Komi Can't Communicate

Episode 7

Towards the end of this episode, Tadano walks away from us and seems satisfied, saying that he witnessed a “precious moment” and honestly, that's the perfect way to summarize how I felt about this episode. Once again we're leaning more towards the show's strengths in wholesome relatability. It seems Komi Can't Communicate has finally established a regular, recurring cast who all speak to different social dynamics for Komi to interact with. Now it's just a matter of putting her in situations that she originally might not have been privy to but now feels confident to at least explore. For someone who seems like she is just one panic attack away from shattering like glass, it feels good to watch her be proactive in wanting to hang out with people and do things that you can tell she's always wanted to do but just didn't have the mental fortitude or support group to attempt. Again, something like going to the pool with friends or walking to a highly-populated area by yourself may not seem like a lot, but if you made it this far into the series, it should become clear just how daunting stuff like that is to Komi, and the show does a good job portraying the instinctive fear that she has built up over the years. We get another glimpse into exactly why she's like that in one of the episode shorts, which focuses on Komi just going to get shaved ice with her father who clearly exhibits similar communication issues. However, when you consider the fact that he seems to be looked at by everyday people the same way that Komi is and consider just how talkative and forward Komi's mother is, I'm willing to bet that this is an instance of her family just seeing Komi's condition as normal and working around it without much fuss. How she is outside of the family is a different story; I don't know if this is supposed to be some larger commentary on how Japanese households treat neurodivergent people, but I don't see the show going that far with this premise since it's still trying to balance over-the-top gags amongst that relatability.

Speaking of gags, there were only maybe two jokes in this episode that didn't particularly interest me. The first one revolved around Najimi going to the bathroom and it once again just highlights the lack of clarity in the character's framing regarding their gender expression. Are they actually non-binary or are they just a borderline inappropriate troll? The other jokes of course revolve around Yamai, who is still a really creepy and inappropriate character that I worry takes away more from the show than she adds. I will admit that even she had some good moments this episode, and I like that she seems to be the most socially conscious about appearances in public settings (then again, that might just be because she's so good at being two-faced so I'm on the fence about framing that as a positive). I actually did genuinely like the moment where she suppressed her weird thirst to get Komi a proper bathing suit and she seemed to read the room enough to participate with everyone to cheer up Komi at the end of the pool segment, which was one of the favorite parts of the episode because it really does feel like people are reading each other better. Can't wait to see what other everyday obstacles Komi and her friends overcome in future episodes.

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Komi Can't Communicate is currently streaming on Netflix.