The start of this manga is extremely enjoyable, and I would give it an 8/10–up until around the time where Komi and Tadano get together. At this point of the manga, I’d actually give it a 6.5 but that isn’t an option, so a 6 it is!
My first issue is with Komi herself. Unfortunately, due to being a character with a strong ‘schtick’ there is a cap on how much development Komi can have as a character. Whilst I do love her, I found myself rooting for the romance between Tadano and Manbagi far more as I had a clearer and more emotional journey with Manbagi’s character over Komi’s. I feel like Manbagi is by far the best written character of this manga, with a wonderful character journey and heaps of development culminating in her taking the lead and confessing to Tadano with some wonderful friendship moments with Komi beforehand). It was rather upsetting for her confession to be used as the motivation for Tadano and Komi to get together, and this started the dating arc on a weaker foot for me. Tadano agreeing to date Manbagi until she herself stopped him and pointed out his own feelings was actually very interesting—but I wish there was more time spent on this before he started dating Komi. This issue, however, is something I very much understand not being shared by others as it is dependent on my attachment to Manbagi. To reiterate, I’m not upset my ‘best girl’ didn’t win—Komi’s name is literally the title after all!—it is the way it was handled, and the slight disparity in the amount of character development each girl got.
My second issue is the shift in focus to the side characters. These characters can be fun—I personally find them hit or miss—but I felt the start of the manga focused more on the romance and communication disorder side, and then later shifted to being more comedic. I feel there are also far too many characters, so many of them don’t get enough focus and I have to go back and check who they are when they come up again. Thought—the ones who do get focus beyond their name puns are largely very enjoyable! One particular character I have issue with is with Ren Yamai. The ‘crazy lesbian’ trope is surprisingly common in anime (Miharu, Kuroko, Nina Einstein, etc) and is in my opinion quite a harmful one, as it perpetuates negative stereotypes and paranoia about lesbians. Whilst I am certain this was in no way the authors intent, this character still rubs me the wrong way; and also makes me uncomfortable to watch rather than finding her funny.
Overall, Komi-san is a fairly solid manga, that certainly has a very strong start, and is still a fairly enjoyable read. I can certainly see why the manga is so popular, and there are many recent chapters I loved as much as the start of the manga.
