Komi-san wa, Comyushou desu. 2nd Season

Crazy Eyes and the Boy with the Flower in His Hair 🌼 When You're Beautiful You Don't Have to Say Much °VG° °7.5° 💯% 🔎

School. Public Speaking. Parties. Seating arrangements. Everyday stuff is agonizing for people with social anxiety. Komi lives in fear. The teacher might call on her. A stranger might try to strike up a convo. At school, she could be asked to participate. Simply buying a scarf is terrifying.

It's a little bit ironic that they're dealing with social anxiety and they're following somebody who is gorgeous. I guess their point is that anybody can have it. But they're also showing what a ... relatively easy time Komi has because of her looks - relatively. Are they doing that deliberately? I'd like to see a show about somebody ordinary. It may not necessarily be a good thing to be too rich, too famous or too beautiful. All it brings is alot of unwanted attention. It makes it too easy to avoid introspection, and it gets in the way of sincere relationships. Komi seem to have no concept of her appearance, fortunately.

Relationships. Komi can hardly picture something so interpersonally complex. That requires verbalization and Komi hasn't used her rusty vocal cords in years. We'll see that even Komi's ancestor struggled with articulation. The gravestone is inscribed with an eternal “?” and a “!” for emphasis. Komi uses a notebook to communicate. Her classmates hardly seem to think twice about it. (Being pretty seems to help alot).

Komi has large, near Egyptian looking eyes, soft long bangs in a wave to the side, long dark silky hair, a micro mini plaid school uniform skirt and black tights. She's tall. Everyone notices her, but she wishes no one would. At the same time she wishes to be noticed in a setting where she can interact with others. She's in a constant state of perturbated flux. Therefore, the animators gave Komi crazy eyes, exactly like one of my kitties. They go from wide open to double wide, to DUCK!-they're-gonna-blow!

Tadano is warm and insightful. He would probably enjoy being noticed more, but he's largely overlooked. Everyone is looking his way, now, though. That's because Komi is sitting next to him. Tadano is one of those rare weirdos who isn't thinking about himself and what pleases /him/ every moment of the day. He observes Komi and realizes she struggles to communicate. He seems to intuitively understand her. Komi starts to unconsciously look at him like a cat looks at the heating vent. He's comfortable. Come to think of it, Tadano has crazy eyes, too. The animation is not my favorite, but it'll do. I like the flower in his head. That's his cowlick, but they made it look like a flower. There's something whimsical about it.

I don't remember how I started on this one, but it isn't the type of story I would have specifically opted for, per se. What's great about the roulette method of 📺 watching is how it broadens one's horizons and often pays off better than gold prospecting. Beautiful nuggets are found with regularity, and that is the case here. KCC won over this near-reluctant viewer. Not a whole lot happens. It's the characters and the writing that speak to the audience. These people are fun to hang with.

Najima Is a fantastic character and the primary reason for the show's appeal. She's cool, she enjoys herself, and she's friends with everyone. “I just realized I'm quintuple booked. Gotta go!” She's the emulsion that makes everything run smoothly. A natural leader, she is a force for good. In contrast, the librarian is like a prison thug in ponytails when she says “please be quiet” 👿. It's funny. {Btw, while watching the show, it never occurred to me to question Najima's gender. She always seemed like a girl to me. Apparently, officially, Najima's gender is never explicitly delineated.}


In S2:

S1 flows into S2 seamlessly. The vibe is upbeat and cheerful. In S2, there's a couple of new students. One looks big and scary, but he's actually quite anxious and positively terrified of talking to people. Made fun of at his last school, he's been working out /hard/ and has made quite the physical transformation. He doesn't realize he's gone from forgettable to near overwhelming. Then they bring in Naruse, the narcissist.

The girls go to Universal Studios! They call it Utopia, but they go on the Spiderman ride, the Jaws ride, and get a snack in Harry Potter world. The last episode might be the best one. It's joyous. Najima, once again, shows she's a near mythical character and she levels up the lives of all who come in contact with her.

On one level, KCC is in a naive bubble where people are kind and understanding. That ain't the world we live in. But it /should/ be. Komi's behavior is “weird”. Weird behavior is often due to pain. So, be kind. It is time for us to start lifting the burdens piled on others, rather than adding to them. Kindness does that. It heals. And it costs the giver nothing! Watching KCC can fuel that mission.


〰🖍 IMHO

🎬7.6 🖊️〰7.4 🎭7.7 💓6 🦋4 🌞6.5 🎨7⚡3.5 🎵7 😅4.6 🤔5 🔚9

Age 13+ Language: D@mmit. It's a high school story. They have a crossdresser and side characters of all sorts of persuasions. There's nothing unusual about that.

👁📺again? ✅ yes

"Communication is a skill you can learn. It's like riding a bike or typing. If you're willing to work at it, you can quickly improve the quality of every part of your life."

I want to make it clear that this season brought a huge improvement to the show, it stopped being a little comedy without salt and showed moments that were cool to see with significant scenes, which will not happen in the previous season.

-- !!!MAYBE THERE WILL BE SPOILERS!!! --

Story: No meaningful story progression. The main characters still have their goals of making Shouko have 100 friends. What changes and the events that happen ... during the course of the show, in them there is an advance in Shouko's relationship with Tadano, and in the way she interacts with other classmates.
This jump in progress that occurs from one season to another is one of the qualities that give life to the story told by the show, showing that it is making progress in the world, even if minimal.

Art: Overall there is no change in the art, it has remained the same since the previous show. that's not necessarily a bad thing, the art is good with some very well done scenes, but the problem is that there isn't a change and that's what we want to see something new and interesting.

Soundtrack: There is nothing to talk about here, both in the opening and in the ending there is no change, so if you liked it before, it will stick.

Characters: When it comes to the characters, the protagonists Tadano and Shouko had a minimal improvement in their relationship, there is no progress in behavior between the two. Which is at least stressful for the fan of the show, since we want to see progress in their relationship.
On the other hand, we have the supporting actors, who have improved their presence in the show, ceasing to be just numbers and giving life to the world. A good example of this is the character Katai, who has a problem similar to Shouko's, he brings fun moments to the show. Other characters that bring more life to the work are Ayami and Mikuni, who show a good relationship with Shouko on the school trip.

Conclusion: The show still continues, it has major problems with the lack of progress in the story and characters that do not add anything to the world, this is a characteristic that needs to be changed to capture the lover of the work, without him getting sick of the same things happening again and again.
That doesn't mean he doesn't bring anything new, much of what made me see this work until the end were some characters that "shone" more than Tadano at times. They brought moments that were marked in my memory and that is very good, this show just needs an innovation, stop following the original to the letter and try to take chances.
This work went up a lot in my opinion compared to the previous season. Because of having created memorable characters and incredible moments like episode 9, where Shouko spends the episode with Ayami and Mikuni, on a trip. In this episode there were so many good moments, which showed that Shouko was managing to overcome her fears little by little.

In general, it is not a waste of time to watch this show, if you have watched the previous season, you may improve your conception of the work.


obs: in case of writing problem I'm sorry, I'll try to improve. thanks for reading!!!

I owe you all an apology.

My first review of Komi Can’t Communicate did not do it the justice it deserves. I did not address what was distinctly wrong with Komi.

What’s wrong with Komi-san? Shallow characterization aside, her problem is that she is afflicted by severe social anxiety, and no one takes that seriously. Every episode begins the same; the narrator will cut in to tell us “what a communication disorder is.” Their definition is “Communication disorders cause difficulties in communicating with others.” If that reads like gibberish, it is. They’ve not researched mental disorders for a show that preaches about anxiety and in turn created ... an offensive portrayal of anxiety. Komi’s perspective is reduced to close-ups of her one vacuous expression. Not every anime will have accurate portrayals of mental disorders, but you’d expect effort or believability, at the very least, when it’s the center of the show. The writers pay lip service to mental disorders and then dodge the issue by turning Komi into a gibberish-speaking chibi caricature. The show’s humor more frequently comes at Komi’s expense; everyone misunderstands her. Even cats and children are afraid of her because of her anxious demeanor. Her inability to communicate causes her misfortune, such as dropping a pencil and being unable to ask for help, played for laughs. Similarly, she cannot voice her discomfort a particular creep attempts to force her into sexual situations—I can't emphasize enough how awful this is.

Despite including a fair bit of drama this season, Komi-san never articulates how its titular character’s disorder affects her mental health and vice versa. Her peers treat her as flawless, and the show intends you to view her as an angel; that’s why no one comments on the expectations for her to be perfect, like a hollow porcelain doll. The emotional turmoil caused by social anxiety in high school is a compelling idea they could’ve covered. Handled properly, it’s ripe with opportunities for cringe comedy; watch “Welcome to the NHK” for a better example. But, they’d instead glorify communication disorders and make stalking jokes. It’s hard not to see Komi’s communication disorder as a gimmick and superficial quirk. It is a blatant means of making her seem like an original, thoughtfully written character through silent gazes drawn with expert attention to detail. Komi’s mother notes her daughter is afflicted with something, yet she never attempts to help her. She could’ve gotten a speech therapist, yet she ignores the problem and says, “girls her age are so weird.” No, it really is your fault. I know what it’s like for people around you not to take mental disorders seriously; it’s maddening, not cute and wholesome.

There are flickers of life in the Komi and Tadano’s relationship, but only despite the various other ensemble pieces. As I mentioned in my review of the first season, there was a creepy aspect to their relationship that is thankfully gone now. The vignettes of saccharine interactions between the couple are pleasant, like Komi dropping her pencil in class and Tadano sparing her the embarrassment of a teacher asking for help by purposefully dropping his. Halfway into the season, a self-contained narrative allowed time for Komi and Tadano to be alone when he falls ill. She takes care of him; though it’s a generic story beat that almost every romance anime utilizes, it’s pleasant. The goal to make 100 friends is practically an afterthought, replaced with a slow-paced cliched romance. In typical anime rom-com fashion, right before the friendship blossoms into romance, a contrived plot device prevents any development. The little progress made through this cour is minimal; however, romance was never the primary purpose. It was always about the side characters just as much as Komi.

Fan-favorite characters return this season, such as stalkers one through five, boob woman, competitive girl, chuunibyo caricature, and perverted males! A new recurring gag about four perverted guys who sit in a circle at school and imagine dating their female classmates. These sequences pop up at random, serving no comedic purpose. They only exist for the viewer to vicariously live through them, adding to the bullshit quota you must endure to reach the comedy. You can skip those scenes and lose nothing.

The rest of the side-cast continues to fight for Komi’s attention: Breathing heavily, exasperated panting, and slobbering at the sight of her. And, of course, Yamai—who exists as a reminder of why I would never recommend Komi-san to any normal person. Even though she’s in every episode, she only gets worse and actually has negative character development. Yamai drools at her desk dreaming of Komi’s panties, leaning into every homophobic stereotype about lesbian women. Suddenly, she briefly realizes Komi is more than an object of her sexual desire. The show’s attempts to make us empathize with Yamai are almost as disturbing as when she snaps pictures of Komi’s panties. Immediately after her epiphany, she says the creepiest line written in the anime. “I’ll finally be inside Komi.” Surely it’s among the worst lines her voice actress spoke (and she says it more than once). It’s a marvel why they chose one of her scenes for the best sakuga cut. Speaking as someone who suffered through two seasons of Yamai, I suggest you skip these parts too.

Komi-san continues to spawn more oddball characters to keep the gimmick of ’a quiet girl in a school full of weirdos’ from growing stale. A narcissistic boy, a push-over, a short-tempered girl, and a tough-as-nails-looking shy guy, to name a few. None of them add a point of empathy or humor that the show hasn’t done before, but a couple were at least better than the horde of weirdos collected from the first season. I didn’t mind Katai, the friendly guy often mistaken for a delinquent, because his recurring joke wasn’t centered around obsessing over Komi; he was simply good pals with Tadano. While her presence is brief, the girl with a short fuse is quite relatable for how easily frustrated she gets by daily misfortunes. Both of these students still idolize Komi, albeit less creepy.

Every issue I had with the first season’s visuals persists in this one, especially the annoying manga text boxes placed right on screen. Artistically, this is a drastic downgrade from the first season. A handful of sakuga cuts pop up once in a while, but it was clear that OLM had to outsource certain parts in the subpar art quality and lack of animation. A few noticeable animation glitches stood out here and there, but if you want a collection of meme-worthy poorly drawn faces, watch the tenth episode. The Valentine’s day episode would’ve been a highlight of the season had it not been for the massive quality drop-off.

As for the soundtrack, it’s recycled. Despite the calming melodies, the repetition lessens its relaxing effect. Although the opening and ending are solid, they don’t compare to the first season’s exquisite themes. From a visual standpoint, it is noticeably worse than the better Spring comedy sequel, Kaguya-sama, which has far more varied and dynamic shots, fluid character animation, and detailed background art.

One addition I appreciated was the post-credits scene at the end of most episodes. It’s a bonus joke that’s easy-going rather than mean-spirited. Still, it boggles my mind how many consider Komi-san the gold standard for comedy anime. Does Komi-san’s second season improve on the first? Well, not really. It’s better in some areas, such as the subtle romantic development, and a downgrade in others, like the worsening side characters and declining production values. If you liked the first season, you’d probably enjoy this one. Everyone else, it’s not worth a second chance.