It surprised me how underrated Watamote is when I looked at the scores and reviews, as Watamote is actually a masterpiece that delivers strong message- acceptance.
[Tomoko's self acceptance]
Tomoko is a high school girl who struggled socially. In the anime, she attempted various ways to make herself more popular at her school. However, she failed all the time.
Tomoko struggled to accept who she is.
[Audience's self acceptance]
It's common to hear that anime fans experienced second hand embarrassment while watching Watamote. Some of them found it based; some found it cringe.
People who found Watamote cringe struggled to accept their present/past-self.
[Acceptance]
Tomoko doesn't need to become popular. It is ok to be misfit, it is ok to be unpopular. What Tomoko truly needs is friends who accept her for who she is. One of the reasons why Tomoko kept failing in the anime was she tried too hard to become someone else. It's always best to just accept herself and be herself.
[Reach out]
After acceptance, the next step is to step out of comfort zone and reach out . Although Tomoko seems to be hopeless in the anime, various episodes imply that there is always people who care for her: she has a friend that she could hangout with; stranger who bought her an umbrella; senpai who looked out for her etc. I see all these as signs of hope for Tomoko. An unnoticeable detail in the anime would be Tomoko's improvement in the anime. In the beginning of the anime, she struggled to greet her teacher due to her anxiety. In the end of the anime,she tried and said goodbye to her teacher. This was her first step to reach out to other people as her true self, Tomoko Kuroki. I believed she would keep on improving after this. (And indeed,Tomoko did improved a lot later in the manga and made some really good friends. No spoiler here but I recommend the manga if you would like to see Tomoko's character development.)
Other than the strong message Watamote delivers, the show itself is very entertaining to watch. The comedy in the anime is great and I can't remember a single episode I didn't laugh at. There are many anime references used in the anime. As a K-ON fan, I was so excited when I saw the K-ON references. This anime is full of surprises.
In terms of music, this show have great op, ed and inserts throughout the anime. It's amazing how they have 5 endings for a 12 episode anime. One of my favourite is Natsu Matsuri covered by Hatsune Miku.
Character in Watamote is 10/10 since I just adore Tomoko that much! There are also fun support characters such as Yuu, Kiko and Tomoki. Unfortunately, we don't get to see the 2nd best girl (Yuri-chan) in the anime.
To me, Tomoko is very relatable character. She reminds me of my past-self in secondary school. I was socially awkward and didn't have many friends. Unlike Tomoko, I didn't want to be popular. I never want to change who I am in order to fit in. I continued to be an introvert and immersed myself in the world of anime. This lasted until I went to uni and joined the anime society there. I found a group of friends who shared the same interests. We are comfortable within our own little community as we don't need to care about what the others think. Inevitably, I became an active and sociable person within the community. Even though I still struggle a bit socially outside the society, having group of great friends certainly helped me to develop. Weebs can be seen as weird and we certainly don't fit in well in a society full of normies, but we are all happy to be weird together.
If you consider yourself as Tomoko right now, try to be yourself and reach out. It is always helpful to find friends with same interests. My suggestion would be joining a local anime club/society.
AND please give Watamote a go if you haven't watched it!
~~P.S. I happily accept that i am cringe for being able to enjoy watamote. And if you are also a Watamote enjoyer, you are also cringe (and based).~~
40.5 out of 44 users liked this review
