Komi Can't Communicate is the story that made me fall in love with SOL animes. It's the first SOL I ever watched/read, and I'm glad it was this one. KCC has its flaws, which I'll go into in more detail, but when it gets good, it has some of my favorite moments in any story I've ever read or watched.

SPOILER WARNING: this review is up to date as of chapter 344, and I will spoil major events in the story so that I can be as specific as possible.

STORY: 9/10
The story of KCC is overall a very wholesome and enjoyable one, IMO. It centers around Komi's goal of making 100 friends, something that thankfully is still the main goal of the story so many chapters in. Komi's first friends - Tadano and Najimi - become extremely important to her, especially Tadano. The friendship developed between the two characters is real, sweet, and always so fun to see. A little later on, Manbagi is introduced, and her character development is fantastic, as Tadano and Komi provide so much support and initiate positive change in her personality, making her a much more natural and funny character. The friend group is formed!!

This is around the time when the love triangle forms: Manbagi and Komi both fall in love with Tadano. This love triangle arguably exists for too long in the timeline in the story, also sorta replacing the SOL moments from before, and honestly could have been wrapped up quicker than it was, but it does lead to lots of character growth and moments for Komi & Manbagi to shine.

Honestly...it would have been nice to see Manbagi win Tadano's heart, even if I think Komi and Tadano getting together was ultimately the right choice. It was destined for Komi and Tadano to be together, and made complete sense as their bond was extremely well developed over so many chapters, but Manbagi was the one really going out and trying to make the effort first to get Tadano. She even was the one that confessed first!! I'm happy that Komi and Tadano got together, and I'm really glad that Manbagi still has a prominent role in the story, but Manbagi x Tadano would've been great as well. Maybe not quite as good as Tadano x Komi, but alas.

I am very happy to see how Tadano and Komi's relationship has been developed so far. It even leads to some development for Tadano's family, as we just met Tadano's mom for the first time! Our two leads have a beautiful bond with each other, and I hope it's never disrupted or broken.

Why is the story not a 10? Pacing. It just drags on for too long sometimes, I think. This is a good thing in some aspects - many characters get good development, and character relationships are very strong, but it definitely dragged a bit for the love triangle arc when we knew Tadano already liked Komi and vice versa.

ART: 8/10
I think the art for KCC is overall very good. I'm not a big fan of the initial art style in the first few chapters, although I do prefer Komi's first "big eyes" design from these chapters. I also think the very newest style, while much more polished and memorable, is a little too cute at times, especially with Komi's face. I thought the art style around the 150-200 chapter range was perfect, it was basically a mix of the two styles.

If we're talking about the anime, though? I'd give it a 9 or a 10. I think they animated each character basically perfectly.

Also, what happened with Najimi's art? Why are they just like a little smiley face and an outline most of the time nowadays?

CHARACTER: 9/10
KCC has some incredible characters...and some straight up weird or bad ones, and that holds it back from a 10 in this section. I'll go one by one here -

Komi: Best girl for sure, I absolutely adore Shouko. She's such a genuinely kind and thoughtful person who prioritizes others and cares deeply for her friends and family, while having many great comedic moments with her "big eyes" faces and hilarious reactions. Her conversation with Manbagi during the school play arc is one of my favorite scenes in any anime story - she's extremely selfless, and won't let her friends give up on their ambitions even if it would help her. She cares that much about the feelings about her friends, and it's so wholesome :)

Tadano: Best guy. The fact that Tadano is just an average guy...that's what makes him so special! He's exactly what Komi always needed, someone to understand and empathize with her as well as guiding her through the process of learning to openly communicate. Tadano is also extremely kind and is able to see the positives in any situation. The chapter where Tadano complimented every student in the class in the teacher meetings is one of my favorite moments in the story. Tadano deserved to be with someone as great as Komi, and it's extremely satisfying to see them together.

Manbagi: Would be best girl easily, if not for Komi. Once she goes through her development of getting rid of the makeup and showing her natural self for the first time, Manbagi is an absolute treat to see. I loved how she has her own unique and meaningful friendships with both Komi and Tadano, she was a perfect addition to the group and always adds a lot of positives to each scene she's in.

Manbagi does not struggle to communicate, contrasting very interestingly with Komi as they both worked to win Tadano's love - I almost sorta felt sometimes like Manbagi deserved to win more than Komi just for how active she was and hard she was trying to get Tadano, compared to Komi not really doing as much (which is completely valid considering her character, but still). Like I said before, I'm very happy that Manbagi is still a big part of the story even after she was rejected by Tadano, and that they were all still able to maintain that close friendship. I can't wait to see more of her in future arcs!

Najimi: They've sorta become less important over time as new characters like Manbagi were introduced, but I loved Najimi's presence earlier in the story. They served to motivate Komi very often earlier on to push her limits and try new things, which ended up positively affecting her development, and their friendship with Tadano is always funny to see. I hope Najimi gets more to do in the future - some more backstory/development would be amazing!

Yamai/Agari: This is why I don't rate this section a 10, mostly cause of Yamai. I'm not one of those people that thinks Yamai is the absolute worst thing ever, and she actually does have some decent scenes occasionally, but overall she annoys me so much whenever she goes overly obsessive on Komi. She doesn't really have to face many consequences for her actions most of the time, which I find really frustrating >:o on the other hand, Agari is more missed potential for me. She has the potential to be a very interesting character IMO, I just feel like the whole dog shtick isn't funny and takes a lot away from what could've been a very good character that was somewhat a close parallel to Komi earlier on. Agari doesn't annoy me like Yamai, but they both serve to demonstrate KCC's occasional character flaws.

There are a lot of really good side characters though! Katai, Kometani, Hitomi, Komi's whole family, Naruse, Ase, Onemine, they're all great to see and often inject lots of humor into their scenes!

ENJOYMENT: 10
KCC has its flaws, but honestly...I don't really care that much. I LOVE this story and feel significantly invested in multiple characters, as well as their relationships with each other. I think the humor is hilarious, the character growth is so well done - I'm so excited to read the new chapter every week it releases cause I can't wait to see what these characters will do next or what new adventures they'll experience! I will stick with this story without a doubt until its eventual end.

OVERALL: 9
To sum up...Komi Can't Communicate is one of my favorite SOL anime/manga. Some minor flaws do exist, mainly due to some occasionally weird pacing and character oddities, but I feel more commitment to this story than I do to anything else besides Demon Slayer. I love Komi, Tadano, Manbagi, Najimi, and the whole group of amazing characters/stories that KCC has to offer - and I can't wait to see where the story goes from here :D