School life anime these days relies heavily on relationship building or coming of age stories that tells about the lives of characters. Komi Can't Communicate is a show that appeals to an audience seeking for not just those elements but also be entertained by colorful character personalities. At its center is Shouko Komi, who makes a fabulous debut at school. She's practically worshipped by everyone but has a deep anxiety. It isn't until she meets a boy named Tadano where she begins to open up. Nonetheless, the first episode makes what I'd call an intense impression. This is capitalized by Komi's over-the-top reaction to meeting Tadano and how we come to realize just the depth of her social anxiety problems.
It's made clear that Komi suffers from emotional problems related to anxiety and trouble communicating with others. The English title literally sells itself in those three words: Komi can't communicate. Because at heart, Komi wants to make friends and made a goal to earn 100 friends at school. The journey is not an easy one because even with help, she ultimately has to come out of her shell and make those friends herself. With every episode, we see Komi learning how to communicate and overcome her struggles. With every step step she takes in communicating with others, she grows a little bit stronger with herself. Thanks to Tadano's guidance, the anime makes it clear that he cares about Komi as a friend. Thus, Tadano is Komi's first true friend. Every journey begins with the first step after all and let's just say that there's pretty much no better choice in this show than having Tadano as her life coach.
With that being said, we are introduced to a host of other characters from the manga. Characters such as Najimi, Akako, Ren, Omoharu, and among others make their appearance in various episodes. They connect with Komi all in different ways, but most of them seem to trigger Komi's anxiety whether they realize it or not. But perhaps unconsciously, Komi also attempts to break from her anxiety levels and sometimes even interact with them. Remember, one of her life long goal is to make 100 friends and every person counts. What this show does to draw audience's attention is her reaction and personality. It's almost impossibe to ignore her signature wide eyed expressions that has become stable to the show. I'd like to call this the Komi-san syndrome that's exclusive to her personality. Used as a character gag and plot element, Komi's character truly is symbolic. Anxiety is not easy to overcome and obviously, this anime takes it to a whole new level. With Komi being poster girl, you'd have to see to believe just how deep her anxiety truly is.
Then again, anxiety is an issue most, if not all of us had experienced sometimes in our lifetime. Komi just takes her anxiety levels to the extreme. It's actually quite natural for her to react with such anxiety levels, because let's face it, she's just a normal girl with a graceful look and attracts everyone with her beauty and talent. Anxiety is her weakness and Tadano is there to resolve it. The relationship building between the two is contagiously fun to watch due to how different the two characters are. Both learn from each other and faces everyday challenges like normal people would. Speaking of challenges, the show had to make ways for Komi to communicate to her peers even if she almost never speaks. Through the clever usage of writing and body language, Komi is able to get her point across.
You may also be asking how on Earth this show can adapt such a long ongoing manga and the easy answer is that it can't at the moment. The anime captures the essence and general themes of the manga but the ongoing story offers so much more. Luckily, this season has graced us with such a colorful character cast. Some anime franchises focuses on friendship themes in the most monotonous ways possible. This show goes beyond expectations and tipify how a school comedy should be.
Even at just 12 episodes, OLM knew what the audience wanted and that is bringing the anime adaptation to life from the manga. From the start, we see how characters are made with simple yet effective designs. Obviously, Komi represents the Yamato Nadeshiko of the the show but we can't forget the rest of the cast either. Characters such as Ren and Najimi make us turn our heads thanks to their personality gags. And speaking of gags, a recurring one is Komi's signature bug eyes that never ceases to entertain. That is to say, if you want to experience comedy, this is where the magic happens. And finally, I have to admit that the theme songs are very well decorated with not just a catchy tone but full of youth and gracefulness.
Komi Can't Communicate is an anime that I can safely say that lives up to its hype despite being just 12 episodes this season. It found success thanks to the unique nature of its comedy and using its characters to entertain us each episode. School comedy these days can be a hit or miss. Some are well remembered for years while others are an embarassment to the anime medium. Komi Can't Communicate is where we'll all have something to talk about for years to come.
