Komi-san wa, Comyushou desu – 02

「幼馴染です / 殺し屋じゃないです /  はじめてのおつかいです」 (Osananajimi Desu / Koroshiya ja Nai Desu / Hajimete no Otsukai Desu)
“It’s Just a Childhood Friend / I’m Not a Killer / My First Errand”

It’s hard to know if you’ve just made a friend when all you get from them is a “nyan” or otherwise an awkward silence that resembles the endless abyss of darkness and despair. Either way, things are looking good for Komi-san in the friendship department, because childhood friend Najimi Osana (Rie Murakawa) whose name literally means childhood friend (the author is either lazy or a genius) has finally got Komi into his (or her) good books. In an episode of wacky character moments, hilarious dialogue exchanges, and life-threatening social situations, our main protagonists managed to weather the storms and come out triumphant for their first success towards their goal. Let’s unpack how things went down and what these events signal moving forward:

The Significance of “Childhood Friend”

Najimi Osana is the friendliest student at what is otherwise an absolute chaotic circus of a school full of freaky characters. Despite being a skirt-wearing, gender-ambiguous and neurotic character, Osana is surprisingly a kind-hearted person who is the most confided-in person in the school. With such a huge network of “5 million friends” (yes, you read that right), Osana could be the most important ally for Tadano and Komi to reach the goal of making 100 friends. Indeed, Osana represents the portal to the rest of the school who, quite frankly, don’t seem very welcoming at all, particularly with the dark cloud of united ill-will towards Tadano for being “close with Komi”.

Komi’s Celebration Jump

Yes, we all loved Komi’s jump of excitement, I mean who wouldn’t? It was cute as heck! More importantly, though, it was a well-deserved celebration. Somehow, in her own unique way, Komi was able to save Osana from what I could only describe as a complete psychopath. As hilarious and comedy-intended as this scene was, I can’t help but extract a lesson from it too. Perhaps the lesson is “be yourself and it’ll all work out” because Komi had simply tried to return the crazy person’s key he dropped, albeit it led him to turn tail. Just by being herself (and perhaps a little oblivious to the situation), Komi had somehow managed to save the day and earned herself a friend in the process.

Coffee Shop Challenge

While it is indeed a blackmail move by Osana to get Komi to buy her a frappuccino from “Standbakes”, it could also be seen as a fair test of friendship, particularly when your new “friend” can’t even say a word to you. Whether intentional or not, Osana’s threat to “unfriend” Komi actually worked out to be a good catalyst to force her into a challenging social situation. The unfair part really comes in when you realize what a ridiculous order she was given, a frappe order comprising an endless list of add-ons that are enough to make anyone anxious to get right. Unfortunately for Komi, she knew the order but simply could not utter a word to the barista, resulting in a dramatic performance by the ever passionate “black apron coffee master.”

There’s no doubt that if Komi was not so breathtakingly beautiful, or if she wasn’t such a “Madonna”, society would likely be harsher on her in getting her to speak. But as we’ve seen time and time again, this is never the case. Students, teachers, and barista workers all seem to tremble at Komi’s presence, and she always has a ticket out of social situations without needing to utter a single word. Well, I suppose that is part of the catch too, making it that much more difficult for our main protagonists to reach that seemingly impossible target of 100 friends.

What did you like (or dislike) about this week’s episode? Let me know in the comments below!

ED2 Sequence

ED2: 「ヒカレイノチ」 (Hikare Inochi) by (Kitri)