So I took in the dub premiere of the WataMote anime series, Episodes 1-4, at Alamo Drafthouse Mason Park earlier this week. I really enjoyed it. I had some concerns about Monica Rial doing the voice for this character, but these proved to be unfounded, as I think that Tomoko is such a batshit crazy character that now I have a hard time imaginging which other English language female voice actress in Texas would do the role justice and I keep landing back with Monica being the perfect fit. Her range is indisputibly large, and she can voice Tomoko at her craziest (think Momoka from Sgt. Frog)
...and also capture her at her most vulnerable and tender moments, and there are a few; for example...
That scene at the gazebo, where one of the boys buys Tomoko a replacement umbrella and leaves it next to her while she's sleeping...and she wakes up confused but decides to use the umbrella but says "I wish a boy would be nice to me for once"...that scene is just heartbreaking, in the manga as well as in the anime. (Because, of course, a boy WAS just nice to her). Tomoko is pretty messed up but the thing about her is apart from the seemingly permanent dark circles under her eyes from lack of sleep from staying up too late playing videogames in poor lighting conditions, she's not a bad looking girl. Little rough around the edges, maybe, with zero fashion sense, but not hopeless by any means. She's genuinely cute, she just suffers from poor hygene, low self-esteem and crippling social anxiety and awkwardness. She externalizes blame, avoids responsibility, and is genuinely creepy & inappropriate. Tomoko makes me laugh, and I get laughs at her expense, but I never laugh at her in a mean-spirited way. Both for the manga and the anime adaptation, I find myself ultimately sympathizing with Tomoko and even quietly cheering for her from the sidelines.
Tomoko is what a female anime/eroge otaku would look like depicted more realistically, verus, say, Konata Izumi of Lucky Star fame, who is the anime fantasy heroine, at least in her own mind. Konata is otaku and proud. She's confident, strangely athletic for being disinterested in sports, and she's 18 but looks 14. She's approachable and not the least bit creepy or off-putting.
Tomoko reminds me of the main protagonist of Welcome to the NHK, only as a teen girl and lacking the heightened, full blown paranoia of that particular protagonist...but well on her way to NEET or Hikikomori status if she doesn't mend her ways. Tomoko is literally paralyzed by her social anxiety...the only person she can have actual conversations with are her former BFF from her Middle School, and her brother, who finds her annoying. Her social anxiety is even worse than NHK's protagonist. I think Tomoko is also a more realistic anime/eroge otaku than, say, Kirino from Oreimo.
Anyway, I knew that I was going to want to watch all of this series, so I had already taken advantate of the Sentai Filmworks sale over on Right Stuf! awhile back, and WataMote was one of the Blu-Rays I bought during that sale. Having seen the first four episodes on the big screen at Alamo Drafthouse, I'm eager to be able to finish it at home on Blu-Ray. I'm looking forward to continuing the manga in English as well.
