I've been watching Watamote myself. It pains me to ask, Tek, but were you even as close to solipsistic as she is? I'm mostly kidding.
Not gonna lie. Had to look up "solipsistic." Then had to steer my attention from Angel Beats (because it was such a great illustration of that concept) and back to Watamote.
If you're asking if I didn't respect the viewpoints of others during my teenage years, then I must confess that the answer, overall, is a resounding "yes." More precisely, I didn't respect the viewpoints of the popular kids, especially those that clung to the American triumphalism/Prosperity Gospel hybrid so prevalent where I grew up and yet teased me mercilessly because I was different and awkward.
I hated the popular kids. That hate, in part, shaped who I was. I'd like to think that the Lord has since redirected that hatred of pride and excluding others to drive me to embrace those who others reject. I can't help but wonder how influential that period of my life was in my decision to serve in a leadership role in the Christian gaming community.
But then, in my more honest moments, I understand I was no better than the kids who teased me. I just didn't have the luxury or comfort of popularity.
So much of my teenage life was sorting out which parts of me were sin, which parts were socially awkward, and which parts of me were just
me. My tendency toward planning for worst case scenarios, for example, didn't sit well in a culture that was all about the "power of positive confession" and "name it and claim it" theology. As if the devil was just waiting for me to say, "I think I have a cold" before pouncing on me with devil germs. My apologies for my bitter tone; I'm discovering in recent years that that culture--or sub-culture, rather--had a more profound impact on me than I had originally thought.
I don't want to de-rail this thread any further with self-indulgent psychoanalysis, but I want to mention that when I was watching episode 4, I found myself involuntarily predicting how the character would react. Specifically, when she's in the popular clothing store, she's excited about getting trendy underpants, then she suddenly stops and asks herself, "What am I doing here?" as she suddenly realizes she doesn't fit in. The moment really resonated with me and made me empathize with a character that, at other terms, I find repulsive (not that repulsion and empathy are necessarily mutually exclusive).
But that's what keeps drawing me back to this series: At its best, the series portrays the main character as a very real young girl, out of sync with society, clueless how she got there, and often wrestling with whether she wants to be "in touch" or not. At its worst, Watamote's main character is a caricature, difficult to empathize with and seemingly humiliated in a bald attempt at dark humor. And sometimes, as odd as it may sound, it's hard to tell the difference.
Good show so far, though.
Unfortunately, after episode 4, I can't recommend the series to younger viewers, but I'm also conflicted because I don't think you can present an honest portrayal of awkward teenage life without sexuality playing a big role. It's inevitable that a young woman whose self-image is shaped largely by the surrounding consumer culture is bound to see herself in terms of beauty and sexual attractiveness. I can't yet tell if Watamote seeks to refute or tear down those assumptions or just use them as a framework to tell the story of an awkward teenage girl, but, at this point in the series, I would lean toward the former.
Whereas most anime series that focus on high school students are comedies, Watamote feels more like a tragedy. I remember when I was young I was fond of saying that the only difference between a comedy and a tragedy is the ending. And Watamote isn't over yet.
Curious, looking, yup you are right she is still not an actual fat and ugly main character, carry on.
Remember that this story is set in Japan, a locale and culture where obesity is far less common than in America. While an analogous story set in the US would all but require the main character to be overweight, obesity is not a necessary trait for this story.
In other words: Yes, she really is ugly. No, she's not fat, but the story's set in Japan, where obesity is not nearly the epidemic it is in the US.
