(L+CR) It's Not My Fault I'm Not Popular (WATAMOTE)

[Dr. Casey]

Oh, the cheating was definitely incredibly pathetic Before the whole cheating thing happened, though, her black jacket and confidence gave her such a cool aura that I idolized her as much as Kii-chan used to.

[MrTerrorist]

Well this is cute.

YouTube

https://youtu.be/nWyCoDG-PhQ

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[SPARTAN 119]

Originally Posted by Dr. Casey

Oh, the cheating was definitely incredibly pathetic Before the whole cheating thing happened, though, her black jacket and confidence gave her such a cool aura that I idolized her as much as Kii-chan used to.

You know, if she could use that jacket as the basis for some outfits that would be really cool, even if not quite in the terms Mokocchi is expecting. I mean this both in terms of every day outfits and for cosplay. If she got more in with the otaku crowd and gained a little more confidence an got rid of those bags under her eyes, she could grab some attention doing cosplay.

IMO she would look really cool using that jacket and fingerless gloves for a sort of "chuunibyou form" herself (like something in the delusion scenes in the Chuunibyou Demo Koi Ga Shitai)- perhap's add some sort of magic seal somewhere, and equip a something like that airsoft Mauser that Rikka has. I'm not sure how Japanese otaku respond to OC cosplay, but a cleaned up, more awake-looking Tomoko is something like that would get my attention at a con.

[Apache Thunder]

I like this show in a odd sorta way.

Yeah I suppose I'm one of those folks that want to emphasize with her and indeed see a little of myself in her. I'm not as depraved and perverted as she is though.

I will straight out and say the reason I'm a little similar to her: Autism. Something I was born with.

Can't say she has that though. She doesn't tick enough boxes on the checklist of things for that disorder (she doesn't appear to have any known type of learning disability and she seemed pretty normal as younger kid from the few flashbacks I have seen thus far).

But she definitely seems off in the head somewhere. Very difficult to say exactly though. Doesn't appear she has gotten her self into enough trouble to have caused her parents to haul her off to a psychologist (yet maybe.. :P ) which sadly the same can't be said for me. So we don't have access to her medical files to really know what's wrong. I think maybe it's premature to know for sure. She probably doesn't even have a mental profile yet. :P

Could just be normal social awkwardness combined with hormones she hasn't figured out how to deal with yet.

Though I wish her brother would cut her some slack sometimes. Hell even I wasn't that abusive towards my sisters, and there was plenty of times when they pissed me off when I was younger. :P

I haven't seen the source material and only know her by what I've seen in the Anime. From what I heard, the manga probably has more then I care to see, so maybe this time I'm glad I don't know what the manga has in it... :P

I like the art design thus far. Though I hope she never attempts that exposed forhead with glasses cute face pose thing she attempted in the first episode...Will take a while to clean that out of mind. :P

Why hasn't this show gotten it's own section yet. Or is this anime just too weird for this place. :P

[aohige]

Originally Posted by GDiddy

We are all horrible people apparently if we like this show

I stroke out the unnecessary part, since the statement works without it.



As for comparison to NHK and other similar works...

The "active" loser part of this sometimes reminds me of Kazufusa from Loveyan.
Tbh, Mokocchi's case isn't as depressing as she's still very young and have a whole life ahead of her.
Not in 30s, never held a job in life, given up on social conduct, and pretty much doomed for life like Kazufusa.

[Apache Thunder]

Hey the way I see it, you're only horrible if you actually enjoy seeing her screw up. Then I say shame on you! I bet some depraved people want to see her go mentally insane or something. Quite the opposite for me. I definitely don't want that. :P


EDIT:

Originally Posted by aohige

As for comparison to NHK and other similar works...

The "active" loser part of this sometimes reminds me of Kazufusa from Loveyan.
Tbh, Mokocchi's case isn't as depressing as she's still very young and have a whole life ahead of her.
Not in 30s, never held a job in life, given up on social conduct, and pretty much doomed for life like Kazufusa.

I agree with you there. Most of the problems she runs into is her over-thinking that she is somehow doomed when she still has a lot of time left. She's selling her self short, but she clearly hasn't thrown in the towel. She's still trying and trying even if she is currently failing most of the time. It's better to try and fail, then to have never tried.

[Gohan78]

I can't feel pity for Tomoko when she:
- cheats against an elementary school kid;
- constanly lies to her (few) friends;
- calls every fashionable girl a "slut";
- plays pranks on her brother because she is jealous of his social life.

Only twisted persons enjoy kicking a puppy but Tomoko is no puppy. Most of her problems are self-inflicted, so I can laugh at how baka she is.

[Gan_HOPE326]

Originally Posted by Gohan78

I can't feel pity for Tomoko when she:
- cheats against an elementary school kid;
- constanly lies to her (few) friends;
- calls every fashionable girl a "slut";
- plays pranks on her brother because she is jealous of his social life.

Only twisted persons enjoy kicking a puppy but Tomoko is no puppy. Most of her problems are self-inflicted, so I can laugh at how baka she is.

But all those things are consequences of her fundamental loneliness. Being jealous is a ugly thing, but it happens when loneliness drives you to near madness. Been there, done that (though not to the comically exaggerated extent Tomoko does), and am no proud of it. I tend to be forgiving to Tomoko as I see her bad actions as a consequence of, well, what you call "being baka", but it's because of her lack of experience. It's more being unwise than stupid. The one and only step to growing out of social awkwardness is realizing you're not special or different at all after all, everyone is embarrassed or makes mistakes sometimes, it's just that you don't see it because it all happens in their heads. Once you're truly aware that everyone has similar emotions, both positive and negative, motives, and faults, you deal with your own ones in a much more natural way .

Originally Posted by MrTerrorist

Well this is cute.

YouTube

https://youtu.be/nWyCoDG-PhQ

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The cuteness of this is overwhelming.

[Dr. Casey]

Originally Posted by Gohan78

I can't feel pity for Tomoko when she:
- cheats against an elementary school kid;
- constanly lies to her (few) friends;
- calls every fashionable girl a "slut";
- plays pranks on her brother because she is jealous of his social life.

Only twisted persons enjoy kicking a puppy but Tomoko is no puppy. Most of her problems are self-inflicted, so I can laugh at how baka she is.

Well, at least two of those four things don't have much of a moral component to them. Cheating at a card game against an elementary schooler is incredibly and hilariously pathetic, and yes it's wrong, but it's not a big deal and certainly not the kind of thing that makes someone deserve being unhappy and lonely. The lies you speak of are always white ones and aren't damaging or malicious; I don't really see how or why lying about having a boyfriend matters in any way, unless we're wanting to act like Captain America and feel righteous anger at people telling lies even in the most harmless of contexts. I won't argue against the other two points because they're more or less valid (I don't care much about her bitter internal monologue and Tomoki pranks personally, but I can understand how they might bother others) and I don't want to seem like I would unfailingly make excuses for anything she says and does, but at the same time I don't think we should nickel and dime her and use every single tiny, inconsequential thing she does wrong as proof that she deserves her loneliness as some kind of incredibly disproportionate karmic retribution.

[Endless Soul]

Originally Posted by MrTerrorist

Well this is cute.

~snip for tidiness~

It almost seems like the vid is pairing Tomoko and Yu, almost. Very nice version of the song.

Endless "Angel's voice" Soul

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by Gan_HOPE326

But all those things are consequences of her fundamental loneliness. Being jealous is a ugly thing, but it happens when loneliness drives you to near madness. Been there, done that (though not to the comically exaggerated extent Tomoko does), and am no proud of it. I tend to be forgiving to Tomoko as I see her bad actions as a consequence of, well, what you call "being baka", but it's because of her lack of experience. It's more being unwise than stupid. The one and only step to growing out of social awkwardness is realizing you're not special or different at all after all, everyone is embarrassed or makes mistakes sometimes, it's just that you don't see it because it all happens in their heads. Once you're truly aware that everyone has similar emotions, both positive and negative, motives, and faults, you deal with your own ones in a much more natural way .

Is she like this because of her isolation, or is she isolated because she is like this in the first place? Reading the spin-off which takes place in her first year of middle school has lead me to think that's simply her true nature. She's a terrible person deep down in my eyes, so I can't feel sorry for her.

[Apache Thunder]

Cut Tomoko some slack. She's like 12-14 years old. (not entirely sure, but I'm sure she is still quite young being that she's just entering High School) Show me one pre-teen that doesn't do what she does in this day and age? (the lying about boyfriends and or small time cheating at a card game or something along those lines)

The interaction with her brother is the usual sibling rivalry stuff and is not a reason to say she's a bad person who deserves bad karma.

You have to look at this from her perspective. Us as a third party see her from the outside seeing her make bad choices. But it's a very different story from her point of view. She's just a kid basically and doesn't really know any better yet. She's only been alive for barely over a decade + a couple years and doesn't have any life experience at all yet. So what if she does a few naughty things?

Unlike us she can't really go through in her mind how a lot of her ideas that pop into her head will go wrong like older adults can. She's still at that age where just about any idea she gets seems like a good idea. She hasn't developed enough insight to compare her ideas to past experiences yet. I'm sure as she gets older she will start to figure out why she hasn't been doing well, but that's a little ways off.

Compared to the things adults do, it's trivial. She's still young enough that she can easily grow out of some of her more negative aspects of personality. Give her some time to improve. If she was like in her 20s or 30s doing stuff like this, then it may be a serous character flaw. :P

Consider her lucky that some of her bad ideas backfire. There's been some she's had that if they worked it would serve to reinforce that negative behavior. But instead we see it blow up in her face. Thus she drops it and tries something else. As I repeated, still way to early to out right call her a bad person. :P

[Guardian Enzo]

The normal age for first-year high-schoolers in Japan (10th-grade) is about 15, and in fact I believe that's Tomoko's official age (though I'm not sure of the latter).

[Apache Thunder]

That looks to about only one or two years older then I pegged her at, but my point stands.

[Gan_HOPE326]

Originally Posted by Kanon

Is she like this because of her isolation, or is she isolated because she is like this in the first place? Reading the spin-off which takes place in her first year of middle school has lead me to think that's simply her true nature. She's a terrible person deep down in my eyes, so I can't feel sorry for her.

Didn't read the spinoff, but given the fact that it seems like there's a bit of personal experience from the creators in Tomoko (and after all they DO nail social awkwardness all too well) I'd say that's more self-deprecation than anything. Watamote is definitely sympathetic to Tomoko, and I think that everything she does wrong, she does because she's immature and lonely. It's not like the anime doesn't show the ugliness of those mistakes (it's unforgiving at that), but Tomoko still stays someone we're supposed to empathize with.

[Utsuro no Hako]

Izumi Kitta provides us with a sneak peak of a Megami "spread" ... with interesting censorship.

Images

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[Chiibi]

Originally Posted by Kanon

She's a terrible person deep down in my eyes, so I can't feel sorry for her.

What exactly has she done to make her a "terrible" person? Make fun of people in her head whom she feels bitter towards?

Come on, we've ALL done that!

Like, this is me at work.

Customer A: What's on sale today?
Inner Chiibi: Obviously you can't read the giant sign right behind me? What a dumbass.
Chiibi: Clothes, shoes, coats, and boots.
Customer A: Oh. Are purses on sale?
Inner Chiibi: What the....are you an idiot!? What did I just say!?
Chiibi: *polite smile* Nope, not today, ma'am.

And

Customer B: I have a question. Why are these shoes so expensive?
Inner Chiibi: What the hell. How should I know? I don't price them. If you don't like it, then don't shop here, MORON. Don't you think I'm sick and tired of everyone complaining to me about prices in here? Good God, if I had a nickel every time you guys whined about prices, I could f*cking retire in two years!
Chiibi: I'm sorry, sir, I don't price them.

...........yeah......I'm starting to hear Tomoko's voice in my head every time I get disgusted with someone.

[Apache Thunder]

Just about every human being on this planet has thought negative thoughts about someone or something in their life. If we judged people on that, we will need devote an entire continent to a prison camp. :P

Also my favorite moment in this anime thus far is when Tomoko fails at doing poses for a photobooth thing. She decides to vent her frustration by pasting those photo stickers all over the stuff in her brothers room. It was cute and mischievous at the same time. Kinda wish I was her brother sometimes......sometimes...

[Endless Soul]

Originally Posted by Chiibi

What exactly has she done to make her a "terrible" person? Make fun of people in her head whom she feels bitter towards?

Come on, we've ALL done that!

Like, this is me at work.

~snip for tidiness~

Hehe yep. I worked retail too long ago.

Customer C: Where are your fitting rooms?
ES: ~pointing to the pack of the store~ Over there where it says in big letters: FITTING ROOMS.
Customer C ~embarassed~ ...oh.

(I really did say that out loud to many people)

Customer D: Do you work here?
ES: ~smiles and points at own name badge~

We all do it, whether you're conscious of it or not. Tomoko is no different.

Endless "Polite smile" Soul

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by Gan_HOPE326

Didn't read the spinoff, but given the fact that it seems like there's a bit of personal experience from the creators in Tomoko (and after all they DO nail social awkwardness all too well) I'd say that's more self-deprecation than anything. Watamote is definitely sympathetic to Tomoko, and I think that everything she does wrong, she does because she's immature and lonely. It's not like the anime doesn't show the ugliness of those mistakes (it's unforgiving at that), but Tomoko still stays someone we're supposed to empathize with.

We fundamentally disagree then. I don't think Tomoko is portrayed in a sympathetic light. Watamote is first and foremost a comedy. If you feel so sorry for the MC you can never laugh then it fails. That's why they turned Tomoko into a bad person. The title itself is meant to be ironic. It is absolutely her fault she's not popular, but Tomoko is the kind of person who blames others for her misfortunes. Social awkwardness is actually the least of her problems, so even though a lot of people can sympathize with this aspect of her character (myself included), they should realize they will at least never be as bad as she is, and that unlike them, she simply gets what she deserves. Not once was the treatment she received from others unfair. She is always the cause of her own problems, most of the time because she's being stupid, dishonest or has weird delusions of grandeur. We're not meant to pity someone like her.

Originally Posted by Chiibi

What exactly has she done to make her a "terrible" person? Make fun of people in her head whom she feels bitter towards?

Your examples are not the same as what Tomoko is doing. She looks down on everybody -even her own friends- constantly for no real reason other than her own spitefulness. She thinks Yuu is a complete slut and she resents her even though Yuu has always treated her nicely. She cheats against little kids and somehow, it makes her feel good. She's selfish, narcissistic, perverted and delusional. Her only redeeming quality is her perseverance, she hasn't given up on being popular yet despite her multiple failures.