English Forum of Watamote

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  1. Great Chapter!!!! Haha wow Tomoko was sure different back then Webmaster sigh have to wait for the 16th of April for next chapter ^.^ Tomoko” Real Men Use Guns” loved that!

  2. Chapter 75 is out.
    Watamote_chapter_075

    >mfw I also bought a mini katana with a scabbard when I was a kid.

    Kuroki siblings were really adorable when they were kids. I really want to read their spin-off manga, if Tanigawa Nico had enough time.

    References:

    Key chains with a mini sword on Google Images
    https://www.google.com/search?q=%E5%89%A3%20%E3%82%AD%E3%83%BC%E3%83%9B%E3%83%AB%E3%83%80%E3%83%BC&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&tbm=isch

    Mini katana with a scabbard on Google Images
    https://www.google.com/search?q=%E3%83%9F%E3%83%8B%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E5%88%80+%E9%9E%98&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&tbm=isch

    Nikkō
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikkō_Tōshō-gū

    • Tomoko seemed like such a fine kid then. I can’t fathom how she slipped from that to the anxious loner she is today.

      Webmaster, do you think there is a reason or an implication how she ended up with her current personality? Something that happened in her childhood, like bullying? Or is it that she simply forgot how relationships work because she was such a shut-in?

      • It’s a mystery among Japanese fans, too. Some think she was bullied and some think it’s bad influence of the internet.

        I personally thought her puberty was delayed and she was growing slower than others both mentally and physically. But we know she has pubic hair now.

      • I think Tomoko has always been comfortable talking to her brother and close friends if any.

    • Sword-Keychain – quite a nice souvenir. Why is it shameful to present or accept such gifts?

  3. Tanigawa Nico: “Thank you for coming our signing event. I was surprised because I was able to talk less than I had expected. I had not expected that I was such a poor talker at my age now.”

    The cat masks that Tanigawa Nico were wearing at the event.

    http://p.twipple.jp/kSb8x

    Yet another fan made a report of the event and I translate their conversation.

    http://tobato.tumblr.com/post/113781867675 (Japanese)

    Reporter: “Nice to meet you.”

    Writer & Artist: “Nice to meet you, too.”

    – The reporter thought that both of them sounded nervous, especially the artist literally looked like Tomoko because she was looking down from beginning to end.

    Reporter: “Is this your first time you’ve had a signing event?”

    Writer: “Yes, it’s our first time.”

    Reporter: “So, will you continue wearing those cat masks at the future events?”

    Writer: “I’m not sure, because I’m not sure yet if we have a signing event again.” (smiling)

    Reporter: “At first I was just a fan of Watamote. But I bought all volumes of your works and I’m looking forward to new chapters of them now.”

    Writer: “Thank you very much!”

    Artist: “I… I think I cannot hear you well… because of my mask… But thank you…”

    – The reporter thought the artist’s awkwardness was really adorable.

    Reporter: “I hope Number Girl also will be animated!”

    Writer: “Eh… I think it’s a low possibility.”

    – The artist finished signing.

    Reporter: “I really thank you! I’ll definitely come again if you have a signing event again!”

    Writer: “Thank you very much!”

    Artist: “I’m really glad to talk to you. Thank you very much!”

    • I have to wonder, and this is particularly odd coming from me as I’m someone who’s almost neurotically private when it comes to online activity, but do you have any insight into why the creators are this obsessed with hiding their identities? Even I wouldn’t go that far as to wear masks at a public event, since I would have assumed that a no photo policy would have been adequate enough to protect someone’s identity.

      Do you think they’re in some way ashamed of their work, even though it’s been highly successful at this point and likely to have made them a lot of money? Do you think it’s a just a general cultural thing, or is it something more unique to these people and the circumstances surrounding their work?

      …Or maybe they were just big fans of the Hotline Miami games.

        • Aaaaand like a lot of people, it seems you cannot do the difference between the graphic aspect and the gameplay.

          HM games were not successful because they are brutal, it’s because their gameplay is fantastic.

      • I’ve not heard about manga artists wearing masks during their events in the past. Although this time I googled and found a few manga artists other than Tanigawa Nico wore masks when they met their fans, they are very rare cases after all.

        • Just say you’re awesome, thanks for this site. Can’t get this info anywhere in English. Interesting stuff.

        • I think they simply don’t want to be popular with their real name.
          Theire’s a lot of drawbacks at being popular: you cannot talk on social network as free as you could, you can’t walk in the street without being photographied and some random people always try to talk to you and suggest personal thing you should add or remove from your work.

          So in a way, I understand them.

  4. Tanigawa Nico held an autograph-signing event at Akihabara on March 15th to encourage sales of Number Girl volume 2.

    Although I didn’t go to the event, another Japanese fan of Watamote made a report and I summarize and translate it.

    http://watamoteplace.net/mokolab/sign_fest (Japanese)

    • Both of Tanigawa Nico were wearing a cat mask throughout the event, so participants couldn’t see their faces.
    • The writer was wearing a hoodie and the artist was wearing a one-piece dress.
    • Both of them had average height and weight and their heights were about the same.
    • The artist was left-handed.
    • The writer was wearing glasses (the reporter saw them through the mask).
    • The number of participants was about 50.
    • A half of them looked in their 20’s and the other half looked 30’s and over and a few looked teens.
    • 90% of them were male and 10% were female.
    • While the artist was signing, about one minute, each participant could communicate with the writer freely.
    • The reporter asked about the possibility of Tomomote anime and the writer replied it was doubtful.
    • The reporter asked “Please continue Watamote until Tomoko graduates.” and the writer replied with confidence.

    • I should’ve known they wouldn’t reveal their faces that easily. Too bad the artist was silent for the most part.

      Thanks for the report. If you find more interesting info, please share it.

    • Interesting news, thank you for sharing this Webmaster.
      I do wonder, why did they hide their faces? Is it part of their act or maybe they’re actually shy and socially awkward like Tomoko?

    • Oh yeah a artist who is left handed finally a manga drawn by a lefty!!!! LEFTY FOR LIFE!!!!!! Also Excited for this Chapter this week!!!!

    • >The reporter asked “Please continue Watamote until Tomoko graduates.” and the writer replied with confidence.

      That’s good news. I guess watamote will continue for at least another year, then.

      • I really want it to last for long and beyond Tomoko’s high school, but that’d be asking for way too much.

  5. Chapter 74 is out.
    Watamote_chapter_074

    >I’m sorry I pinched your nipple.

    I love Tomoko’s frankness and rudeness and Yoshida’s reaction. Due to lack of communication, Tomoko tends to have a biased stereotype for people. There are a lot of stereotyped characters and being stereotyped is normal thing in SoL manga. But Tomoko’s stereotype is beyond “biased” and it’s very funny.

    References:

    Kiyomizu-dera
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiyomizu-dera

    Kinkaku-ji
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinkaku-ji

    Speaking of Kyoto trip, an Australian guy traveled around Japan with Tomoko’s nendo and uploaded photos on MyFigureCollection. He visited Kiyomizu-dera and Kinkaku-ji. I wonder what he thinks when he reads this chapter.

    http://myfigurecollection.net/profiles.php?user=Sazako&page=pictures&sort=date&order=asc&aid=16191

      • This chapter was interesting, but I didn’t really like the deliquient wannabe girl’s attitude towards Tomoko. She gets mad too easily. Oh well, at least Tomoko got to interact with the other black-haired girl. (what’s her name again?) Hopefully she will end up becoming a recurring character after the school trip.

        http://img.bato.to/comics/2015/03/05/i/read54f8a55acb11a/img000010.png
        Though I do agree with the black-haired girl’s opinion on Tomoko. She really does act like an idiot sometimes.

    • Ahhh webmaster he is from where I live cept I’m A New Zealander Living in Australia :) aaah Japan one day I will see you!!!!

    • References added:

      Delinquents in gold hakama at their Coming-of-age ceremony
      Delinquents in gold hakama

      Delinquents in embroidered uniform at their graduation ceremony
      Delinquents in embroidered uniform

      • Great photos, thanks for posting them.

        Webmaster, are/were you a delinquent? Or were you friends with any delinquents while you were at school? Just wondering.

        • These kinds of delinquents are as rare as endangered species these days. There were a few wannabe-delinquents in my middle school class and one quasi-delinquent like Yoshida in my high school.

          I guess Yoshida isn’t a real delinquent and there is no delinquent in Tomoko’s school. Perhaps there are some in Yuu’s school, though.

          • Speaking of that, I’d love to read a chapter where Tomoko visits Yuu in her school.

  6. New latest chapter is out and I’ve read it, I think it might be the best chapter in a long while. I enjoyed it a lot.

    I hope Tomoko ends up becoming friends with headphones girl. Well, maybe ‘friends’ is unrealistic, but I hope she at least becomes a recurring character who occasionally talks to Tomoko, a bit like Nemoto who used to sit next to her.

  7. Yay!!! It’s March!!! Webmaster I’m Excited for this week’s Chapter!!!!

    • I bet Webmaster is getting really excited, if you get what I mean. Oh yeah man. And I’m looking forward to reading the new chapter myself.

      • Hopefully the next chapter will be funny enough to make me laugh. I haven’t enjoyed a new Watamote chapter since chapter 65(the one where tomoko, yuu and kotomi goes to a beach trip).

  8. Making of Number Girl

    – 6 years ago –

    Writer: “I want to live on making a 4-panel moe manga because it seems like a piece of cake.”

    Artist: “Although it looks easy, drawing cute girls is actually very difficult, you know.”

    Writer: “I see. But let’s do it.”

    Artist: “What!?”

    – Making a plot –

    Writer: “No idea comes to my mind when I have to make a plot. It must be different from others to get serialization.” “Hey, I used to work at a factory. So I’ll make a moe manga that girls work at a factory. Its title can be Factory! or something like that.”

    Number Girl is NOT a moe manga that girls work at a factory and its volume 2 will come out on 26th.

    ナンバーガール 第02巻
    Number Girl Vol.2     (CDJapan)

    • Is there any translated chapter of Number Girl manga? I’m thinking about giving it a try.

    • First time I read the chapter I didn’t get what it was about.
      I read it again, and then it hit me… and I nearly threw up. God dammit Tomoko.

      Watamote really is a work of art.

      • Gospel made a lot of mistakes in this translation.

        The chapter name should translate more like “Since I’m not popular, I’m not trimmed.” And Tomoko’s first thought bubble should be more like “Don’t tell me everybody’s not just minding their outerwear but what’s under there as well…‼” Those two mistakes has probably caused most of the confusion later in this chapter.

        Finally, Yuri’s name got mistranslated to Yuu.

    • This was a great chapter.
      I’d really like to know what’s going on between Yuu/headphones girl and the girl who sent her the Line message. I wonder if we’ll find out.

    • XD I know that scene made me Laugh!!! Gosh Tomoko was Funny oh Line is Awesome I have it :) great App to Have webmaster did u enjoy this chapter

    • I wasn’t sure to believe if she was doing what I think she was. I really want to see all this lewd humor in a second season lol.

    • indeed that was…quite a unique chapter.
      seems like the school trip is gonna drag itself out, huh?
      poor yuri, though. nobody should witness anything like that. what a relief for tomoko that she helped her out..however, tomoko totally ruined her chance to become friends with her now ^ ^ ‘
      how embarrassing!

      another thing is that i’m slowly noticing that the more time tomoko keeps spending with these peeps, the more comfortable she’s getting. that is absolutely wonderful, since tomoko is actually making baby steps forward. i mean, if she was the same as the tomoko in chapter 1 now, she would have totally freaked out after yuri gave her the pants she forgot at the living room.

  12. Speaking of autographs, I found Tanigawa Nico’s autographs with new illustrations.

    http://twitpic.com/8b5cx9

    http://p.twipple.jp/RjdOq

    http://autographsblog.blog.fc2.com/?no=1152

    http://dakimakura.exblog.jp/d2013-10-06/

      • You can embed images, videos and tweets uploaded on twitter, Flickr, imgur.com, Youtube and some other web services, into your comment.

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  13. Tanigawa Nico will hold an autograph-signing session at Akihabara on March 15th to encourage sales of Number Girl volume 2.

    You have to sign up for the session by noon on Feburary 16th JST and get a postcard for admission in a drawing and then buy one of Dengeki Comics at the site on the day. We don’t know whether or not both the writer and the artist will appear at the session yet. NO PHOTO NO RECORDING.

    I’m not really into autographs, so I won’t go to the session. But I will translate other Japanese fans impressions of the session for you guys if I can find on twitter or somewhere.

    • I wonder how many times will they think “Oh great, another person who came to sign his copy of Watamote and has never even heard of Number Girl.”

      Is Number Girl popular in Japan?

      • I don’t think so. At least it’s not as popular as Watamote.

    • How nostalgic. I would love to meet my favorite author in person, but I live in a different country.

    • Hey webmaster I have question for you. Is it true Watamote is based on a biography of Tanigawa Nico? If only I could go to the autograph signing session I would’ve ask them myself.

      • Check this translation of interview with Tanigawa Nico.
        https://watamote.com/english-forum/comment-page-4/#comment-884

        In another interview, the interviewer asked the same question and the writer replied, “It’s more like that I’m giving vent to my various feelings in my heart than that it’s based on my experience. I’m a very envious person after all.”

        They said both of them were a loner in their schooldays, though.

        • I take pictures with tons of musicians, I guess manga artists just hate it for some reason.

      • I don’t know. On the day, 11 manga artists in all will hold the same session and all sessions prohibit taking photos and recording. I think it’s normal to avoid confusion.

        However, I think it’s also true that they hate to be photographed.

    • It’s a shame I don’t live in Japan, I would really love to get their autographs. Plus, I’m awfully curious on how they look in person.

  14. Please vote the poll below!

    Which roommate on the school trip is your favorite?
    https://polldaddy.com/poll/8643043/

    I will keep this poll open until the school trip end. If you change your opinion after reading new chapters, you can make a new vote once a week.

    And I closed three old polls, check results on this page. Thank you for voting!
    https://watamote.com/polls/

    • Yoshida looks like the only one that won’t be plain.

      Also the markings on her hair show that she dyes it. I don’t know why, I just noticed that particular detail.

      • Hair color like hers is called “プリン頭 / pudding head” in Japanese because it looks like a caramel custard pudding.

        Happy Pucchin Pudding 400g

        And it’s considered as a kind of a stereotype of delinquents.

    • Headphones girl is the cutest. So far none of them have really done or said much, so that’s all I can judge them by.

      • When you mention delinquents, I assume bad grades, maybe does drugs or drinking. Question about delinquents, are they considered bullies? So is there is a chance that Yoshida could snap like Komi did that one time? Or can they put Tomoko in a position to get in trouble? It does not seem in the spirit of Watamote, but having Tomoko buzzed might be funny, or even in some minor criminal where the delinquent shoplifts when sheand Tomoko happens to be around. I guess I don’t know how bad delinquents are in Japan.

    • >about delinquents

      In general, delinquents get bad grades, violate school regulations and dress policies, skip classes, smoke cigarettes, and so on. Perhaps many loners have experiences to be bullied by delinquents.

      But we don’t know if Yoshida-san is really a delinquent or not yet. She just looks like a delinquent now. Even if so, probably she is a only delinquent in her class and her position must be weak. So I think bullying is very unlikely. If she bullies Tomoko, a lot of fans gonna be outrageous without a doubt.

      I hope she will put Tomoko in awkward situations as a quasi-delinquent.

      For example:

      Tomoko thinks Yoshida is a delinquent, but actually she is not. Tomoko thinks delinquents love arms to fight and takes Yoshida to a souvenir shop that sells wooden swords. Delinquents must buy a wooden sword during a school trip in Kyoto, Tomoko thinks. But Yoshida isn’t interested in such things at all. In the end, Tomoko buys herself a wooden sword somehow and Komi witnesses it. Tomoko with a wooden sword, I think it’ll be very fuuny.

      • The correct saying is “outraged”, not “outrageous”. “Outrageous” is what you call things that cause an outrage. For example: “This chapter was outrageous!”

        I know you like studying English so I hope you don’t mind if I point that out.

  15. Chapter 72 is out.
    Watamote_chapter_072

    Yoshida-san, the left girl, looks like a delinquent. This type of girls are quite rare in SoL manga. I’m looking forward to see more conversations between her and Tomoko.

    The right girl, probably Tamura-san, looks like tsundere type. She always wears headphones and seems that she doesn’t care the other group members, but actually she does hear Tomoko’s voice.

    The center girl, has a very simple face as if she were a background character. Although almost all background girls in Watamote are cute, this girl has this simple face. It’s kinda funny.

    References:

    Kyoto Tower
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto_Tower

    Nara Park
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nara_Park

    Tōdai-ji and Daibutsu
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tōdai-ji

    Gantz
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gantz

    Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (Tomoko’s “mind break and a comet” line is a parody of the last scene of Zeta Gundam)
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_Suit_Zeta_Gundam

    Kinkaku-ji
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinkaku-ji

    Uniqlo
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniqlo

    • Webmaster Another Great Chapter I believe The tsundere is similar to Tomoko hopefully They might Talk who knows And that Weird Sexual Reference >.> Question did Tomoko Think that!? Anyway Great chapter

    • So good so far. This chapter introduced three new characters who might join Watamote’s supporting cast after the trip.

      Tomoko and her group’s next destination is Uniqlo. Let’s see if something good happens in their trip to Uniqlo.

      • The middle girl isn’t exactly a “new” character. She appeared in Chapter 59, too.

    • I imagine Tomoko is gonna go seperate from those three and bump into Komi in the middle of Kyoto.

  19. The latest issue of Gangan Joker has arrived today and there is no announcement of the release of the first volume of Tomomote.

    According to another Japanese fan, Tomomote has 100 pages in all at the point of the previous issue. So they need some more months, maybe six months or more, to release the volume.

    The second volume of Number Girl will be released on Feburary 26.

  20. Webmaster that was a Awesome chapter laughed at the Scene when Tomoko Chan was Staring then Kom I said What you up too” then they take pics Looking forward to February 5th when the next Chapter comes :) btw Why is Gospel called gospel as Gospel means Truth :)