Fall 2021 Anime: Komi Can’t Communicate

Synopsis

Komi-san is a gorgeous student who is loved by many people in her school. Unfortunately, she is also a very shy person who rarely talks. For her, communicating with other people is hard. It all changes after she meets Tadano, a regular classmate who understands her situation. Tadano offers his help to Komi so that she can make friends in school. The problem is Itan High School is full of eccentrics, weirdos, and students with unusual behaviours. Can Komi befriend them?

Comments

Dany Muhammad – The Indonesian Anime Times

The first episode of Komi Can’t Communicate surprised me. I’ve read the manga before. While it’s funny, the early chapters feel more like a simple gag manga. They are structured like a self-published webcomic posted on Twitter, where a chapter was divided into smaller comedy skits. So when I saw the trailer, I expected that the anime could be a good addition to a simple gag-based comedy. Maybe something like the adaptation of Monthly Girls Nozaki-Kun, at least in the first two or three episodes.

However, Komi Can’t Communicate narrative structure turned out to be more coherent than I initially thought. The story is still divided into smaller skits, where sometimes 8-bit-styled title credit appears as a breather between skits. But the story also serves a bigger narrative picture. Slowly, the “skit-based” comedy blends into its larger question: can Tadano communicate with Komi? And then when it reaches the climax of the episode, the story becomes a personal story of two people who try to communicate. The lack of dialogue, the use of chalk sound effects, and the careful direction sells that scene. For me, this is one of the most beautiful first episodes this season.

The first episode of Komi Can’t Communicate reminds me that, while it’s a comedy manga, it’s still a story of people who try to connect with other people. The staff at OLM studio understand that, and they make sure to communicate that using any audiovisual trick possible. The comedy scenes hit hard. And because the comedy scene is genuinely funny, heartwarming scenes hit even harder from the blindside. While Komi herself struggles to communicate her intent, the staff behind the anime certainly aren’t.

Facts and Figures

Screenshots and Trailer

The Indonesian Anime Times