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This Week in Anime - Is Komi Can't Communicate All Laughs and No Heart?


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Animeking1108



Joined: 26 Apr 2011
Posts: 1244
PostPosted: Tue Nov 30, 2021 9:49 am Reply with quote
Nah, "All Laughs And No Heart" is Nagatoro's problem.
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cchigu



Joined: 15 Feb 2020
Posts: 250
PostPosted: Tue Nov 30, 2021 10:28 am Reply with quote
Never been a great fan of most romcoms, even Komi-san is not an exception. I feel like Komi-san needs a dash of drama. Feel like it would benefit a lot from that, similar to how Kaguya-sama became goated because of the Cultural Fest and Sports Fest drama arcs.
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MFrontier



Joined: 13 Apr 2014
Posts: 10784
PostPosted: Tue Nov 30, 2021 10:56 am Reply with quote
Animeking1108 wrote:
Nah, "All Laughs And No Heart" is Nagatoro's problem.

I feel like Nagatoro has a lot of heart when we see Senpai and Nagatoro's relationship start to develop and there's a little less of them trying to hide their real feelings from each other and it becomes clear how much they care about one another.
cchigu wrote:
Never been a great fan of most romcoms, even Komi-san is not an exception. I feel like Komi-san needs a dash of drama. Feel like it would benefit a lot from that, similar to how Kaguya-sama became goated because of the Cultural Fest and Sports Fest drama arcs.

From what I read the Komi manga became a little more divisive when they started adding more drama to it.
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earl.m





PostPosted: Tue Nov 30, 2021 10:57 am Reply with quote
Animeking1108 wrote:
Nah, "All Laughs And No Heart" is Nagatoro's problem.


Nagotoro had plenty of heart starting from about halfway in. Its biggest (only) problem was the tiny production budget and the presumption that they were only going to get a single cour.
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MFrontier



Joined: 13 Apr 2014
Posts: 10784
PostPosted: Tue Nov 30, 2021 11:05 am Reply with quote
earl.m wrote:
Animeking1108 wrote:
Nah, "All Laughs And No Heart" is Nagatoro's problem.


Nagotoro had plenty of heart starting from about halfway in. Its biggest (only) problem was the tiny production budget and the presumption that they were only going to get a single cour.

Although I think the staff were able to still deliver a pretty visually appealing series and adapt from the manga very well.
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Animeking1108



Joined: 26 Apr 2011
Posts: 1244
PostPosted: Tue Nov 30, 2021 11:29 am Reply with quote
earl.m wrote:
Animeking1108 wrote:
Nah, "All Laughs And No Heart" is Nagatoro's problem.


Nagotoro had plenty of heart starting from about halfway in. Its biggest (only) problem was the tiny production budget and the presumption that they were only going to get a single cour.


No, the problem was that Nagatoro was an unrepentant C-Word in the first few episodes and we were supposed to find her charming.
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tintor2



Joined: 11 Aug 2010
Posts: 1789
PostPosted: Tue Nov 30, 2021 11:30 am Reply with quote
While I kinda liked the series Yamai has to be one of the most uncomfortable characters I've ever seen in a comedy ever. "Haha, she kidnapped the guy" "Haha, death threats". And she even becomes a friend! There is no message at all. I wouldn't imagine the amount of controversy this series would have if the gender was reversed.
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Dosmundos



Joined: 03 Sep 2018
Posts: 41
PostPosted: Tue Nov 30, 2021 11:35 am Reply with quote
Thanks for pointing out exactly whom I like and don't like on the show. I couldn't quite put a finger to it, so great job for pointing it out!

In my opinion, the main issue is that, since Komi is indeed incommunicado and Tadano overly normal, in order to get a vivid show, the other characters have to be maxed out with their "shtick". I'd like to make a point that it does not come across the same way in the manga. In the anime, it unfortunately gets to a point where some of the characters become outright annoying.

A plus is definitely that I don't feel Komi's problems are exploited for laughs. I haven't felt in a situation where I laugh about Komi rather than the situation she puts everybody around her into.
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MFrontier



Joined: 13 Apr 2014
Posts: 10784
PostPosted: Tue Nov 30, 2021 11:44 am Reply with quote
Animeking1108 wrote:
No, the problem was that Nagatoro was an unrepentant C-Word in the first few episodes and we were supposed to find her charming.

She grew a lot from those first few episodes.
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earl.m





PostPosted: Tue Nov 30, 2021 11:56 am Reply with quote
Animeking1108 wrote:
No, the problem was that Nagatoro was an unrepentant C-Word in the first few episodes and we were supposed to find her charming.


I had no problem with Nagatoro and her crew tormenting "sempai" because it was clear from both his internal monologue and his drawings that he was a jerk who blamed everyone else - and females in particular - for his own shortcomings. Had Nagatoro been harassing someone like Tadano - a decent kid who just wants to be left alone for his own reasons - I would have been more sympathetic. But with "sempai", I saw no real problems with forcing a jerk to confront the fact that he is a jerk and needs to change for his own good.

Nagatoro updates the "manic pixie dreamgirl" thing by turning the dreamgirl into ... a sadistic little monster that viciously forces the loser jerk to confront his flaws and overcome them. It doesn't solve the main problem - why the dreamgirl would ever get mixed up with the loser jerk in the first place because she has better things to do and is easily able to obtain better quality companionship to do it with - but it is still an improvement.
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Thatguy3331



Joined: 18 Feb 2012
Posts: 1789
PostPosted: Tue Nov 30, 2021 12:19 pm Reply with quote
Komi is a series I like alot but it's primary presentation as more of a gag manga that sometimes slides into low key drama was going to be a big "your milage may vary" point for people. Like, my biggest problem early on in the series was that most of the side characters (who aren't Nanjimi) kinda sucked and it wasn't until near the end of the first year chunk and beginning of 2nd year that we started getting some who could either tread the line better, or where they just don't bother too much and focus on Komi, well, trying to communicate.

I know the spoiler[the whole love triangle with Manbagi bit is controversial for people, and while I don't think the execution was exactly perfect, I did think people kinda exaggerated it's problems, helped none by trying to read it weekly. Besides I am stoked Komi and Tadano actually got together and we get to spend the last 3rd of the story of them actually in a relationship now.](spoilers for stuff we probably/definitely won't get this season)

Komi and Tadano themselves are really likable though, and I'm especially happy at Tadano, a character archetype I've gotten progressively tired of, has been utilized pretty well. I also like that he doesn't feel entitled about Komi at all, in a more dramatic show, perhaps I would have appreciated at least the acknowledgement of the sort of situation he's in and how he doesn't feel that way. However, for a more gag like kind of format, and because so many of these characters are already too wacko, I can absolutely accept Tadano just being a good boy who became this way by being burned from cringe first.


Last edited by Thatguy3331 on Tue Nov 30, 2021 1:48 pm; edited 2 times in total
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#Synaesthesia



Joined: 30 Jan 2019
Posts: 156
PostPosted: Tue Nov 30, 2021 12:50 pm Reply with quote
"It's 2021, it's really entirely too late to have people crossdress as a joke. You could have just had Najimi be genderfluid and be done with it.

But... they are genderfluid. And it really isn't presented as a joke, you're just taking it too serially.
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Minos_Kurumada



Joined: 04 Nov 2015
Posts: 975
PostPosted: Tue Nov 30, 2021 1:15 pm Reply with quote
Najimi is just playing the childhood friend archetype to the fullest like the rest of the cast.

In romance manga it's normal for the childhood friend to be the oposite gender you remember, so, when they reunite years later MC can fall in love with him/her and since Najimi is everybody's friend then he needs to be both genders or neither for those who like that.

That's why in his introduction episode we had a guy confessing his feelings, he was just another trope, the guy finding that his childhood friend was a girl and falling for her.

Actually, Najimi doesn't even wear the girl's uniform, the top its the male one.
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MFrontier



Joined: 13 Apr 2014
Posts: 10784
PostPosted: Tue Nov 30, 2021 1:20 pm Reply with quote
earl.m wrote:
I had no problem with Nagatoro and her crew tormenting "sempai" because it was clear from both his internal monologue and his drawings that he was a jerk who blamed everyone else - and females in particular - for his own shortcomings. Had Nagatoro been harassing someone like Tadano - a decent kid who just wants to be left alone for his own reasons - I would have been more sympathetic. But with "sempai", I saw no real problems with forcing a jerk to confront the fact that he is a jerk and needs to change for his own good.

Nagatoro updates the "manic pixie dreamgirl" thing by turning the dreamgirl into ... a sadistic little monster that viciously forces the loser jerk to confront his flaws and overcome them. It doesn't solve the main problem - why the dreamgirl would ever get mixed up with the loser jerk in the first place because she has better things to do and is easily able to obtain better quality companionship to do it with - but it is still an improvement.

I think it was less Senpai being a jerk and more that he was just a really socially awkward and defensive guy and Nagatoro in part tries to hide her feelings and bring him out of his shell through her teasing because she saw him through his art.
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Violet Park



Joined: 18 Jul 2018
Posts: 115
PostPosted: Tue Nov 30, 2021 1:20 pm Reply with quote
The problem for me is that Komi's predicament feels too realistic for a gag series. The classmates being mostly a bunch of nutcases who insist on putting her on a pedestal is more off-putting than funny for that reason.
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