Komori-san wa Kotowarenai!

This very short series follows a girl who has a hard time declining requests from others.

This anime is quite underrated due to the fact that is only 2 minutes per episode, and people look at the ecchi and deem it an anime not to be watched. However, this is a highly enjoyable show that can be finished in a mere 30 minutes with a smile on your face.

Story: The story follows a group of 3 friends through their middle school life, while the main character is always helping others since she is too nice to deny anyone. Since the story is only 2 minutes long, there's not too much great plot that you can have in that short amount of time, especially since when 20 seconds are dedicated to the credits. However, it does have some story, and I would like to compare the show to Aesop's fables. There is a clear and present theme throughout the show, about the joys of friendship and helping others. The plot is not to be underestimated. 6/10.

Art: The art is decent, it's not top of the line like Gakuen Toshi Asterik for this 2015 season, but it holds well for a 2 minute show budget. 5/10

Sound: I'm not one to normally pay attention to sounds, unless a certain voice actor/actress particular bothers me, but I had no complaints when it came to this show. 7/10

Characters: Each character is slightly unique in their own way, with a few similarities along the way. Obviously there isn't any character development, not really possible in a span of 2 minutes. 7/10

Enjoyment: Initially, I was watching this show cause it looked like it would have some ecchi in it, and I was disappointed that the show wasn't longer. However, I loved the simple theme and how well the characters went with each other, each with a different personality, with your normal girl, then kuudere and slightly tsundere, and wanna be relied on boy. 10/10

I personally really enjoyed this show and I was quite disappointed that it wasn't longer. 9/10 Overall.

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From the Creator of Danna ga Nani wo Itteiru ka Wakaranai Ken or I Can't Understand What My Husband Is Saying comes Komori-san wa Kotowarenai!

We go from a three minute run time to a two minute run time per episode. Although this change only removes twelve minutes of run time from the season it somehow meant we also lost of all of the character development and growth My Husband had and instead replaced it with repetitive jokes and the sexualization of underage girls.

Story: We have the main character Komori who is always willing to help. Although we don't see any problems from her always helping people; this is okay as this is a short series and tries to display the positives of helping people rather than the negatives which again works with this coming off as a comedy.

The story follows Komori as she encounters the daily troubles of school life with her two friends Megumi and Masako.

Thus as a comedy and short series this will result in weaker underdeveloped characters although this may come as a bad thing it makes way for more jokes, but characters should still relevant and understood.

Characters: We have a cast of four characters Komori, Megumi, Masako, and Kurou who gets introduced later.

Megumi: Is a self-conscious girl with regards to her bust size that is somewhat anti-social, but has Komori as a dependable friend to rely upon.

Masako: Comes off as virtually a carbon copy of Megumi as displaying many of the same character traits. She serves to give the story a third female character to make jokes with and serves to make the relationship between Komori and Kurou less awkward had she not existed. As this would have made Megumi seem like a third wheel and mostly would have turned into a background character as the series progressed. She also serves to help keep the comedy on point and try to eliminate the third wheel feeling Megumi would have been experiencing.

Although this character comes off as very shallow after some thought we can see why this character is in the story and what purpose she does to keep the plot moving forward. Although I will not take away points as she serves a purpose I as well can't award points for the redundancy she adds to many scenes.

Kurou: is a young boy who is interested in Komori and is again another anti-social person. He is the most developed character in this series despite not being introduced till midway in the series. Through talking with Komori he is able to become more social by interacting with his classmates and helping them out as well.

Kurou helps symbolize the importance of helping people and how by doing so you are able to connect with people and thus become more social and thus get more out of school and life in general. This is the theme of the show and was interesting how a secondary character was able to display which was rather interesting.

Animation/Sound: I lumped these together as there is little to talk about them in such a short series. Cinematography wise nothing done in this regard. The animation style was very relaxed and simple which is common in short series and some comedy although we see less and less of this now.

The 30 second ending was really unfortunate for this series as it ate up 1/4 of the run time of each episode and thus came off as a way to save on the budget as well many of the scenes featured little to no movement.

The sound was well below average as the soundtrack did not exist for many scenes and was nearly absent in the many that it did take place in.

As sound is far less important in comedy as it does not have to set-up powerful dramatic scenes it is thus weighted far less into the total score to help compensate for its decreased importance in this show and genre.

Enjoyment: I unfortunately did not enjoy one episode I saw of this show. The main reason I first picked up this show was the original creator. The episodes felt flat with repetitive jokes seen in many series such as bust jokes. We also see jokes this short series made repeated in later episodes. Coupled with the continued sexualization of underage girls with jokes, questionable camera angles and swimsuits I found it hard to watch let alone enjoy this series.

Story: 1
Art: 2
Sound: 2*
Characters: 1
Enjoyment: 1
Overall: 1

*Weighted differently please see Sound section for reasoning

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Anime shorts are...kind of pointless at this point, and at this point, I swear they're getting shorter and shorter with each passing season. By the time you read this review, you might be able to see the entire run of Komori-san wa Kotowarenani, so it's really your choice on what you prefer to spent your time doing.

Story: Shuri is a girl who can't decline any request she's given to her. Follow her adventures as she doesn't decline any task she's given and goes about her daily life doing what she does best; helping people.

That's it. That's literally all it has to offer. With each episode following one page of the 4-koma manga, there's really not much to say about Komori-san because it's just a setup, a build-up, a punchline, and the conclusion.

Characters: There's Shuri, who can't decline any request. Her friends whose names escape me, and Ootani, a boy who wants to be relied on like Shuri is. They're static, plain, and not really interesting.

Art: The art is pretty standard and isn't really anything worth mentioning. Though, I will complain the fact that Shuri is just scarily disproportionate to other otherwise tiny midget friends. Like seriously, girl's tall and has some spindly limbs and watermelons on her chest while her friends are tiny midgets who get engulfed by her shadow.

Sound: There's only one track, the ending track. It's nice, but not really anything worth mentioning.

Personal Enjoyment: In the end, this was pretty much a timekiller. There's nothing too great about this show, just the fact that you'll end up using up 15 minutes of your life watching it. It's cute, I guess, but not really stellar in any way.

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(This review has been adapted from my blog/reddit thread. Spoilers ahead!)

Recently, I was asked to visit a friend’s house to help setup some technology in his home. I accepted. Not because he offered me a going rate of ten dollars per hour (which was kind of him but unnecessary), but because he is a good friend of mine that I want to help.

Komori-san wa Kotowarenai! (or, in English, Komori-san Can’t Decline!) features, coincidentally enough, a girl named Komori. She never refuses to help others, providing a simple anime in the process.

STORY

Komori-san Can’t Decline! is an extremely short anime. At two – two – minutes per episode, the anime can literally be started, watched, and completed in less than thirty minutes. As such, not a whole lot can be said.

Each episode follows Komori helping out anyone and everyone that asks for help from her. Carrying boxes, giving directions, and taking pictures are just a handful of the ways in which Komori helps out her fellow friends.

Much of the comedy in the anime relies on Komori and her incessant need to help. For example, her drinking everyone’s milk cartridges leads into a discussion on her massive breasts. Her large height makes her friends use her for shade during a hot day. Her helpful nature has her considering becoming a detective. This comedy is rather quick, fitting the even quicker anime.

Along the way, the anime comes to explore the idea of helping others. Why people help. Whether or not it is wrong to help others despite potentially making the situation worse. What helping others results in. Relative to the anime (especially considering its overall length), it explores this theme of helping as well as it can.

Some episodes even focus on themes like friends and romance. The motif of helping still exists within these episodes – Komori, Megumi, Masako, and Ootani help each other and others. And, since helping naturally leads into friendship and romantic developments, such themes are natural, too.

Technically the anime does not explore these last two themes as much as it does the helping theme, so they are not as important. And, arguably, these last two themes distract from the helping theme, too. Still, having them around strengthens the theme on helping and, collectively, they all help to balance out the comedy that Komori-san Can’t Decline! usually leans on.

ANIMATION

When it comes to the actual animation, Komori-san Can’t Decline! does not have a whole lot of it. But the anime almost always makes sure to keep two parts moving: Komori’s breasts.

They are big and technically one of the defining features of her character. So the anime animates them accordingly. Not just in moving around or pressing her chest against some boxes. Something as simple as lifting her umbrella or her fist, which happens to hit the underside of her boob, causes her breasts to jostle (slightly-over) appropriately.

Komori’s chest naturally leads into her and the other character designs. While her boobs are focused on the most, she has other defining features: Her height, her striped, thigh-high socks, and, most strikingly, her multicolored eyes. Each feature makes her stick out even further, resulting in people singling her out for help.

As for the other designs, Ootani’s design is rather plain, but this plainness fits his character since he does not stick out and therefore does not get called on for help. Komori’s friends, Megumi and Masako, try to be slightly different. Megumi’s blonde, twin-tailed, eye-covering hair with light-blue eyes and Masako’s dark-green hair, all-black eyes, and floor-touching skirt make Komori’s best friends distinct without being obtuse.

For all three (and for most of the background characters), they appear to be shorter than normal, accentuating Komori’s height even further. Also, a positive shout-out goes to Megumi’s father. The anime presumably did not want to create a design for him, so they only showed his hand and arm waving from outside of Megumi’s room. A silly and welcome inclusion. Also (also), a negative shout-out to the scrolling text that did little else besides be distracting when it occurred in nearly every episode. An unnecessary and unwelcome inclusion.

The rest of the art is soft and simple. Made so by the white coating and shininess of the characters as well as the white coating of the backgrounds. The anime sticks mostly to the school grounds, but it occasionally has the cast at other locations such as the beach, a festival, or at their respective homes. The backgrounds are boring, but, regardless of what is shown, the simplicity and softness fit the gentle anime well enough.

CHARACTERS

While the characters of Komori-san Can’t Decline! do not see any development in the short time that they are on-screen, what they represent definitely follows the direction of the anime.

Komori’s view on the world is one that everyone should adopt: She likes to help others. Plain and simple. She helps people not just to make herself feel happy but also to make others happy. She is as selfless as someone can be. As she says, “When people depend on you, it means they trust you. That makes me happy. And that’s why I can’t decline anyone today, either. I won’t decline!”

Ootani is helpful as well, but, as he says, he does it to make himself “feel better.” He is not tall like Komori. He is not popular like Komori. He is not relied upon like Komori. Altogether, he does not get the same opportunities as her, so he seeks them out. But because he is so helpful, he understands Komori. And, since they are both similar and opposite, the hinted-at romantic relationship between them makes even more sense.

As for Megumi and Masako, they do not necessarily have as much focus throughout the season. Instead, they are mostly there for comedic and supporting purposes. Them teasing Komori about looking at Ootani while he swims or them visiting Komori when she gets sick prove that they play their minor roles as well as they can.

Looking at them collectively, they advocate the same message that the narrative gets at: be helpful. To each other, to others. While one does not have to go to Komori’s extreme of never declining anyone for aid, helping people, as Komori puts it, allows one “to spend time with people.” It does not matter if it is getting a friend away from a situation they do not want to be in or helping someone cut some grass. Helping others deepens relationships, improving them beyond what they already happen to be.

SOUND

The opening theme is, like the anime, quite short. An acoustic guitar, chimes, and drums, alongside some nice singing and lyric-and-instrument synchronization near the end, make for a happy little OP.

Besides the OP, squeaky toys, water droplets, and shining stars are used as sound-effects to make the different gags and transitions more fun than they would be otherwise.

Komori-san Can’t Decline!’s other musical offerings (the anime does not have an ending theme) are comprised of very simple tracks to fit the very simple show. Music box sounds, low, heavy drums, and barely-any-notes piano pieces make up the majority of the anime’s OST. The tracks are certainly not worthwhile, but their simplicity, like the art, further the anime’s simplicity motif.

And the voice acting performances are similarly simple. Aya Uchida as Shuri uses a mature, kind voice to match the equally mature and kind girl. Maria Naganawa as Masako sounds breathy, Ari Ozawa as Megumi sounds hyper. And Reina Takeshita as Ootani gives the boy a fitting voice despite being female herself.

ENJOYMENT

To reiterate, this anime is incredibly short. In fact, I may have listed nearly half of the events that occur. Because the anime is so short and simple, it does not offer a whole lot, but it also does not take a whole lot to sit down and watch it to completion.

The anime, regardless of its length and simplicity, does have spurts of funny, cute, and romantic moments that are entertaining. Komori getting all excited when someone asks her for help after not being asked for a while. Megumi hugging onto Komori tightly after everyone seems to be “taking” Komori away from her. And Ootani carrying Komori on his back following her getting lost and breaking her sandal. Short moments, but some combination of funny, cute, and romantic nonetheless.

(Also, after writing out these three examples, I have probably now listed half of the events that occur in the anime.)

Komori-san wa Kotowarenai! is a short anime. In its short run, it has a comedic story, a cast of helpful characters, and simple art and music. Nothing impressive, nothing forgettable. Just a short and simple show. If nothing else, it makes helping others – not for ten dollars an hour but out of the kindness of one’s heart – that much more enticing.

SUMMARY

Story: Good, comedy and helping make for a fun and purposeful narrative

Animation: Fine, low actual animation besides Komori’s breasts, soft art, and nice character designs

Characters: Fine, while the cast does not develop, they prove that helping others deepens relationships

Sound: Fine, okay OP, okay OST, okay VA performances

Enjoyment: Fine, not that worthwhile, but entertaining moments here and there

Final Score: 5/10

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