Watamote – 04
We all know that feel…
Last time, I said episode 3 was the best to date. Not to be outdone, this week’s episode does it again! But hey, if Watamote keeps getting better with each passing week, it might just become my favorite show this season. Not that it’s very far from that point right now.
Lurking and Wet Dreams
Whoa dude
We’ve always wondered why Tomoko always looks so dreary with those bags under her eyes. Now, we have our answer: she spends her nights lurking on the internets until the wee hours of the morning. An unsurprising revelation, knowing her otaku tendencies. Except this time her night is particularly… tumultuous. After clicking on a rather dubious ad, Tomoko attempts to have a wet dream by sleeping facedown. It doesn’t go well. Instead of having a pleasurable experience she is instead stuck with horrifyingly psychedelic nightmares, and the only bed wetting from her is her profuse sweating (and maybe a bit of drooling).1 In perspective, I guess objects turning into their respective written characters isn’t that crazy, but I’d certainly wake up with a raised eyebrow if I ever had such a dream. Not that I’d ever want to have one like that in the first place. Anyway, come morning Tomoko is understandably exhausted. She pretty much passes out with her eyes open during a short quiz in class, but at least it apparently gave her the erotic dream she tried so hard to obtain. Lesson learned? Sleeping around boys will give you hot sexy dreams.
Girl Points
What? She looks just fine!
Now refreshed and fully awake, Tomoko again directs her attention towards the “popular” chicks. This time, they are complaining about molesters on trains. This provides us with yet another glimpse into Tomoko’s twisted mind, as she gets it into her head that being molested by strangers in crowded trains is a sign of a girl’s attractiveness. Yeah, I don’t think I even need to explain how messed up that is. Of course, Tomoko isn’t getting assaulted any time soon (for obvious reasons), so she gets off this dangerous train of thought by brushing her lack of victimization off as a result of her overwhelming attractiveness. Apparently even molesters realize she’s way out of their league. Again, more delusions, but at least she isn’t actively seeking sexual assault. But just when we think she’s safe from herself, real danger strikes our unsuspecting hero! That’s right, stuck in a crowded train, Tomoko feels a certain hard object force its way between her legs! Let me stop for a moment to say that sexual misconduct is no laughing matter, but somehow Watamote manages to make it strangely humorous as Tomoko apologizes profusely for wishing to be molested. Even as I stifled my giggles, I couldn’t help but feel so guilty for laughing at the situation.
Back to the matter at hand, it turns out Tomoko’s offender is no more than a wooden sword wielded by a girl presumably in the kendo club. The relief of tension from this revelation was simply unbelievable; it’s like we’re finally justified in our enjoyment of Tomoko’s misfortune here. Which, I again stress, would have been no laughing matter if the hard wood between her legs had in fact been of the *ahem* human kind. I can only say that this was a masterfully dangerous yet hilarious scenario the author has managed to conjure up. Truly, a stroke of sick genius.
Rest in peace, cute panties. o7
Getting over her ordeal, Tomoko again listens in on the popular chicks to hear them discussing revealing cute swimsuits. After a bit of mental grumbling, she somehow segues into the topic of cute panties. Specifically: the price tag on the panties determines the attractiveness of the wearer. Thus begins yet another ill-begotten adventure as Tomoko enlists Yuu’s aid to purchase the “right” panties for her. How Yuu even tolerates the nonsensical whims of her friend baffles me, but I suppose it goes to show the strength of the bond between the two, even if they’ve come to walk markedly different paths. A few perverted delusions of lusting after her friend later, Tomoko has the next best thing to the perfect pair of panties for her: the perfect pair of panties for Yuu. But when she gets home, Tomoko makes the mistake of getting on the wrong side of her brother. Let’s just say the pricey undies don’t last very long.
Family Again
You do have a guy who cares about you after all.
As a final point, we are at long last introduced to the final member of the Kuroki household: the father. He makes only a very brief appearance near the end of the episode, but boy did it leave an impression on all of us (especially him). Walking in on your daughter passed out from masturbating to erotic games? Awkwarddddd. At least the guy took it in relative stride, I suppose. And to be fair, Tomoko wasn’t really getting busy in her room, but she certainly made it look that way. I must say that she brought this on herself yet again though, as she herself already noted how bad it would look if anyone saw her with the combination of “massager” and BL game.
Extras
So yeah. Another hilarious episode which manages to one-up the previous. Is there no limit to how high (or how low, if you think about it) Watamote can go? My initial concern from before the season was that this show might end up being repetitive and boring, but that hasn’t happened yet. Heck, it only feels like we’ve barely scratched the surface of what’s in store for the poor girl. Anyway, I’ll leave you guys with some food for thought while we wait for the next episode: it seems an increasing number of gags are taking place while Tomoko is unconscious. Take that as you will.
1Hey, at least she didn’t piss herself.
About Sumairii
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
This show handles the interactions Tomoko has so well. Noone is antagonistic to her except her brother, and even that is fairly tame for sibling antagonism, and most of it is Tomoko being a jerk to Tomoki.
Her dad this episode was freakin’ superdad. I mean, you come into your teen daughter’s room with her passed out with a smile on her face, BL on the TV, and a “massager” humming away? He would have been perfectly justified in just turning around and walking away (and that would have been fine) but he puts her to bed, puts her stuff away, and neatens up (although that might get her super embarrassed later. Dad, remember to tell Mom to take the rap).
The thing I think is the big key is that Tomoko knows what stuff isn’t for her, but it’s only not for her because she doesn’t have the confidence to try it. She actually tries to get cute underwear, but then THAT happens. But she won’t try again, that’s for sure, and that’s too bad. And I think it’s good that Yuu is actually a pretty good friend for her. Tomoko just is bad about asking for her help.
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 88 comments
Tomoko’s behavior is like a magnet for bullies, but it seems like, nobody gives a damn about her weird actions. Not even her parents (either they know it or just ignoring it). The brother is the only one giving a damn since I bet he had to experience all of it firsthand.
I lost it when she begged to get molested on the train. And that ending.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Honestly, I really think her parents are fine. Could they be doing more to help her? I don’t really know. I mean, it might be a lot harder to have any kind of therapy for the kind of anxiety disorder that Tomoko seems to have in Japan. But even without that, her parents treat her well, they obviously care for her, and she’s not trouble or a bother to them. Tomoko doesn’t act out, she doesn’t fight with them. Do they wish she had more friends? Probably, if they think about it, but there’s worse things to be than a quiet shy girl who doesn’t go out a lot, especially during high school first year.
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 167 comments
Arata
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
Well, that was interesting. Not as funny as the others, but okay. I think the subject matter put a little of a buzz-kill on this for me, as I just don’t find Tomoko’s sexual frustration that humorous. Plus the scene on the train was a total change of mood for me and very tense, and I could never really get back on track after that.
The only thing I really have to remark on is that Tomoko has a pretty nice family. My mom or dad would have done the same thing in the end, but you had better believe there would be questions and consequences later! 🙂
I sometimes think that Tomoko simply has pretty low self-esteem and in order to cope with it, she’s completely deluded herself and puts up a strong mental front to cover it up.
However, every so often, that low self-esteem comes through again.
An okay episode, but the worst so far for me. I give it a 6/10.
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 175 comments
4eps of this & yet oh my damage control overload really wonder what else to happen?
give tomoko been “got” by wooden sword is one thing but having hangover face while got buggy dream.
& least her father go like put it all away now.
POWUH: iLurker with 1 comments
Is it just me but the BL game she was played looked exactly like Hadaka Shitsuji and even had the same character? I was shocked by this xD
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Hmm… It was more disturbing than funny this time around, actually made me cringe a bit because Tomoko’s objectives were really half baked and it becomes more apparent she doesn’t think things through, especially on the consequences. Who’d willingly want to get molested? She has so much trouble with interperatation that it adds to her detriment keeping further away from her goal of popularity.
Trying to have erotic dreams but instead ends up with everything else. Tomoko should be lucky Freddy Krueger didn’t suddenly show up. And the technique about how to have erotic dreams, she didn’t even bother to check if theory was proven. For all she knows, it could have been a deranged troll looking for kicks.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
This was the best one to date, and I thought that about the last episode as well. Pitch perfect in delivery.
POWUH: Occasional (51-75) with 63 comments
Wonder if it’s strange to watch WataMote and mostly be sad instead of laughing.
Also, there’s a new issue of WataMote on that manga site Tomoko is browsing.