Dec 27, 2023
Worth reading up until the 100th ish chapters. Watamote has been going on for over a decade since 2011. At some point, the series decided to forget what it was about and took a 180 on what made it special and unique from others in the genre. Thus it has been on a gradual downhill with no hope of returning to it's former glory.
If you're like me and just finished watching the anime, you know what you're in for. Tomoko is relatable, she does stupid shit and that's the entire premise. The characters introduced before the decline were fun and memorable, they work well off
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each other. The artstyle is simple but the composition of the pages are dynamic and interesting which easily made up for it. The reason why the Tomoko is so relatable is because of the ingenious monologue she has every few panels. These are the fundamentals of what made the anime so great.
Continuing from where the anime left off, there's still some volumes before the insane quality drop. Tomoko continues goofing off and doing stupid shit with her middle school friends. During the field trip arc Tomoko finally gets some new friends. I am okay with this (I'm not butthurt just becuase she has friends). I really liked the small friend group of Tomoko, Yoshida and Yuri, they work well off eachother and just goof off.
But it gets super boring after this, I couldn't find myself caring about the new characters. Tomoko still makes dumb sex jokes every now and then but it never sticks. Tomoko rarely interacts with her family anymore. Tomoko is a shell of her former self. She might act similar but it just doesn't hit the same. Something is just off, and it's not because Tomoko has grown and developed as a character. She's basically been killed off and replaced by some generic girl.
The composition of newer chapters are super boring, especially compared to older chapters. Most chapters are just girls talking and nothing interesting ever happens. Watamote isnt even about Tomoko anymore, Tomoko is so generic now that there are multiple pages where she doesn't even appear. There are even several chapters where she doesn't appear because the spotlight has been shifted to some new cliche character that I honestly don't care for. The authors once ran a popularity vote once and "Tomoko" lost to Yuri as most popular character.
As of now, every chapter is a chore to finish because it's so fucking boring. Every chapter will feel the same. Some girls talk to each other, blah blah blah. End. That's it?? Yeah, and the fucking panels are just girls talking. Nothing interesting fucking happens. The composition of the pages are super boring, rectangle panel after rectangle panel. They try to throw in some dumb mindless fanservice every now and then but it never sticks.
The few good chapters in recent times that come to mind is when Tomoko has a sleepover with Yuri (best character) to discuss the movie they're making and that one time Tomoko went to Yuu's school for a festival, for a brief moment Tomoko goes back to her roots and she becomes her old self. PLEASE GIVE US MORE OF THIS. I'm not interested in "Tomoko" figuring out which college she wants to go to with "Student Council President Ripoff Girl (As*ka)". Somehow the authors were able to return to their roots and make something interesting with these basic premises.
Reading Watamote is like that fucking digging for diamonds meme but it's probably just trash at the end. So should you read "WATAMOTE :No Matter How I Look at It, It's You Guys' Fault I'm Not Popular!"? idfk read it if you liked the anime ig. you might even end up enjoying the moe shit unlike me
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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