WATAMOTE: No matter how I look at it, it’s your fault I’m not famous is a dark fun classic, and a year after its abrupt culling, the anime is finally back online. WATAMOTE only aired for one season in 2013, but it has still developed a loyal fanbase thanks to its dark and vulgar humor as well as how easy to understand the series has made its protagonist, Tomoko, through the sly use of comedy. Even so, the anime was removed from Crunchyroll in 2022, leaving many with no way to continue watching or eventually participate.
Luckily, WATAMOTE: No matter How I Look At It, It’s Your Fault I’m Not Famous is finally streaming again. As of May 13, every episode of the anime except the OVA is available to stream on HIDIVE in both English and Japanese, for the first time since it was abruptly removed from Crunchyroll in 2022. offers the perfect opportunity for new fans to learn why the anime already has so much staying power, but at the same time, what also needs to be addressed is why the entire series has been able to maintain such a high volume. fans for over a decade now.
WATAMOTE is a dark version of the Slice-Of-Life genre
A big part of why WATAMOTE was able to become such a cult classic is because of its penchant for dark humor, especially thanks to its subversion of the slice-of-life genre. The typical slice-of-life anime features a cast of quirky characters, usually cute girls, who are good people around them in life and often find themselves involved in many other scams. together. However, WATAMOTE serves as the antithesis of those stories; Tomoko is a loner, she is said to be unattractive, her internal and external monologues are filled with profanity and negative remarks about herself and others, and Each episode makes her suffer more and more.
WATAMOTE is basically the complete opposite of a typical casual anime, and that’s part of the reason it’s maintained a fan base for so long. While there are many variations on the typical slice of life formula, many of them still achieve the same basic rhythms, so there will be a lot of value in a program like WATAMOTE in the end. that cannot be avoided. conventions to be as much of its own thing as possible. That uniqueness still lingers a decade later, and with luck, the series’ return to streaming will allow even more people to experience it.
WATAMOTE’s manga flips its own premise
WATAMOTE’s anime ended in 2013, but it was still able to maintain a fan base thanks to, oddly enough, the series becoming the complete opposite of itself. As the WATAMOTE manga continued, not only did it detract from a lot of the comedy, but Tomoko also began to develop a large group of friends, and Tomoko herself gradually became a better person. All of this means that WATAMOTE has essentially become the exact comic genre it originally made for, but that has allowed for the development of so many types of stories it can tell, and to be successful. Its continued work shows that it was definitely the right decision.
One thing that also makes it work is how much it adds to Tomoko’s character. It’s interesting to see Tomoko constantly suffer in social situations, her maturation as a person will add more depth to her character; if anything, the dramatic comedy works even better as a setting for Tomoko’s arc, as she starts off as a cynical loner that makes it gratifying to see her back. into something of an eerie social butterfly. WATAMOTE being able to easily switch tunes like that is a testament to its quality, and the anime’s resumption of streaming allows new audiences to experience it for the first time.
