Watashi ga Motenai no wa Dou Kangaete mo Omaera ga Warui - A name I'll never forget.
I had watched many anime before this one, my watchlist as a child is simply immense, and even as a 11 year old I was already watching things like Elfen Lied (even if I wasn't supposed to).
But it was this one the cemented my love for anime, that showed me that this medium could do what any other couldn't, and do it with style.
The protagonist, Tomoko Kuroki, is a weirdo, she's not popular, not pretty and has no friends.
People don't care about her, she spends all day playing video-games and on internet forums.
Pretty much what I already was back then.
Sure, she wasn't going through the bullying I was going through for simply being myself, but I could feel the struggle, the struggle of just wanting to fit in.
This isn't a drama show or something to make you feel sad, many of the escapades and events that happen here are funny, really funny. They're funny to those who can't relate, but even funnier to those who can.
It was the perfect form of escapism for me, and there was never a character I could empathize more. At this point even my hair looked like hers and I'm a dude.
The one difference between the 12 year old me who watched this in 2013 and Tomoko, is that I was in elementary, she was heading into high-school.
And this brings me to my next point of the story - she wasn't alone.
This is Yuu Naruse, Tomoko's best friend during elementary. They had a great many things in common, a relationship that was explored a lot better in the manga than in the anime.
They were both otaku and had similar interests and during the course of the story of the anime, Tomoko decides to try and getting closer to her, so she can have someone to relate to.
But, well... Things don't quite go as planned.
From a shy otaku much like Tomoko, Yuu becomes the popular big booba cutiepie girl at her school.
A complete 180.
At first, Tomoko isn't very happy with this.
But they get along well and she's set as a nice side-character for the story to keep going.
The other supporting character is someone I relate to a lot more now, even if I had Tomoko's frustrations of people changing during the transition from elementary to high school over 6 years ago.
And that's her brother, Tomoki Kuroki.
Gotta love their creativity.
As an older brother now, I can definitely feel his frustrations.
My sibling isn't someone in need such as Tomoko, so he's sort of an ass, but I can understand wanting some alone time, specially since he's under so much more stress.
He's a funny characters that adds quite a bit to the story even if sometimes you forget about him.
But it does make for some really funny and weird setups.
Such as when Tomoko does internet research on how to look cute and on the last minute discovers that it doesn't really fit well with her looks.
But unfortunately, a certain Tomoki Kuroki was nearby.
And that's about it, really.
It's a funny anime.
One that strikes a chord with just about everyone I know nowadays for having gone through the same social problems as I had. Tomoko is the personification is adolescent awkwardness, and in my case, of my mental health issues, things that went on to almost ruin my life.
But she isn't presented in a way that makes fun of these things, it's in a way that makes you conscious of them, that lets you laught at yourself, and know that you're not alone. There's a way out, and there's something out there for you, even if that something is a 2013 anime/manga.
I highly recommend watching the anime, it's pure gold and it's unfortunate that it didn't keep up with the manga, because if you like the show, you'll most definitely keep on reading the manga.
This is an old one by now, so if you somehow haven't yet watched this absolute masterpiece in anime comedy, I urge you to do so. It's silly, it's simple, but it's funny and will be a good time.
There isn't much story to speak of here, but as slice of life content goes, this is one the better developed ones out there.
A definitely 10/10, even if because of my nostalgia goggles.
Oh yeah, and if you need reason to read the manga, it has gems such as this casual conversation between Tomoko and Tomoki.
