Tag: Komi Can't Communicate

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The Frontline Report [12/13/21]

Hello, treasured readers! I don’t have much to say this week, but I will remind you to pop on over to the poll to choose what I cover weekly on Let’s Watch sometime before December ends if you’re interested in doing that and haven’t done so yet. Other than that? A fairly short one this week with just two shows, but on the plus side; they’re both anime that haven’t appeared in this column for quite a while.

Komi Can’t Communicate

It’s been quite a while since Komi Can’t Communicate last appeared here. If you’re wondering why, I will remind any returning readers that I am following NovaWorks‘ fansub release, which is going slowly, but remains absolutely worth it because of their inventive typesetting and clear love of the material.

In the third episode, their most recent release, we’re introduced to a new character, Himiko Agari.

She’s kind of…weird. Initially it seems like her main role will be to give Komi a friend who also has pretty severe anxiety. And most of her introductory segment focuses on a miscommunication the two have. (Or rather a lack of one; Komi wants to introduce herself to Himiko but instead just follows her around the school building silently. Which understandably freaks Himiko out.)

And then we get to the climax of the bit and the punchline is…this.

It’s just a bit confusing, really. For one thing, it isn’t much of a joke. For another, this particular shade of Himiko’s personality seems to flip on and off like a lightswitch as the scene demands. This is hardly the quandary that Najimi’s characterization posed, but it is symptomatic of a strange tendency for Komi to sometimes squish its characters down to one-note cutouts for the sake of gags.

Even the soundtrack gets in on this. Komi‘s OST tends to slide into a gentle sway full of plucked guitars and soft strings whenever it wants to sell a genuine “friendship moment.” But it’s just as quick to cut the music entirely if it can subvert that for a quick joke. In general, this all still works a lot better here than it did in the source material, but it’s a notably odd sensation nonetheless, and prevents the show from flowing well at times. Does Komi want to have a core of real, warm compassion for its characters, or is everything just a setup for a parade of gags? One gets the sense that the series itself doesn’t quite know the answer, and on the occasion that it tries something, and it falls flat, that tends to be why.

What tends to work a bit better than the personality gags are situations where the humor comes from Tadano (or one of Komi’s other friends) attempting to help Komi socialize more, and inadvertently speeding into a brick wall in the process. That’s more or less what happens with the final segment of this episode, where Najimi invites the two of them to play a chant game. Style checks of the Pokémon anime and some classic “comedy anime treats a mundane activity like a shonen battle” humor follow, and it’s genuinely great.

You don’t need to know that the studio behind Komi Can’t Communicate is OLM, who have also done the Pokémon anime since it premiered in 1997 and made a hot-streak return to non-primetime anime production this year between this series and ODD TAXI to find this funny. But, hey, now you do anyway.

Elsewhere, a bit about cellphone-related anxiety taps in to the sort of universal cringe-beholding-cringe feeling that tends to make the best sort of this kind of comedy tick. All of this, of course, is accentuated by the visual treat that the series continues to be. It remains one of the best-looking anime of 2021. (An aside should be made also to also again shout out Komi’s voice actress, Aoi Koga, who gets barely two actual lines in this episode but still manages to somehow make the character burst with personality even when she’s mostly communicating through wordless single syllables.)

So if it’s rough around the edges, maybe that’s worth sitting through for the moments when it really shines. Komi is an odd one, and if it hasn’t entirely kept that “must-watch” mantle from its premiere, it’s at least a worthwhile watch regardless.

Rumble Garanndoll

It’s been a while since we last checked in with Rumble Garanndoll. To be fair, the fact that it airs on Mondays makes covering it here a smidge inconvenient. (By the time this article goes live, the “next episode” will already have aired.) Nonetheless; I’ve kept up with it intermittently. My opinion on the show’s merits (of which it has quite a few) and flaws (same) has evened out into thinking it is a solid little action series with a quirky aesthetic bent that, as a nice bonus, has something to say. This is roughly how I felt about BACK ARROW from earlier this year–also a weird mecha anime–although I think Rumble‘s self-aware otakucore vibes might fit with how I like my media a little better. (Which probably says nothing good about me, but oh well.)

Since I last wrote about it, Rumble has introduced a third (and presumably final) Battery Girl; Misa “WerdCat” Kuroki. Misa is the youngest of the Battery Girls and, in a refreshing change of pace, looks to Hosomichi more as a surrogate older sibling than a romantic interest. Her story manages to squeeze some life out of the ancient “pa went missing one day and never came back :(” trope, to surprisingly affecting….er, effect.

I remain undecided on the main visual metaphor here, a bright red linker cable, of the sort that was used to connect handheld consoles in the pre-WiFi era. (Specifically the consoles that show up here are NeoGeo Pockets. Presumably the Gameboy would’ve been too mainstream.) Much of these episodes’ plots revolves around an attempt to find one in the dungeons under Akihabara (yes, there are dungeons here. Don’t question it.) And in the flashbacks when we see Misa’s father go missing, they are the only thing fully colored in the otherwise sepia tone scenes. It’s a silly visual symbol, but this is just the frequency Rumble operates on, and one must accept it if they wish to enjoy the show.

Similarly, when Misa takes control of the Doll itself, turning it into “Cat Three,” the series manages the impressive task of making a giant robot-sized kotatsu table look rather cool as it turns into an artillery platform. Rumble Garanndoll is nothing if not devoted to its shtick.

Y’know, like, nya?

The main antagonist of this arc, Yakumo Kamizuru, is also intriguing. Perhaps best described in a nutshell as a “fascistic shrine maiden who is also a mecha pilot,” Yakumo is one of the show’s more interesting antagonists. She retreats at the end of the arc, despite only minutes prior disparaging the entire resistance as “failures” and “losers”, chuckling to herself as she does so. Her name, an apparent allusion to Koizumi Yakumo, is interesting to me. The historical Yakumo was a Greek-Irish-American who eventually settled in Japan after developing a fascination with its culture in the late 1800s. (And much besides, he’s an interesting figure.) If I may wander into fan theory territory here, I do wonder if this is meant to indicate that our Yakumo here isn’t actually from “True” Japan. Perhaps she’s a defector originally from “Illusory” Japan. Her general attitude belies an interest in older Japanese culture. So part of me wonders if, assuming this is true, she didn’t defect just because she was bitter about people caring more about modern pop culture than older things. (I may of course, be wildly wrong. But hey, if I make a called shot about this, I want the credit.)

All this is to say nothing of the most recent episode, the ninth.

Episode Nine takes place almost entirely at a festival organized by the Resistance. In some anime, this would be a filler episode. Here, it leads directly into our presumable final confrontation (there are, after all, only three episodes of this thing left).

Much of the episode revolves around a ramen stand, where Hosomichi meets an in-disguise Captain Akatsuki Shinonome and, of course, the stand’s owner. Said old man (who goes unnamed here) serves to show us both what life is like for the older ordinary residents of Akihabara, including why they might join up with the resistance in the first place, and to start a conversation between these two opposing people.

Now Rumble has to be careful here, because we’ve never really been given a look inside Akatsuki’s head, and there has been prior to now little reason to not believe he’s simply a garden-variety authoritarian. Here, he gains some character detail as he veiledly explains his own point of view to the ramen shop owner (and to Hosomichi.) The danger of doing this of course is always that your work’s audience might end up sympathizing with the fascist; an especially real possibility here at the end of the episode when a drunk-off-his-ass Anju (that’s Hosomichi’s “boss” if you’ve forgotten) shows up, makes a huge show of representing the resistance, and starts bullying the ramen shop owner. My main hope is that this is obviously enough meant to not be a real criticism from the show’s end of the resistance, so no one will take it that way.

The shop owner himself, incidentally, may go down as one of the great relatable anime characters of the year. At least to me.

Amen, brother.

And lastly, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Rin and Hayate’s meeting here. We get to see sadly little of it and it’s most likely setup for something in the next episode, but they make a rather cute couple. (Which a random doujin shop owner voiced by Mayumi Shintani actually mistakes them for.)

The final confrontation is set to take place just outside what looks an awful lot like Tokyo Big Sight, AKA The Comiket Building. Which, honestly, where else would Rumble Garanndoll finish?

Wanna talk to other Magic Planet Anime readers? Consider joining my Discord server! Also consider following me on Twitter and supporting me on Ko-Fi or Patreon. If you want to read more of my work, consider heading over to the Directory to browse by category.

All views expressed on Magic Planet Anime are solely my own opinions and conclusions and should not be taken to reflect the opinions of any other persons, groups, or organizations. All text, excepting direct quotations, is owned by Magic Planet Anime. Do not duplicate without permission. All images are owned by their original copyright holders.

Posted on in anime, Weekly Writing Roundups

The Frontline Report [10/31/21]

The Frontline Report is a weekly column where I summarize my journey through anime, manga, and the related spheres of popular culture over the past week. Expect spoilers for covered material.

We’ve got quite a trio of writeups here. In this week’s FLR we’ve got me thinking myself into a tizzy about one anime, being arguably too harsh with another, and then there’s Heike Monogatari, which remains basically unimpeachable.

I have to admit that any time I pen something like the latter two writeups here I worry I’ll acquire a reputation as an “issue critic”, or worse, a simple whiner. Hopefully, you’ll all take me on my word that I write what I write because to me, it is the truth, even if sometimes I can only arrive at it through a minor crucible of self-doubt. Honesty is the profession’s one requirement, and there’s nothing more honest than that.

Seasonals

The Heike Story

Of every anime I have ever covered on this blog, The Heike Story is, if not the most difficult to write about, certainly at least up there. On some level, what is there to say? Each and every episode advances the slow tragedy of the Heike Clan’s downfall. Their legacy melts away in real-time like snow in Spring. You can’t capture this kind of poeticism in plain language, not really.

Nonetheless, this episode stands out. One of Kiyomori’s plans to strike at the Clan’s enemies again goes awry; literally up in smoke, as one of Shigemori’s sons accidentally sets a whole temple complex alight. For his sins, his wife dreams of Gozu and Mezu foretelling his impending doom, threatening to drag him to Hell.

In the real world he burns alive as he’s set by a fever so intense that water literally evaporates upon contact with his skin. It kills him, eventually, his only regret being unvisited vengeance upon his enemies.

This pushes the household to a breaking point, and Biwa is kicked out by Sukemori as winter sets in. Where will she go? It’s impossible to say.

I have wondered more than once while watching Heike Monogatari if some of its characters, in their bottomless arrogance and self-assured righteousness, might resonate in a truly dark way with the current leaders of our world. Just something to chew on.

Komi Can’t Communicate

Administrative note: I am following NovaWorks’ absolutely gorgeous fansub for this series rather than the official subtitles. If you’re wondering why I seem to be several episodes behind, that is why.

The issue I always had with Komi‘s source material is that I could never quite understand what tone it was going for. On the one hand, Komi is something of a cringe comedy. A decent amount of the humor comes from Komi’s own ability to fail to perform basic human interactions, and most characters other than Komi herself (and Tadano) are, well, often pretty rude, even when accounting for their generally wacky, cartoonish personalities. On the other, the series projects an obvious, deep empathy for its title character, and is clearly sympathetic to her struggles even as it pokes fun at the mundanity of them. The long and short of all this is that the series has a pretty weird sense of humor, and it’s sometimes hard to tell if a given joke is being made at a character’s expense (and thus, intentionally or not, the expense of the sort of person they represent) or is being made with the idea that both the character themselves and any similar persons in the audience are “in on it.” And like it or not, that does matter. It’s the difference between gentle ribbing and punching down, and it’s what separates the good examples of this sort of comedy from the bad. All this is difficult enough to square with Komi herself, but it becomes even moreso with some of the other characters, one of whom we meet in episode 2.

This is Najimi Osana. They are a gender bean.

I don’t know what line was translated this way, but to whoever chose this phrasing: bless you.

Before I say anything else; I actually like Najimi. They’re great. I just don’t really know how to feel about the fact that I like them.

Najimi is, well, some sort of gender-nonconforming. I don’t recall the source material ever getting particularly specific and this episode follows that lead. But whether they are genderfluid, nonbinary, MTF, simply a crossdresser, or some combination of the above, they are, for better or worse, the representative for how Komi Can’t Communicate “feels about” genderqueer people. In personality, they are hypersocial, flirty, a bit manipulative, and we’re told, a chronic liar. They’re very entertaining, but this depiction forces us to wade into thorny questions of representation.

I really hate having to ever address the question of whether a character is “good rep” or not. It makes me feel, frankly, like a cranky and vaguely pathetic stereotype of a critic. Look at me, being the big bad feminist werewolf ruining everyone’s fun little romcom by interrogating its assumptions about gender. It’s a genuinely sucky feeling, because every word I write in criticism of the series I feel like I must couch with repeated assurances that no, I do like it, I just don’t know about how it handles this. And on the other hand, no one’s art exists in a vacuum, so I feel like I am to some extent obligated to at least ask the question. Is Najimi’s central “joke” that they’re all of those things I listed, and happen to be, separately from that, genderqueer, or is it that they are those things because they’re genderqueer? That’s a huge distinction. The former is a personality, the latter is a stereotype. And the sexualized otokonoko is, certainly, a trope that exists in Japanese pop media, so my gut reaction drags me toward the latter interpretation, not helped by a pretty unpleasant sequence here where Najimi is nearly assaulted by a delinquent they used to know. (Thankfully, he’s scared off before anything can happen. This isn’t really that kind of show. Still, it’s the idea.)

But of course, as a critic (and really just as a literate viewer) you should never let your first reaction be the whole of your thoughts. The other side of this is that I want to absolve Komi Can’t Communicate of responsibility here, because as I said, I like Najimi. They’re a weird little gremlin who manages to be immensely popular anyway, we’re given the comical figure that they have five million friends, and honestly I do get it. I even think the scene where they casually insist that they’re “actually” a guy to turn someone down is kinda funny, because using your gender as a weapon to duck out of awkward social situations genuinely is amusing, it’s the sort of thing that certain genderqueer people (and I’m including myself here) absolutely would pull if they could. It’s almost Bugs Bunny-ish.

So I don’t want them to be bad. I want to live in a world where original mangaka Tomohito Oda came up with this character because he thought they’d be funny on their own merits. I want a genderqueer character to just be able to exist in an anime and be a funny little Starbucks goblin and have it not be a big deal. Maybe that’s why I am willing to take Najimi’s presence in the series (and their general characterization) on good faith. For me at least, and for now, it’s enough that they’re entertaining and funny and endearing. But it may not be for everybody, and I think both stances are okay as long as they’re arrived at properly. Such things are rarely cut and dry, and if you take away nothing else from all this rambling, let it be that. I have said all I said (and worried greatly about coming across as though I’m trying to shame people, which I’m absolutely not), but I must again reiterate that I genuinely really like the character.

And gosh, look at all this. I’ve written all I’ve written and barely touched on the actual plot of the episode itself. It’s a good one, despite any impression to the contrary I may have made here. Komi Can’t Communicate continues its impressive visual run here, and there’s a really fun bit where we see the same scene twice from two different perspectives back to back. The extended riff on Starbucks near the end of the episode where Komi is tasked with memorizing a monstrously long order (Najimi’s naturally. Yes, the “Starbucks goblin” descriptor was relevant. I’m such a good writer) is one of the funniest things I’ve seen in an anime this year. Shout out to this guy; “wearer of the black apron” indeed.

So yes, all my thinking in circles aside, it’s a largely good episode. Komi Can’t Communicate remains one to watch.

But now we have to get to the show that I actually am kind of disappointed with. Although here too things are….complicated.

Rumble Garanndoll

There is a thin line between being self-aware and being self-impressed. Has Rumble Garanndoll crossed it? I wouldn’t say so, but it’s getting awfully close. Followup question: do you remember Darling in the FranXX? Because somebody on Rumble Garanndoll‘s production team definitely does.

That’s probably a bad first impression to make for an episode that I did enjoy parts of, but it is very easy to see where Garanndoll might fall apart, and on several occasions over the course of its third episode I felt like I was watching Garanndoll get dangerously close to shattering in real time. As such, this writeup is going to mostly be about what I did not like about the episode, with apologies to the animators who continue to make Garanndoll a visual treat.

Let’s go over what Garanndoll has gotten right so far, first. Fair is fair, after all. It does correctly identify that otakudom–like any counterculture–is fundamentally incompatible with authoritarian ideologies. As close as the two can get to being bedfellows is proponents of the latter treating members of the former like useful idiots (that’s more or less what by-now recurring antagonist Hayate’s role is, and it’s something that happens in the contemporary cultural landscape all the time). Inevitably, the fascistic drive to purge “degeneracy” will take hold, and all art and culture will be subsumed beneath a nationalistic monolith. Garanndoll knows that, as demonstrated here where it contrasts how the Shark One works with how the villains’ mecha work. (The Shark is powered by passion and strength of feeling. The various mecha that the bad guys are playing with? “Patriotism.” That’s not terribly subtle commentary.) Inside Rin’s own mind, the only thing that’s able to defeat her fantasy flights of transforming heroes and giant robots are the memories of the villains themselves.

Again, not subtle. (And fittingly; one of the best parts of the episode.) Countercultures and authoritarianism are natural enemies; that’s a good and true thing for the show to grok. It resonates, even if it’s not exactly a novel observation.

What I worry Garanndoll may not understand is that passion for art–or more specifically what I will generally term “geek shit” here–cannot actually defeat authoritarianism by itself. I mentioned DarliFra in the opening paragraph, and while that show had numerous issues, it did also understand that you couldn’t kill the monster of fascism with hot blood alone. You need empathy, you need love, and you need thoughtfulness and planning. It was very bad at actually implementing those ideas but it at least knew that it had to try. I’m not sure Garanndoll does, which is a pretty serious problem for a show whose whole core idea pits a group of nerds-turned-rebel-alliance against the marching army of a culture-hostile dictatorship.

And there is another comparison to be made to DarliFra, and it’s the one you were probably expecting. I’ll level with you folks; I am far less anti-Guys In My Anime than many other lesbians I know who watch the stuff. I am not opposed to dudes. I’m not opposed to dudes in the lead role, even. But they have to be at least a bit interesting, and–here is another place where Rumble is starting to stumble–it cannot push heteronormative nonsense. Initially I thought male lead Hosomichi’s career as a host would be a vehicle for, something interesting. Perhaps a gentle once-over about how nerdy men tend to look at women. So far it’s mostly been a plot device, and here he gets roped into eyeroll-inducing platitudes about “a man and a woman” and about every time one was on screen I glared at my monitor so hard I thought I might melt it. To me, that is far more obnoxious than someone’s cheeky cut-swipe of a bad mecha anime from a few years ago.

Directors, writers, you must be aware that there are plenty of women who watch your work, or else you would not have written the female lead as an otaku girl. Honestly this kills me; Rin is not some two-bit wish fulfillment fantasy, I have known plenty of people who would wear a Mega Man outfit to their job if they thought they could get away with it, and I have known women–and am a woman–who love their giant robots. No one in 2021 wants this “and he gets the girl” shit. It has to be more earned than this. And to Garanndoll‘s credit maybe it will eventually earn it, maybe even in the episode airing tomorrow. It just really has not done so yet. But I’m skeptical now–more than I want to be–especially because the teased introduction of another girl at the end of this episode has all the hallmarks of a lazy harem setup. You can do better than this, can’t you? To use the show’s own symbolic language; watching Garanndoll should make me feel like my passion battery is charged up, not like it’s running on empty. I know this may seem hard to believe given all I’ve said, but I like this show, and the last thing I want to see it do is trip over the Sexism Bar and fall flat on its own face. It deserves better than that.

Elsewhere on MPA

First Impressions: High Guardian Spice – This show seems like decent fun. I haven’t watched more of it since I wrote this and I don’t really intend to. So if you’re looking for an “authoritative” opinion on it I’d suggest turning to other critics–probably those with more experience and more interest in writing about contemporary American cartoons–but if you just want my two cents, here it is.

Let’s Watch takt op.Destiny: Episode 4 – This is my favorite episode of takt op since its premiere. I think that really says all you need to know, doesn’t it?

And with ALL OF THAT said, I hope you all have a Happy Halloween and a good rest of your week.

Wanna talk to other Magic Planet Anime readers? Consider joining my Discord server! Also consider following me on Twitter and supporting me on Ko-Fi or Patreon. If you want to read more of my work, consider heading over to the Directory to browse by category.

All views expressed on Magic Planet Anime are solely my own opinions and conclusions and should not be taken to reflect the opinions of any other persons, groups, or organizations. All text, excepting direct quotations, is owned by Magic Planet Anime. Do not duplicate without permission. All images are owned by their original copyright holders.

Posted on in anime, Seasonal Impression Roundups

Seasonal First Impressions: The Beautiful Bloom of KOMI CAN’T COMMUNICATE

Seasonal First Impressions is a column where I detail my thoughts, however brief or long, about a currently-airing anime’s first episode or so.

“Do you have a dream, Komi?”
“My dream is to make 100 friends….please don’t laugh.”
“Then I’ll be your first friend, and help you make the rest.”

I didn’t actually intend to write more of these for this season, but sometimes things have a way of surprising you.

Komi Can’t Communicate was not something I intended to pick up. I didn’t even really intend to watch the premiere. To tell you the gods’ honest truth, I don’t really like the original manga all that much. I know! It’s widely-liked, by enough people that it’s the sort of thing where I’ve just accepted that I’m firmly in the minority. I followed it for a few months when it was relatively new, and it just never inspired any strong feelings in me. I had some things I kinda liked about it, some things I kinda didn’t like, but on the whole it didn’t move me. I didn’t get the hype. But I started hearing things about the anime; positive things. Things that were so positive that I felt like I just wouldn’t be doing my job if I felt like I didn’t at least look into it. And good lord, what a difference a change of medium can make.

On paper, Komi Can’t Communicate shouldn’t really work as an anime. This is a series whose primary character dynamic hinges almost entirely on talking. No, not talking; non-verbal communication. It’s a bit of a challenge to make that visually interesting. And indeed, while the manga itself certainly has nice art, I wouldn’t say it’s terribly visually dynamic. That can be a real problem in motion! So how did Komi‘s team overcome it? Well, in a way, the answer is very simple.

They turned in one of the best productions of the entire year.

Komi Can’t Communicate is gorgeous. (Enough so in motion that it’s actually rather hard to capture its appeal in still screenshots.) Its only real competition this season is takt op.Destiny, from which it is stylistically whole universes away. But while takt op is bone-cracking action and melodramatic camp, Komi Can’t Communicate zeroes in on the warmth of youth, even when it’s being funny. It’s a feeling I associate more with films like Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop than I do TV anime. That’s not to say that Komi is particularly serious–it’s a fairly straightforward and lighthearted show–but it’s straightforward and lighthearted while looking utterly beautiful. This is the sort of thing that even those wholly uninterested in its plot can watch for visuals alone. There’re loads of clever little tricks in here; cut-ins, overlaid text, subtle art style shifts, etc. Some of these are inherited from the manga, but even those simply look way better here. This is a truly rare elevation of the source material, and I think even those who love the manga will agree with that.

This shot is from the OP, which is an instantly-iconic, sun-drenched piece of loveliness.

Its actual plot is so basic that it barely warrants summarizing. What do you want me to say? Boy meets girl! This is simple stuff. But Shouko Komi herself (our female lead) is an interesting character. As the title implies, she has what is colloquially known in Japan as a “communication disorder”. This to say: she cannot talk to people. Her case seems to be particularly bad. Over the course of the first episode, actress Aoi Koga (who recently made a name for herself as the title character in Kaguya-sama: Love is War!), doesn’t say a single actual word. Her vocal consists of flustered stuttering. That’s it.

But as the narration helpfully (and truthfully!) points out, people who have these kinds of difficulties do not crave human contact any less than anyone else. Komi still badly wants friends, but her anxiety is such an issue that she can’t bring herself to even say things as simple as morning greetings to anybody. Worse; all this, combined with her general appearance, has convinced most that she is an archetypal “cool beauty”, rather than a kind, gentle girl who deeply, simply wants to have friends and live a normal life.

That’s where our other lead comes in. Hitohito Tadano is an astoundingly average fellow, aside from his odd (but quite cute) habit of wearing a flower in his hair. The only “skill” of any kind that Tadano brings to the table is that it’s he who first recognizes Komi’s true nature. So, they get to talking. Or rather, to writing, as he comes up with the idea that using the classroom chalkboard while they happen to be alone between classes might be less anxiety-inducing than actually speaking aloud. By coincidence or by competence, he hits on the right idea, and the episode’s entire middle third is the two getting to know each other through a sprawling correspondence of chalk. This was cute in the manga. Here, it’s enrapturing, it pulls you in. For a few minutes, these two teenagers getting to know each other seems like the most important thing in the world.

Eventually, they come around to the exchange quoted at the top of this article. Things take a turn for the more comedic not long afterward, as the narration reminds us that the high school in which Komi Can’t Communicate is set is full of wild, wacky characters. (In the manga, I remember this kind of being a turn-off for me. I suppose we’ll see how it’s handled here.) So perhaps Tadano’s got more than he bargained for, but one gets the sense that he’d be okay with it if he knew. And that’s really the key thing; what makes a romance anime work is that we the audience have to believe that these two characters are interested in each other on a fairly deep level. Komi Can’t Communicate‘s first episode proves it with a startlingly clear, rosy, warm portrait of two young people who simply happened to be there for each other at the right time. For whom that simple serendipity will likely develop into much more. What else could you ask for? Komi and Tadano both get a little less lonely. The world gets a little brighter.

Grade: A+
The Takeaway: Komi Can’t Communicate stands as the season’s second truly essential anime. If you’re interested in romance anime as a genre or seasonal anime as a format, you should check this out.

Wanna talk to other Magic Planet Anime readers? Consider joining my Discord server! Also consider following me on Twitter and supporting me on Ko-Fi or Patreon. If you want to read more of my work, consider heading over to the Directory to browse by category.

All views expressed on Magic Planet Anime are solely my own opinions and conclusions and should not be taken to reflect the opinions of any other persons, groups, or organizations. All text, excepting direct quotations, is owned by Magic Planet Anime. Do not duplicate without permission. All images are owned by their original copyright holders.