Miyako is a shy college student who is also an otaku. One day she happens to meet some angelic grade school kids. When Miyako sees her little sister's new friend Hana-chan, Miyako's heart won't stop racing. Miyako tries to get along with them but struggles - A sketch comedy all about trying to get along with the super cute girl is about to begin. Summary: Skilled with her hands but lacking any kind of social grace, Hoshino Miyako would rather stay at home and make outfits than go outside and embarrass herself in front of others. This, of course, also means that she doesn't really have any friends. However, thanks to her more outgoing and clingy little sister, Hinata, their home has become the playground for a group of grade school girls. One of these girls, Shirosaki Hana, has caught Miyako's eye and, while she doesn't really understand her feelings for the sugar-loving tsundere, she knows that she wants to be friends with her. Understandably creeped out by this, Hana begrudgingly agrees to regularly visit, try on the outfits Miyako makes, and even consider being her friend under one condition: Miyako has to make sweets for her every time she visits.
Review: The loli-moe genre has always been a bit dubious for me. On the one hand, I'm a sucker for cute things and these kinds of shows thrive on being cute, fluffy, and just kind of nice to look at with their bright colors and happy characters. On the other, they always end up walking a very fine line for me when it comes to the use of those same characters. While this isn't exactly a secret or even controversial opinion of mine, the sexualization of children is a big no-no in my book and one of the easiest ways to get me to drop a show or avoid it outright--in fact, that's a good part of the reason why I've never really wanted to jump into the Monogatari-verse. So, in the end, I'm pretty much always on the fence when it comes to these titles. Part of me is always eager to give them a shot and just luxuriate in the comfy, saccharine goodness. But another part is always tensed up and ready to flee the moment a show crosses a line with its underage cast and goes beyond what I'm willing to tolerate. Knowing that and the fact that I'm now reviewing it, you can probably tell how things resolved with Wataten!.
The answer: I'm still on that fence and have no intention of ever coming down.
On the whole, Wataten! isn't actually all that problematic for me. It's a show that generally exhibits the kinds of things I both want and expect from the genre, i.e. a soft, fluffy design covering a comedic and well-meaning lesson on personal improvement or simply enjoying life. For all intents and purposes, Hoshino Miyako exists as an analogue of your standard, antisocial nerd. She's kind and considerate towards those she lets into her life and has some considerable artistic skills but lacks any social skills whatsoever. Knowing that she's something of a failure as a person, she simply resigns herself to being a shut-in all her life while honing a craft that might earn her a living. In other words, she doesn't really let anyone into her personal bubble and has no friends to speak of. It's only when her little sister, Hinata, brings her friends into their home that Miyako starts to consider that she might want to open up a little more. More specifically, she feels the desperate urge to become friends with her sister's best friend, Shirosaki Hana, who Miyako essentially falls in love at first sight, claiming that she is an "angel." Of course, being the socially and emotionally inexperienced nerd that she is, Miyako doesn't know what love is or what to do with the squirmy feelings she gets when she's around Hana. So, taking the baby steps toward that understanding, she simply claims that she wants to be friends with Hana and will do whatever she can to realize that dream.
In other words, regularly burning into her allowance just to keep
this little sugar addict where she can see her.
Understandably creeped out by this grown-ass woman suddenly begging to be friends with her, Hana doesn't take well to the idea, especially when it comes to light that Miyako wants her to dress up and take pictures. But, since the show centers around these two becoming friends, a deal is eventually struck and the ship sets sail. Over the course of the show, though, more and more characters are steadily added to the cast to vary up the comedy and thin out the creep factor that tends to build up when Miyako is on the screen. Following shortly after Hana's introduction, the little ball of narcissistic sunshine that is Himesaka Noa joins the party to form the show's main trio of little girls. Serving as both a good source of cringe and slapstick comedy, due to how unreasonably confident she is about being the cutest thing on Earth, and a force for good, encouraging Miyako to be more confident in herself, she is honestly this show's greatest asset. Throw in her weird little crush on Hinata and she pretty much becomes this entire series in a nutshell.
"Cute" is certainly a word to describe it...assuming that it's dripping with sarcasm.
To thin out the creep factor and throw in some moe/yuri goodness that's much more wholesome in nature, the show also breaks things up by focusing on two of the girls' other classmates, the dependable but passive Konomori Kanon and the dense but spirited Tanemura Koyori. While these two often make appearances with the rest of the show's cast, their stories are often featured as self-contained inserts into the series that serve little purpose but generally add a little more variety to the series. Through them, we get something a little more pure and innocent than the typical fare that still manages to stand up to the rest of the show in terms of comedic value. Like a good comedic duo, the two play off of each other's strengths and poke at each other's flaws to make for a few good skits that don't overstay their welcome. Specifically, there's a good amount of fun to be had at Koyori's expense as Kanon leads her by the ear in most situations. On the opposite side of that coin, though, it's easy to understand why Kanon is so fond of Koyori since her naive, unwavering confidence has seen them through tougher situations.
In other words, I'd be more than OK to just get a show featuring these two.
As for the main cast, though, both the show's comedy and progression typically hinges on the dynamic of Miyako and Hana's relationship and how that is helping Miyako grow as a person. Episode-to-episode, there's generally one or two stories that center on the girls nudging Miyako to be more sociable or encouraging her to see that there are some good aspects to her character. For instance, her dedication to those she lets into her little bubble, while seen as pure and simple desperation on her part, resolves into a brand of single-minded dedication to the needs of others that's easy to look up to. In another instance, the girls push Miyako to try on her own outfits as they try to prove to her that she can also be cute/beautiful when she puts in a little effort. These little moments of gentle nudging and encouragement are ultimately one of the things I like best about this show. It speaks to a mentality that tries to see the good side to people, even when they don't see it in themselves or act in ways that try to diminish their inherent worth. Had the show focused more on this aspect and less on the loli-moe pandering, I honestly feel like I'd have very little to complain about with this otherwise wonderful show.
Considering the kinds of things that actually make up the bulk of this show, though,
it's safe to say that I have a great deal to complain about.
Now, to be fair to Wataten!, there are only a few moments throughout the series that I found legitimately problematic. On the whole, Miyako does a fair job keeping her desires in check and respects Hana's space and agency. At no point did she ever actually cross the line of what I was personally willing to put up with its lolicon fanservice. But, much to my chagrin, it often had the habit of sidling up to that line and leaning into it in much the same way kids do with that "I'm not touching you" nonsense. So, more than once, I was understandably tempted to throw this show away and call for it to be burned with righteous fire but, despite how often that desire flared up within me, Wataten! offered an odd manner in which to love this show in spite of its face. As much as I love the heart that lies underneath all the creepy bullshit and revile all of the fetishistic nonsense that colors this mess, the real appeal of Wataten! lies in how the comedy deals with Miyako. Obviously aware that pedophilia is a big no-no, the show opts to undermine its lolicon overtones by functionally abusing Miyako to great comedic effect. Setting her up in situations she'd be uncomfortable with, shooting down her desires at almost every turn, and inflicting her with various characters she just can't deal with, the show spends a great deal of its runtime just making Miyako's existence as miserable and cringy as it reasonably can.
Not that that's a particularly difficult task, mind you.
Generally speaking, Miyako does a fine job making an utter fool of herself without anyone's help but, just to make her life that much harder, Wataten! has a couple of characters whose sole existence is to make her life even more miserable. The most egregious of these is the occasional appearance of Matsumoto Koko who has, according to her, been friends/rivals with Miyako ever since high school. What she actually means, though, is that she's been stalking Miyako all that time and generally treats her the same way Miyako treats Hana. Essentially giving Miyako a taste of her own, creepy medicine from time to time, Matsumoto functionally becomes her greatest bane and boon. After all, while it's easy to consider her intentions and actions bad, she is still the "friend" Miyako has that is the same age as her. Also, like Noa before her, Matsumoto does ultimately push Miyako to be more sociable.
Albeit in the most non-consensual manner imaginable.
Thankfully, Matsumoto is a rather late entry into the series and only shows up three or four times in the series overall. What that means, though, is that Miyako's greatest enemy is a lot closer to home--quite literally in this case. Full of childish enthusiasm, dense as a rock, and lacking any concept of personal space, the greatest threat to Miyako's already fragile sanity is, in fact, her little sister Hinata. Generally pegged as a bit of a tomboy, Hinata functionally exists as everything that her sister isn't. She's dense, sociable, energetic, and more than a little self-centered. What she also is, though, is utterly dependent on her doting big sister. From the word go, it is made abundantly clear that Miyako has been forced into the role of mother and caretaker for her rambunctious and physically aggressive little sister. Obviously unable to keep up with her, their familial relationship mostly runs off of Hinata inflicting herself on Hinako at the least opportune moments and relentlessly clinging to her beloved "Mya-nee."
Christ, I can practically hear Hinata's signature chanting of "Mya-nee" being repeated over and over.
Funny as it might be to torment Miyako for her antisocial and pedophilic behavior, the fact of the matter is that this show still revels in the sexualization of young girls that its comedy is supposedly condemning. Try as it might to dilute that fact with some honestly great slapstick and a few considerate and thoughtful moments, that is still very much the core appeal of this show. Try as it might to filter Hinako and Hana's relationship as a budding friendship, it still pushes and nudges toward the possibility of a more romantic leaning later on--catering to the yuri and lolicon fan bases that eat this stuff up. What's more, as much as the show tries to put forward the idea that Miyako doesn't understand her feelings for Hana, the fact that she spouts lines like "I'll be gentle" and "Leave everything to me" while leering at Hana proves otherwise. So, in the end, all this really boils down to is another case of a show trying to have its cake and eat it too. While that approach might make it easier for me to sit through something like this, it doesn't encourage me to look on it favorably and that's kind of the tragedy of this show. Were it not for the show's obsession with catering to those fetishes, Wataten! would have been fantastic. As I've said already, there's a heart to this show that makes this show meaningful but the sheer level of artistic skill on display that backs that heart is a thing of beauty. Particularly in the show's last episode, Wataten! looked absolutely gorgeous as it brought the kids' school play to life and reinforced the idea that Hana and the other girls are angelic. Great as this show might be when the production team really flexes its budget, the best I can really do is give this a recommendation full of warnings and conditions that would discourage most people from giving it a shot. So, if you have a high tolerance for loli/yuri bullshit or are desperate for some quality moe slapstick, I'd say this you should at least give this show a cursory glance. If you lack either of those things, it'd be best to avoid this one at all cost.