Kind of a weird take. "Why is the story all about being an awkward girlfailure so awkward and full of failure?"
There's nothing out there that captures those moments like Watamote. Even the fact that the parts you expect to be wistful and emotional fall flat is just on brand for the story. It's very much a story about how those things don't actually happen. Any time the story gracefully lofts into the air, it hits a lamppost and bounces to the ground. That is the point of it.
Yeah, but every so often it feels like the authors barely got to the deadline and saved some face by putting "Alright... So that was the joke for this week". I'm not talking about themes, but deliver and writing. As of recent, Watamote can feel kind of tedious and dull... Your brain rots just by reading. They don't even keep the consistency of the characters anymore, it's just
corruption: sometimes you get someone delivering a weak punchline just because it fitted nowhere else. We know Tomoko to be a scumbag, yet her every line feels like a cartoony character that just shows up to say her thing.
I've been clinging to it for more than a decade, so I know what to expect. I'm just surprised it keeps running. I hope to see Tomoko into adulthood, and I don't expect for it to be a dramatic coming-of-age arc, but this would not be sustainable. I understand all those dropped Watamote.
