Review by Ian Keogh

Shoko Komi barely acknowledges most of her high school classmates. This isn’t recognised as the crippling shyness that it actually is, but misinterpreted by most as an alluring aloofness perpetuated by the extremely attractive teenager, which in the eyes of some makes her compellingly cool. However, in Volume 1 Hitohito Tadano was shown to be more astute than most, and having recognised Komi’s condition has begun to break through to her, vowing to make her a hundred friends.

Volume 2 opens with the school fitness and measurement tests, about which some are more competitive than others. As these don’t require conversation, Komi aces them.

Tomohito Oda keeps the chapters short, and has a great talent for seemingly focussing on comic scenes or awkward moments when the true purpose is to illuminate somehow. The third chapter could almost be a template as to how it’s achieved. Osada has no boundaries and forces a situation where they and Tadano are invited to Komi’s house. They’re greeted by Komi’s mother, ecstatic that her daughter has brought friends home. There’s a heartbreaking moment in which it’s revealed Komi is alone in every picture in her old photo albums, but Osada showing more understanding than some might credit them with, closes the chapter by forwarding a phone picture of the trio in Komi’s room.

As in Japanese society, the little touches mean so much. Oda is able to structure an entire chapter, or ‘communication’ as she has it, around the interpretation of glances and possible signals. There’s a similar delicacy about the art. While Oda can resort to standard manga exaggeration, there’s also a requirement for subtle visual cues, and these are delightfully supplied.

New character Ren Yamai is quite sinister in some respects. She’s confident and popular, but one of those who crushes on Komi, misunderstanding her lack of verbal communication. Her presence broadens an already varied cast, and almost every chapter here either adds to the cast or to the places where they hang out. These provide new challenges for the non-verbal Komi.

Oda has also slightly modified the original idea of a hundred friends. It’s clear that Kom won’t accept numbers for the sake of hitting a target, but that friendship has to be her decision. Some, though, might question her eventual acceptance of Yamai.

These are short episodes, rarely stretching beyond the single chapter, but in each Oda finds something to say, and they’re startlingly individual. In possibly the best of a strong selection Komi feels confident enough to go shopping for clothes with her friends. It’s the first time she’s bought her own clothes, and having each of the accompanying friends select an outfit tells something about them, while the way Oda draws Komi in the outfits speaks to her.

That so many other teenage girls fall to pieces in Komi’s mere presence is overplayed, but otherwise where the stories head continues to be charming and unpredictable. Bring on Volume 3.