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"Since I'm Not Popular, I'll See My Old Friend" (モテないし、昔の友達に会う Motenai shi, Mukashi no Tomodachi ni Au?) is the second episode of the anime series WataMote. The episode was written by Sawako Hirabayashi and directed by Masato Jinbo. It was broadcast in Japan on July 15, 2013.

In this episode, Tomoko Kuroki tries to complete her art assignment with a partner after school hours, due to her skipping art class. Afterwards, she devotes a Sunday meeting her old friend Yū Naruse, voiced by Kana Hanazawa (Emily Neves for the English dub), who has changed a lot since they last saw each other.

Synopsis[]

Tomoko listens with pleasure to her "Yandere Boy's Verbal Abuse CD," when she gets a call from her old friend, Yū Naruse, who notes they have not talked in a very long time. Yū suggests that they should meet that next Sunday. After she agrees, Tomoko searches her middle school year book to reminisce about her "plain and geeky middle school friend" who proved an average student. They have not spoken since graduation, and Tomoko loathes the prospect of questions about her experiences in high school as the scene fades into the opening titles.

Tomoki stares with disgust as Tomoko eats twice the normal breakfast for energy. She enters the sunny outside with the resolution that she will live a "fulfilling high school life" that she can brag about to Yū by Saturday. As she runs into a fading anime scene of triumph, she pukes on the way to school.

In class, Tomoko ruefully notes that the only thing she has achieved is the ability to pretend she is sleeping until the teacher arrives. Due to her vomiting her breakfast, she feels starved during first period math class. She wonders how people would react if she started eating her lunch early. She imagines herself mimicking a cute anime character that loves to eat with the unnamed Hina Nemoto and Akane Okada complimenting her. During the class break, Tomoko sneaks a few bites of her lunch, which no one notices.

During second period English class, one unnamed boy notices the smell of lunch and remarks to another who agrees that someone in class snuck a few bites of lunch. Tomoko, embarrassed, buries herself in her book.

Third period is art class. Tomoko sets off to the art room. On the way, she thinks about high school field trips only to inwardly freak out about the implications which, in her mind, will involve boys entering girls' rooms. As she tries to calm herself, she overhears her classmates mention that this particular art class involves being in pairs. Tomoko's imagination immediately runs to her not being asked to pair and others wondering why no one wants to pair with her.

She decides to skip the class by going to the nurse's office claiming she feels sick. She snuggles into a cot as she rationalizes that "strategic retreats" are necessary sometimes. Whilst lying down, she sees a guy sleeping on the bed beside her and her mind runs to her "sleeping with" a guy.

After school, Tomoko happily walks thinking about "sleeping with a guy," which is something she can brag about to Yū. A baseball lands at her feet, and the female team manager asks for it. Tomoko gives it back to her then mentally wanders into imaging that the girl sexually services the players! As she continues home walking on a bridge over a high way, she encounters a boyfriend and girlfriend discussing whether or not to go to his house. As they tease each other, Tomoko tries to figure out a way to get past them. Inwardly, Tomoko imagines they will go to his home, "things will get awkward," and they will break-up. They should just break up. As the girl ascends the stairs in front of her, Tomoko gets a quick view of her panties. Tomoko catches herself, protesting in her mind that she is not a pervert and only wanted to see what type of panties a girl with a boyfriend wears. Meanwhile, the girl agrees to go to her boyfriend's home when he swears not to try to do anything "funny" with her.

Tomoko sulks as she continues to walk across the bridge. She pauses to think that everything that happened to her that day has been erased by her glimpse of the girl's panties.

Four days, and the advertisement break, later, she writes a list of things that she will brag about to Yū: her "sleeping with" the guy in the nurse's office; discovering the perverted truth of the baseball team; the number of fluorescent lights in the school; and how the anatomical models in the school are "unisex." Her musings are interrupted by Yoshinori Kiyota complaining to Okada and an anonymous boy about another boy living a "fulfilling life": he has a girlfriend. Listening, Tomoko thinks she would give a year of her life if Okada, Yoshinori, and the other boy would die in an accident.

To "replenish my manna," Tomoko starts to imagine sexual scenes as an object of desire in an anime: "Lovers ignored my words and removed all my clothes." Various male anime hero types surround her to have their way with her . . . only for her to awake screaming because a boy accidentally rammed her desk into her stomach. Tomoko figures it she can return to her fantasy while "it still hurts" "the deflowering scene will be more realistic!" However, the pain in her stomach is such that Tomoko vows to remain a virgin forever.

Her imaginings are interrupted by an announcement that she must go to the faculty office. At the faculty office, her art teacher asks her and an obese boy why they were absent during art class. The teacher then says that they will have to do the art assignment after school. On way back to class Tomoko accidentally follows him to his class. She then starts to imagine what would happen if she was dating the boy as in some anime. She imagines him summoning her to ride on his bike, which he can barely ride given his obesity, as the music swells then deteriorates. "What a nasty image," she concludes.

After school, she goes to the art room to do her portrait assignment with the boy. The boy arrives and draws as fast as possible then leaves the room. Tomoko did not get a proper look at the boy and finishes the drawing just from her memory. When picking up the boy's drawing, she peeks at it and is impressed by the boy's drawing skills. She nervously requests a copy of the sketch when handing in the portraits to her teacher. At home, she spins on her chair thinking about "that fatso . . . no that boy" must have just been shy with her. She adds to her list.

The next day, she meets up with Yū. Her old friend seems surprisingly different compared to when she was in middle school: her hair is bleached, she wears contacts, and she has "matured" in various areas. She enters the scene bathed in light and lens flare worthy of any anime heroine. Tomoko is stunned. She cannot believe how good she smells. As she sits with Yū, Tomoko is "grey" in color whilst Yū is bathed in light. As Tomoko tries to think of what to tell her first, Yū asks her if she still watches anime. Yū has no one to talk to about anime. The "color" returns to Tomoko as Yū babbles about anime. They spend the afternoon discussing anime.

Yū confesses that she wished things had not changed since middle school. Tomoko offers to return her to that time by taking her to an arcade. After a montage of game playing and manga reading, they sit on swings in a park as the Sun sets. Yū notes that she must go home. Before she leaves, she asks to hang out with Tomoko again. As she walks away, Tomoko stops her to confess that she thought her life would be fun when she started high school, but it has not been fun. She is trying her best, and she encourages Yū to do her best as well.

Yū that she is so happy Tomoko confesses, since she has been depressed over fighting with her boyfriend and that Tomoko had gave her confidence. Shocked, as Yū babbles on about how her first fight with her boyfriend could ultimately help their relationship, Tomoko puts on her headphones to drown out Yū with the sound of Yandere Boys telling her she is all they need in this world as the music shifts into the end titles. During the credits, Tomoko enjoys a swan boat ride, walks towards home and tries unsuccessfully to play with a cat. As she rises, she drops the picture of her. She smiles as she looks at it.

After the credits, a friend of Hatsushiba in the Manga Club asks him why all of the crowd filler girls have the same face: the face of Tomoko. Hatsushiba responds that it is the face he can draw the fastest, as the scene shifts to Tomoko entering her room. As he continues noting that such characters do not matter, Tomoko happily looks at her note that "Someone made a cute drawing of me."

The cartoonish preview between Tomoko and Tomoki has her excitedly talk about the picture which Tomoki has no interest in seeing. Tomoko states that the rain is depressing, to which Tomoki retorts that she is depressing.

Adapted from[]

This episode is adapted from Chapters 3, 7, and 9.

These chapters were previously unrelated in the manga. In the anime Tomoko makes a list of things to tell Yū, who in the manga she meets in Chapter 3, which includes events from Chapters 7 and 9 even though these occur chronologically later in the manga.

Characters[]

Trivia[]

  • This is the first time Yū Naruse appears.
  • It is revealed that Yū calls Tomoko Kuroki by the nickname, "Mokocchi."
  • This is the first and only appearance of Hatsushiba
  • The anime retains the "Star Tully's" reference to the respective coffee chains.

Cultural References[]

Memorable Moments[]

  • Tomoko's music tastes.
  • Tomoko equates that a boy sleeping in a cot next to her is her "sleeping with" a guy.
  • Yū's transformation.

Quotes[]

  • "What are you crying for? It's your own fault. You talked to a guy who wasn't me." - Yandere Boy's Verbal Abuse CD
  • My heart's paint is black!" - Tomoko
  • "I-Is this... Am I sleeping with a guy?!" - Tomoko
  • "Taking care of the player's bats 'down there' is part of a manager's job." - Tomoko
  • "I'm not a pervert! I was just wondering what kind of panties a girl with a boyfriend wears!" - Tomoko
  • "If losing your virginity hurts this much, I'll stay a virgin forever!" - Tomoko
  • "Excuse me, I'd like a mocha frappuccino." - Yū
    • "Fellapputio?! What is that, a dirty joke?!" - Tomoko

Gallery[]

Navigation[]

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TomoMote Chapters 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 10th Anniv
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