Komi Shouko

Shouko Komi (in Japanese: 古見祥子, Komi Shōko) is the titular female protagonist of the romantic comedy anime/manga series Komi Can't Communicate. She is a girl from Itan Private High School, who suffers from social anxiety and is bad at communicating with people, but hopes to make 100 friends with the help of her classmate, Hitohito Tadano.



Why She Rocks

 * 1) She suffers from extreme social anxiety and communication problems, which makes her a highly relatable and sympathetic protagonist worth following.
 * 2) Her solution to overcoming her crippling anxiety and fulfill her desire to build friendly relationships with others is to make 100 friends, with the help of her only two friends Tadano and Najimi, which is wholesome entirely in itself.
 * 3) She is adorkable to a tee.
 * 4) *Her cuteness can very be described when she goes into her well-known face-mode: her face goes almost blank except for her two big simple round eyes with large black dots in them. Gains twitching cat ears over her exaggeratedly shaped hair bangs when pumped for something. Is naturally curious about anything. Blushes when her relationship with Tadano is brought up. Appears gracious on the outside but her nature is a little silly sometimes.
 * 5) *Almost everything she does is adorable and full of whimsy. This is, notwithstanding that she's already beautiful, which is like the cherry on top of the cake.
 * 6) Her design (cat ears or not) is adorably pretty to the point that everyone in the series and real life loves her.
 * 7) Despite her beauty and aloof behavior inviting people's admiration and also intimidation, she's actually just a very shy and sweet girl who simply wants to make friends.
 * 8) She acts as the local cool big sister to Rei and to many, even with her social and vocal troubles.
 * 9) She is a sweeter, kinder and more accessible person than how she appears at first glance.
 * 10) One of the results from her social isolation is the fact that she is enthusiastically curious about experiencing new stuff.
 * 11) She is surprisingly competitive when it comes to games, sports, interpersonal interactions... and cats.
 * 12) For a person who speaks so little, Komi is mentioned to have a beautiful voice in the few instances that she does.
 * 13) In spite of the image of perfection people have of her, Komi is a regularly fussy teenager around her parents and in family outings, though nowhere as fussy as her brother.
 * 14) The running gag whenever Komi gets excited about something she grows cat ears, is funny and adorable.
 * 15) Character-wise, she is a genuinely nicer version of Teela from mh:terribletvshows:Masters of the Universe: Revelation, and Kokomi Teruhashi from The Disasterous Life of Saiki K..

Bad Qualities

 * 1) She can be treated as a Mary Sue at times. Even though she doesn't want the entire school treating her as a religious goddess.
 * 2) Though she is regarded as the Madonna of their school, she herself is incapable of socializing with others to such a level that it can be called a communication disorder.
 * 3) She can be jealous at times where Tadano meet with another girl and stalks them like Ren in a bad way.

Trivia

 * Komi's first friends are: Tadano (who later became her boyfriend), and Najimi.
 * Despite loving cats and having a cat motif, when she visits a cat café, most of them avoid her.
 * If she would forcibly speak, she trembles like a vibrating phone.
 * She is very detail-oriented and meticulous, having a tremendous memory of conversations she's had.
 * When Yamai kidnapped Tadano, she later wrote their conversation verbatim.
 * According to Yamai, Shouko's legs are 84cm in length while her walking stride is 50 cm and the length on the nail of her index finger is the golden ratio.
 * In the one-shot, Shouko was able to speak but she speaks tons of words that Hitohito can't keep up with.
 * Her competitiveness is a trait she inherited from her grandma and shares with her cousin Akira.
 * Komi shares similarities and differences to another popular girl Kokomi Teruhashi from The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.
 * Similarities:
 * Both are regarded as the most beautiful girls inside and outside of school by many people.
 * They have female schoolmates who have a crush on them (Ren Yamai and Imu Rifuta)
 * They each have one brother who are also adored by others (Shousuke and Makoto)
 * They have friends/classmates who have certain tropes as their personality traits such as the chuunibyou, the glutton, the gyaru, the hotheaded athlete, etc.
 * They tend to be jealous whenever they see girls hanging out with their crushes.
 * Differences:
 * Komi is genuinely a nice girl with a highlighted insecurity that she isn't able to communicate verbally with others while Teruhashi is rather a narcissistic Mary Sue beneath her so-called likable nature who thinks she is more "flawless" than others.
 * Unlike Komi with Tadano, Teruhashi has greater lengths to instantly win Saiki's affections via everyone who adore her by using her "cute girl" techniques to manipulate them (in other words, exploiting her natural beauty for her own gain).
 * In contrast to Teruhashi, Komi, as a nice popular girl with communication disorder, doesn't want to let others think she is the goddess of school, as her goal is to simply make 100 friends.