So let’s get the obvious out of the way. Yes, this is the chapter that resulted from the BOOK☆WALKER poll where Nemo unexpectedly won most likely due to Aka Akasaka’s half-hearted influence. And no, I’m not salty. I mean, sure, I would’ve liked to have a Yuri-focused chapter that delved into her background more, but that’s not out of any malice towards Nemo. She’s also due for a backstory chapter, and we did just get a Yuri chapter which Nico Tanigawa probably did to placate Yuri’s rabid fanboys.

So don’t worry. Our day will come. Just let the Nemo fans have their moment, a’ight?

BOOK☆WALKER Special Edition



Damn, I’m loving this shot. The lighting, the shading, the composition, that questioning look Nemo gives to the person behind her. Simply beautiful.

It should be illegal to look this good while sleeping in public.

That’s one of Yoshida’s positive traits, I would believe. That she’s not at all self-conscious about her image. Unlike say Tomoko and Yuri, who try to be conscientious of others, Yoshida just doesn’t give a damn about what others think of her. Even Nemo and her plan to be more upfront can’t match her level. And that’s why the delinquent makes such a good foil against them.

Mmm…not bad. But she still needs to work on that natural defiance for society that Yoshida exudes.

As for Nemo’s uniquely positive traits, that would be her openmindedness. While the other characters need the extra push to move out of their comfort zones, Nemo will try anything once (not like that) if it will potentially enhance her high school life. Whether it’s chatting with Yuri, playing an eroge Tomoko inadvertently recommended, or sleeping in the courtyard like Yoshida, Nemo will give it a shot.

You know, if I had to give this chapter a name, I can’t think of anything better than…

“The Reawakening of Hina Nemoto”.

Given that this is a series that runs on webcomic speed, it can be a bit difficult to have references that fit into Watamote’s timeline. That’s why I think it’s a solid decision to have a series like Tiger & Bunny as a reference since that could feasibly be an anime that was popular during Nemo’s time in middle school.

A cute.

Ah, so Nemo wasn’t always a closet otaku. There was a time when she was actually upfront about that side to her personality. Going back to references, having Anohana being the anime discussed is a small, yet meaningful detail, since it was one of the more “normie” anime at the time. It helps to depict in retrospect how Nemo is the “otaku” even in a group that likes anime. It’s that sense of isolation that acts as the driving theme in this flashback.

Again, the fact that Nemo doesn’t even know if she has the same hobbies as those two girls we just saw indicates that she’s in that unfortunate grey area where’s she too otaku for the normies, but too normie for the otakus.

The confession that Miki got actually serves a purpose in developing Nemo’s personality here, as Nemo’s advice towards her friend’s uncertainty is very much applicable to herself. In hindsight, it’s unnerving to see Nemo give an optimistic response like that knowing how she ends up in high school…

I’m sure I can get this reference. I mean, how many four-girl high school slice-of-life moe anime can there be?

…um, Acchi Kocchi?

We didn’t necessarily need it, but It’s nice to get a concrete reason for Nemo’s taste in anime. That old idea that you can tell a lot about a person by the kind of anime they watch holds some merit, and it makes sense in Nemo’s case. For someone who’s always smiling and wants to live her life to the fullest, those feel-good series are right up her alley, as opposed to the cynical world of romance dramas and battle shounens.

Even way back then, everyone could tell that Nemo was actually a pure-hearted girl that just plays up her naughty side.

Boy, this takes me back to how the manga/anime community was back in the day, particularly the fujoshi crowd. Back when BL was the niche in the already niche fandom, fujoshi took the hardest hit, with everyone ostracizing them for being “rotten”, homophobic, and generally unpleasant. While that perception has diluted somewhat as BL became more well-known, the ugly side of them is still relevant, and the ones depicted in this chapter are the very worst of them. With the way they outcast “plebians” and take pride in the very things they’re criticized for, it’s no wonder Nemo can’t connect with them.

I’ve watched a lot of media that tries to show school bullying, and this scene is one of the most realistic depictions I’ve seen. And the reason for that is because it’s not actually bullying, but teeters the edge of it. No beating people up or slut-shaming you might find in reality’s most obvious bullies. Just the backbiting and laughing at someone’s behavior that almost everyone has been guilty of. It the kind of smack talk that can’t easily be confronted, but is the easiest to get swept up in.

See what I mean? Nemo would never backbite other people herself, but no one wants to be the one to break the mood and call out other people. Sad as it is, It’s much easier to laugh along and be agreeable to the discussion.

This is mostly speculation, but I wouldn’t be surprised if these girls were kind of “bullies” themselves. The hypocritical kind, I’d say, that unfairly looks down on the very people who look down on them. The harsh truth is that nobody is completely innocent in this scenario except for Nemo (mostly), yet she’s the only one who suffers for it. There’s no pleasing these sorts of jerks because even though she didn’t say anything, as Nemo points out, her relative inaction only gives them another reason to bite back. There’s is no easy out of this scenario, leaving poor Nemo a party of one.

Dead inside.

This has to be the most inconsequential confession scene I’ve ever seen in my entire life. Most series would have such a moment be the overall goal, or the catalyst for the story. Instead, it serves as a developmental moment for Nemo’s character. Nemo’s never shown any romantic interest in anyone, whether in anime or in real life. While it may hint to Nemo being asexual, it mostly provides context for how Nemo didn’t really have any strong connections in middle school.

Although, that guy does look an awful lot like Kiyota…and if it is, it’s a great middle finger to all those series that don’t think guys and girls can remain friends after a confession.

I don’t know if these quick tidbits of Nemo’s life are entirely sequential (at least, one day’s worth of events), but it does effectively show how Nemo would much rather still true to herself than fake friendships with a bunch of jerkwads.

I’m pretty sure this a reference to YUYUSHIKI. I can’t think of any other series with cheeks that angular.

Looks like Nemo only lets out the non-smiles in private. A girl’s gotta recharge her facial muscles after all.

Alrighty then, let’s see…

We’ve got dark-and-longer-haired Ucchi, black-haired Yoshida, Unknown Girl #1, Hina Nemoto, Unknown Girl #2, Unknown Boy #1, Ucchi the Backpack, Kakinuma, Unknown Girl #3 that looks like Sayaka, and dark-haired Miyazaki.

8.9/Needs dark-haired Katou.

Meetings are sudden things indeed.

Similar to how Tomoko made her new friends, the first meeting between Nemo and Okada is hardly spectacular. And yet for the next three years, they’re the best of friends, even with Nemo hiding her true self for most of that time. Goes to show you don’t need some dramatic moment of instantaneous attachment to meet your best friend.

Unrelated, but I love the hair on that girl to the right.

Given that she kept this act up for a solid two years, this is honestly kind of depressing. If Nemo’s main goal was to live the wonderful high school life romanticized in fiction, having to suppress her otaku side in order to achieve it must have taken some massive discipline, but you’d never know it behind that constant smile. That “normie” facade of Nemo’s is ironclad at this point, and only someone awkward, dirty-minded, and oddly resolute can hope to pierce it.

Meetings may be sudden, but no less destined.

I gotta say, it’s pretty surreal to see first-year Tomoko in all her old, cringy glory at this point in series. It’s almost nostalgic, even. The art style has improved greatly since Watamote’s inception, and seeing new-styled Tomoko stuttering sweating, and wide-eyed is a startling reminder that, yes, this is the same person. Like looking at your old, facepalm-worthy self in your middle school yearbook, you can look back fondly knowing how far Tomoko Kuroki has come.

And against all odds…she did.

Maybe I’m looking too deep into it…again, but perhaps the first-person perspective here is to highlight how Nemo’s true personality finally “woke up” after a long slumber. And Tomoko being the first one in her line of sight is to point out how it was her that woke her up (as well as just being short enough to be seen first).

Okada was indirectly trying to keep Tomoko from getting her ass kicked, hence why she went for Yoshida instead of Nemo. Little did she know that Tomoko is pretty indiscriminate about her shit-talking.

Tomoko the Opportunist.

You know, Nemo, it doesn’t really sell your displeasure of it all when you keep smiling like that…

Now, Tomoko, you of all people should understand the appeal of trying to live out cliche anime in reality.

But Nemo’s no fool, though. She’s well aware that all those cliches and tropes you see in anime are hella lame. But as per her new approach to life, she doesn’t care what others things. She’s gonna own that desire, whether people judge her or not.

I think that describes it pretty well, don’t you? Although, slice-of-life by its definition doesn’t necessarily have to be “feel-good”. People fighting, backbiting, and bullying could very much be slice-of-life anime if so desired. Hell, Watamote itself went for the rare dark-comedy of slice-of-life. In that sense, Tomoko and Nemo are two sides of the same coin: different perspectives, but ultimately a desire for the same goal.

So very true. To the uninitiated, Nemo is relatively the same in personality before and after she came out. It was her behavior that made the change. She acts with much less restraint now than she did before because Tomoko made her realize the fallacy in her act: You can’t live out your school life to the fullest if you don’t put in your full personality. Ultimately, the fear of being ostracized again lost to the desire to be true to herself.

A part of me feels like Nemo’s romanticizing these relationships a bit. Other than Tomoko, Yuri and Yoshida are mutual acquaintances at best, with the former just on the brink of falling down the enemy side. Same goes for the relationship between Tomoko and Okada, which is also in acquaintances territory. Knowing this series, though, through friendships could end up blossoming at some point, but Nemo seems a bit too eager to live out those anime-esque touchy-feely friendships.

I’m guessing that “four-season’ is a qualifier to ensure that Nemo is talking about the really great slice-of-life anime, as opposed to the shitty ones Tomoko often gripes about.



It would have been very easy for Nemo to delegate the others in her life as the “supporting” characters, and I appreciate that Nemo puts them on the same level as herself. As they say, “Everyone is the protagonist of their own life.”, and by following it, Nemo becomes a wonderful example of how someone can acknowledge the reality of corny anime and still unironically enjoy it.



As I mentioned before in the recent study session chapter, Tomoko may be a cynical jerk, but she’s not a sadist. She has a sense of empathy anyone would have that prevents her from being mean to someone who hasn’t earned it. And while not explicitly stated, Tomoko probably understands herself what it’s like being a “cringy middle school otaku”.

So yeah, unless she’s (perceived to be) provoked, Tomoko won’t rain on your parade.

I love that this whole continuation is treated as an omake in this chapter. As if to say, “Yeah, Watamote is now a coming-of-age slice-of-life manga with strong character dynamics, but we’re still gonna sprinkle on some dirty sex jokes just like the good ol’ days.”

Crassness aside, the implication Tomoko offers is that flashing your panties is “thrilling” for viewers if you’re neat under there, and only looks bad on you if you’ve got messy pubes.

Because, obviously.

Answer #1: You were just one of the many victims of Tomoko’s voyeurism during the Kyoto field trip.

Answer #2: Nemo, honey, haven’t you learned by now that “normal” does not exist in Tomoko’s vocabulary?

Answer #3: Yup.

I think this is fundamentally Tomoko’s greatest strength and weakness. She’s actually socially perceptive with a surprisingly high level of emotional intelligence. And while she can determine the course of action that should happen, her ability to express that action is totally bonkers. When she needs to take the initiative, she ignores the appropriate action in favor of what she thinks is the ideal action. She takes the easy road by making choices based on the things she’d appreciate, which in most cases, is sex.

To those who said Watamote didn’t do cringe anymore…

SUCK.

ON.

THAT.

It took about one-hundred and forty-five chapters, but it finally happened. The smile has finally fallen. Oh sure, there have been times when Nemo frowned or even got surprised, but this is the “big” one. This is one-hundred percent complete mortification. Nemo’s usually pretty good at keeping her negative emotions in check, but Tomoko’s been slowly breaking her down since the whole eroge business. And it was only a matter of time before the straw broke the camel’s back and Nemo exploded.

File under “Most Memorable Moments in Watamote”.

Okada’s third year is just going to be full of surprises, eh?

And Yoshida’s just like, “Pfft, what else is new?”.

Naturally, Nemo feels sorry for smacking her, which is a plus that Tomoko’s other “assailants” don’t have. Granted, she obviously wasn’t expecting to seriously hurt her, suggesting that she might not be as apologetic if she didn’t hit her eye. Whether they know it or not, the ones who retaliate against Tomoko (Yoshida, Yuri, and now Nemo), only hit her in that “tsundere punch that doesn’t cause actual harm” sort of way.



Because no matter how much of a pain Tomoko is, none of them actually want her to be in pain.

I swear, Tomoko’s gotta be some kind of masochist. Which, given her taste in eroge and her sexual fantasies, is…kinda true.

Even though it’s a horrible, horrible comparison, describing the beatings she gets from Yoshida and Yuri as “domestic violence” does allude to how comfortable she is with them. It implies that “yes, they hit me a lot”, that “yes, this is our routine,” and “yes, the three of us are indeed friends”. Tomoko is that one “punching bag” friend who you can pick on without reservation, and accepting Nemo as her next assaulter is the rite of passage.

Nemo’s final line seems to be a declaration that while this may be “her” chapter, there would be no Watamote without Tomoko. Structurally, this series is no different than a lot of other manga in that it’s a slice-of-life gag comedy about high school girls. What makes Watamote special is not inherently the delightful cast, or the great jokes, or the astonishingly nuanced character development, but by the impact it has on an industry that normally looks down on series like this. Even in its early days, Watamote was unlike anything manga fans have seen before, and it gave a fresh perspective where it was really needed. Watamote has stuck around against all odds because no matter what changes are made, no matter how many volumes are sold, and no matter how many times fans argue for more of this-or-that character…

There is always Tomoko.