With Watamote, I find that its resurgence in popularity is largely a case of exceeding lowered expectations. Watamote “jumped the shark” when it was at its lowest, resulting in a massive spike in interest. While it was crucial in getting Watamote back on people’s radar, the novelty of this change can easily wear off, and the series could plateau once again. This specific chapter suggests that it could happen, given the amount “fanservice”, but because it does so in a way that stacks on top of previous developments, it’s been rightly earned.

Chapter 146: Because I’m Not Popular, I’ll Wait For The Rain To Stop



Tomoko looks like a little baby here. Guess that’s an indicator of her role in this chapter…

Katou + vest = perfection.

Flag for the “I forgot an umbrella, so let’s share one” cliché, eh? I’d like to say that I wouldn’t enjoy such an overdone, rom-com trope between these two, but then I’d be a hypocrite.

Katou has claimed ownership over all sparkly screentones for the remainder of the series.

Yuri’s been around long enough that I’m sure people were expecting her to start stewing with jealousy over Katou’s attention on Tomoko. But to our pleasant surprise, she doesn’t because,

a: Katou is on a fucking league of her own and trying to challenge her is a fruitless endeavor for anyone with any sense,

and b: Yuri only gets jealous when Tomoko is doing the fawning, not the other way around. She empathizes too much for people that can share in her interest in Tomoko.

That’s no surprise. Even Tomoko has gradually grown better at studying over the last couple of years, it’s no brainer that she’d prefer studying by herself (or with close friends) than surrounded by a people, who more likely than not, would only serve to distract her.

Can it be? Are Nico Tanigawa finally going to confirm what Yuri’s been listening to after all this time!?

Nah, guess that’s still a little too far up on the fanservice ladder.

As for what she does listen to, everyone’s first guess has always been that it’s some generic J-pop music, to coincide with her “normal” personality. Now that we know she isn’t that normal, I wouldn’t put it past anyone to think it could be something that isn’t music. Perhaps not Buddhist sutras or static noise, but I’d imagine it’d be something easygoing to go with her desire for homeostasis.

I put my money on camel grunts ASMR (extra points if you get this reference).

Beats by Dre? Good taste, these girls.



In addition to Tomoko’s “purity” acting up when Katou’s around, she also becomes much more self-conscious. First, there was her sense of inferiority of getting her nails done by her, then it was worrying about her outfit during the college visitation “date”, and now it’s cleanliness over sharing products. Even though Tomoko has already admitted to being a pervert to her face, her insecurity has always been one of self-assessment than the perception of others.

C’mon, Tomoko, only a middle schooler would make a dirty joke like that.

…keep it up.

Who says she didn’t? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Such are the difficulties of being passionate over niche hobbies. Family-friendly morals like “just be yourself” are universal, but at the same time, extreme fanboying/fangirling is often viewed as creepy or exclusionary to those outside of the loop. Finding the balance can be a struggle especially if that niche is your passion, and downplaying it would feel disingenuous. I apologize for getting shmaltzy, but ironically, this is particularly of interest to me. And it’s my review so there.

Tomoko has really honed her technique for telling “not-technically” lies over the past couple of years. But she’s still on the surface level for telling white lies. As experience has shown, Tomoko’s screwed if Katou decides to dig deeper into that hip-hop-ish music.

“Hip Hopeless”? Oh Tomoko, you’re so amusingly dumb.



Is it just me, or is Katou the only person Tomoko has consistently managed to get to laugh at her, whether intentionally or not? Tomoko’s sense of humor has always been a strength of hers, so I enjoy seeing her use it to score some brownie points.

Passive, meet Aggressive.

Characters who can convey anger or annoyance without changing their outward expression are terrifying because they don’t allow any room for confrontation. Girls like Yuu and Nemo are the common abusers of this, but Katou is especially unnerving because unlike them, it’s hard to tell if she’s actually mad, or if she’s just innocently direct. We simply haven’t seen her “dark” side enough to establish that baseline, but it looks as though that’ll change soon enough…

Oh, how perceptions can vary over the course of two years. A+ growth.

And it’s not only Tomoko who’s seen her classmates in a new light, either. I don’t blame Katou for having that impression of Tomoko, since it’s definitely the “character” Tomoko unintentionally took on for people who didn’t know her. Hardcore social anxiety is often mistaken for quiet diligence, and while Katou may be late to the party compared to the others, the fact that she takes it so positively upfront is a delightful first for this series.

Okay, seriously, a manga character should not look this naturally pretty.

Loud? That’s a funny way to spell “lewd”.

“Kimoikimoikimoi!”



This black-haired girl, along with Miyazaki, are the ones who usually take notice of Ucchi’s jealousy fits. The day they decide to double team a confrontation with her is the day all hell breaks loose.

Remember kids! Take short, but frequent breaks from studying to minimize back pain and maximize the amount of material you’ll actually remember.

Only in manga can weather forecasts be conveniently inconvenient.

Chiba West, eh? As I recall, that’s the one Yuri and Tomoko visited. Not surprisingly, really, given that Yuri’s Mom would want to keep an eye on her.

Hmm, Yuri seems a bit uncertain about Mako going to a school she was considering. Perhaps she had already assumed that she’d pick Chiba West, but is disappointed at the possibility that Mako chose it because of her. Despite having some clinging issues, Yuri doesn’t like to be babied, so it may very well be that she feels a little at fault for indirectly influencing her friend’s career goals.

Meanwhile, Tomoko’s thoughts are much less complicated…

And boom! Droppin’ the bombshell!

Yuri has officially taken an active stance to try for Aoyama University. Given her general noncommital attitude, this is actually a huge leap forward for her character, especially if you consider the implications of it. She’s willing to go the extra mile if it means she’ll get to be with Tomoko, even at the risk that Mako could end up at a different school. Granted, it could be that Tomoko’s advice during the college visit regarding how’ll they stay in touch was just really convincing, but still. It’s a solid indication that Tomoko is more or less on equal footing with Mako as Yuri’s “best friend”.

At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if the girlfriend of that umbrella guy got a name.

People often gripe about how manga gets translated, but sometimes, a little localized pun is too good to pass up.

A couple of people are raising the incest flag because Tomoki’s first thought was that his sister was the “smokin’ hot” girl, but I don’t think that’s the case at all. Tomoki has always been the type of dude to avoid Tomoko’s shenanigans before they even happen, so bringing her up is just his way of confirming the unattractiveness of Tomoko before it becomes a pain. Now, it’s fair to say it’s Katou who the guy was sizing up (and who can blame him?), but because they just leave her identity as the “other girl”, it suggests that either this fleeting attracting won’t go anywhere…

…or he was actually talking about Yuri or Mako.

I figured that Tomoko would’ve introduced him during that “fight” in the cafeteria, but I guess Tomoko still doesn’t have that particular social awareness. Add this to my List of Supposedly Inconsequential Details That I’d Like to See Get Expanded On in the Future.

It’s a little late to be noticing this now, but Tomoko is shown to be more perpetually sleepy than most. It’s likely a result of her constant late-night browsing/gaming/reading/m*sturbation, though whether her sleepiness really is “natural” or “unnatural” is still up in the air.

This is how doujins start.

Gotta say, this conversation is steering into some mildly intimate territory. Perhaps that’s just cultural dissonance on my part, but Tomoko usually keeps her more personal desires close to the vest, so it’s quite surprising to see her admit to like being spoiled without much fuss.

There’s something cathartic about how Katou just confirmed what everyone thought of her. Fans always “headcanon-ed” that Katou likes to dote on people, so the fact that Nico Tanigawa just rolled with it actually makes that characterization feel weirdly authentic.

You know what this means, don’t you?

…one more lap pillow is on the horizon.

Fanservice isn’t really Nico Tanigawa’s thing, but when they do, it’s both natural and erotic(perceptions may vary) in what little they show. The framing of the panel just screams “scandal”, with the skirt-bunching, the desk shadowing her face, and Katou’s face being cut off.



How lewd-icrous.



A preview of Tomoko’s eventual(hopefully) first time.

Little did Tomoko realize that Katou has a drool fetish. This is a joke.

If I’m not mistaken, isn’t “soeurs” just the French word for “sisters”? I’m afraid the comparison is lost on me.

For someone who often alludes to how Katou mothers her, Tomoko took an oddly long time to realize the whole pseudo-mother/daughter relationship they have going on. Guess it was just too good to be true in Tomoko’s mind.

It really doesn’t bear much explanation, but the reason for that is because Tomoko didn’t have much to look forward to during her first two years. She was in a cyclical mental state of wanting to make the most of it by becoming popular, but also wanting it to end faster because she couldn’t achieve it. And Tomoko being Tomoko, she only switches gears when it’s already late in the game.

But even though Tomoko is always late, she always finishes.

Katou’s melancholic facial expressions are on point today.

But seriously, Katou has always had this air of mystery to her despite her cheery demeanor, and I think that’s deliberate on the mangaka’s part. We’ve seen bits and pieces of her inner personality crop up, but she’s one of the only supporting characters who we’ve yet to see any “internal dialogue” from. So when her vibrancy is subdued as it is now, it largely indicates some sort of introspection going on. Whether it’s something deep like the stress of living up to her self-imposed mommy role for others, or the guilt of projecting her own desires onto Tomoko is yet to be determined.

There are two major types of Ucchi gags:

1) Tomoko does something unintentionally compromising and Ucchi overreacts.

2) Tomoko does nothing at all and Ucchi overreacts.

This is one of those rare moments that falls squarely in the middle. Fight on, Ucchi.

Sharing an umbrella with her, too, Tomoko? Now that’s just greedy.

That’s such a Yuri-ism, pointing out something unnecessary even though it breaks the mood. Perhaps Yuri simply fails to see it as time worth spent on studying, but I believe that subconsciously, she’s trying to undercut Katou’s friendliness with Tomoko. Naturally, Mako chides her, and even more naturally, it slides right off the Class Mom.

Indeed, the theme of this chapter is all about learning. But what is actually important isn’t so much the little details like learning about each other’s schools or brothers (though it’ll likely snowball into something much bigger in future chapters), but in discovering that there is still plenty to learn, despite the year drawing ever closer. It’s by expanding Tomoko’s world that she continues to grow, whether it’s about the study room, clubs, or…



…yeah.

Sometimes, we can have our cake and eat it too.

If there’s one thing I can commend Watamote for doing, it’s that it’s not afraid to change things up when necessary. A lot of long-running series have obvious problems, but they don’t often try to fix them. Or when they do, they resort to pandering or go in a completely opposite direction. And while Watamote is sorta guilty of those kinds of changes, it feels genuine because it’s always so character-driven. Nico Tanigawa never rushes into change–they go with the flow rather than push against the current. It’s inconceivable to think that Tomoko would lap-pillow a girl in say volume 1 or 2. but by having the characters tilt the raft in small ways all throughout the journey, it very authentically steered the series into the direction that many Watamote fans have now come to love.