Kawai. Moe. UwU. Long ago, these three weeb words for all that is sacredly adwuable in this world. Then, everything changed when the Komi nation attacked. Out of all the waifu's, only she could wield all three elements. And when the world needed her most, she appeared, for it seems in only a short couple of weeks, we Komi fans are going to get the anime adaptation we've been hungering for years now.
So to celebrate such an elaborate occasion and my recent introduction into the cult of Komi, I Donovan Ellis have decided to show all of you here today why Komi Can't Communicate is Fucking A-1!
Note
It kind of goes without saying, but for this recommendation, I'll primarily be talking about the manga for the series; any spinoff or supplementary material (if there is any) will not get used in this discussion. To that end, I should note that these are pretty obviously my opinions, so don't get broken up over a primarily positive review. Finally, this is only going to contain minor spoilers for the uninitiated. With that out of the way, let's begin.
Summary
In his first year of the illustrious Itan Private Highschool, Tadano Hihito (also known as just some fucking guy in the Japanese text) wants to try and live a normal life. Unfortunately, all that pretty much got clipped harder than a barber as he finds himself sitting right next to "the" Shoko Komi, the prettiest girl in school. Between her cold persona and having the school wrapped around her finger, Tadano's goose seems to be floured, salted, peppered, roasted, and served on a silver platter!
However, using his amazing observation skills, he realized a secret that could Itan to its core. That being that Komi, the cold unapproachable ice queen, is just an ordinary girl that has no idea how to communicate with people (honestly, same girl). Realizing this fact, Tadano decides to help out and become the first step in Komi's dream of obtaining a hundred friends!
Unfortunately, our lowly lad has his work cut out for him because Itan Private High school is a school for the utterly batshit insane! So with a storm's worth of violent personalities trapped in this powder keg of school, can Komi learn to communicate with all? Let's find out!
Cast
Due to the nature of Komi's crazy yet charmingly colloquial quest, the series has approximately a metric shit ton of characters, so much so that you could probably make a good quiz on who is who.
The series creator Tomohito Oda does a pretty solid job of giving most of the characters enough of a unique design and gimmick to be memorable while still splitting up time to show the progression of our other main characters. Nonetheless, I'll pretty much focus on the main characters we see throughout Komi's first and second years for easier reference.
First up, we have our addictive heroine Shoko Komi, a character that is beautiful in more ways than one. Due to her communication disorder, Komi is often silent, anxious, excitable, quirky, apologetic, and flighty. A running theme of Komi is that despite her popularity, she suffers greatly from crippling self-doubt over her unapproachable nature. However, with the help of Tadano, she's able to show her genuine kindness and modesty to gain new friends.
Speaking of the main man (and best girl), Tadano is pretty much a parallel to Komi, an average dude who consistently tries and fails to maintain a low profile due to his friendship with Komi. With his expert observations, though, Tadano is almost always a humble wingman who can mesh well with virtually any group he's in.
Rounding off the cast, we have the gender-ambiguous but amicable social butterfly Osana, the introverted weeb Nakanaka, nervous wreck Agari, and ravenous yandere Yamai. When the series enters its second semester, we get a new cast. We have the gorgeous gyaru with a heart of gold (alliteration game on point today) Manbagi, orderly clean freak Isagi, narrow-minded narcissist Narsue, sweaty yet swift Ase, and of course the strong but sweet Makoto.
Presentation
Befitting the more comedic nature of the series, Komi San predominantly features an exaggerated, chibi-like art style for most characters. Usually, this involves a lot of exaggerated eyes and simplified facial features for more comedic expressions. That said, Oda still manages to show off when he wants to be cute or serious. The faces, outfits, and designs of certain characters really can be a breathtaking experience.
Other than that, Komi's presentation also has a very noticeable but exciting quirk. Even though the series features full-length chapters Komi, I noticed pretty quickly that the series features a very 4 Koma panel style as many jokes got birthed from the integration of a lot of similar-looking panels with hidden gags or narration boxes throughout.
Overview
Looking back on the series from over 300 chapters are like being a proud parent, and I don't mean just for Komi. I've heard before that as long as you have good characters, you can put them in any scenario and work fine, and I think that especially holds here. Half the fun of Komi-san is just seeing how all the characters play off each other, from the recurring to minor characters.
Komi and Tadano's relationship in the first couple of chapters is honestly so adorable, with the parallels in their respective popularity being precisely what they both needed for each other at the time. Komi is the popular girl with no communication skills, but Tadano's superb observations can help her get brought down to earth for her classmates.
But on the flip side, with his added attention brought on indirectly by Komi, Tadano also manages to get more friends as well, helping both their social struggles immensely. This, in turn, leads to finding out about the struggle of the students in their separate arcs.
And I think that's the thing that makes Komi such a relatable series for so many. Just because Komi Can't Communicate doesn't mean that the characters are particularly good at it either. Hell, most of the show's jokes are at the expense of not understanding Komi's weird mannerisms and hailing her as the queen she is. Their personality quirks make them uniquely entertaining, but they are huge complexes that often serve as limitations for conveying their feelings openly.
This makes Komi's development all the more apparent and rewarding; because, in contrast to the somewhat comedic tone, it should get noted that time does pass, and her character does develop significantly when the series starts to mature at the forefront of its more romantic elements later on. Elements that in no way caused any discourse in the fandom and totally didn't cause me to search up how well polyamory works.
Yet despite all the small challenges Komi goes through, she can still adapt and help people with their social problems in her way. Ironically, not having her talk makes the journey with Komi more relatable than ever.
Epilogue
All in all, Komi-san is a master class in the romcom, slice-of-life genre that I can't get enough of. With her third year of high school in the manga about to begin and the anime already out and looking more beautiful than I ever could imagine, it seems that the future of the series is burning bright. Which I am more than happy about because I think that Komi has a message we all need to hear but to understand that weight, I would like to get a little personal.
When I was younger, I, too, had a massive problem with my communication. I overcame my thoughts and invested in my imaginary worlds that no one could understand what I talked about no matter how hard I tried. Which led to me getting weighed down by every label you can think of.
By my second year in middle school, my mom thought I was so miserable that I would do something I would regret forever. Of course, I was never remotely close to that point; it still was not a good sign.
Everything changed when I managed to get older though, maybe it was puberty, or perhaps it was the fact that everyone grew a brain; either way, I managed to find my place in this crazy world. I discovered people who liked my dumb jokes, watched an anime that wasn't Dragonball Z, and who remembered my name fondly besides every thought I had saying otherwise. All while still being me.
Eventually, those small victories gave me all the motivation I needed to turn thought into action, and I fell in love with the ability to bring my pen to the pad. So much so that when I couldn't contain myself any longer, I shared my imaginary world for all to see. The rest, as they say, was history.
Even still, there are many days when I worry if people will like my writing online or if potential friends will hate me forever over the premature slip of the tongue. Or if my dream of being a writer ends the moment some random hate finds one bad tweet that didn't age well a decade ago. Yet, at the same time, I want to keep going, to keep improving, and keep communicating with people.
For if we come in and out of this world alone, it doesn't mean we have to live a life that way. That's why I managed to impact people and why I was able to be accepted for being me, a feeling that I think we're all striving for. And if Komi and I were able to find it, why can't you?