komi can’t communicate sucks

inspired by sorbier’s constantly edited essays, i’ve decided to revisit this little coke rant because i think i can do better. clearly i was emotional when writing, and there’s nothing wrong with being emotional (it shows you care). the consequence, however, is that my points came out garbled and half-formed, because this piece was a first draft that i published in a burst of self-righteous anger. so today, i return with a more thoughtful critique of komi can’t communicate.

online, most rebuttals to critique of komi argue that “it’s just a silly comedy slice-of-life anime, what did you expect?” i’d like to split this rebuttal in half, and deal with each half separately. first, “it’s just a silly comedy, what did you expect?” i expect that we can hold ourselves to higher standards than laughing at sexual jokes about high schoolers (i certainly didn’t laugh). there is no comedy in violating an already socially anxious girl’s boundaries (or any girl’s), and i don’t understand why anime continually gets away with this kind of humour. not only is it morally reprehensible, it’s also tired. comedy comes from novelty, from situations that are new in their absurdity [1], from an unexpected twist in a plotline [2], or a stand-up’s wry comment about something the audience has never thought about. the old man nosebleeds so characteristic of anime humour are no longer new. at some point, it stops being an absurdly novel situation and turns into boob joke #204829. the animanga industry is chock-full of interesting new premises, or new takes on old tropes - why can’t the humour update to match the times as well?

next, let’s deal with the second half: “it’s just a slice-of-life anime, what did you expect?” i expected a slice from the life of someone who communicates without speaking. obviously i didn’t expect the writers to dissect the stigma that surrounds non-speakers, but at the very least i expected her to consistently communicate via writing. i expected her to make friends via writing, rather than them falling for her before she even tries (and fails) to utter a word. again, novelty makes media interesting. “introvert comes out of their shell” is a common trope by now; it’s very hard to show a fresh take on it. komi had a fun take with the chalkboard scene, and then threw it out the window for tired, outdated comedy. there is nothing interesting or new about an anime tossing away its biggest strength.

the reversion to crude sexual humour is doubly gut-punching because of the lack of representation for non-speakers. disabled people deserve better representation than inspiration porn where they “get over” their disabilities. many disabled people in real life never do, and when this narrative is the only one shown, disabled people start to feel less worthy for not being able to “get over” their own. komi could’ve been an anime where the protagonist simply lives with her disability instead of trying to reach an arbitrary standard of worth based on ability. i won’t pretend to know what non-speakers experience, but i imagine it would’ve been incredibly cathartic to see a non-speaker living life, non-speakingly.

showing komi living a non-speaking life would’ve also had the added benefit of being a kind of guide to interacting with non-speakers. obviously, disabled people do not exist merely as lessons for abled people, but many people who hesitate to interact with disabled people do so because they don’t know how. as children, we’re told not to stare, not to ask questions, and to sort of pretend disabled people don’t exist. imagine if, instead of the characters forgetting their manners whenever komi so much as looks at them, characters were shown waiting for her to finish writing her thoughts. viewers would then maybe remember these scenes the next time they talk to a non-speaker, and treat them accordingly. it’s easy to scoff and say, “fat chance that’ll happen”, but anime, and all media, holds tremendous influence over people. think of all the newbies who started playing volleyball because of haikyuu, or those who bought skateboards because of sk8 the infinity. if even one person remembers to be considerate and patient when talking to a non-speaker, that’s a success.

i know i’m preaching to the choir with this review - the anime industry will continue making lewd jokes and throwing beautiful premises down the drain for years to come. what i want instead is to stop seeing people excuse disgusting sexual humour as part of the format. what i want is viewers not letting genre labels define what an anime can explore. what i want is viewers critically examining entertainment that’s supposed to be brainless, and continually asking, “how can we do better?” that’s how we make art.

original post

komi can’t communicate is seriously the worst anime i’ve ever watched. now, i know that doesn’t mean much, given that i’ve finished like 8 animes total but this show is just so bad that i had to talk about it. i’m not even saying anything that people haven’t already said, i just needed to get this off my chest.

so let’s start with the humour. although i haven’t watched this since the first season came out, all i remember about the humour is the excessive amount of nosebleed jokes and just how many WEIRD OLD MEN find shouko attractive. like???? i know the nosebleed joke is a trope, and so is the creepy old guy but why did anyone decide this was funny? and then why did MULTIPLE PEOPLE find it funny enough to continue writing into shows until it was common enough to become a trope?? it just reminds me of all those videos of street interviews in japan where guys boast about cheating and think it’s totally okay. like sure something can be a cultural norm and also be completely fucking disgusting and morally abhorrent.

also none of the “friends” she makes outside of like. tadano and najimi are real friends. they just think she’s attractive and she counts it as real friendship because she’s so set on reaching this goal of 100 friends, which, i’d just like to say, most non-socially anxious people don’t even have 100 friends! i don’t think it’s creepy per se that all her classmates find her attractive because at least they’re in her age group but it’s clear that they only care about her because she’s attractive. if she was ugly, even average perhaps, they would at best ignore her and at worst bully her. but heyyy we need a plot so you just need to accept this.

also literally everyone in this anime is annoying as fuck. i understand that tadano’s whole thing is being ordinary (it’s literally in his name) so he gets a pass i guess. shouko is chill and i really feel for all the Situations she gets put in so whatever. my favourite was najimi and i thought they were an icon (although some people thought the jokes involving them were tired and transphobic and i definitely get their point. but i thought they were funnier and significantly less creepy than the old guy jokes so najimi gets a pass). but everyone else had like fifteen screws loose. that yandere girl and the chuunibyou were notable standouts for most annoying. and i totally forgot about the girl with green hair until i was reading the wiki and remembered the whole thing about her having large breasts which is another item to add to the list above of disgusting creep humour. maybe they were trying to go for like a “weirdos stick together and understand each other” but THE OTHER GIRLS DON’T EVEN TRY TO GET TO KNOW SHOUKO. and frankly, with the yandere around, i wouldn’t even let her get close if i were shouko.

what’s most disappointing is the first episode had a really good premise, where tadano and shouko communicate using the chalkboard. i was so ready for this to be an anime about accepting different forms of communication and encouraging people to listen to those who don’t speak out loud. but then they threw that all away so shouko’s entire goal is to learn how to speak out loud and she’s convinced that this is the only way she can make friends when, going back to the last paragraph, her “friends” don’t care! they would never care about how eloquently she can express herself via writing! because even when she tries to say something, they don’t have the patience to wait for her to finish before going nuts over her beauty! i’m so sick of media where introverted characters are forced to “get over it” and that’s literally their whole character arc. if you had to change something fundamental about yourself to make friends, they aren’t your real friends. and what message does this send to all the people who can’t speak? do their methods of communication not deserve to be celebrated the way speech is? it’s just so icky that the message the writers wanted to send was “learning how to speak is the only way to make friends”, which i honestly could argue is ableist because shouko is described as having a communication DISORDER. so when all the characters + shouko herself believe she has to get over this “barrier”, the writers are saying anyone with a communication disability should just get over it. which is ableist! and i swear no one ever points this out!

anyway that’s all i had to say. if you liked this anime congrats on having bottom of the barrel taste in media and if you disagree, go fuck yourself thanks.

[1] japanese manzai comedy is literally all about this.

[2] spoilers for d20 fantasy high s1e2! adaine, a shy, anxious wizard, kills someone on her first day of school using a ladle (purely martial means).