REVIEW: ‘Komi Can’t Communicate’ Episode 7 — “It’s Just the Pool. Plus More.”

Komi Can’t Communicate Episode 7 is a Netflix Original anime series,  directed by Ayumu Watanabe and animated by Studio OLM. The slice-of-life comedy anime series is an adaptation of Tomohito Oda’s popular manga series. The main recurring voice acting cast for Komi Can’t Communicate consists of  Aoi Koga (Love is War) as Shouko Komi,  Gakuto Kajiwara (Fire Force) as Hitohito Tadano, and Rie Murakawa (Re: Zero) as Najimi Osana.

The series follows Shouko Komi, an insanely popular girl, and Hitohito Tadano, an average boy. After entering their first year at their prestigious prep school Tadano discovers that Komi suffers from social anxiety and is bad at communicating with others behind Komi’s seemingly intense, beautiful, and poised demeanor she is perceived to have by others. In actuality, all she wants is to make genuine friendships. Unfortunately, her social anxiety makes that difficult for her, but with Tadano’s help her dream of making 100 friends might just come true.

Komi Can’t Communicate Episode 7, It’s Just the Pool. Plus More picks up right where the previous episode left off. Komi spends a long time getting ready as she prepares for her first trip to the pool with friends, Tadano and Najimi. However, she is surprised and a bit flustered when their small group outing turns into a larger group with more friends that Najimi invited along.

When it comes to the animation in this episode I really enjoyed how the animators used realism during some of the comedic moments. It is extremely different from the show’s usual art style, which makes for a jarring yet hilarious reaction. Additionally, this episode of Komi Can’t Communicate is packed with adorable slice of life goodness with some tender heartwarming moments. This episode is proof that I can be completely entertained by just watching a show about Komi on her own doing everyday activities. Whether she is getting coffee, smiling at babies, or going to a library. The show does a great job of captivating the audience with Komi just being adorable and navigating the world to the best of her abilities despite her fears.

Another thing I really liked about this episode was that it took a closer look at Komi’s family life, especially the part that dedicated a bit of time to showcase their relationship and the bond between them. I loved that this episode gave a slightly closer look at Komi’s family life, particularly the relationship between her and her father. While it is clear that Komi clearly gets her looks from her mother, it looks like she might get some of her personality traits from her father.

For example, she shares his intense and striking facial expressions and some communication habits. Unlike Komi, it doesn’t appear that her father has a communication disorder and is able to communicate verbally just fine. However, he does seem to be a man of very few words. I found the nonverbal communication between Komi and her father to be very sweet and heartfelt. This moment really showcased the special bond they have with one another without that much dialogue.

Something I really didn’t see coming in this episode was that Najimi would become my new favorite character. Well second favorite character, Komi still takes first place. Nonetheless, in this episode, I was surprised at the level of emotional intelligence and depth Najimi showed. So far in the series, Najimi has been presented as a comic relief character who is essentially the antithesis to Komi. They have amazing communication skills and can easily make friends with just about anyone. In this episode, however, we got to see a slightly deeper side to Najimi’s character.

In this episode when Komi has to unexpectedly sit out at the pool, Najimi initially suggests that they call it a day. However, Komi didn’t want anyone to worry about her or stop having fun on her account. So she encouraged them to keep playing while she stayed and watched their pages. When Tadano and Yamai start to object Najimi is the one to interrupt and drag everyone away to continue having fun. Once they are out of Komi’s earshot Najimi explains that they need to continue having fun because if they didn’t then that would only make Komi blame herself and feel worse. This moment of the episode really showed that Najimi isn’t just this goofy character, but that they take notice of things on a deeper level than other people and that they have a wealth of knowledge when it comes to friendships, emotions, and communication.

Overall Komi Can’t Communicate Episode 7 is packed with slice of life goodness and subtle, yet tender heartwarming moments. Yet again the team behind this anime has delivered another great addition to the series. Komi Can’t Communicate continues to impress me with how they convey the chemistry between characters on the screen verbally and nonverbally. Additionally, I love how this episode explored a certain comedic relief character’s deeper layers and emotional intelligence.

Komi Can’t Communicate streams weekly exclusively on Netflix.