Komi Can't Communicate: Volume 3 manga review

Komi Can't Communicate Graphic Novel Volume 3 cover image

Shoki Komi is a teen girl who can't communicate.  Komi is the most beautiful person 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.

As Komi Can't Communicate, Vol. 3 (Chapters 35 to 47) opens, Komi can't sleep because she is worrying that Komi can't communicate.  Will she stay up all night counting perceived mistakes in communication the way some people count sheep in order to fall asleep?  Next, trips to the library and to the public pool will provide opportunities for Komi to bond with friends... and maybe to communicate... maybe.  Plus, Komi has shaved ice with her father, Masaysoshi, and father (can't) communicate(s) just like his daughter.  Plus, Komi becomes more attached to Hitohito, and a festival might prove just the place to grow closer... even if other friends tag along.

[This volume includes bonus comics.]

THE LOWDOWN:  After I read the first volume, I wrote that I could not call the Komi Can't Communicate manga a great graphic novel... yet.  After reading the second volume, I wrote that I had begun to see the series begin to coalesce into a truly funny situation comedy.

Komi Can't Communicate Graphic Novel Volume 3 continues the evolution of this graphic novel series.  I think that as Komi and Hitohito grow closer, the narrative will actually become more engaging.  One reason is that whether it be a crush, love, or lust, there will also be a love triangle in shojo manga.

Komi Cant' Communicate's chapters still vary wildly in size, generally from three to 10 pages in length, with only a few being 15 pages or longer.  In Vol. 10, most of them are short, but John Werry's translation/English adaptation makes the most of what he has, finding comedy in brevity.  Here, a little dialogue does indeed go a long way.

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