As basic as Tanigawa Nico’s drawings can sometimes be, one thing I appreciate a lot in Watamote is the way it tells and sequences its comedy. This is something I think the artist understands and feels incredibly well. Watamote is not known for dynamic panels, but she knows that, and she uses Watamote’s overly traditional, movie-like frame sizes, close-ups, wide and full body-shots in some very inventive ways to the story’s advantage.



What I love is how it is so reliant on beat panels(much moreso than most other manga) to express its awkward yet realistic humour, and each of them comes to serve a purpose to detail a situation or Tomoko’s mindset and approach to situations. In most other comedy or gag manga that rely on direct, expressive, and physical humour, this page would look like this:

This is a much more formal and direct approach to getting to the central punchline. So obviously there are three panels that seemingly serve no purpose which some might consider filler(maybe include the fourth one if you want to make a neat and evenly-paced yon-koma), but when looked at in sequence, they tell an entire series of jokes that makes the entire scene feel so vivid.

Just the first two panels alone already are a mini-joke in itself, it immediately subverts a shounen stereotype of strong-willed characters that bring immediate and dramatic change to themselves and their stories. That it uses the same frame size and angle only amplifies the joke as we see Tomoko making promises for herself before descending into an apathetic mess, in a boringly real world where change and excitement don’t come into life so suddenly. This smoothly leads us to…

“Well shit, what do I do now? How do I begin?“

This third panel not only gives the first joke a valid and believable continuation where Tomoko briefly realises the inanity and challenge of her wish, but it also serves as a new establishing shot for our next gag. Notice how she doesn’t do anything in this panel but just contemplate as she is now faced with a new problem, a result of the previous, but very subtle gag. Then she finally decides to perform an action and start little: pick up a tooth brush.

But even such a small challenge becomes a problem and is what serves to tie up the joke into a nice cohesive whole. What I love is how it doesn’t even show her face in the last panel, instead letting us imagine it for ourselves. Not revealing the face and reactions and not explaining the characters’ emotions through dialogue, while relying on excessive beat paneling is something I think gives Watamote a lot of its charm and originality. Just look at some of these beat panels, its subtle punchlines, and the way they try to convey the characters’ emotions:



Without this intuitive style of visual comedy and a sense of “cinematography” that seem inspired by classic movies, I just don’t think Watamote would feel the same. Ironically, it’s this seemingly boring paneling that makes Watamote look so alive.

