Could someone please fill me in on what has been happening in the manga to result in artists drawing Tomoko with a crazy yuri harem? What little I saw of this series was a few bits of the anime which ended with Tomoko still very much alone, I'm guessing things have changed a little since then in the manga.
I am very curious to read the manga but I am also so very wary of the cringe it will induce.
@Monki starting from manga chapter 70 or so, Tomoko starts interacting more with Yuri and Masaki, then the others (save for Kii-chan) start gravitating around Tomoko more, the artists just run with what they see, because just Emiri seems to have 'romantic' interest of the stalkery type.
TLDR: there's still cringe, but now Tomoko has made bonds with some of her classmates.
@Monki starting from manga chapter 70 or so, Tomoko starts interacting more with Yuri and Masaki, then the others (save for Kii-chan) start gravitating around Tomoko more, the artists just run with what they see, because just Emiri seems to have 'romantic' interest of the stalkery type.
TLDR: there's still cringe, but now Tomoko has made bonds with some of her classmates.
I see thanks.
Figured this Tomoko harem was artists drawing while wearing their yuri goggles not that I blame them alot of these pics are cute, like this one.
Another big question is if any studio will one day pick this series up for a second anime season.
Could someone please fill me in on what has been happening in the manga to result in artists drawing Tomoko with a crazy yuri harem?
Technically, only Ucchi has shown any kind of romantic interest in Tomoko. Everyone else are just friends (Tomoko now has four -- Yuri, Masaki, Mako, and Nemo) or mildly interested in Tomoko's weirdness (Asuka, Akane).
The series seems to have flipped completely around on itself.
Originally, the series is basically just a gender-flipped deconstruction of the typical highschooler harem anime setup that took direct aim at male otaku in particular, which seemingly just has a girl just because people will identify with and claim a girl in anime is cute so long as she isn't fat even when the artist is going out of their way to make her someone completely unsympathetic and disturbing. All those animes with an older brother that has a sexualized little sister that wants to sleep with "Onii-chan"? Well, have an imouitouto that is absolutely disgusted by that setup and would never call you OniiOnee-chan, much less ever want to be seen with your otaku ass in public. She plays VNs and watches the really kinky kinds of porn, and then gets caught by her Mom doing it. The little cousin that might have once looked up to you as a cool uncle because you played games is old enough to realize you're actually kind of pathetic even as a grade schooler. (I actually thought that one was too far, too urealistic to believe, too unforgivable, that NOBODY would stoop as low as the cheating at children's card games just to look cool to grade schoolers until I heard one guy say that they actually were guilty as charged on that one... And here I felt bad for playing somewhat seriously and not letting my niece win enough times in Mario Kart...)
Basically, it was a shot across the bow at all the wish fulfillment animes tend to offer, making the accusations palatable by doing it through the veil of making a girl do it instead of a guy, which would explicitly be saying "THIS LOSER IS YOU!"
After apparently running out of nerd-shaming material and introducing Kotomi, it basically became a character growth "here's how to stop being so anti-social" with someone who was basically in her same position (their names are one letter from freakin' anagrams of one another!), but was a generally more well-adjusted and good person who didn't really deserve the kind of crap Tomoko constantly gave her, but where you kind of wanted them to wind up friends, anyway.
Then, it seems to wind up getting closer and closer to the kind of harem show (even if the main character is technically female) of the exact same type as the series started off bashing simply by sheer Flanderization of the original premise.
Then, it seems to wind up getting closer and closer to the kind of harem show (even if the main character is technically female) of the exact same type as the series started off bashing simply by sheer Flanderization of the original premise.
I think people are seeing a harem when there really isn't one. We have exactly ONE girl who wants to get into Tomoko's pants (Uchi); the rest are friends with their own sets of neuroses (Yuri is an introvert with attachment issues; Masaki is a delinquent with a Peter Pan complex; Mako has Chronic Hero syndrome; Nemo is very manipulative and likes to pokes Kuro's buttons), or acquaintances of said friends (Asuka is the class mom; Akane is a bully hunter).
The series seems to have flipped completely around on itself.
Originally, the series is basically just a gender-flipped deconstruction of the typical highschooler harem anime setup that took direct aim at male otaku in particular, which seemingly just has a girl just because people will identify with and claim a girl in anime is cute so long as she isn't fat even when the artist is going out of their way to make her someone completely unsympathetic and disturbing. All those animes with an older brother that has a sexualized little sister that wants to sleep with "Onii-chan"? Well, have an imouitouto that is absolutely disgusted by that setup and would never call you OniiOnee-chan, much less ever want to be seen with your otaku ass in public. She plays VNs and watches the really kinky kinds of porn, and then gets caught by her Mom doing it. The little cousin that might have once looked up to you as a cool uncle because you played games is old enough to realize you're actually kind of pathetic even as a grade schooler. (I actually thought that one was too far, too urealistic to believe, too unforgivable, that NOBODY would stoop as low as the cheating at children's card games just to look cool to grade schoolers until I heard one guy say that they actually were guilty as charged on that one... And here I felt bad for playing somewhat seriously and not letting my niece win enough times in Mario Kart...)
Basically, it was a shot across the bow at all the wish fulfillment animes tend to offer, making the accusations palatable by doing it through the veil of making a girl do it instead of a guy, which would explicitly be saying "THIS LOSER IS YOU!"
After apparently running out of nerd-shaming material and introducing Kotomi, it basically became a character growth "here's how to stop being so anti-social" with someone who was basically in her same position (their names are one letter from freakin' anagrams of one another!), but was a generally more well-adjusted and good person who didn't really deserve the kind of crap Tomoko constantly gave her, but where you kind of wanted them to wind up friends, anyway.
Then, it seems to wind up getting closer and closer to the kind of harem show (even if the main character is technically female) of the exact same type as the series started off bashing simply by sheer Flanderization of the original premise.
I thought the premise of the show was: "Can you survive the cringe?"
I thought the premise of the show was: "Can you survive the cringe?"
That was honestly the appeal. Looking at this poor girl's attempts to make some sort of debut or enjoy her life... and fail miserably. The cringe was wonderfully awful.
In fact it was so incredibly cringe-worthy that Japanese audiences thought it was too much, and appeal seemed mostly to come from Westerners.
