Ep. 09
Wow.
There were hints as well as quick glimpses of it in earlier episodes…
But man, Tomoko really is a raging bitch, especially in this episode.
The end was rather sentimental and sad though.
So basically this is Haganai, only with a completely different style of humor (and crazier eroge)? My thought is that it is Haganai with a heaping helping of Level E but I’m sure that there’s a better sum to be made out there.
I’m not a fan of this type of humor so I’ll have to wait and see if some old fashioned Fosterization can be bestowed upon this show to up its game.
Maybe all the great ADV comedies were like this in Japanese? If I can convince myself to believe that then I can hope for some laughs from this when the dub comes out… otherwise it is bleak.
Episode 6 –
spoiler
The bags under Tomoko’s eyes are gone! And she looks good! But it’s almost time for summer break and she has no one to watch the fireworks with, which depresses her again. When she tries to figure out how she got pretty, she concludes that it must have been the “air sex” during her dating sim game. So, if she keeps playing 2D romances every day, she’ll get popular in the 3D world as well. That should also get her someone to watch the fireworks with. This poor girl!
After playing all night and not bathing, I really thought she’d be back to looking like her old self, but Tomoko still looks good. The next morning, her brother thinks she looks dirty, and Tomoko is thinking that he isn’t looking at her like a brother anymore, but a “nighttime stalker”.
With a good horoscope backing her up, Tomoko sets out, saying that she really doesn’t believe in horoscopes, but of course she does. She may want to rethink that after a can of soda blows up in her face. At school, she plays with ants and ends up with “ants in her pants”. LOL She freaks out when a guy approaches her to remove an ant from her shoulder, but that isn’t how she sees it! Another boy in her class tries to tell her about an ant on her arm, and she freaks out again.
On the train, Tomoko gets a seat and happens to see the guy next to her texting about the cute high school sitting next to him. Tomoko thinks it’s her, but it’s the girl on the other side of the guy. Tomoko is just walking on air! When the guy happens to glance at Tomoko, ants are crawling all over her. Yuk! But once off the train, the happy girl buys another can of soda, shakes it, and lets it explode on her. It’s been the best day of her life!
Well, it’s the last day of school, and with no one to watch fireworks with, Tomoko thinks it’s probably better to watch them on TV anyway. I see she’s back to looking like her old self too. She begins to cry and says that it isn’t all right – she does want to see the fireworks with someone – anyone! Tomoko heads to the library and the “social misfits”. There is a boy and a girl and Tomoko chooses to ask the girl. However, she’s still her old self and can hardly get a word out. She’s saved at the last minute, because the girl already has friends.
That leaves the boy. She tries to get him to ask her to the fireworks. Tomoko hints at it with a fake phone call, and a loudly expressed wish afterwards to go. While she waits, Tomoko reads “The Oranges of Wrath”. LOL Sadly, too much time passes, and when she looks, the boy is gone. That was the last straw and poor Tomoko’s heart is just broken to pieces.
Tomoko ends up on a roof, where she and Yu used to hang out. She hopes to see some of the fireworks from there. Two middle school boys show up, and Tomoko is sad that it isn’t her place anymore. Turning to leave, she finally gets up the courage to ask the boys if she can stay. It’s free space, so how can the boys say no? And Tomoko thinks she gets someone to watch the fireworks with after all.
However, the entertainment for the evening is not fireworks, but the love hotel next door! She watches with the boys, but thinks it isn’t really what she wants to be doing. But as the fireworks explode overhead, Tomoko gets an eyeful of something else exploding across the way. Well, she wanted to have a good time and now she has, seeing things that she’s never even seen in her games! LOL I hope the next school semester works out better for her.
Episode 5 (Sub) is live at ANO
Episode 6 (Sub) is live at ANO
Episode 7 –
spoiler
Tomoko live! At least until she got a look at herself. But her solution just made her look like some kind of stalker. In the end, she couldn’t do it anyway.
The night she scared herself with all the horror stories was funny. Safety in numbers! LOL But I felt sorry for her brother.
The meet and greet with the voice actor was almost a disaster. I really didn’t think Tomoko would be able to have the voice actor say one line, let alone everything she came up with at the last minute. And then what she did with the recording! LOL At least it was creative. And then to have her mother hear it all. I give her credit for taking it in stride and just telling Tomoko to come to dinner when she was done.
Tomoko’s brother got traumatized when his mother played a tape of him and Tomoko as kids and he said he wanted to marry his sister. That must have been a memory that was better forgotten. Later, he couldn’t even light the sparklers with her, which was a bit sad. So much for Tomoko’s summer! I guess she’s better off in her world of fantasy.
Episode 8 –
spoiler
Tomoko gets the news that her cousin, Kii-chan, is coming for a visit and Tomoko does not look too happy about that. Of course she isn’t, since she’s lied to Kii-chan about her popularity in the past. So, what to do now? Why, turn herself into a “high school bitch” of course!
The clothes shopping was just sad, as was the plan to put hickeys all over herself. Tomoko ended up looking like she had some kind of disease! I’m glad her mother yelled at her. And she gets slapped for talking back to her mother too.
Kii-chan arrives and can’t wait to hear more of Tomoko’s stories – like about her boyfriend. She needs to make something up fast. And to top it off, Tomoko meets the boy from that rainy day in the park. She can hardly talk to him, yet she immediately begins to fantasize about him.
Kii-chan saw her talking to the boy and asks if that was her boyfriend. Tomoko tells her that it was. Well, it isn’t a lie since it may actually happen in the future, according to her fantasy. But the following day, they see the boy with another girl and Tomoko has to lie again.
Oh no! Kii-chan confronts the boy on Tomoko’s behalf and Tomoko has to stop her. She sends Kii-chan off while she speaks to the boy, but Kii-chan returns to see Tomoko formally apologizing to the boy. The “big sister” that she looked up to isn’t the person she thought she was at all.
Tomoko also plays a card game with the local kids and is known as “Queen”. Kii-chan is impressed by how nice Tomoko must be for playing with them. But the “high school bitch” finally comes out and she insults one of the little boys, shocking Kii-chan. Once again, Tomoko is not the person she thought she was.
Tomoko challenges Yotchan to a game and watching her, Kii-chan is impressed again. She feels badly that she may have been wrong about Tomoko after all. But then she sees Tomoko cheat and is devastated again. However, her adoration of Tomoko is reborn when Tomoko admits she wanted to look “cool” for her. Kii-chan later tells her mother that she needs to be nicer to Tomoko. And Tomoko feels that something has changed in Kii-chan’s attitude. I guess Kii-chan sees the truth of Tomoko – a sad, lonely girl.
Episode 7 (Sub) is live at ANO
Episode 9 –
spoiler
Summer break is almost over and Tomoko has nothing to show for it. However, she does have a movie date with Yuu that she’s looking forward to. She’s done all her research and picked out the perfect outfit. But a call from Yuu cancels the date, and throws Tomoko into a panic, thinking she’s lost her only friend. However, Tomoko is relieved once she hears the reason.
Yuu invites Tomoko to the café, but she’s the only one that’s there alone. I liked the weird music here too. It was very Tomoko! LOL Sadly, the menu is in French and Tomoko could hardly order. She should have asked Yuu for some help! Luckily, she chose correctly. And seeing Yuu in the cute uniform and working at such a “trendy” place makes Tomoko want to get a job at a café as well.
Her mother helps her get a part time job “with cake”, and she spends the night fantasizing about it, but the job isn’t quite what Tomoko envisioned. Things just backfired for her again! The poor girl has ended up at a cake factory and it may as well be a prison as far as Tomoko is concerned. Quitting after just one day, Tomoko is put to work at home, cleaning. Mom can be pretty fierce too! LOL
Tomoko’s mother uses her brother as an example and wants her lazy daughter to help out, but Tomoko would rather yell at her brother for being such a help around the house. Her “that’s what parents are for” line really cracked me up! And mom strikes again! LOL She relented on the housework, but still wants Tomoko to clean up her stuff. And Tomoko ends up uncovering a couple of nice memories of her brother.
It was sad that Tomoko ended up crying into her ramen and watching the meteor shower alone. What a way to end her summer. At least she makes one friend – a cat. Well, her wish ended up coming true. She had wished for a boy to watch the stars with her and the cat is a male. That Tomoko luck again!
Episode 10 –
spoiler
A new term begins and Tomoko is ready to take on the world! Well, maybe not. A seating change puts Tomoko in the center of the classroom and right in front of the teacher. And her classmates are actually talking to her! Panic time! LOL
Just when she decides to make the best of it, someone has taken her chair at lunchtime, causing her to find a place to eat alone. She finds a spot and makes it her hers. She’s happy enough not to have anyone around to bother her, but it’s still sad that she has to eat alone. Then the day comes that her spot is gone and she doesn’t eat her lunch.
Tomoko ends up fainting during gym and wakes up in the nurse’s office. It was a little heartbreaking to see her go back to the empty classroom and rearrange the desks to look like her lost spot, so she could finally eat her lunch. Her day brightens up a bit when she hits the arcade on the way home and gets a prize. But her happiness soon wears off and she realizes that she’s even more alone.
Tomoko’s lonely days at school continue and she considers joining a club. Fantasizing again, she acts before she can change her mind, and fills out a form for a new club. She actually submits it too, and it gets approved. And two people join! Sadly, it was just another of Tomoko’s fantasies, as I figured it would be. But she really did submit the proposal for the new club and it got rejected. And that’s just the icing on the cake for Tomoko. She just visibly deflates after seeing that.
Episode 8 (Sub) is live at ANO
Ep. 12
And we come full circle!
That was a rather fun series, in a disturbing cringe worthy sort of way.
When I first started watching this, I immediately added it to my “to buy” list, but now that it’s over, I’m more on the fence about it as I don’t really see much re-watchability for me in it.
I guess I’ll decide when the time comes.
Episode 11 –
spoiler
It’s school festival time and Tomoko finally gets up the courage to help, and is given a task. She plans to make it last all day, but is given some help. She ends up cutting her hand and rushes off to the nurse’s office. Rather than returning to her class, she helps set up chairs in the gym. I think the chairman was pretty friendly to her and maybe she could be a potential future friend if Tomoko opens herself up a little.
Heartened by the chairman’s words, Tomoko returns to her class vowing to have fun. But when she arrives, everything is set up and everyone has gone home. Being that her class is doing a cosplay café, Tomoko checks out costumes on the way home. She ends up with a really cute outfit, and invites Yuu to visit her at the festival. Yuu will come, but not on the day Tomoko wanted her to.
The big day arrives and Tomoko just hangs out in the background of her classroom. She ends up wandering around the school and getting sick. But she does bump into the chairman again. However, she runs away. The next day, she bumps into the chairman again. This is getting to be a habit! I think the chairman can see how painfully shy this girl is too.
Yuu arrives and Tomoko’s day brightens a bit. In fact it gets funnier as Tomoko tries to figure out ways to get Yuu to hug her again. Then the moment comes when Tomoko realizes that she’s actually having fun. And she wasn’t even trying! The day ends too soon and Yuu leaves. The depressed Tomoko wanders around again and the chairman spots her. Borrowing a costume, she brings Tomoko a balloon – and gives her a big hug! That was just the sweetest thing ever! The ED was pretty nice too – Tomoko still has her balloon.
Episode 9 (Sub) is live at ANO
^ That is Brittney Karbowski voice in the trailer if anyone wanted to know.
Episode 12 –
spoiler
Tomoko is learning to cope with her unpopular life. But it sure isn’t the future she had imagined. Once again, the year is passing too quickly and Tomoko is still nowhere. Instead of reflecting on the past, she decides to look to the future. She even stops having those one-sided chats with her brother.
In class, Tomoko tries for another persona, but that doesn’t work again. I liked how Tomoko imagined herself in “Another”. That was probably the closest thing to the truth so far. Tomoko is practically non-existent to her classmates. When a roach appears in the classroom, Tomoko feels it will be the perfect thing to bring her to the attention of her classmates and out of non-existence. When the bug starts to fly, Tomoko is determined to become a hero.
Of course, her imagination works better than reality, and although she kills the bug, no one praises her. She’s certain things will be better when she returns to class, but when she does, the other students distance themselves from her. She later finds out that her classmates think she’s just plain weird.
Tomoko decides to ask Imae how she got to be so popular, but loses her courage and runs away, when the wind makes an untimely appearance. If she had only waited a moment, Tomoko would have heard how much Imae admires her. Another missed opportunity for Tomoko to make a friend! Later that night, Tomoko is back to reading about the unpopular girl and ends up laughing hysterically, saying that it doesn’t even matter. I still feel bad for her, but I like how it ended. I think there’s hope for Tomoko yet!
Episode 10 (Sub) is live at ANO
Episode 11 (Sub) is live at ANO
Episode 12 
(Sub) is live at ANO
Btooom’s BD opens with the lame-o The Anime Network trailer that looks like it wants to be South Park. When can I expect to see the vastly-superior Watamote TAN trailer (or the “Cold Robot”, “Cradle to the Grave” or the CG one) on Sentai releases? 