Recap: Yuu is forced to stand up Tomoko when she is asked to help waitress at her uncle’s cafe. To make it up to her, she invites Tomoko to visit. As Summer vacation reaches its end, Tomoko finds herself alone as ever.

Jel’s Thoughts: My disenchantment with WataMote continues this week as Tomoko’s trip to the Cafe is nearly identical to her earlier coffee shop excursion, and I’m pretty sure they tried to pull the same emotional sucker punch with her brother as well. Aside from sticking Yuu in one of those weird waitress uniforms I swear I’ve only seen in anime, there really wasn’t anything new. They even carted out the same grey color trick with Tomoko that felt clever the first time around, but as she basically went through the same predictable range of emotions I was having trouble staying interested.

What did at least get me thinking was Tomoko’s memories of being the dependable big sister when she was much younger. What made her change? Is the writer blaming anime, manga, otome games, and the acerbic, insular internet culture she found herself wrapped up in? I’d love to see that question explored more, and considering the author’s clear statement of intent regarding satire I wouldn’t rule that out. But regardless of the show’s intentions, all Tomoko’s sweet little flashback turned out to be was an attempt to toss a sugar cube into the bitter black coffee of her mind. Between cheating kids last week and refusing to pull her weight this time, the last two episodes have really brought out the worst in her. Maybe they were just trying to tip her back into the audience’s favor? Either way I don’t think it worked.

I do have to mention again that director Shin Oonuma is doing EVERYTHING in his power to keep this show interesting. At one point during the cafe scene they were literally just smashing and blurring colors together for no reason. I was particularly amused by the Space Invaders overlay when Tomoko finally got down to some cleaning. No matter how far my opinion slides on WataMote, I can at least say the presentation has been good. With only a few episodes remaining, I just hope that won’t be the only thing I can say when it’s all over.