Komi Can't Communicate: Volume 2 manga review

Komi Can't Communicate Graphic Novel Volume 2 cover image

Shoki Komi can't communicate.  Komi is the most beautiful person most of her classmates at Itan Private High School have ever seen, but her crippling social anxiety is so bad that she can barely speak.  Most people think her silence is because of her “cool reserve,” so they keep their distance.  Her communication disorder is keeping her from making friends, but timid wallflower, Hitohito Tadano, promises to help Komi achieve her goal of making 100 friends.

Komi Can't Communicate, Vol. 2 (Chapters 20 to 34) introduces Makeru Yadano, who is a wannabe rival of Komi's.  Her plan is to outperform Komi at the national health exam, but does Komi even know that she is in a hot competition.  Then, Ren Yamai, leader of Itan's gang of “cool girls,” decides that she simply must be Komi's friend, which leads her to kidnap Tadano...  Next, gender-fluid student, Najimi Osana; jittery girl, Himiko Agari; and every reliable Tadano take Komi shopping for clothes... something she has never done before today.

[This volume includes bonus comics.]

THE LOWDOWN:  After I read the first volume, I wrote that I would not call the Komi Can't Communicate manga a great graphic novel... yet.  I still won't, but this second volume sees the series begin to coalesce into a truly funny situation comedy.

Komi Can't Communicate Graphic Novel Volume 2 introduces new characters, including Komi's family, specifically her mother.  As I wrote before, this manga's chapters vary wildly in size, generally from three to 10 pages in length, with only a few being 15 pages or longer.  With each chapter, creator Tomohito Oda seems more adept at using that length to consistently deliver humor in small, enjoyable bites, most of it built around high school and romantic situation.

John Werry, who writes the English adaptation for Komi Can't Communicate, continues to show his skill as he makes the sometimes crazy, sometimes almost non-existent dialogue convey humor.  I would recommend that manga fans give this a try, at least.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:   Readers who enjoy comics from the “Shonen Sunday” line will want to try Komi Can't Communicate.

A
8 out of 10