BB: No Matter How You Look at It, It’s You Guys’ Fault I’m Not Popular volume 1-3 review

BB: No Matter How You Look at It, It’s You Guys’ Fault I’m Not Popular volume 1-3 Story & Art by Nico Tanigawa Review

From the publisher: “Tomoko Kuroki naturally assumed she’d be popular when she got to high school…but then cold, hard reality swooped in for the attack! Turns out all the popularity points she’d racked up in her video game dating sims are worth squat in real life, and Tomoko’s far from prepared to navigate high school! How can she possibly hope to impress her classmates when she can’t even talk to them?! A new high-school heroine is born (maybe?)!”

Heretofore referred to as Watamote in this and future reviews (because I am lazy), this series leaves me torn: on the one hand bits of the humor are legitimately funny, on the other, much of the time I spent with the books was uncomfortable. I get the feeling we are meant to laugh at Kuroki’s misfortune which feels largely unwarranted. Not that she is a great person by any stretch of the imagination but her external crippling anxiety was all too familiar for me. The times where the humor works are when it is not poking fun at her in such a mean spirited manor.

The moments when the humor works are the true to life moments not mocking people who are odd. In this case the comedy simply does not work for me. Otherwise the book is rather dull though there are occasionally some wistful moments which I enjoyed. In conclusion the only people who will likely enjoy this are those who derive enjoyment from watching other’s in misery. That is the punchline for this entire series thus far. I am not one of those people so this series has little to offer.