Recap: Tomoko begins Summer vacation but seems to be getting diminishing returns on her lazy days of video games and bumming around the internet. To break up the boredom, she cashes in a ticket for a meet and greet with one of her favorite voice actors.

Jel’s Thoughts: The first half of this episode was arguably the most relatable of Tomoko’s “adventures” as I’m willing to bet most Glorio Blog readers (and writers) know what it feels like to burn a day or two absorbed in video games and the internet. That very well may be how you ended up reading this post in the first place. I’m sure we place really high in “YAHUQ!” searches. Needless to say they did a great job of somehow making painful boredom entertaining, with the slow, deliberate pacing and near absence of sound driving you just as mad as Tomoko.

It’s the B side of the episode where things get a little far fetched and perhaps a little self indulgent. I’d think considerably fewer people know what it’s like to go to a meet and greet with their favorite voice actor. Still, after the dose of reality we got in the first half of the episode, was a ready for something a little silly and crazy. I’m going to chalk up Tomoko’s ability to get out of the house, go to a crowded event, and actually get what she wanted a net win for the poor girl. Once again her Mom steals the show with an uncomfortably long, motionless, INCREDIBLY AWKWARD pause and complete lack of comment on her latest hobby. I’ll admit the joke is getting tired but I’m still finding it funny, so maybe it has a little mileage left. Basically I’m a sucker for jokes with deadpan stares and, in this case, Tomoko’s awful acting in her recording.

Overall this was a fun episode but it’s hard to get too enthusiastic over something that was so subdued. They do a great job of creating Tomoko’s Summer ennui but really don’t say much with it. You kind of smile a little because you understand, but that’s about it. The bit with Tomoko uhhhhh…. wetting herself was also kind of weird but I’ll admit it got a chuckle out of me when she so defiantly admitted it. Between that and one particularly dubious grab for the tissue box, all I can say is stay classy WataMote, stay classy. There’s plenty more Summer vacation time remaining, so I’m hoping we get to see something more substantial next week.