I agree with the original post. I found this series to be the funniest shit I've seen in all anime (I haven't seen too many anime btw). I still crack up just thinking about that one fireworks scene, where a moment of sadness and a heartwarming gesture can transcend into a real and over the top hilarious ending within a minute.
As for whether it's too mean, I think anything where people can laugh and enjoy themselves over someone else's (or a character's) pain and misery constitutes a bit of vulgarity and meanness. Watamote is presented as a social satire on teenage obsession with sex and popularity, as well as the antithesis of the usual lonely awkward high school anime character being able to join clubs and make friends despite social anxieties. I think it can get away with some of its extreme depictions of social awkwardness and crude humor towards its main character because as with many satires, it seeks to expose and over accentuate the societal representations/depictions of the ideal life/world and then use humor to mock the ridiculousness of the today's issues and popular culture. We see this with many American films and television, and I think Watamote does this extremely well with its hardcore social commentary. The use of chains and that hard rock music used in the opening, depicting the main character being held by chains of societal expectations of what constitutes as being a teenage (lots of friends and lots of sex). It holds her back from her sense of fulfillment of her life, as we see throughout the entire series. She enjoys playing videogames and doing some weird shit and has one good friend and a nice family, but doesn't feel it's enough because it doesn't fit her ideal (or societal expectations) of what a teenager should be (again, going back to friends and boyfriends/girlfriends).
Again, I found the humor, as with many others, to be very cringe-worthy and sometimes mean in an extreme and over the top manner. Despite its exaggerations, it felt very real and powerful. I felt more connection to this rather than a series like other high school anime series. I find myself to be in many the same situations and share the same inner thoughts (though I wouldn't say it aloud in public) as Tomoko. Specifically, the scene where she goes on a huge inner monologue tirade about how she's going to kill the fucker who stole her umbrella until a couple seconds later she finds her umbrella in a different rack, right next to the one she looked in. So I'd say despite its mean spirit and cruelness, it presents a great sense of truth and realness of our teen's current obsession with popularity, and exposes it by deriding societal expectations with mockery and satire that had me laughing my ass off the whole way through. amen.
Also, I liked how the other classmate characters weren't really all that cruel to Tomoko. They were just more indulged and engaged in the usual teenage life and conversation that we've all had. The biggest fault, or a better word, cruelty they engaged in was inattention and the inability to recognize Tomoko's suffering (well she wasn't making it any easier and it's not their responsibility to help anyone out). As throughout the anime, she just wanted to be recognized. As with a lot of teens (a lot of people as well), we are more concerned with ourselves and our lives, and sometimes that inattention to others can lower someone else's esteem. We see this a lot on facebook and our mediated society, nowadays. It takes a special character like that one student president to recognize and engage with someone. Really cool of the series to include that bit.
If you can't tell, I really dig this show and don't find it too cruel at all. I really hope to see more anime like this in the future (someone recommend me something!), and please for the love of jesus christ, mary, and Josephine, give this series a second one. |