Why I Love Komi Can’t Communicate So Much!
This entire thing is spoilers, so be warned!!
I’m not very good with names, like what are first names, what are last names, etc, so I’m going off what characters called each other in the manga & anime, and what I call them.
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The story + Komi and Tadano:
Probably the main reason I loved Komi Can’t Communicate so much is the story and the characters. It starts with Tadano talking to Komi and realising she isn’t good at talking to people, and that single moment sparked something truly special. From there it follows Komi on her journey of making 100 friends and her romance with Tadano. Arguably my favourite part of this manga and the anime is the romance! Komi and Tadano have such a special romance, and seeing the way those two change, become close, and eventually see them dating, it’s beautiful. The way Tadano helps Komi become more confident in socialising is truly incredible, at the start of the story Komi can’t speak and is scared of even talking through writing, but by the end of the manga Komi can speak verbally, and is very confident talking through writing.
Komi is the most attractive person at Itan Private High School, the guys and even the girls are all over her! Komi appears to ignore everyone, but that’s not true, she wants to make friends and have fun, but she has a communication disorder and has severe anxiety whenever she tries to talk to someone, but that’s where Tadano comes in. Tadano is the most average guy ever, he is plain normal, but when he meets Komi he becomes her first friend. How does that happen? Well, he asks her if she’s bad at communicating, and then they started chatting, simple as that. Then Komi says her dream is to have a hundred friends, and Tadano says he’ll be her first and he’ll help her get 99 more. From there the two start hanging out a lot at school, then outside of school. During the Valentine’s-White day period of their first year in high school Tadano was starting to develop feelings for Komi but he hadn’t realised them yet, but eventually he falls in love with her. The year after, on Valentine’s Day, Tadano confesses to Komi, and soon after they become a couple and their story progresses on from there!
For other characters, theres Yamai and Nakanaka, Rumiko, Najimi, and more, but those are the ones I’ll talk about.
Yamai and Nakanaka:
Yamai and Nakanaka are great by themselves and together. Yamai is a girl who is over the top and obsessive towards Komi, she’s also the leader of the cool girls, and in the manga and anime she is mainly shown to be keeping Tadano from Komi, and trying all sorts of methods to do… unethical things to Komi. Nakanaka on the other hand is a cringey chūnibyō, who is always roleplaying as a warrior, called Marsault Les Primavera, with the “dragon force”, but I like this! I think Nakanaka is a cool character! Sadly, Nakanaka only acts like this to hide her insecurities and loneliness. Since Komi is one of her first friends in high school, Nakanaka helps Komi and stops Yamai from doing things to Komi. However, when Yamai and Nakanaka are together, that’s when they’re best. I think Yamai and Nakanaka is a great ship, these two appear to hate each other but in reality they like each other, Nakanaka has shown multiple times that she cares for Yamai, and they spend a lot of time together!
Rumiko:
Rumiko… is an interesting character in my opinion. Personally, I think she is a great character, but I just don’t like that she had to come in and mess with Komi and Tadano’s relationship by also having a crush on him ? Rumiko is a kindhearted, cheerful girl, but after Tadano rejected her she started to become a bit more passive-aggressive and mean towards Tadano, and in turn Komi, due to them being together. Overall, I think she is a good character and it was good to have her in the story, but I was a bit conflicted when her arc first arose.
Najimi (⸝⸝>w<⸝⸝):
Finally, Najimi Osana, my beloved. My favourite anime character of all time, the cute, silly, expressive, devious, gaslighting, enby menace of Itan Private High School! I love how Najimi’s gender is just, non existent. They are the epitome of non-binary menaces, I think a lot of enbies would love to be Najimi, heck even I do and I’m trans! Najimi is an expressive person who loves having fun and they don’t like doing work or studying, which leads to some fun adventures. Najimi is also good at weaponising incompetence which I find funny and adorable. Najimi’s appearance and personality are just so cute to me, and I love their hair!!
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I’ve seen a lot of people say the manga has a lot of filler but I disagree, I think the side plot lines and side characters deserved the attention and I enjoyed all of it! The random times Tadano hung out with Komi’s dad was funny, the story with Shousuke and Ai was interesting, etc.
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The music in the anime adaptation of Komi Can’t Communicate is great, this goes for the openings, endings, and background music. I think my favourite piece of music from the anime is either Ao 100 Syoko or Tomodachi 100 Nin Dekirukana, but all the music was incredible. It captures your emotions in some scenes, but it can also just be so catchy! Every time I hear Tomodachi 100 Nin Dekirukana I just picture class 2-1 with Komi, Tadano, and Najimi all chatting away, and it’s awesome!
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I think my favourite art style was the anime one, but the manga one was still great. In the anime we get colours for everything, not just cover art, so you can see how all the characters are meant to look and it gets across a lot more information and conveys emotion. The animation for the show was also incredible, I don’t know how to explain it, it was just great. I loved how sometimes they made Komi have cat ears and look cute & simple too! I really do like the manga art style for Komi Can’t Communicate, and I think it has its own charm that anime doesn’t have!
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Overall, I think the anime is absolutely incredible, the music, the art, the animation, and the overall form of it. I had an incredible time watching it and I would love for more to be released, but the manga has been completed, you get the whole story! For that reason alone, I think the manga is better, but if the anime ever catches up to the manga, or even just until Komi and Tadano get together, it will be superior!
Overall, Komi Can’t Communicate is my favourite anime and manga of all time, tbh it’s the only manga I’ve read but it was incredible. I don’t think I should give it a score of 100, so I’m giving it a 98. It’s not perfect, but it’s very close
fyi - I only read the manga online for free, but I am starting to buy the offical volumes and I’ll reread the manga and possibly update my review but I doubt my opinions will be any different!
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