Watashi ga Motenai no wa Dou Kangaetemo Omaera ga Warui!

I simply wanted to say that Watamote is one of the most depressing anime I've ever watched. Just as I kept watching it, I couldn't stop wondering how much it would've took to reach the end. This anime has often been described to me as "realistic", "relatable" and "funny", and as a fool, I believed that it would've actually been a fun trip. It is even labelled as "Comedy" on almost every website.

The show itself is nothing but a lonley and geeky high-school girl ( Her name is Tomoko ) and her struggle to integrate herself into the society and make friends. At first, seems ... relatable towards the ones who have or had the same problems, but it truly isn't. The title itself says "No matter how I look at it, it's your guys' fault if I'm not popular", but it is actually Tomoko's own fault for being so bad, and isolated. Now, you'd expect such a character to be not cold nor hot, to have her issues but a positive side, something that we can say about her that would not be as we think... Instead, she's straight up rude, awkward and disrespectful, either with people she doesn't know or her own family.

The story is just filled with sadness, all over it. Not a happy, or even NORMAL moment. For those who praise this anime for being "realistic" clearly didn't think this through, as the show is filled with clichés and silliness. As an outcast and anti-social person, I can describe Tomoko's experiences past and present as totally unrealistic and odd. Like the fact that in an entire week of school, she had not shared a word with ANYONE exept a barely said "Goodbye" to her teacher. Which she took like a win to the lottery, by the way.
There are also dozens of references to other anime, that are nowhere near subtle, as the only thing that stops from saying their respective name is a censorship *"beep"* in the dialogue. Not only some of these reference are out of place, but they are so obvious and in-your-face that I couldn't even enjoy or appreciate them, and I like parodies.

The characters are basically clichés and nonexistent, as this anime focuses only on one and one character only.

The animation is mediocre, with good, but often overwhelming effects and lazy scenes that can easily be improved. The music can hardly be noticed, and barely adds any impact to any scene. Which is a shame, since the opening is absolutely awesome, and despite the ED isn't one of the best, it is very creative.

The voice acting is well done, but when 80% of the dialogue are just inner thoughts coming from the main character, you can barely notice it.

Overall, no character, nor story development whatsoever. If I'd just put some percentage to sum it all up, it would be:
60% Depression
30% Random references to other shows
1% Actually relatable scenes
2% Of out of nowhere useless Ecchi you can't even predict
And 7% of western and anime clichés spread around in random order.

I do not recommend this anime, unless you really enjoy tragic "comedies" or find funny a depressed girl that threatens to kill herself if she doesn't talk to her brother once in a while.
Solid 3/10 and I'm being generous.

Along with Free!, Gatchaman Crowds and Danganronpa, Watamote was one of the most famous animes of Summer 2013. Everyone talked about Watamote. It was Watamote here, Watamote there. Everybody loved this anime. And I'm still wondering why.

The art is good, the animation is OK, the sound department is decent. The characters were well written and, even that I don't relate to her, Tomoko deserved to be a highlight.

But the story is what kills Watamote. Nothing happens during the series. I didn't expect a killing like Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. I didn't even want she to become popular, what would make the name senseless. But ... I expected something to happen. Episode after episode, she tries to change her reality, but fails. She tries and fails. She tries and fails. She tries and fails. 12 episodes of failure after failure. If you watched the first episode, you watched the whole series.

If Watamote was an OVA, I would accept it better. But a TV series? It's almost unbearable.

And "Oh, you didn't understand the concept of the series/the character" is not a good excuse.

Watashi ga motenai no wa dō kangaetemo omaera ga warui (try saying that three times fast) or Watamote is a slice of life comedy manga written by Tanigawa Nico and published by Square Enix. The anime adaptation was handled by Silver Link, the studio behind Baka to Test (one of the worst things I've ever seen), and they've produced nothing else I've seen. I just hope this is nothing like their other slice of life comedy or I'm in for roughly three unfunny, unpleasant and problematic jokes repeated over and over and over again until I have to go back on anti-depressants. Let's take a ... look.

The “story” focuses on the High school life of Tomoko Kuroki, an unpopular girl who barely interacts with her classmates. Not that there's anything wrong with preferring solitude. The problem is that Tomoko wants to make friends and interact with people, but the only people she can talk to normally are her family and the vast majority of her social experiences come from dating sims. So, how well do the comedic elements work? To be honest, they don't. Most of the jokes are based either on Tomoko doing things that are kind of stupid or socially awkward or based on her general lack of social graces. And there's a big difference between awkward and funny. They can overlap, but they don't very often and this series isn't good enough to pull that off. Consequently, a lot of the series just drags and involves nothing of consequence or interest happening. Just long periods of Tomoko's inner monologue, which can basically be summarised as “I wish I was more popular. Maybe if I tried *insert stupid thing here* I could change my image and be popular.” It might have been good for a few laughs if her ideas were interesting or if the execution had been good, but that doesn't happen. Her ideas are stupid and usually lead to a few gags that you'll probably be able to see coming really quickly and which would only be mildly amusing at best if you didn't anticipate them.

The characters in this aren't interesting. You've got the socially inept Tomoko. Her more popular younger brother who basically serves the purpose of pointing out her failings and occasionally giving her her comeuppance. Their parents, who are pretty much only there for reaction shots and to do generic parent things. They don't even have names, that's how generic they are. The only other important character is Yuu, Tomoko's only friend. The rest of the characters are relegated to the background and rarely get to say or do anything or they're one-shot characters who show up in an episode or two. With so few reoccurring characters, you'd think they could take some time to develop them. They don't. The only one who gets even a slight amount of development is Tomoko. Who goes from being socially inept to showing very slight signs of improvement by the end. And the series never gives you a reason to care. Yes, she's pathetic, but she's also pretty unsympathetic and her problems are almost entirely her own fault.

The art isn't very good. A lot of the animation looks kind of blocky. Furthermore, Watamote as a whole is just kind of lazy. There are a lot of scenes that linger for no real reason. The worst offender is one of Tomoko's fantasy scenes that lasts for about five minutes and has really slowly moving, stagnant art. The worst part is that there's absolutely no reason for it to go that slowly. The scene isn't funny, nor does it do anything for the narrative. My guess is that they just drug it out so they wouldn't have to animate as much. There are also scenes that get pretty much recycled. The backgrounds are pretty bare minimum as are the character designs.

The sound is... okay. Kitta Izumi does a decent job of sounding painfully shy. But most of the characters don't have a range of emotions to work with so their performances end up kind of flat. Nakamura Yuuichi, for example, just sounds annoyed with every line of dialogue he's given. Hanazawa Kana gets two emotions. Vaguely excited and concerned. All in all, there's no chance for the actors to shine.

The Ho-yay factor is a 3/10. Tomoko has a pretty obvious crush on Yuu, at one point going so far as to fantasize about groping her. But they never do anything with it except for the occasional throw away line or scene that heavily implies it.

That was Watamote. Is it as bad as Baka to test? Well, no. The “humour” in it may fall flat and it may drag, but it's not terrible or infuriating, mostly. The characters, as underdeveloped as they are, are still stronger than the characters in Baka to Test. But while it's not terrible, it's also not good. Watamote's biggest problem is just that it's dull. You get long stretches of nothing followed by an awkward moment that you're supposed to find funny because... Tanigawa thinks awkward equates to funny? My final rating is going to be a 3/10. I can really only recommend it if you think awkward moments are hilarious. Otherwise you're probably going to be as thoroughly unamused as I was. Next week, Dennou Coil.

I always enjoy a good anime that is about otakus and loners but If you were expecting anime like NHK, Jellyfish princess, Boku wa tomodachi or My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU you will be disappointed.

The Bad

Story

The story here is none existent. The anime is episodic like the western cartoons where you can probably start watching at any point without having to worry if you have missed anything.

Character

The main character is a loner who wants to be popular. She does not develop throughout the entire series and stays the same she was in the first episode. That right there is a big red ... flag for any anime series that has a main character like the one in this series. There is an error in the description of the series. The main character is not a shut in since she has no problems going outside or going into crowded places if she wants to. Also i don't think this should be classified as a shounen anime since i don't think boys will be able to relate to this character as easily as girls.
The girls and boys that are her age have personalities that are not believable and to make it worst, they all have the same personalities, have the same likes, dislikes and the only difference is their appearance.


Enjoyment and Conclusion

I found myself bored while watching this series but I kept on watching since i was killing time. This series had allot of potential and if they were not so focused on making this into a humorous story, they could have tried putting this character into a believable world and allowing her to develop into a proper member of society.

This is as shallow as a moe anime.Even as a lighthearted comedy its bad,and done in bad taste.There are those that bash moe anime and defend this show, its dumb as hell.It isn't enough for the shallow moe shit anyome,now we need to create anime that hate on stuff that is actually great.Time for me to rip this a new one.

Some say "this show is above moeshit". I say all the shallow rape and masturbation jokes this show has is just to show that she is a loser.Are you sure it is really any better?This show 's premise is the plot, basically this antisocial girl(magically ... due to galgae,not attitude or anything) has no friends,and just a running gag on her trying and watching her fail.There is no plot, there is no character, she is just an example of a textbook "otaku".

This is not even a decent reflection of an antisocial,not once did she seem to act like an actual person.She just keeps being stupid for the sake of it.So i am supped to pity her cause she is anti social,yeah about that later on you find out she had friends.

This is obviously an anime that sees the world in black and white and for those with no original thoughts and feelings of their own.

Spoilers alert, I guess. I don't go into specific episodes/scenes, though.


Let me tell you a little story about one of the worst creations to come out of the cesspool that is 2ch--which is basically Japanese Reddit, before Reddit was a thing. Back in 2004 an anime called Rozen Maiden was airing, and one of the main characters was named Suiseiseki. You need not know about the specifics of the anime, or the character: all you need to know was that Suiseiseki, aside from very rare moments, was yet another one of the many ungrateful, arrogant, and irrationally violent tsunderes that were rampant in anime around ... the time, and her sole purpose in life was to make the main character as miserable as possible. Fast-forward a year or two: a character that had been created from the darkest recesses of 2ch was gradually gaining a name for itself--based on a horrible drawing of Suiseiseki that aims to emphasize the uncanny valley effect, this character was named Jissouseki (実装石). Although it initially had several interpretations, stories, and characterizations, all other uses ceased to be as Jissouseki's core features were decided upon: Jissousekis would become the most pathetic, weak, and vile creatures to ever exist. Jissousekis were all of the negative aspects of Suiseiseki turned up to 12: they had the strength of a newborn baby, the agility of a goldfish on land, the perceptive powers of an amoeba, the lifespan of a cicada, and the face of a Cacodemon that had had way, way too many cigarettes. Thus, they were completely dependent on their human masters for survival: even so, they would constantly mock their masters, condescendingly ordering them to get expensive sushi and steak, before proceeding to eat their own feces, or worse, their own children. They feared the likes of domesticated dogs and cats and other small animals, yet would challenge their human masters just because they understood their language, demanding they obey their every whim--already having forgotten that their masters had run out of their patience and just bludgeoned one of their kind to death right in front of them, 5 seconds ago. Jissouseki stories usually went two ways: either the human master is a 'saint' and has it in their heart to care for these utterly ungrateful creatures, or their masters would take joy in the moment they would reduce these monsters into little green pools of blood. The key here is violence: unbridled, over-the-top violence against these lowly and unworthy Jissousekis, to feel better than these disgusting hell-spawn by lifting their baseless hopes up, only to have them come crashing down. Jissouseki comics are incredibly graphic, frequently showing dismemberment, decapitation, amputations, and all kinds of acts that usually belong in snuff films. DO NOT search it unless you're morbidly curious, and don't say I didn't warn you.

So, why am I telling you this unappetizing story? Because watching Watamote made me remember these horrible abominations. Or rather, the attitude that the creators have toward the main character reminded me of how Jissousekis are treated. More on that later.

Anyway, Watamote's plot is that a high school student named Tomoko, after realizing that she is the furthest one could possibly be from being the school idol, takes various steps to increase her popularity. The problem is that Tomoko is an unattractive, unkempt, socially awkward otaku who can't even properly hold a conversation with the nearest McDonald's part-timer, and can barely whisper out an inaudible 'yes' or 'no' to any given question. What ensues are the various endeavors she undergoes to increase her popularity with the help of her brother and friend, and the catastrophic blunders she makes along every step of the way. These blunders are supposed to be funny. They're not. It took me several days to properly watch this anime: I had to pause almost every 5 minutes because of the sheer amount of discomfort I felt whenever Tomoko, uh, 'exceeded my expectations'.

Granted, the animation can be quite decent, especially when Tomoko lets her fantasies run wild. The show does not pull any stops when portraying Tomoko's countless failures. Her face constantly changes to accommodate her current mood, her vomit will be displayed at a crisp frame-rate, etc. Kitta Izumi's voice acting as Tomoko is also quite stellar: she makes sure to act out Tomoko as the creepy otaku girl and her diverse range of reactions, yet can also portray Tomoko's idealized version of herself during her daydreams just fine. Those are this show's only redeeming qualities.

Why is that so? It's simple: Tomoko is the most unrealistically unlikable caricature of a human being that could exist. You see, Tomoko's desire to improve herself is not because she truly understands her predicament or how she's viewed by everyone else, or a desire to have a connection with her fellow human beings. She doesn't want to be better: what she 'really' wants is for everyone to be worse than she is, since claiming that everyone is worse than you are takes considerably less effort than actually owning up to your problems and trying to dig yourself out of them. Tomoko needs to feel superior to everyone else so she can keep living out her shut-in otaku life, and to continue doing so will cling to the few safe grounds she has left. She fantasizes about dating various boys and becoming popular out of the blue, yet mocks whoever she can whenever they do something she can only daydream about, even something as simple as going to a karaoke. She secretly mocks her only friend and the various strides she took to better herself, ranging from calling her an airhead to a bitch/slut, yet clings to her when she, in Tomoko's eyes, shows signs of ditching Tomoko to pursue a vibrant high school life without her.

The spectrum of emotions Tomoko displays when she's faced with any problem ranges from cowardice to denial, delusional to suicidal, and depressed to unbearably smug. Her cataclysmal lack of social awareness, combined with her constant self-deprecation and unwillingness to apply any kind of critical thinking or common sense when presented with a problem further strengthens her warped perception of reality where she's just a misunderstood genius, and said perception feeds into both her delusions and social ineptitude. This vicious cycle, in the context of the anime, always results in her committing several faux pas in a single episode, with varying degrees of awkward and humiliating situations. Tomoko is the personification of what Japan thinks otakus are at their absolute worst: creepy, passive-aggressive, opportunistic, anti-social, egotistical, irreceptive of any criticism towards anything remotely related to themselves, and, worst of all, completely oblivious to their own demeanor.

It is because Tomoko is so thoroughly unlikable that every single one of her attempts to socialize is not only painful to look at, but also rings hollow even in her self-proclaimed 'victory'. What counts as social interactions for her are equivalent to a baby shouting out whatever word it heard from their surroundings. If she succeeds, you can make sure she'll goad about it the very next moment in the most frustratingly condescending way ever, especially so because said victory never truly mattered. If she fails, she will fail in the most unfunny and miserable way imaginable, and she is guaranteed to swing back and forth from denial to endless self-induced verbal abuse. And she will fail. Again. And again. And again. And again. And just when you think she couldn't fail again, she will manage to do so in the most exaggerated, spectacularly painful and self-degrading way possible, further dragging her into self-pity and misery. Tomoko must fail in order for the 'comedy' of the show to continue; she must be the most pathetic being imaginable; she must be MORE pathetic than any viewer imaginable, just like Jissouseki, who's not even a human. She must fail, for if she starts succeeding even a little bit, the cycle cannot continue.

When someone makes a mistake once, it is sometimes quite hilarious, and people can joke about said mishap. When they do so for a second, then a third, then a fourth and fifth time, it's no longer funny. For what you're witnessing is no longer a mistake: it is a display of willful ignorance and total denial. That 'mistake' will happen again, because it's not a freak accident: it's a pattern, and one you're all too familiar with. You're watching someone with several mental health and self-esteem issues develop an increasingly self-destructive outlook on life, and watching their mental fortitude deteriorate by the minute. You don't even like that person, and yet it's still too much. They will repeatedly do so, and continue to fumble about.

THAT is the humor of this show. The extent of the comedy in this show is that you're beating a dying animal to death, and laughing at how it twitches in pain at an impossible angle until you can hear it choking on its own blood. Oh, and it also shit itself. Shitting yourself is funny, right? And if it was funny once, then it's okay to do it over and over again, right? Next time it'll just have to shit out rainbows, and everyone will be howling with laughter, right?

Do you see now why I compared Jissouseki and Tomoko, and why I cannot stand either of them? They were purposely created to be repulsive, incapable, spineless, and most importantly, defenseless. Both of their stories are centered around getting a kick from watching them be kicked around. The more pathetic they are, and the harder you kick them, the greater the resulting humor and catharsis from watching their downfall, supposedly. Except Jissouseki is, at the very least, non-human. Tomoko is 'supposed' to be a human. Impure intentions and illusions of grandeur aside, Tomoko's dreams are not that too far off from other people: she just wants to feel normal and live a decent life, without having to feel so uncomfortable in her own skin. Compared to her fantasies, this is a tangible and realistic goal that can be reached with adequate help. However, the story dictates that this can never come true, and will strike her down at the quickest moment: we are robbed of any lasting progress and potential character development to, yet again, witness Tomoko regress to the sub-human she is preordained to be.

Watamote is, in one word, abusive. Abusive towards Tomoko, for there is no scenario in which she wins or gets what she wants. She lacks the skills necessary to get what she wants, and she doesn't know what she actually wants: Tomoko's struggles were destined for failure from the very start. Watamote is also abusive towards its viewers: it goes out of its way to make absolutely sure that every single day of Tomoko's life is filled with sorrow and humiliation, and the synergy of the unusual cruelty of the story and Tomoko's own thick demeanor results in the viewers being the ones who go through the brunt of the embarrassment she is subject to. Nothing is gained, for Tomoko or the viewers: there is no resolution, no hope, and no form of catharsis. There is no progress. Tomoko does not gain crucial knowledge of her surroundings or her own situation. She does not make herself known to her classmates, or shows her resolve in any meaningful, lasting manner. She does not suddenly transform into a 'better' person, and she does not suddenly get loads of friends. Hell, she does not become close to ONE new person throughout the entire 12 episodes, let alone make a new friend. She remains, and will be, blissfully unaware of herself. Everything Tomoko does is inefficient, unnecessary, and serves only to further sully the last vestiges of her dignity. She will repeat this fruitless cycle endlessly, cursed to act out her Sisyphean floundering. I watched a comedy, and have come out of it feeling...sad. It's just so sad. Watamote is the most sadistic and vacuous enaction of human futility I have ever seen, and I never want to think about it ever again.

Social anxiety is something that I have to deal with almost every day. Though I’m still not that comfortable talking to someone that I’m not familiar with, I’ve learned to control this “illness” by keeping everyone at an arm’s length. I hide behind my personal shell in order to be as professional as I possibly can. Now, back tracking to 2 years ago, a certain show came up. Watashi ga Motenai no Wa Dou Kangaete mou Omaera ga Warui! (yeah, I typed that. No google.), Watamote... a show that has the same premise that people with same “illness” are supposed to relate to. Well, at ... least that’s what the show intended to do… on paper.

Story:

Now, forgive me when I say this but this show… is shit. That’s your cue to get the fuck out if you’re one of the few people who liked this series. I don’t know why people love this show so much when it came out. This show was made not for people with social anxieties to relate with but this show is rather made in order to make fun of them. People go “Oh, I know what it feels to be in this situation. I feel for her.” but at the end of the day, let’s be honest, all the situations she’s been through is created for comedic reasons. I have a hunch that the author of the manga is one of the “popular ones” that knows someone like Tomoko and goes something like “Hah! This human’s situation is ridiculously amusing, I should make a manga even if my drawings are as bad as her situations so I can sell it and make some quick buck.”. I’d like to say that the series HAD potential after the first episode but rather than improving her situation, nothing changes apart from her situation getting worse every episode. To quote Alain from Bakashift, “the entire series is the first episode 12 times”. This is a review of the anime but from what I’ve seen in the manga, nothing has changed. There’s a scene in the manga where she was participating in a marathon then she suddenly felt an urge to shit. What did she do? She knocked on the door of a total stranger and asked the homeowner if she can use their bathroom… *sigh*. That’s the last chapter I’ve seen and decided to never again touch that abomination. Let’s just make one thing clear… I’m not offended on how the series made fun of my previous/semi-present situation. I don’t take any show to a personal level (except ef: melodies & oregairu) so don’t start pointing fingers.

Character:

Every character in this series is more interesting than the main character. See, their personalities are so colorful and interesting that sometimes I wonder what will happen if they’re taken out of the series to be moved to a completely different show as the main character. I can surely watch that show and probably not be pissed about it. In the topic of moving characters from this series to another, I wonder what’ll happen if I move Tomoko and put her in a series like Berserk, Deadman Wonderland, or High School of The Dead/Gyo? I just want to see her get killed miserably and have a good laugh so forgive me. Hmm… Now, for the sake of my reviewing format, let’s talk about the “main character” Kuroki Tomoko.

See, I can understand her situation if she got bullied or something but no such thing was mentioned in the series or in the manga from what I’ve read. Why is she such a despicable tiny little shit? No one in the series (except her younger brother) talks badly about her yet she treats everybody like they’re trash. Maybe, just maybe, this is her way to hide her inferiority complex but still… why? Also, she calls her best friend, the ONLY ONE person that she can portray herself as herself a bitch? You know as an atheist, I don’t believe in hell but let me just say that there’s a special place in hell for people like her. I really don’t think she has any redeemable traits. Wait, let’s be fair, I’ll think about it for a minute… just a minute… Hmmm… She’s a liar, she cheats to beat kids in card games, she searches pictures of penises on her phone during class, she badmouths everybody… nah, nothing. I hate her, that’s that. If you count that as a “redeemable trait” then by all means do so.

Animation:

Silver Link… What are the other shows they’ve made? *searches google*. Baka and Test/Akiyuki Shinbo Jr. directs a show outside Shaft, Kokoro Connect/Four kids exchange bodies while Inaba remains best girl, and this season’s (Fall 2015) “The Worst One” and The 35th Anti-Magic Platoon. Well, the studio’s not really “up-there” by a long shot by they have their merits. In Watamote, the character designs don’t really appeal to my taste but at least it’s better than what is on the manga. It’s pretty normal with some amazing utilization of angles. There are some scenes where everything goes landscape mode and that was amazing. Apart from that, nothing else. I really have nothing cool to say about the animation section because it’s pretty much average with not much about it standing out.

Sounds:

Apart from the OP and the Natsu Matsuri ED, I find everything about this soundtrack forgettable. Like in the animation section, everything when it comes to music, at least from my perspective, is pretty standard. Nothing much stood out and it was probably happy to be at least forgettable.

Now, disregarding that fact, let’s talk about the dub. Monica Rial as Tomoko… is fucking amazing. When I first heard that Monica Rial was playing as Tomoko I went “fucking nailed it!”. See, I hate, I despise, I LOATHE Monica Rial like you can’t even imagine. But that fact aside, I also know her potentials… well, if you can really call it “potential”. I know what her voice is capable of. And when I finally got the chance to re-watch it dubbed, my expectations were not betrayed. She sounds fucking awesome as Tomoko. How can I put this if you haven’t seen the dub and just refuse to? Hmm.. Let’s just say Tomoko’s seiyuu is capable of speaking fluently in English. There, the best example I can think of. Monica Rial and Tomoko’s seiyuu sounds like one person to be honest. Re-watching Watamote was a pain but since Monica Rial finally finds a role that she’s 100% compatible with, it became a bit bearable. I finished re-watching it not because I liked it but because I was deeply moved by Monica Rial’s performance which is coming from a hater, is probably a good thing, right?

Verdict:

I never really wanted to review this series but I found myself having too much to say about this series when I was looking for something to review. This series is one of the few series out there where I question myself as to why it even exists. Apparently, it was popular in 4chan but popularity is pretty subjective in my eyes. The producers were like “Oh… this manga is popular overseas! Let’s make it an anime so we can sell it abroad for a couple of bucks.” Well, I think they’ve succeeded in doing so. Now, can we stop it at that? I heard there is an ongoing petition in the internet to make another season of this series. People, if you’ve indeed signed this petition, please tell me your name and where you live so I can shake your hand personally… and burn your house.

With all that said, I’ll (not) gladly give Watamote an overall score of 4.88 out of 10. I seriously wanted to give it a lower score but since I follow my own formula when it comes to scoring, the score was somehow pulled by the animation and sounds section. I may have talked about how shit this entire series is throughout my show but it’s really not as bad as I claim it to be. Maybe it just rubs me the wrong way and didn’t laugh as much as a chuckle while watching it but who knows? You might like it if your tickle bone is softer than mine. Well, that’s your decision. Try not to use my review as an excuse to not watch it. I still recommend the series, though I don’t want to, if you want to laugh at other’s misfortunes. That’s your call.

Alternate Anime Recommendation:

For alternate recommendation, why don’t you try My Teen Romantic Comedy Snafu (I recently found out that snafu was in fact a word. I was surprised to be honest)? A series that has the same premise: a loner trying to fit in society, or rather in school. But in Snafu’s case, Hachiman, the protagonist is the textbook example of how loners should act (though he crosses the line sometimes). I’ve said before that I consider Hachiman as the torchbearer of loners worldwide and I still believe that fact.

Also, if you don’t want that, there’s always Welcome to The NHK. A show that Watamote should have been but never did. That’s all you need to know.

Well, that’s it for me. Thanks for reading again as always. Bye!

if this was 19 century i would have started this review without further adieu but this is 21 century and things have changed people enjoy watching cringe compilation on YouTube, and when PewDiePie says "pee pee" they think he is funny so i have to ask:

"what is funny?"

do you find cringe to be funny? do you like safest joke imaginable? do you like super awkward moments? if you answered yes to all of those question then this anime is what you are looking for but for my fellow boomers i have bad news to you, this anime is honestly not funny

i kept remembering a quote ... from Erma Bombeck: "There is a thin line that separates laughter and pain, comedy and tragedy, humor and hurt." while watching this anime! the Main Character is just pathetic through and through, for example EVERY SINGLE TIME any person talks to her she literally goes:"uhh....uhhhh...uhhhhhhh...anooo...wata...watashi...watashiwa..." and then runs away! if this is your idea of comedy then i'm sorry you are an incel, there is nothing funny about this especially if every single time this happens

so forget about comedy.

decent character development? well it wasn't horrendous but nothing noteworthy. i mean imagine trying to develop a character that can't talk to people

soundtracks and opening? you might enjoy the opening but no memorable soundtrack.

the art is not bad, it's decent

my suggestion is to watch welcome to NHK instead of this, because they are both related to Otaku lifestyle, but that anime is way better and funnier

The story and morals are not bad and surely a lot can relate or understand and find value here, however the writing, storytelling, humor, is cringe, repulsive, disgusting, and unnecessarily disturbing.
There’s no reason why certain things are here when it’s about a simple story about a weird teenage unpopular girl with a weird personality, yet keeping most things in her thoughts that nobody around her knows, the morality of loneliness and feeling not normal or human and the importance of not feeling alone, not being afraid, knowing that you are human, and the morality of well.. growing up, accepting the fact it’s natural and ... there’s nothing that can stop the human mind and body from changing. Knowing you aren’t that fictional imaginary character anymore and that life is changing and you have to focus on reality.

Unfortunately this is all done in a comedic and immature manner instead of a mature and empathetic one.
All meaning and all potential morals and values or interesting or memorable moments are replaced by the standard
anime comedy. I do not recommend this, a serious and necessary topic defiled and ruined by unnecessary humor.
😓

Watamote - or should i say the anime that has the most low self esteem character of all time? after my friend recommended me telling me that i should watch this anime i knew right from the start that the anime would be awful and full of cringes. but i insisted on watching nevertheless. do you enjoy watching an anime that has a girl that doesn't have any friends and has the worst personality ? or perhaps a girl that watches anime all day without doing any productive thing? people seem to find this funny. i admit there are some funny scenes ... in the anime but that doesn't remove the bad parts of it. it's incredibly awful to see a teenager that doesn't have any friends(maybe 1 and not that good friend) so is this anime worth watching? yes and no. if you love watching animes that have low self esteem character and no productivity or whatsoever then watamote is for you. if you want to watch real anime that has good character and good plot then no don't watch it.
my rate is 3/10 and these 3 points were for the sake of some scenes that made laugh a bit. if you want real comedy anime watch gintama not some shit that has a character that makes you cringe and feel sympathy for.

This is the most pretentious show I have ever seen. The show tries to make us care about the protagonist by showing how she is so sad and all but I have never seen a protagonist so unlikable meaning , if there was a negative score for character this one deserve that. Her mindset is like this "if you are an outgoing girl and have some guy friends, she will describe you as a whore and slut" i mean wtf I understand that you are not pretty and an absolute human piece of garbage but have some respect for others who are better than ... you in socializing . First of all she is just a worthless person and tries to portray everyone as a slut, she even calls her best friend a slut due to the fact that she has a boyfriend and is pretty. She also has a little brother who cleans his room and all and she calls him asshole for being nice and helping his mom. This show is the definition of cancer I mean how could anyone like this anime with a character so pathetic like this. I genuinely don't understand so yeah this anime is not even worth watching don't waste your precious time on this garbage

f**k this anime, Watamote is one of the most uncomfortable experiences I've had while watching not only an anime, but a tv show in general. Tomoko is one of the most unlikeable characters I've ever seen in an anime, she's a terrible person, there is no way around it, she is the worst girl, she's lazy, ignorant, rude, unpleasant, and socially incompetent. why anyone would consider her to be the "best girl" I have no idea, she isn't good she's just, pathetic, everything in this anime is pathetic (except the soundtrack, it's surprisingly good), the animation is standard for an anime, altho it can look ... really good at times, but the CGI, no, the CGI is dreadful, especially that one scene in the last episode, it physically hurt my eyes. The story is... there's a girl who wants to be popular, but she can't because like I said she's socially incompetent, really? just really? I ended up being bored for around 60% of this anime, 38% being uncomfortable, and the last 2% actually being entertained. In my opinion, you should really stay away from this anime and stick with... anything else, it isn't the worst anime of all time but it isn't good, at all.

Let me start off by saying the only thing even remotely decent about this anime is the art. The reason for this, is because this anime was so obnoxious and boring all together that I couldn't even finish it... I normally finish even the most appalling of anime, but this was just too much.

The pathetic story of this sounds interesting, but it's played out so horribly bad that I found myself just falling asleep in the middle of each episode. 24 minutes per episode was just way too long to bare.

The voice acting of the main character annoyed the crap out of me. Especially when ... she was talking to herself in her head. If I were her brother, I don't think I would have lived through more than a week dealing with her. I would have killed myself.

Speaking of the main character, she has got to be the worst anime character since all of the characters of One Piece. Boring and annoying. At least the One Piece of crap characters were exciting...

When I first read the description, I thought this would be a relate able and unique anime. After even one episode, I realized how horrible wrong I was... By episode 3, I began to feel I've wasted close to 4 hours of my life because of how many times I had fallen asleep and how annoying this anime had become. By episode 5, I became determined to finish this anime just to say I did as an accomplishment. Lastly, by episode 10, I gave up. I just couldn't do it.

This anime was that bad. Appalling beyond measure. Worst anime I've ever attempted to watch. If I could rate it -10, it wouldn't be negative enough.

Some spoilers ahead

Since we're in a pandemic, where I've spent well over a year holed up in my house, with my social interactions and skills at an all-time low, I figured watching WataMote, a show about an awkward shut-in, would be an interesting, if slightly different, perspective into what most people are currently going through. Unfortunately, I was really disappointed by this show.

Story: 3/10
The premise of the show is one that I think actually had an insane amount of potential. Writing from the perspective of the main character Tomoko, who happens to be your stereotypical weeb, dealing with mental health issues and the growing emotional ... pains of being an awkward teenager, is a refreshing change of pace from your usual anime series. Whereas most anime is, to varying degrees, escapism, WataMote is the exact opposite of that, and I think there is some merit to try and challenge that status quo by creating a story based around concepts that aren't explored too often, but are still greatly familiar to most viewers, as to not alienate them. In fact, there were moments in the show that I was able to relate to on an almost visceral level, things that I've experienced almost exactly like how they play out here, and that's coming from someone who's not particularly socially awkward, so I can imagine how uncomfortably close to home this show could hit for some people.
And that's the key word. Uncomfortable. WataMote is hard to watch. Watching Tomoko get into some really awkward situations. and then making them 10 times worse by being completely socially inept is played out for laughs like 95% of the time. However, if you're anything like me, you'll exclusively be anxiously laughing from the unbearable secondhand embarrassment rather than be genuinely amused by Tomoko's shortcomings. I can't properly enjoy a story when it's such a painfully real one that's constantly being painted into a lighthearted, comedic tone, when, in reality, someone who actually goes through these types of situations, and handles them the way Tomoko does, would be devastated to know that they've fucked up another social interaction by just being incredibly bad at them, and they'd feel like shit about it for weeks, kinda like Tomoko, but again, the show plays these situations and her reactions to them as a comedy. Personally, laughing at someone's expense just really isn't my thing, though I guess there is a crowd for that, so if that's you, then maybe give WataMote a shot.

Art: 6/10
The art style's not a whole lot to write home about, though I do have to mention that I really love the fact that Tomoko is made to look like an absolute mess, all the time. Her eyebags are dark and massive, her posture's terrible, she's quite skinny and pale, her head looks gigantic and disproportionate, and she's significantly shorter than damn near everyone around her, especially her classmates. The fact that they didn't draw Tomoko as a well put-together, attractive girl with giant tits, and instead went out of their way to make her look like she hasn't willingly touched grass or let sunlight hit her skin in years, is an aspect that I think grounds this series even deeper into reality. She's also drawn in a slightly chibi art style, which thankfully doesn't clash with the rest of the characters, who are all drawn in a pretty typical style. I also like the little art style change that happens occasionally near the end of episodes, when Tomoko's talking with her brother, it's pretty cute. The sudden still shots of Tomoko drawn in a cubist or surrealist art style that occur throughout the show are also fun, though they're quite out of place and the first couple times it happened, it was really jarring. The visuals on the OP and ED are decent, if a bit excessively edgy on the former's part. The animation itself is also fairly standard, though there's a few clunky moments, most notably in one episode where Tomoko is walking away from the camera's perspective, but instead just dawdles in place for like 10 seconds during what's supposed to be an emotional moment in the show.

Sound: 5/10
I honestly can't remember any music or sound effects that played during the episodes, other than the edgily iconic OP, which I somewhat enjoy even if I skipped it after the first three episodes, and the ED, which is cute and kinda funny, but the shouty, childish vocals got annoying very quickly. I ended up skipping it on all but two episodes. There's also a beautiful song that makes for a great emotional moment during the only episode of the show I truly enjoyed, but I'll get to that in a bit.

Character: 3/10
Since there's not a lot of important recurring characters, I'll mostly focus on Tomoko herself. Like I mentioned previously, she's your stereotypical weeb: a total shut-in, has no friends, is in desperate need for a normal social interaction that she cannot for the life of her insert herself into because of how socially inept she is, spends all her time watching anime, porn or playing videogames, and is absolutely terrified at the thought of having to do anything else other than those things, occasionally even lashing out when being forced to do them. She spends her every waking moment imagining situations in which she's not a social reject, she imagines herself as the main character of a shoujo/shounen series, whether it's her being a quiet, mysterious girl all the students in her class are desperate to know more about, or a bubbly and voluptuous girl, it seems like she wants to be everyone but herself. Tomoko's self hatred runs so deep that she's constantly insulting and putting down (obviously not out loud since she can't even look at people in the eye without losing her mind) the very girls she wants to imitate, calling them whores and sluts, wishing for them to die violent deaths. She even refers to her only friend in the world, Yuu, as a slut and gets irrationally angry and envious when she notices Yuu's breasts had grown quite a bit since the last time they had seen each other. Tomoko's lonely as fuck, she's got a lot of internalized misogyny, an insane amount of insecurities, an absurd understanding of how the world works (since her only sources of entretainment, friendship and news is the internet and anime) and clearly a lot of serious mental health issues including depression (which, again, are almost always played out for laughs).
Throughout the show, Tomoko tries various things to try and get out of her comfort zone, always with a goal in mind, whether it's getting the attention of or seducing some guy, being integrated into a friend group, joining a club, participating in class activities, being noticed by her classmates, etc. She always has a plan, though none of them make a whole lot of sense, they're not very well thought out and they never succeed, but hey, at least she's trying, right? Unfortunately, since none of her schemes work out nor does she learn anything from them, her character development is practically nonexistent. She never grows out of her horrible behaviors, she never learns to be true to herself, she doesn't think she's doing anything wrong and keeps blaming everybody but herself for her own problems (for reference, read the show's translated name), and she never gets better. In fact, I think by the final episode, she's even worse than she was initially, as she accidentally sees an upperclassmate's panties when a gust of wind lifts up her skirt, and Tomoko reacts by running away from the school all the way to her house without stopping, crying and screaming the whole way, even ignoring Yuu, who runs after her, calling out her name. Yeah. Sometimes, Tomoko makes the kids in school who'd Naruto run through the hallways and energy charge when they were mad seem well-adjusted.
I mentioned earlier that Tomoko's depression and loneliness are ALMOST always played out for laughs. There is one exception to that constant array of comedy at our protagonist's expense. Episode 10 is the only time we get a good look at Tomoko's mental state, how she copes with her issues, her usual daydreaming from a more realistic point of view, how desperately she just needs someone she can rely on, how she grasps at whatever gives her a slight serotonin boost and hangs on to it for dear life, how quickly she gets discouraged by small things, and her genuine reaction when something that makes her happy is taken away. It's a beautiful and emotional episode with very few, but tasteful and well-timed comedic moments. It all climaxes into a gorgeous ending song. It almost made me cry from how genuine her feelings seemed and how good of a representation of depression this episode is. I thought that this would be the turning point for Tomoko, where she finally realizes that she needs to change and that there's no way she can do it unless she gets real help and accepts it, I thought the show was about to get serious near the end, but nah, the next episode begins with Tomoko aggressively wishing that her classmates, who are literally just standing there, are reincarnated as poop in their next life.
Tomoko is a really interesting and unique character that, under serious writing, could become a very compelling protagonist with some fantastic character development, but unfortunately, WataMote treats her more like a laughingstock than anything else.
As for other characters, her brother Tomoki, is one that gets no character development at all, but his relationship with Tomoko and their interactions are pretty realistic, and there's even some heartwarming moments that come from it. I wish we had seen more of the brother, as well as a better exploration of Tomoko's relationship with all her family, since it seems that both her dad and her mom are used to seeing her be an absolute freak.

Enjoyment: 3/10
I just couldn't get much enjoyment out of something that's constantly making me feel uncomfortable. And I don't mean uncomfortable in a challenging, question-everything-you-know type of way, but more in like a throwing-garbage-at-a-stray-puppy-that's-missing-a-leg-and-laughing-and-pointing-at-it type of way. It's not particularly fun for me. Though there were some elements I enjoyed and there's even some comedic moments I thought were funny, but most of them are interactions that Tomoko has with her family (like the vibrator scene or the voice acting scene), so again, I just wish her home life was explored more deeply, though I guess there's no need for that when all you want to do is make your main character suffer constantly by trying to interact with strangers in the outside world. I tried to sometimes imagine Tomoko through a neurodivergent perspective to try and understand her a bit more, but the constant bombarding of trying to make the audience laugh just completely ruined that for me, also I just know that that's not what the creators were going for at all, either, so whatever. I really only enjoyed two episodes, episode 10 and episode 13, the latter of which is a 27-minute monster, and it tells a cringy and childish situation from the perspective of Tomoko, as well as this other pretentious kid who probably watched Death Note once and then based his whole personality off Light Yagami. It's the only episode where I enjoy the comedic take on Tomoko's klutziness and inability to have a normal human interaction.

Overall, WataMote is a show that I struggled to get through and only finished it because I hate dropping series. It had one good moment near the end, but it picked me up only to put me down almost inmediately after. The show just can't stand to take itself seriously, even though the topic that it chose to base its main character off of is quite serious. The comedy is only halfway decent at best, the show itself throws in a lot of moments that stick out like a sore thumb (episodes 10 and 13, multiple sexual assault scenarios, etc etc etc) for god knows what reason, considering that a majority of those don't serve much of a purpose or aren't particularly comedic, most of the aspects of the show that still resound in my head after finishing it are all pretty negative, it honestly just pissed me off and made me want to stop watching most of the times. I guess if you're fine with this type of comedy at the expense of someone else, you might find WataMote really entretaining, but for me, this was just torturous and I don't plan on watching it ever again.

3/10

Almost the entire body of this review is copy pasted from my review of the manga because it all centers around the same problem. That of the treatment of the protagonist Tomoko.

Tomoko Kuroki strikes me as a very excellent character in the hands of a poor author.

She's a hopeless NEET and if you don't know what that term means then you wont be the kind of person who relates to Tomoko.

But she's not really hopeless, a lot of the manga starts with Tomoko declaring her intent to achieve some small often meaningless goal to try and improve her social life. Then the author shoves ... her back into her NEET box and punishes her for wanting to improve herself.

Tomoko is a character cursed with self awareness, she knows everything she's doing is wrong and how its effecting her and strives to change. A change that is denied her by essentially God.

About the only good thing in Watamote the anime is the animation which does the Hot Fuzz thing of styling every day interactions with lots of flashy edits and quick cuts to keep the pace up. And the intro theme is nice too.

But just like the manga Watamote is a Sisyphean watch.

I don't know why Tomoko didn't ask for help by telling her parents family or teachers about her problem; but instead of that she tries to comfort herself with too much unreal imaginations, and telling others how good she is in Highschool. ( I know that's for the storytelling in Anime, tries to make it funny, but by watching this Anime, I totally can't have fun watching it, I even felt a bit angry, perhaps because I want to help her but can't)

Why don't you just be your own self? But try to find a "Character" to fit in to make you popular?
You don't ... live for anyone else!
You don't have to be popular!
that just making your life more miserable.
and you need to do something meaningful with passion first , then to earn other's attention and respect.
You did nothing but just sit here, not try to talk with ppl, not doing any club, play games at home, being lazy, then what would you gain from this kind of life?
Blame to yourself of course.

Thanks to my parents I didn't spent my life like her.
I cried on ep11 when Imae-san, the girl from student concil. gave her a ballon... That was really touching! Finally someone realize Tomoko's problem and give her a hug.

There's a phrase in Chinese saying "Those who are pitiful must have a cause for having sunk to their lows."
Simply Means "You reap what you sow."
I believe that if you try hard, things will turn better.

Watashi ga Motenai no wa ga Dō Kangaetemo Omaera Warui! abbreviated in WataMote, a work considered like a masterpiece in terms of anime on shut-ins. As i like particularly everything that turn around from this thematic, I watched this anime without knowing what to expect, for finally be disappointed.

Let's start with his main problem : His main character, Tomoko Kuroki.
What bothers me with this character, this is the role that fits in this anime.
Tomoko Kuroki is a shut-in who entered in high school and wants to be popular, but she is so antisocial that when she trying to speak with someone, she becomes very uncomfortable. ... She spends her days playing Visual Novels and make references to the Japanese pop culture.
The problem is here, the anime is full of references to the shovel, like Kiseijuu or Death Note. But what is the use ? To make easy referenced humor and satisfy the brainless spectator, happy to see a reference to his favorite anime.

Besides, let's talk about the humor of WataMote. Besides greasy sexual jokes, WataMote is what might be called a Cringe Comedy, which is a kind of comedy where the intention is to make the audience laugh but also make him uncomfortable and generally the main character is a victim of this humor, which is also the case for WataMote. But here, it doesn't work because : One, most of the scenes which are supposed to be funny because uncomfortable are not funny because, Two, the humor is focuses on Tomoko.
The scenes of WataMote where I was supposed to laugh was when Tomoko was stressing to death because she was trying to talk to people, and then when she was acting weird because she is dumb (or so extremely awkward). But not only, it's not funny, but in addition, that becomes painful to watch, and I come to prefer Tomoko than the anime itself (which is paradoxical for a character that was created to be hateful and obnoxious).

And it's even more unbearable when i see minor characters who completely don't care about Tomoko (except at certain moments). I take for example the beginning of episode 6, where Tomoko's mother said that she's fine than usual by his usual dark circles that have disappeared. So that means she knew her daughter wasn't well but she was doing nothing for help her, thanks Mom (because Dad appears only in ONE episode).

And when it's not the characters, it's the story itself. Because WataMote repeat the same narrative scheme for 12 episodes ("Tomoko trying to accomplish something, but it fails") and doesn't evolve the main character. The only time I expected to see Tomoko evolve are immediately defused by a joke like "It was a dream lol" and it's very frustrating.

But I assure you, WataMote has qualities. The animation is not ugly even if she has her ups and downs. The OST is not very memorable but still nice to hear, special mention to the opening which in addition has a good music, shows us the true Tomoko (symbolically).

As you may have read, I didn't really like WataMote and I don't recommend this. However, if you want a good anime with the theme of shut-ins, I can only recommend you to watch the very good "NHK ni Yōkoso!"

It's unfortunate that "Watamote", the classic ongoing manga series about a young girl struggling with her awkward social issues had such a below average anime adaptation.

The manga itself is a fun, lighthearted comedy that pokes fun at adolescence and the awkward intricacies of growing up. It deals with a socially inept girl named Tomoko Kuroki going through school and growing up as an unpopular, "cringe" teenager.

The anime, however, is a soulless cringe-fest with none of the charm of the manga. The characters are portrayed so flatly, and instead of being subtly effective at portraying awkward, clumsy, or inept social behavior, it relies on in-your-face ... cringe that's difficult to watch.

It's a shame that this anime shares the same name of the much, much superior manga counterpart.

WataMote's plot is ridiculous as it is, the Mc is really annoying and the comedy in it sucks, I had to try really hard not to drop the series in the middle. It was really boring and I almost fell asleep in most of the episodes... Thing is,, this isn't an anime for anyone, WataMote is an anime that you'll only like if you have the same problems as Tomoko couse you'll be able to relate to her a lot, people who does ends up falling in love with this anime and trust me, I know a lot of people who'd say this is their ... favourite anime.
So yeah... give it a shot... I guess. I did and I didn't like it as you can see, but you might be one of the special snowflakes who does.

Cringe comedy without comedy

I've never felt the need to review an anime before, but this is among the worst anime I've seen. Each episode feels like a repeat from the last, where the punchline is "awkward girl fails to fit in society". The result is either uncomfortable or just unfunny.

Throughout every episode, and the ending, there is no character development or progress. This leads me to ask; Why make it? The entire show ends up just showcasing the (not relatable or absurd-comedic) struggles of a mentally ill, 4chan-esque character.

Just like this is the first anime I've reviewed, this anime is the first I've had ... to speed up. I counted 5 times I found the show funny.