Komi-san wa, Comyushou desu. (Komi Can't Communicate)

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Komi-san wa, Communication Shougai desu.

Japanese: 古見さんは、コミュ症です。

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Information

Type: TV

Episodes: 12

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Oct 7, 2021 to Dec 23, 2021

Premiered: Fall 2021

Broadcast: Thursdays at 00:00 (JST)

Producers: TV Tokyo, Dentsu, Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions, Half H.P Studio, Nippon Columbia, Shueisha

Licensors: None found, add some

Studios: OLM

Source: 4-koma manga

Genre: Comedy

Themes: Romantic Subtext, School

Demographic: Shounen

Duration: 23 min. per ep.

Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

Statistics

Score: 8.00¹ (scored by 351,223 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #570²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #234

Members: 688,343

Favorites: 11,035

External Links

Official Site, AnimeDB, AnimeNewsNetwork, Wikipedia

Streaming Platforms

Netflix

8.00

Ranked #570Popularity #234Members 688,343

Fall 2021TVOLM

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Episodes: /12

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Synopsis

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]

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Background

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Related Anime

Adaptation:	Komi-san wa, Comyushou desu.
Other:	Cinderella
Sequel:	Komi-san wa, Comyushou desu. 2nd Season

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

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

More staff

Staff

Watanabe, Ayumu

Director

Kawagoe, Kazuki

Director

Watanabe, Jun

Sound Director

Tanaka, Takahiro

Episode Director

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Opening Theme

"Cinderella (シンデレラ)" by Cider Girl

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Ending Theme

	1: "Sympathy (シンパシー)" by Kitri (eps 1)
	2: "Hikare Inochi (ヒカレイノチ)" by Kitri (eps 2-)

More reviews

Reviews

Dec 22, 2021

RebelPanda

Not Recommended

Komi Can’t Communicate is a comedy about a 15-year-old girl with extreme social anxiety who attempts to make friends. It fluctuates between “Mildly entertaining” and “One of the most unfunny comedy anime I’ve seen in my entire life.”

Komi begins the show with the goal to “Make 100 friends.” That premise becomes irrelevant when you realize everyone is magically drawn to her. For some reason, everyone in this high school finds her irresistibly attractive. She quickly becomes a passive protagonist shortly after meeting her second friend. Her goal no longer motivates the plot. Instead of making 100 friends, she should’ve filed 100 restraining orders because these ... students are absolutely insane. In the first episode, the recurring, completely unnecessary narrator warns us that the school is full of weirdos, creeps, miscreants, but they’re far worse than she made them sound. Everything the narrator says reiterates what we’ve already seen, adding no comedic value. There’s a wide variety of appalling cliched archetypal characters who hover around her like a swarm of bloodthirsty mosquitos: stalkers, psychotic lesbians, and more creeps.

Komi’s first friend is Tadano, who sits next to her in class. He makes it his job to help her form a friend group by communicating with her via writing because her anxiety prevents her from talking. The romantic feelings between them progress at a snail’s pace, but hey, it’s better than nothing. Their relationship is wholesome and unique, aside from a few weird comments from Tadano. The first red flag was when he described her to the audience, “Her skin is pure white…her hair is smooth, she smells good….” Dude, can you turn down the creep factor a bit? Honestly, Komi-san would be a decent slice-of-life if you removed everyone but Komi and Tadano. You’d get a show like Teasing Master Takagi-san without teasing and replace Takagi with a knock-off Rei Ayanami. But then they threw in all of these god-awful stereotypical characters that do nothing but drool over Komi like blossoming sex offenders.

Creeps and weirdos from Komi’s high school fawn over her so much that it crosses a line into sexual harassment territory. One of the lesbians tried to make Komi eat her “sausage,” and I want to ask the author, what the fuck were you thinking? Why would you add raunchy sex gags in a wholesome slice of life? Another girl lasciviously pleads for Komi to ‘abuse’ her—which is just her misunderstanding Komi’s anxiety as disgust. We’re not even at the bottom of the barrel. Some of Komi’s stalkers kidnap Tadano because he’s getting too close to her for their liking. It’s like I was suddenly watching an episode of Mirai Nikki, except everyone was the yandere. Then as if nothing happened, everyone went back to being besties. It wasn’t funny when Kazuya stalked Chizuru in Rent-a-Girlfriend, and it’s not funny now. The way to make stalking humorous, if it’s even possible, is to humiliate the stalker. They attempted to do this with an ironic sight gag in episode 2: While Tadano followed Komi, right behind him was a sign that read “Watch out for stalkers,” and passersby proceeded to mock him. The side characters who aren’t bizarre homophobic tropes or mentally ill are simply annoying. Your enjoyment will depend on whether or not you think yelling is funny. Audiovisually, the presentation accomplishes very little to elevate the underwhelming sense of humor.

I don’t get why people say this anime has great animation. The studios blew the budget on the OP art and the first two episodes. The character designs are barely animated besides a few motion-tweens, slight movements, and lip flaps. Aside from the opening, it is very drab to look at. There are only a handful of ways this adaptation takes advantage of the animation medium, such as adjusting the aspect ratio during flashbacks. There are a handful of clever transitions in the second episode. Using an analog rewind effect to portray multiple awkward conversation attempts is a genius idea but underutilized. A real problem was how they simply put manga text boxes on screen a lot of the time. In moderation, this is fine, but it’s all the time. Since Komi can barely talk, she writes her thoughts in a notebook for Tadano. It makes sense, but then they use text boxes for everything else. Perhaps this would work for an animated comic, or if they were translated at all. They did not translate much of the text in every version I watched.

Another gag comedy that lacked impressive animation was Saiki K. Except where Komi-san’s jokes failed to land, Saiki K’s rapid pacing and excellent comedic timing kept it fresh and hilarious. Often the jokes left me thinking, “That’s it?” Good anime gag comedies employ a loud bang or crash in sync with a joke’s punchline—Komi-san has those, but frequently they’re too soft, mismatched, or flat out missing. More elegant directing and sound design aside, Saiki K had way better material to work with thanks to the over-the-top personalities of the vast supporting cast. On the other hand, Komi-san has perhaps the WORST side characters of any comedy anime I’ve ever seen. And I’ve watched the depths of the genre.

Najimi is the side character I’m most conflicted on. They identify as male or female whenever they want because they're gender fluid. Part of their running joke is that “they’re actually a boy even though they look like a girl!” All I ask is to let trans characters be funny on their own merits rather than relying on unfunny 2012 “trans panic” jokes. In the second episode, a brutish man grabs Najimi and threatens to sexually assault them—all of it is played off as a joke! Najimi is portrayed as manipulative in how they trick people with their gender, exploitative of Komi’s kindness, and sexualized with fanservice. It sets a horrible example because they’re the only gender fluid character in the show. It is no surprise the fandom debates what their “true gender” is because the author treats being trans as a joke. One of the only funny jokes Najimi is associated with is when they found communication and speech textbooks under Komi’s bed. The gag works because it relies on the funny parts of their personality, not mocking trans people.

I don’t know anyone who has anxiety so bad that it prevents them from speaking personally. However, I know it is not uncommon for people with extreme social anxiety to learn ASL. But part of the appeal here is watching Komi struggle to communicate for laughs—at times, it’s painfully relatable seeing her dread awkward social interaction, like worrying how to tell someone they have food on their face. Sadly, this author is not concerned with alleviating Komi’s anxiety, educating the audience, or portraying her disability in any way resembling reality. Throughout the show, she becomes slightly better at communicating. But it’s hardly a driving force of the plot. They could fix this glaring issue by making Komi the narrator or perhaps the main character rather than Tadano. She may be non-verbal, but she’s full of thoughts—why not let us hear what she’s thinking? Movies about deaf and non-verbal people have used this storytelling tactic. It would help the audience empathize with her. To see her as a real person instead of an artificial waifu figurine manufactured to be laughed at and pitied.

There are a ton of better comedy/slice-of-life anime you should watch instead of Komi-san. Here are a few to start with: Cromartie High, Kaguya-sama, The Disastrous Life of Saiki K, and Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-Kun. The premise is tone-deaf, the comedy is painfully unfunny, the romance is stagnant, and it lacks a distinctive style or visual spectacle to be worth watching for surface-level entertainment. Just as I don’t get why the vast array of awful characters adore Komi so much, I don’t get why people love Komi Can’t Communicate.

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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.

Open

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.

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'Komi-san wa, Comyushou desu.' Gets Second Season for Spring 2022

The 12th and final episode of the Komi-san wa, Comyushou desu. (Komi Can't Communicate) anime series ended with a second season announcement on Thursday. The o...read more

Dec 22, 2021 7:33 AM by DatRandomDude | Discuss (36 comments)

Fall 2021 Simulcast List [Update 12/26]

In this thread, you'll find a comprehensive list of anime acquired for simulcast release during the Fall 2021 season. Anime series licensed for home video relea...read more

Sep 24, 2021 5:12 PM by Snow | Discuss (109 comments)

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Recent Forum Discussion

Is it me, or is Komi-san Can’t Communicate just…ok? SilverX7 - Aug 17	31 replies	by kevemx »» 14 minutes ago
Poll: Komi-san wa, Comyushou desu. Episode 10 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Dec 8, 2021	79 replies	by TokugawaHirokazu »» Aug 14, 12:17 PM
Poll: Komi-san wa, Comyushou desu. Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) NextUniverse - Oct 6, 2021	326 replies	by JakeFenal »» Aug 12, 6:11 AM
Poll: Komi-san wa, Comyushou desu. Episode 8 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Stark700 - Nov 24, 2021	101 replies	by TokugawaHirokazu »» Aug 11, 2:44 AM
Poll: Komi-san wa, Comyushou desu. Episode 11 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Dec 15, 2021	85 replies	by ravioliqueen »» Jul 28, 11:02 AM

Komi-san wa, Comyushou desu.

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Komi-san wa, Comyushou desu.

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Background

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