Recap: Tomoko mumbles and stumbles her way through a rainy day. The next day she tries to ditch school and succeeds, spending the rest of the day with her sick brother to try and get sick herself.

Jel’s Thoughts: I continue to be impressed with how life affirming WataMote can be. I think it’s all too easy to get fixated on Tomoko’s crippling anxiety and cringe worthy social situations and miss what the series is really trying to say. If you don’t agree with me, just see this episode and the teacher not so subtly giving a lecture on social satire. Big picture aside, I couldn’t help but smile at the midpoint when the boys left the umbrella for Tomoko. I talked about last week how she seems to have some kind of weird reverse karma working for (against?) her, and she kind of lost this round. But I don’t think there’s any question the message is a positive one.

The B side of the episode didn’t pack quite as much punch, but turned out to be pretty entertaining nonetheless. If anything, it was just cool to see Tomoko dial back her social obsessions a bit and focus on skipping school. Sure that may not be healthy all the time, but who hasn’t had days they wanted to just stay home and play video games?  I loved how Tomoko’s fantasizing led to her being a super cool, chain smoking sniper assassin as opposed to overusing the sexual frustration angle. I’m assuming that was a reference to another series I’m not familiar with, but even so it was a refreshing twist. I’m also really liking the relationship she has with her brother. Even though Tomoko does her satirical duty in half heartedly coming on to him, their actual interactions are surprisingly normal and amusing. I couldn’t help but chuckle as she slapped the wash cloth on Tomoki’s forehead and ran off with his apples.

I was starting to think the director was going overboard with the special effects this episode, particularly in the opening minutes when there are just random objects and color changes popping up on the screen. While I love the shifting visual style and special effects, I do prefer they have some sense of purpose. That is really a minor complaint though, as WataMote continues to dial it down when necessary. Tomoko’s walk home in the rain was a particularly good example of how Shin Oonuma is perfectly capable of using silence and stillness as well. I know it’s only three episodes in, but overall I’m finding I just have less and less to complain about with this series each week. My only concern is how long this premise can last before it gets stale, so hopefully WataMote will keep finding ways to surprise me.

Lifesong’s Thoughts: I think for me, the thing I enjoy about this anime isn’t the gags or even some sense of pleasure from Tomoko’s pain. WataMote doesn’t trivialize Tomoko’s problems, it pokes fun at them sure, but it doesn’t trivialize them and that touch of seriousness adds a refreshing bit of heart into her weekly adventures. I loved the bit with the umbrella and the way she was more willing to believe in her umbrella magically fixing itself than someone showing her kindness. I can totally see someone thinking the way she does. Tomoko is her own worst enemy and her painful misadventures are largely her own fault. I have a hard time sympathizing with her, but I do want to see some growth for her character. Even if she doesn’t become a socialite, it would nice to see her become a bit more comfortable with herself.

Zigg’s Thoughts: I think one of the things I’ve most enjoyed about WataMote so far is the careful balance that’s been struck between spoof, moe-bait and genuine story. Yes, Tomoko is very adorable and you want to hug her but such a trait is not done at the expense of giving her an actual character. The show wants us to sympathise with her for the most part but isn’t afraid of demonstrating how she’s sometimes just a bit of a jerk – the sequence with the apples is a pretty funny example of this that doesn’t have to make a big song-and-dance to be a great joke.

Elsewhere, her interaction with the two boys in the rain is funny but also strikes a slightly desperate edge that makes it much more relatable than a simple gag setup would have been. I also really like that the boys are sort of weirded out by her but still show her kindness in the end – when even your bit characters have facets to them that’s a good sign. The interaction between Tomoko and her brother continues to be great as well. There’s the anger and lack of concern that tend to characterise most teenage sibling relationships and I love that when she (pathetically) attempts to come onto him he doesn’t even get freaked out but just ignores her.

The show still looks lovely and some great stylish touches make it constantly interesting just to look at. As Jel says the only danger here is that they might fall into something of a rut, so I’m hoping over the next few episodes we see a bit of meaningful development from Tomoko. Still at the moment this is pretty, funny, sad and enjoyable. Not bad at all.