Komi Can’t Communicate (Season One) – Komi-san wa, Comyushou desu.

Hitohito Tadano is starting at a new school and has resolved to remain unnoticed, hoping for a quiet life. However, his seat is next to the high school darling, Shouko Komi and she doesn’t seem to want to talk to him!

Komi Can’t Communicate (Season One) – Komi-san wa, Comyushou desu.

What did you watch?

At the end of 2022, I decided to throw myself into a lot of manga. Rather than sticking to the types that I knew I liked, I expanded my horizons and read just about anything I could get my hands on. That led me to titles like Higehiro: After Being Rejected, I Shaved and Took in a High School Runaway, Golden Time, and Hitomi-chan is Shy With Strangers. I don’t mind romance but it’s never really been something I seek out. Now, I know these aren’t all-out romance stories as many focus on romantic subtext and a longer phase of developing the relationship, but it’s still not fantasy, science fiction, or horror (my usual go-to genres). Anyhow, as I continued to experiment with new genres, I found that I was enjoying the variety. Eventually, I found my way to Komi Can’t Communicate and quickly fell in love. That was at the beginning of 2023, so I’m not sure why it took me so long to watch the anime… but here we are. Finally!

What happened?

Hitohito Tadano had been accepted to a prestigious high school and had resolved to blend in. He wanted his high school life to be quiet and carefree. While putting his shoes into his locker on the first morning, he felt a presence unlike anything he’d encountered before. He turned to see a tall, beautiful, and elegant girl staring back at him. He tried to say good morning. She continued to stare. Then, after an uncomfortably long pause, she hurried away, leaving Tadano confused. Well, that just confirmed his decision to go unnoticed. Unfortunately, Tadano soon discovered that he was sitting next to Shouko Komi, the tall, beautiful, and elegant girl. He could feel the jealous anger directed at him from everyone else in the classroom. His year was off to a terrible start.

Later on, as the class rushed to gym, Tadano took an elbow to the head and fell back into his seat. He woke up sometime later to the sound of meowing. He looked up to see Komi sitting in her seat, meowing to a small stuffed cat. She turned and stared at him, realising he was awake. Tadano tried to pretend that he heard nothing, but they both knew that wasn’t true. Then, as Komi raced out of the room, Tadano called after her. Was it possible that she struggled to talk? Komi stopped and turned to face him. She made her way to the chalkboard and began to write, explaining that she had been like this her whole life. She also revealed that she had never had a friend as a result and her dream was to have one hundred friends. Tadano replied with a piece of chalk of his own, telling her that she now had one friend and that he was going to help her make another ninety-nine!

What did you think?

I loved this season. Komi is an absolute treasure and I absolutely love the friendship she has developed with Tadano. So far, I’ve only read one of the manga volumes and I think it’s somewhere in the thirties now so there’s clearly a lot more story to come, which is daunting and also a little troubling. I have to wonder how far they can push this concept without it getting stale. That said, there were no issues in the first season and that was largely helped by just how insane the rest of the cast is. Itan High School is a private school that uses interviews to select its students so everyone is quite colourful. In fact, Tadano is just about the only normal person there… well, despite his unnerving ability to read people.

After watching the first season, it’s made me more determined to read the rest of the manga just to see where it goes and if these two ever get together. There’s definitely a romantic element to the series, but it’s going to be incredibly slow with Komi’s steady attempts to get past her social anxiety. That said, by the end of the first season, I was absolutely certain that she liked him more than just being her first friend, and that’s completely understandable. I can’t imagine how lonely she must have been before that, especially with the way that everyone puts her on a pedestal and then refuses to engage her normally.

What was your favourite moment?

There were lots of great moments such as when Komi did this little jump for joy after Najimi accepted her as a friend or when she accidentally phoned Tadano. In fact, just about everything Komi does is way too cute or way too dignified. It’s amazing that they’ve been able to convey both sides of her character without her saying more than a couple of mumbled words in the entire season. I actually really enjoyed the way this series used silent moments between the characters to make things feel that much closer. For example, my favourite moment was when Komi and Tadano had their first conversation on the chalkboard.

It was impressive that Tadano worked out what was troubling Komi and was able to get past that to allow her to talk to someone for what was probably the first time in her life. I loved the way their conversation meandered all over the place as they filled the chalkboard with words. Then, once Tadano had told her that he was her friend and that he would help her complete her dream of having one hundred friends, she left the classroom. The final shot of her squealing behind the door was absolutely precious as Tadano wiped the chalkboard clean. This was such a powerful moment and a great way to start the season.

What was your least favourite moment?

So, in contrast to that, there were a number of times when they had done a wonderful job of conveying the emotions of the moment, making it touching and meaningful. We understood what had happened from their body language. It felt amazing to understand Komi as well as Tadano did, and then the narrator would basically tell us exactly what we saw. It felt like it cheapened the moment. It’s like how a story will show you something and allow you to read the situation and the characters. Telling us the same thing they showed us implies that the creators don’t think we would have got it, which is either a lack of confidence in their storytelling ability or a lack of faith that we will understand.

The narrator should have been used sparingly, if at all. The scene when Komi went for ice cream with her father was a perfect example of this. Neither of them said a word, but you could understand pretty much everything that happened. We really didn’t need someone explaining it as well.

Who was your favourite character?

There were so many amazing characters in this series that it’s going to be interesting to see if they are all given enough time. Of course, Komi and Tadano are my absolute favourites. I can’t wait to see how their relationship develops because I am one hundred percent certain that she likes him. The scene at the karaoke bar after their maid cafe confirmed that beyond any doubt. It was Tadano’s turn to sing and as he threw himself into his performance, he noticed that no one was even watching. Well, Komi was. She never took her eyes off him while shaking her maracas.

I also loved Najimi and Nakanaka. They were hilarious and often delivered some amazing scenes. However, there was one other character that made me laugh every time they spoke. Their absence in some scenes was even hilarious. I’m talking about Kaede Otori, the slow-spoken airhead. I absolutely loved her.

Who was your least favourite character?

There was one character who grew on me as the series went on, but I can’t help but feel like she got off pretty easily when she did something terrible. I am talking about Ren Yamai. In episode four, she kidnaps Tadano on the way to school so that she can get closer to Komi. Then, when Najimi suggested that they go back to Yamai’s room after school, she couldn’t resist having Komi come over despite Tadano being tied up in her bedroom. Long story short, they found Tadano and left, leaving Yamai to think about what she had done. The next day, she ended up becoming Komi’s friend. I think it would have been more powerful had Komi said no to her at first. She needed to learn that what she did was absolutely crazy.

Then, there was the scene at the festival when she told Komi to get on her knees and eat a cordog that she was holding at a suspicious height… Some of the stuff she does is hilarious and some of it is downright insane. Still, it was so funny seeing Najimi bite the end of the corndog before Komi could. As I said, Yamai grew on me, but I still feel like she needed to redeem herself more.

Would you like some more?

I’ve already started the second season so there will be more. Of course, once that’s done it could be a while until a third season is announced. The second season was released during the Spring 2022 schedule. It’s been more than two years since then and there is still no news. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible, but the longer it gets the less likely it becomes. Luckily, the manga is still going so I will likely turn my attention to that since there are more than thirty volumes so far! That should keep me busy for a while…

What have you learned?

I know that I’ve said it several times before, but the benefits of expanding your horizons as a writer are invaluable. For example, I tend to write dark fantasy, science fiction, and horror. I have played around with romantic comedy, but there’s usually a supernatural element to it. Anyhow, that tells me that I’ve probably spent enough time watching those, and it’s unlikely that I’ll learn much more from them. That doesn’t mean I should stop watching as you slowly unlearn stuff if it’s not maintained. So, if I want to get better as a writer, I need to incorporate as many different genres and styles as possible. Even if I have no intention of writing that type of story. There are so many different elements that can be used across genres that I will undoubtedly pick up something useful. Plus, it’s fun to try new things.

Series Information

English Title	Komi Can’t Communicate
Japanese Title	Komi-san wa, Comyushou desu.
Genres	Comedy, Romance, School
Demographic	Shounen

Manga

Author	Tomohito Oda
Artist	Tomohito Oda
Volumes	Ongoing	Chapters
1	Totally Normal	1-19

Anime

Season One

Season	Season One
Released	Fall 2021
Animation Studios	OLM
Episodes	12

Season Two

Season	Season Two
Released	Spring 2022
Animation Studios	OLM
Episodes	12

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