WataMote / It's Not My Fault That I'm Not Popular

About

It's Not My Fault That I'm Not Popular (Japanese: 私がモテないのはどう考えてもお前らが悪い！, Watashi ga Mote Nai no wa Dou Kangaetemo Omaera ga Warui!) is a manga and anime series by Niko Tanigawa and published online at Square Enix's website,^[5] about the exploits of Kuroki Tomoko, an extremelly shy girl who tries to be popular. The series became popular on 4chan's /a/ board because of the "similarities" between the main character of the series and /a/'s users.

Premise

The series follow Kuroki Tomoko, a high school girl who defines herself as a "mojo", a creepy woman who's never had any contact with the opposite sex, being also extremely socially awkward to the point where it's difficult for her to communicate with all but a few people. The series consists of Tomoko doing various things to try to become more social and popular, with these attempts usually embarrassing her.

History

Written by the mangaka duo Nico Tanigawa, the series started its serialization on Square Enix's Gangan Comics Online service from August 4th, 2011. The first volume was released on January 21st, 2012, and the second volume, released on May 22nd, 2012, ranked #10 in the Oricon charts in its opening week.^[13]

Anime

On January 20, 2012, it was announced that an anime series based on the manga was currently in development.

There was plenty of speculation that a Gangan announcement countdown would result in news of an anime adaptation of Nico Tanigawa's web manga Watashi ga Motenai no wa Dou Kangaete mo Omaera ga Warui! aka Watamote or It’s Not My Fault That I’m Not Popular! Looks like anime watchers will in fact soon be able to enjoy the queasiness of following Kuroki Tomoko's misadventures, with an early confirmation of anime plans.^[8]

In July 8, 2013, the anime aired and on September 23, 2013, the anime ended with an OVA produced that was released on October 22, 2014^[10].

Reception

Though the series was not that popular among Japanese fans, popularity from overseas fans was high enough to where all the volumes sold out in Japan.^[1] As of July 2013, the series had printed over 1.5 million copies. ^[7] In the latest volume release, the line “海外の2ちゃん的な掲示板で大人気!!”, literally “A hit on the overseas version of 2Channel!!” (in reference to 4chan) was used to pitch the series. ^[1]

Online Relevance

The manga was first posted on 4chan's /a/ board on August 23rd, 2011. It received positive attention as "/a/ transformed into a little girl" and continued to grow in popularity from there.^[6] Though originally the series became popular on /a/, it also gained the attention of /v/ when users began re-posting the series.

Tomoko is not the first character of her type to become popular on /a/. At one point there was a popular hentai series, Midori no Ruupe, that featured a socially introverted girl. However, that series is remembered rather bitterly due to the terrible fate of the main heroine.

Due to the self-deprecatory humor of Watamote, it has gained popularity on 4chan, especially with /a/ and /v/, due to many users feeling like that they can relate with the protagonist.

Spaghetti-Tan

Tomoko gained the nickname of Spaghetti-tan on /v/^[11] as a reference to Spaghetti Stories, but the nickname is disliked on /a/.^[9] The nickname got recognition by the manga authors, who drew Tomoko eating spaghetti for the English manga release (shown bellow, right).

Fandom

As April 29th, 2015, there is over 2 000 pieces of fanart tagged with "Watamote" and over 14 000 pieces of fanart tagged with "Tomoko" on DeviantArt^[12] and over 200 pieces of fanart under the tag "私がモテないのはどう考えてもお前らが悪い" on Pixiv.^[14] A subreddit dedicated to the series has over 1,700 suscribers,^[15] and a collective Twitter account for the series was created by 4chan users.^[3]

Search Interest

External References