watamote is a disgusting anime and i wish japan wouldn’t romanticize that kind of behavior
Except that it’s not romanticizing it– it’s the exact opposite. It’s not one of those animes where the rude, antisocial heroine miraculously obtains friends/love interests becuase she’s “special.” Kiriko is truly pathetic, but she’s also kind of a shitty person who’s always negative and thinking awful things about the people around her. She’s not adorably shy, she’s really shy but also pretty mean and just generally not a very sympathetic character, and it’s not surprising that over the course of the show she makes exactly zero steps towards achieving popularity.
Which isn’t to say Kiriko is totally unrelatable– the reason I watch the show is that parts of it remind me of myself in middle school, which is funny but really uncomfortable. That’s what makes Watamote so great– it romanticizes nothing and pretty much just exists to make viewers squirm with secondhand embarrassment.
(via saety)