The One-Shot Version of Komi
Note:
This was originally written on Monday April 10, 2023, and was posted on DeviantART the next day on Tuesday April 11, 2023. This was posted as a Status Update rather than as a journal like the main Komi Can't Communicate review was. I've already said what I wanted to say about Komi in the note above the review, so I'm going to reiterate what I said there because that would be redundant.
What I will say though is that I was inspired to write this after I read the one-shot after I heard about in a review for the manga, and saw how different Komi was in the one-shot compared to the main manga and anime. It made me kind of wonder what the anime would've been like had the depiction of Komi been much closer to the one-shot than to the manga. In fact, now that I think about it now, maybe this is another thing that an American remake 🇺🇸 could do if one was ever. Have the female lead ♀︎ be much closer to the one-shot version of Komi where she's more talkative rather than the anime or manga version of Komi that's less talkative. I even say this in this update too.
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(This is a wallpaper fan art of Komi Can't Communicate. The characters featured are Komi and her love interest ❤️, Tadano. The character on the left is Komi, and the character on the right is Tadano.)
I was originally going to write this as an update to my journal talking about my thoughts on the Komi Can't Communicate anime, but I think there's enough to this that it can be its own separate thing. I learned some new information about Komi Can't Communicate, mainly the manga. I learned that before the manga series began, the author, Tomohito Oda wrote a one-shot of Komi Can't Communicate that acted as a pilot for the manga series. The one-shot as I learned does have some significant differences from both the manga and the anime.
The biggest noticeable difference is Komi herself. She actually talks way more in the one-shot than she does in the manga or the anime, and she's always trying to talk to others rather than automatically freezing up and not being able to say anything. She even attempts to smile at someone at the end of the one-shot, which just looks really awkward and weird, no one around her really knows what to make of it. And she never once makes that "dough face" (the one where she has big eyes and no mouth or nose) that became a trademark of the character for throughout the entire manga and anime. That's something that came later on in the manga itself.
She's also bit sillier, and more awkward in the one-shot than she is in the manga or the anime, like there's a scene where her and Tadano are sitting behind each other at a restaurant or a cafe, and she starts reciting this joke she heard in an anime or manga or whatever that she watched, about these two guys ♂︎ arguing about what they would rather eat: curry-flavored poop 🥘💩 or poop-flavored curry 🥘💩. Tadano is immediately disgusted by this, not exactly knowing the context of what Komi's even talking about since all he really hears is her talking about poop flavored like curry 💩🥘 and curry flavored like poop 💩🥘.
The way Komi and Tadano have their first real conversation become friends is different. Basically, Komi is riding a motor scooter, and she accidentally runs over Tadano, causing him some significant injury. Feeling really bad and guilty about what she did, she literally drags Tadano to the hospital 🏥 to receive treatment for his injuries 🤕. And after he's done seeing the doctor, Tadano meets up with Komi again, and the two of them start having a conversation in the waiting room. I don't mean Komi writes on a notebook 📒 and Tadano replies back in speech, but they actually have a conversation with actual speech where Komi actually talks. Unlike in the manga and the anime, where Komi and Tadano have their first full conversation while writing to each other on a chalkboard.
Of course, they're facing away from each other because as the one-shot shows, Komi can only talk to people when she's not facing them. If she's facing them directly because she can't really talk at all and she freezes up and starts messing up her words. The anime kind of showed this too when in Episode 20 or 21, Komi has her first full conversation with Tadano without the notebook 📒 or without her phone 📱 (although, it starts out on the phone 📱) with while she's facing away from him behind a wall. But, in the one-shot, it's something that happens much earlier on in their relationship, pretty much at the start when they become friends, and it's something Tadano learns about Komi right from the get-go, and tries to use to help her overcome her disability, and talk to people.
Another significant difference is Tadano himself. Unlike in the manga or the anime, Tadano isn't just an "average guy ♂︎" who inexplicably gets put into a school with a bunch of special needs students who all have their own weird personality or mental quirks, but he also has some communication issues of his own. Of course, not to the extent of Komi of course, but still significant enough to where he has a degree of social anxiety and communication issues.
He says that sometimes he does want to talk, but also doesn't want to talk, and he always feels discouraged and disappointed. Also, we do see Komi's father in the one-shot, and he is very different in both design and personality, as he looks younger, he has facial hair, and he does talk and when he comes from home (presumably from work), he's terrified of Komi because he sees her holding knife 🔪 and sees red liquid on her face, which he thinks it's blood 🩸 but is actually just ketchup, and she was just cooking. Unlike in the manga and anime, where Komi's father is a much older-looking man ♂︎ who's clean shaven, and pretty much silent for the majority of the time, having selective mutism just like his daughter.
When I read the one-shot, I was really amazed by it. I did sort of find myself liking Komi's characterization in the one-shot compared to the anime (I've never read the manga, I've just seen the anime). I liked how she did talk more, and how she always trying to communicate even when it was clearly hard for her, instead of always being silent or making cute noises. I also liked the poop joke 💩 that she tells to herself that immediately grosses Tadano out 🤢. The idea of a pretty girl ♀︎ resorting to toilet humor 🚽 or being into toilet humor 🚽 is a really funny idea 😄, like it's a human thing that is kind of inherently funny 😄. It shows that Komi does have a bit of a childish sense of humor because of her isolation, from not having any friends for most of her life, and not really talking to anyone outside of her family.
I feel things like this help give Komi a bit more personality, and make her a bit more relatable than she is in the anime (and the manga probably). It makes her more tangible and more like a real teenager than she was even in the anime. And Tadano having his own social anxiety and communication issues make even more sense as to why Komi is drawn to him, and why he was even accepted into this school in the first place.
They say that you can only get into this school through an interview process, and they accept teens who are outside of the norm, so why would accept a boy ♂︎ who is seemingly ordinary and "average?" But, with him having social anxiety and having his own communication problems while hiding behind a social facade, it makes sense why he was accepted into this school.
The one-shot definitely has a much different feel to it than the anime or the manga (from what I've heard). I wouldn't say it's necessarily darker, it isn't really, but it has a tad bit more harder edge, and takes itself a bit seriously, and is much more grounded. There's no crazy or cartoonish side characters with unrealistic or clichéd gimmicks, it's just a girl ♀︎ with selective mutism trying to overcome her disability with the help of a boy ♂︎ who has some social anxiety and communication issues of his own. The most unrealistic aspect is the fact everyone at the school still worships Komi, and sees her as a perfect and infallible goddess based solely on her looks and perceived elegance.
But, that's kind of the whole point of Komi Can't Communicate, that even someone who's seen as attractive and perfect can have their own personal social or mental issues that are hidden beneath the surface, and how unconditional worship of a person like that can be damaging, and prevent them from growing or getting better.
Even though the students at this school all worship Komi and see her as this perfect girl ♀︎ who can do no wrong no matter what she does, they really don't know the real her, and they make no attempt to because they're either too intimidated and star-struck to talk to her, or they're completely weirded out and put off by her awkward attempts at communication. And by doing so, all they're doing is making Komi feel isolated and lonely, someone who supposedly admire deeply, and yet are unknowingly hurting.
But, the way it's often handled in the anime and manga kind of makes it a bit unrealistic because even the adults fawn over her, which makes it a bit weird. If it's just the students at this one school who are fawning over her, sure that's one thing, but when it's the adults doing it as well, then it kind of goes into some weird and uncomfortable territory.
The one-shot even delves into that when this shop owner starts "flirting" with Komi, but he immediately stops when he realizes that she's a teenager and therefore underage, and there's some text on the page that says "It's illegal to flirt with teenagers." That's one scene where the one-shot is actually darker than the anime and manga. And it's like, "Well, if she puts people off with her attempts at communicating or by her trying to smile or show emotion, why would they still admire her and see her as a perfect princess or goddess? Wouldn't they just see her a weirdo?"
But, that aspect of the story or the world is toned down a bit in this one-shot than it is in either the anime or the manga. It's still there, but it's toned down significantly, like the whole world doesn't immediately fawn or worship Komi as a perfect, infallible goddess, queen, or princess, it's mostly just the students at the school and that one creepy shop owner.
Anyway, the reason why I'm writing this at all is that reading the one-shot gave me some ideas 💡 on how you can do an American remake 🇺🇸 of Komi Can't Communicate. You can make it more in-line with the one-shot than the main manga series, and adopt a similar tone and execution as that compared to the manga. You can have the Komi equivalent character talk more and have a more silly and childish sense of humor just like Komi does in the one-shot, you can make the Tadano equivalent character more socially anxious just like Tadano is in the one-shot, and you can adopt the more realistic approach, and slightly more serious tone of the one-shot.
Of course, there are things about the anime and main manga series you could also draw from as well. But, that's the point, you can draw from all the different iterations of Komi for an American remake 🇺🇸, taking the things that worked while leaving out the things that didn't work, while also adding your own stuff to make it truly your own and make it stand out from all the different version of the Komi Can't Communicate story. If I was making such a show, that's certainly what I would do 😉.
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Link to My Thoughts on Komi Can't Communicate:
https://jedithescribe.blogspot.com/2024/04/my-thoughts-on-komi-cant-communicate.html
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