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

[Chiibi]

Originally Posted by Endless Soul

Customer D: Do you work here?

BOY, DO I HATE THAT QUESTION.

"Do you work here?"
"........no, I just think this work smock is the capital of fashion! I wear it ALL the time for FUN."

..........is what I REALLY want to say!!

Oh, but I was a smartass the other day.

*customer goes to register 1
*I go to register 2 and log in.
Customer: ......do you want me to come down there?
Me: Yeah...cause...it might be kinda hard to go back and forth, like...y'know?

/snark

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

Yes. After all, we're only hearing every one of her thoughts. Imagine how much less loved other characters might be if we could hear all of theirs!

[totoum]

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!

Except she feels bitter towards almost everyone and most of the time the've done nothing that would justify her being bitter towards them, the best example of this coming in the latest episode where she called her only friend a bitch/slut out of pure jealousy.

Originally Posted by Kanon

Social awkwardness is actually the least of her problems (...) She's selfish, narcissistic, perverted and delusional.

To me the latter is the consequence of the former, since she's had trouble fitting in she started to resent others and turned into who she is now which puts her in a vicious circle because there's no way anyone would want to socialize with the way she is now and that only makes her resent others more and so on.

[Chiibi]

I don't think being jealous over something another person has qualifies as "terrible person".
At least not by anime standards.
Terrible people....at least by my definition are only terrible people if they do terrible things, like make others suffer for no good reason...or get pleasure out of their pain.
Tomoko hasn't done any of this...."bitter thoughts towards strangers (even friends)" just really isn't bad enough to make her a bad person. In the end, thoughts are just thoughts.
Now if Tomoko went out of her way to make people miserable, that'd be another story. But so far, she's completely harmless towards them.

[Kimidori]

if Tomoko have any kind of power, she sure do terrible thing, see what she did to her brother when he was sick and have a day off when she not? she tried to make him sicker, from her thinking it easy to see her laughing when some of her classmate suffer.

at first I was liking this show and somewhat enjoy seeing her suffer, but really only because all of them are minor or because it are intended comedy. also,her thought in some first episode do have some feel of comedy in it. but in recent episode, 7 and 8, they feel more and more come out from pure hatred and cruelty, the sexual joke getting more and more creepy, and I think the anime also make her look creepier and creepier, with more scene of her making ugly face drooling all around, it not fun to watch like some first ep anymore, the anime now is all resentment with Tomoko getting worse and worse, it just unpleasant, not fun anymore.

and from ep 7 it seem like she don't even have online friend let alone real life, that just... sad.

[Dr. Casey]

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.

Hmm. I went ahead and checked out the spinoff manga since you've mentioned it a few times, and it does give some insight into her character - but rather than give any negative insight, the manga seems to cement the notion that Tomoko's a fundamentally decent person.

Spoiler for So Tomoko was bullied as a child, huh:

Calling her a loser, trash, piece of shit, and basically calling her creepy and expressionless (I think? dunno what the Noripi scandal was about), huh... it seems like even though her high school is a decent place full of generally nice people, she was bullied pretty regularly and treated very cruelly when she was younger. I mean, some of those insults come straight from the book of Elfen Lied school children. Some of the chapters of the spinoff manga seem to insinuate that, rather than having a naturally rotten personality, Tomoko developed a poor self-image because she was mistreated by many of her classmates during elementary school, which resulted in her being too shy to speak to anyone outside her family, which in turn caused her to become bitter and resentful from loneliness. (Though on that note, it does seem as though Tomoko was vastly more hateful and meanspirited at the beginning of middle school than she is during freshman year of high school, so maybe she has been making an effort to change for the better, and not just in terms of becoming more popular? I dunno. Maybe the manga art style just makes her look more sinister whenever she's brooding.)

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by Chiibi

I don't think being jealous over something another person has qualifies as "terrible person".
At least not by anime standards.
Terrible people....at least by my definition are only terrible people if they do terrible things, like make others suffer for no good reason...or get pleasure out of their pain.
Tomoko hasn't done any of this...."bitter thoughts towards strangers (even friends)" just really isn't bad enough to make her a bad person. In the end, thoughts are just thoughts.
Now if Tomoko went out of her way to make people miserable, that'd be another story. But so far, she's completely harmless towards them.

You may be right, in the anime I guess she can't be considered a terrible person yet. I think I've let my perception of Tomoko from the manga influence me too much, it's pretty hard to disconnect the two. If I were only watching the anime, perhaps I wouldn't be so harsh on her. I'll get back to this discussion later if certain chapters get animated.

Originally Posted by Dr. Casey

Hmm. I went ahead and checked out the spinoff manga since you've mentioned it a few times, and it does give some insight into her character - but rather than give any negative insight, the manga seems to cement the notion that Tomoko's a fundamentally decent person.

Spoiler for So Tomoko was bullied as a child, huh:

Calling her a loser, trash, piece of shit, and basically calling her creepy and expressionless (I think? dunno what the Noripi scandal was about), huh... it seems like even though her high school is a decent place full of generally nice people, she was bullied pretty regularly and treated very cruelly when she was younger. I mean, some of those insults come straight from the book of Elfen Lied school children. Some of the chapters of the spinoff manga seem to insinuate that, rather than having a naturally rotten personality, Tomoko developed a poor self-image because she was mistreated by many of her classmates during elementary school, which resulted in her being too shy to speak to anyone outside her family, which in turn caused her to become bitter and resentful from loneliness. (Though on that note, it does seem as though Tomoko was vastly more hateful and meanspirited at the beginning of middle school than she is during freshman year of high school, so maybe she has been making an effort to change for the better, and not just in terms of becoming more popular? I dunno. Maybe the manga art style just makes her look more sinister whenever she's brooding.)

Spoiler for I'll put this under tags...:

We need a spin-off of her in elementary school to make sure. For all we know, she did things that made her earn those nicknames (she can be extremely creepy at times for one). Personally, I don't think somebody who is good-natured could become as mean as she is in that spin-off (she is a total bitch to that one girl ). I'm speaking from personal experience, I went through a lot of shit in middle school but I always remained kind, and I found that other kids like me were very nice. Even if we assume that's how it was for her, she's spent three relatively peaceful years in middle school so she should be over it by now. However, she's just as bad in the main series imo. The reason it's less apparent is that she doesn't really have any opportunity to bully others since she has zero friends. The only person she can bully is her brother, and she does it whenever she can.

[SPARTAN 119]

Originally Posted by Dr. Casey

I mean, some of those insults come straight from the book of Elfen Lied school children.

Ahh yes, Elfen Lied, How many superpowered sociopaths do they have to piss off before these stereotypical anime/manga bullies finally learn!?

That said, I was thinking after making the contract

Spoiler for 119's fanfic idea, also Kyubey's MO:

Tomoko would naturally suddenly become popular with guys. I was thinking in the standard "You'll regret it in the end" nature of Kyubey's contracts, perhaps this could some how ruin her relationship with Yuu-chan... perhaps some NTR...

[Utsuro no Hako]

My theory: Tomoko's father is actually a high-ranking yakuza, and after some very unfortunate incidents in elementary school everyone knows to stay the hell away from the Kuroki chick if they value their lives.

[SPARTAN 119]

Originally Posted by Utsuro no Hako

My theory: Tomoko's father is actually a high-ranking yakuza, and after some very unfortunate incidents in elementary school everyone knows to stay the hell away from the Kuroki chick if they value their lives.

Would make an interesting AU fic, anyway. Especially if, after he finds out what's been happening with his daughter in high school, Tomoko's dad "informs" them that the new situation is "you will not shun my daughter, and any boy (or girl if she swings that way) she is attracted will date her if they value their lives..."

[Chiaki_chan]

I just see ep 7 and 8

so ep 7 : I really liked the scene where his mother surprises and listen to the erotic dialogue

Ep 8 : Kii-chan so cute ~ I hope re-see her

[Lord of Fire]

NSFW

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[Chiaki_chan]

Originally Posted by Lord of Fire

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+5 for Tomoko's face

[ApathyEcstasy]

Some of you guys really made the episode sound a lot more brutal than it turned out to be. The fact is that Tomoko was a tomboy child and has yet to transition into being a fully-fledged "teenage" girl. Her cousin thought she was a "grown woman", but ended up realizing that she's actually still a petty child. There's nothing particularly strange about this. Plenty of girls from my highschool, back in the day, were still like that (unfeminine, tomboyish, etc.). Some grew out of it by their senior year, but most did not do so until college.

[Chiaki_chan]

Originally Posted by ApathyEcstasy

Some of you guys really made the episode sound a lot more brutal than it turned out to be. The fact is that Tomoko was a tomboy child and has yet to transition into being a fully-fledged "teenage" girl. Her cousin thought she was a "grown woman", but ended up realizing that she's actually still a petty child. There's nothing particularly strange about this. Plenty of girls from my highschool, back in the day, were still like that (unfeminine, tomboyish, etc.). Some grew out of it by their senior year, but most did not do so until college.

you may have reason, but there are "adult woman" that his "tomboy" remains unchanged and does not prevent them from being "mature and adult" but ... 99% of them are lesbian

but it is true that it is popular in made ​​only with children and her cousin

[erneiz_hyde]

If being stupid is bad, worse still is being stupid and oblivious about it. Really, Tomoko's perseverance is doing her no good in her current mental state. If she keeps this up she might be well on her highway on becoming an hero. She need to really start looking at herself and realize her own faults first or she'll get nowhere. After she takes this first step, then she can start on making more friends (or decide she's okay being not popular, still better than being delusional)

The first few episodes were pretty funny, then the few after made me cringe a little. Ep 8 really put on the lid for me. Good thing I had Kinmosa to heal my heart after that

[hamazura]

really, the most effective solution is kuroki should throw away all of they pride and start consult with dat brown haired big boobs bitch (i forgot her name) and tell her to help kuroki and introduced kuroki to dat bitch friends and soo on....

[SPARTAN 119]

Originally Posted by hamazura

dat brown haired big boobs bitch

You mean Yuu-chan?

[Echoes]

I cringe a lot. I obscure my vision by holding my hands in front of my eyes and peeking out. Some of the embarrassment I feel while watching this show rivals the British version of the Office. (That's an incredibly high bar, for those who've not seen it.) But that's what I love about the show. I really enjoy how Tomoko is such a flawed, spiteful character. There's a good balance between her being sympathetic and you just feeling that she's earned her own fate.

I never end up disliking her, but I can definitely see how others would. What I will say is that I'm never bored for even a second when I'm watching this show, both because it is so consistently funny, and because Tomoko is a character whom I find incredibly interesting. This would be such a different show if she was just an innocent victim we were meant to feel sorry for. Rarely are people actually mean to her, she sort of digs her own grave, but she can't help it. She's just that awkward and inexperienced in anything to do with human relations.

I'm a little biased too, I'll admit. There's just something very attractive about her to me. God knows I can't put my finger on it, but I really like her.

[Chiaki_chan]

Originally Posted by hamazura

really, the most effective solution is kuroki should throw away all of they pride and start consult with dat brown haired big boobs bitch (i forgot her name) and tell her to help kuroki and introduced kuroki to dat bitch friends and soo on....

help and show her friends Tomoko... yeah but knowing Tomoko, she will not like the friends Yuu-chan... I think

[s07195]

Originally Posted by Kanon

Her only redeeming quality is her perseverance, she hasn't given up on being popular yet despite her multiple failures.

And her ability to take action. Said trait is something I think is impressive, considering I'm of the lazy type.

EDIT: After listening to the full version of the ED, I can't help but facepalm. Even the song is making me cringe.