Nardio Review
Is It Worth Your Time?
Yes and no. Watamote is a funnily depressing show.
What Should I Watch it On?
As far as I know, the only legal way to watch Watamote is through Crunchyroll streaming. Watamote is one of the many simulcasts that Crunchyroll offers and updates every Tuesdays at 1:05am ET. You might want to wait another hour or so as the actual subs aren’t put up until then.
Why it Works?
Watamote is an adaption of the popular It’s Not My Fault I’m Not Popular manga written and illustrated by Nico Tanigawa. It follows the life of a loner, reclusive girl Tomoko and her attempts at trying to make friends and become popular. What makes this story so endearing and a little heartbreaking is Tomoko’s extreme shyness coupled with her ridiculous mindset. She wants to be popular yet she internally snarks at the girls who dress up and wear makeup, considering them “bitches.” The girl is her own worst enemy and we can all kind of relate to that. That and some of the situations she puts herself in is just hilariously sad. I’ve followed the manga myself and I like how the take a lot of the art style and transferred it to the anime. The voices are spot on for all of the characters and the cringe-worthy humor translates really well into anime.
No Like?
What is up with that intro? It makes the anime seem like some kind of fight anime. I feel like the intro would give a lot of viewers unfamiliar with the manga the wrong impression. Also, I actually find that the anime overdoes some of the gags with strange picasso-esque images or just unnecessary animation. What I love about the manga is just Tomoko’s varied facial expressions. While we still get that in Watamote, I feel like it doesn’t have as much impact at times as her expressions get overshadowed by the strange animations.
The anime is hard to watch. Tomoko is just so awkward and sad really that some people will probably have a hard time watching this show. Laughing at her failures is kind of like laughing at a hurt puppy and not helping them. It feels almost cruel. Still, how can you NOT laugh at her antics.
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Basic Info
- Updates every Tuesdays at 1:05AM ET
- Simulcast viewing through Crunchyroll
- Currently only 7 episodes available for streaming