is not an anime where ratings drift around the mean, but rather one where you either love it or you hate it. You'll either be sick of it by episode 3, or determined to keep coming back for more.

It's an absolute embarrassment how highly this show is rated in the Anime community, over many long running and sophisticated animes that took effort to write and sent emotions running high and low. I feel like this rating is driven purely by emotion from people who enjoy the eccentricity of a self-aware anime. To be fair, that is a very comedic aspect and is worth some points. However, this anime was never meant to be serious and has been drastically overrated for the aforementioned reason. The storyline is very shallow and it seems like it was put together on the spot as you continue through ... episodes. It becomes very dreadful to watch only a few episodes in and the focus turns away from Saitama. Saitama has a very unique personality, and his apprentice has a satirical unfitting one. But characters fade in and out of the show quickly, with no real connections being made between the watcher and other characters. Also, the comedy is very one-dimensional for a series based on comedy. It focuses solely on exaggerations and comic relief. The art is arguably very creative for people who don't mind the styles switching once and a while, and that was a plus for me. It actually adds to it's eccentricity. Anyway, in conclusion, I'd give it somewhere between a 3 and a 4.