After two episodes I’m not at all sure about Komi-san Can’t Communicate.  And I don’t mean that in a bad way, necessarily – I just honestly can’t figure out what to make of it.  It whipsaws through its narrative so fast that it never really gives you time to process (or at least that’s the impact it has on me), and it doesn’t help that the tone whipsaws right along with events.  There are some really good individual moments and others I find to be real head-scratchers.

I can say this much, the direction here is really impressive.  You’d expect that from Watanabe Ayumu, but whatever concern I had about his involvement from the “chief director” position can probably be put to bed – these first two episodes have his stamp all over them.  The premiere put me in mind of Koi wa Ameagari no You ni more than anything, largely because Komi is a dead ringer for Akira.  But this time it much another Watanabe series, Nazo no Kanojo X, which strongly came to mind.  “High school surrealism” is the best way I can describe it, and even the characters bear a certain resemblance.  Ironically, if Komi puts me in mind of Akira from After the Rain, Tadano reminds me a lot of Akira from Mysterious Girlfriend X.

Now I loved that series, as it happens, though it wasn’t necessarily at first sight.  That source material (by Ueshiba Riichi) was seriously smart and psychologically deep, and I have no idea if that’s the case here.  But Watanabe’s direction is the constant, and I’m not sure there’s anyone better in anime today.  He can do pretty much any style brilliantly, but this vibe is one of his most distinctive.  It’s quite twitchy and hyper, but as if you took an insufferable SHAFT approach and channeled its powers for good instead of evil.  I think this material needs those visual flourishes to sell it, frankly – it would play a little bland without them, in anime form at least.  But thank goodness OLM got Watanabe, because in the wrong hands this could easily be a dumpster fire.

This ep begins innocuously enough, with Tadano-kun beginning the quest to get Komi-san started on her hundred-friend journey.  That turns out to be not so straightforward, though, as Tadano has no friends himself apparently and is seen as unfit to act as Komi-san’s agent.  The character who sweeps into the narrative and pretty much commandeers it is Osana Najimi (Murakawa Rie) – at this point it seems as if all the major characters will have clever-clever names.  Osana is gender-indistinct (a theme this season), wearing part of each of the uniforms, and Tadano remembers them as a boy.  But for now they’re a girl, and everyone’s childhood friend (get it?).

Osana-san is basically the opposite of Komi in almost all ways.  Most importantly, in having more friends than they know what to do with and never shutting up.  I could see that getting annoying but I rather like Murakawa’s take on the role so far.  Tadano ropes Osana into being friend #2, despite the fact that Komi being the only one they couldn’t make friends with (in 2nd grade, elementary) kind of freaking them out.  Osana also seems to self-refer as male or female based on convenience, like when they’re hit on by another childhood friend, Ma-kun.  Frankly this scene is very creepy and disturbing, and what’s more, I’m not sure whether it was supposed to be, or supposed to be funny (which it wasn’t).

I’m pretty sure this makes Osana fall for Komi-san, though don’t hold me to that.  In any event they send her on a frappuccino run to “Standbroke’s” Coffee, as part of socialization training (it doesn’t work that way, sadly), with Tadano lurking stalker-style in the background.  This bit was pretty hilarious to me, but honestly for personal reasons.  I used to work at Starbucks and in fact, was the very first person in my district to get a black “Coffee Master” apron (which seemed like a big deal at the time).

On the whole this mostly worked for me, though it was an odd mix of very winning flashes (like Komi-san jumping for joy) and just plain weird and discomfiting ones.  I feel like Osana is a net-positive, though I reserve the right to change my mind, and I’m curious to see what the rest of the supporting cast (often so crucial in series like this one) can bring to the table.  Komi-san herself is kind of a cipher by design, honestly, and Tadano is largely (so far) filling a very familiar role, and that makes the rest of the cast even more important.  I’m intrigued by the story and gobsmacked by the direction, but Komi-san wa Komyushou desu has too many unanswered questions for me to commit yet.