Komi Can't Communicate, Vol. 31

古見さんは、コミュ症です。 [Komi-san wa, Komyushō Desu.] #31

by Tomohito Oda

Socially anxious high school student Shoko Komi’s greatest dream is to make some friends, but everyone at school mistakes her crippling social anxiety for cool reserve. Luckily she meets Tadano, a timid wallflower who decides to step out of his comfort zone in order to help her achieve her goal of making 100 friends.

Tadano and Komi are going to the summer festival together! It’s a classic date destination, almost a rite of passage for couples. But rites of passage come with high expectations and high pressure—especially when it seems like the whole world is out to ruin your night! Can Tadano and Komi save their date from bad luck and worse weather?

Genres: Manga, Romance, Contemporary, Young Adult, Fiction, Slice Of Life, Humor

192 pages, Paperback

First published October 18, 2023

About the author

ODA Tomohito
Name (in native language): 小田智仁
Associated Names: オダトモヒト

Tomohito Oda won the grand prize for World Worst One in the 70th Shogakukan New Comic Artist Awards in 2012. Oda’s series Digicon, about a tough high school girl who finds herself in control of an alien with plans for world domination, ran from 2014 to 2015.

Reviews

[Rod Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are here for Tadano and Komi's relationship, you'll find yourself wading through ensemble cast antics for over two-thirds of the book before you'll get some real satisfaction. Dozens of characters litter the pages, some who have not shown up in a while and are hard to recall as to what their single personality gimmick is.

Too many people!!!

Still, the few tidbits of Tadano and Komi we are given make the book worthwhile . . . this time . . .

p.s., As it was a little hard for me to tell, I'll put out there that Komi is laughing in the rain on the cover, not crying or pained.

[Jenny Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

The secondary characters need more depth if they are goanna be focused on this much. I did like the practice university interview and Tadano and Komi's second festival. She was surprisingly assertive there!

Check out my YouTube channel for bookish videos and monthly wrap ups!

[Joseph · Rating 2 out of 5]

feels like the series has reached critical mass. I do not know who 80% of these characters are/what their specific character quirk is. Also this is like the 3rd time they've ended up at a summer festival. What else can you make them do there that they didn't do the first 2 times, man.

[Alex Richey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately, it's just getting really boring at this point.

[Mina ☾ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hated the first part (basically cause I don't like Kawai) and loved the secord part (cause Tadano & Komi... They are just made for each other).

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Komi and Tadano and Kawai continue their… whatever the hell they have going on. Later, a festival offers a chance for most everybody to enjoy themselves and then a second festival means Komi and Tadano can really enjoy themselves.

I made the mistake of reading this back to back with another series that I think is far too long in the tooth and past its best days, so forgive me if my brain is a little fried. This is neither the worst nor best Komi we’ll see, so there’s that.

Kawai’s family situation and their repeated use of the word “OINK” implies a joke that either doesn’t work or I don’t get, making for a tough home visit when Komi and Tadano come calling. The part about the masochism I get, at least.

This first festival goes on too long and drags itself out and features Yamai, so don’t be shocked when I dunk on it a bit. It does start off with a good joke about Komi seeming very unpopular, but only because her fans are all hiding out of sight.

But the problem here is that all the Komi fans are actually super creepy and there’s a lot of this series that tends to get super creepy, honestly, if you think about it. The weird hooded assembly of horny students shows up again and the two chapters spent on them fantasizing are kind of a waste.

Parts of it are fun - the guy who likes Tadano (really likes him) does his thing at the yakisoba stand to great effect and I do love seeing Ase and Naruse out doing couple stuff. Komi’s brother’s festival also goes pretty much where you’d figure.

There’s a decent interview segment where Komi’s friends try their best to prepare her for her college interviews. This features one of only two Manbagi appearances this volume and is pretty okay. The disguises are ridiculous in a good way.

A lot of these chapters involve finding gags with characters that haven’t appeared in forever whose schtick you probably forgot. I feel like a chronic whinger for mentioning the lack of any cast information here, but it truly makes reading this in collected editions a nuisance.

The last couple chapters come on real strong, however, and are much closer to the higher quality you want from this story. Komi and Tadano’s second festival date turns into a non-stop comedy of errors and goes to some real amusing places by the time it wraps up.

There’s also a chapter of Manbagi attempting to do a makeup video for an application that is not especially funny, but the end result is a decent little callback and further serves to remind us of her ongoing relationship issue.

It’s fine. The ending with Tadano and Komi is really good, but it’s surrounded by a lot of things that either outright annoy me or I just don’t care about. My attention span is admittedly being tested here, but I will see this to its ending.

3.5 stars - extra half for that second festival chapter, which has its heart in the right place, a bit more zip in the comedy department, and a thirsty denouement. Everything else is pretty average.

[bri]

can this series end already

[Lori CucVig · Rating 5 out of 5]

Questa lettura è sempre rilassante, non che non ci siano emozioni forti ma... lascia un bellissimo senso di serenità. Adesso siamo nel periodo estivo dell'ultimo anno. I nostri personaggi affrontano i Matsuri e la preparazione per le loro future carriere. Davvero una pausa da tutto, il tempo di questa lettura.

[Anna Quilter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Volume had some vaguely erotic (well..wet) images of Komi on front/ back which is slightly out of place.
More Kawai and her need to marry Komi and Tadano.
Plus Rumiko does a video make up tutorial...of course she does ❤️

[Sheepy · Rating 5 out of 5]

So very cute

[Othy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The two running threads (Komi and Tadano's relationship and Kawai) are very different in quality here. The whole Kawai thing is weird and unnecessary, and it adds little to Tadano and Komi as a couple. That relationship is really sweet, though, and the stories about it are the high points. They don't reach the level of interest when Manbagi was a more main character (and the different ratings of the two arcs on Goodreads is telling).

I find it very culturally interesting that Komi is "like that." Is "like that" a type? Is it weird for women in Japan to be interested in "that"? Is it not weird for Tadano to say "no I'm good"?

[Jacqueline · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars

[MargReadsManga · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just read chapters 411 and 412! 😉

[Zuli · Rating 2 out of 5]

why!

[Eressea · Rating 2 out of 5]

經過前面幾集的胡鬧
這本上半集還是一樣令人生厭
但下半集又回歸及格以上的灑糖戀愛作品氛圍

好猶豫要不要棄坑喔
但日本又已經完結了
台版應該有望跟進吧

[Tsuki Pop · Rating 5 out of 5]

PAGE 52 EVERY PANEL HAS MY SWEET SWEET SHOSUKEEEEEEE, I LOVE HIM SO MUCH AND MISSED HIMMMM, 105 panel 2 and 3 we see the top of his fluffy hair :3 110 MY HANDSOME BOYYYYYY I LOVE HIM SO MUCH I LOVE HIM SO MUCH 111 AS WELL IM FOAMING AT THE MOUTHHHHH I LOVE HIM SO MUCHHH, PANELS 1-2 OF PAGE 112, PANEL 1 OF 113, 114 PANEL 3. Chapter 412 going on the list of peak.

[daniella ❦]

- awe so cute that rei's american friend came to stay at komi's place
- nakanaka looks nice in her yukata
- kometani so pretty when he smiles!!! (at the summer fest stall w shirtless katai)
- omg i got duped by the fantasies i was like NOOOO WAYYY TAHT BUDDHA STATUE LOOKIN ASS PULLED SHIINA
- "i am h. for horny swine" 💀
- tadano with his hair pulled back slay
- so cute that they all helped komi practise her interview i love these people so much
- komi and tadano are so cute i wanna rip my eyes out
- RAHHHH THEY KISSED
- was komi leaning over for a second kiss in tadano's mind or???
- rumi's little makeup tutorial is so so cute

[DJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This did not hit like it used too. I had some trouble seeing how it fits into the bigger picture but you were able to see nice moments from the friends and cute moments from Tadano and Komi. Komi had some growth with her talking, she talked a lot in the mock interview with her friends. Which was all nice but the majority was the fairs and I just didn't enjoy it much. It was cute but I used to enjoy these.

[Evalynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was a little bit disappointed with this one, and actually fell asleep reading it right when I finally made it to any sort of part relating to Komi that was actually important to the progress of the story. But once this volume reaches that portion, it was enjoyable. Then the book ends, because that is only the final third of this one.

[Đình Minh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too much sugar for a day (⁠ ⁠ꈍ⁠ᴗ⁠ꈍ⁠)

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 3 out of 5]

The only thing most readers are waiting for is the first verifiable kiss between socially awkward Tadano and Komi. And. . . after 2/3 of the book, after even more characters and yet another festival they go to as a group, and then just T and K go alone to another festival, so there are no obstacles except anxiety to keep them from taking the next step. . . yup, it happens!

There's also some time spent on a kinda surreal story of Kawaii--who has a communication problem we haven't quite seen yet in the series (maybe?)--she'a narcissist who chooses to have no friends. She lives with her family but orders them around and makes them squeel like pigs all the time. I'll say that is a unique story in the series, very weird, mean, possibly hilarious? Anyway, she invites Tadano and Komi to her house and to a festival, the ulterior motive being to try to impress Tadano, but our boy only has eyes for you-know-who!

[Kethyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bom, pelo menos este volume foi melhor que o anterior.

Mas sinceramente, tem uns personagens com umas personalidades e umas partes bem esquisitas, né?

A Yamai (desde o começo), a família da Kawai, algumas coisas que o pessoal imaginaram durante o festival, tudo meio esquisito.

Com tantos personagens e alguns bem parecidos uns com os outros, fica meio complicado lembrar de todos, por exemplo, teve uma parte lá que eu confundi a Kawai com a menina que protege a Komi da Yamai. Também teve alguns momentos no templo que eu estava confundindo a prima da Komi com aquela colega de escola mais nova.

Mas vamos para a parte mais importante, eu achei o beijo do Tadano e da Komi muito anticlimático, sim, foi fofo e tudo mais, mas também foi bem mais ou menos?

Esses últimos volumes sei lá, parece que eles não estão conseguindo me convencer que eles são um casal apesar do avanço romântico.

[Nicolo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I still enjoy the Komi-Tadano chapters, as their burgeoning relationship has become the raison d'être for this series. When the focus is not on the couple, it fills like filler.

That said, this series has started to be repetitive and insipid at times. It just maybe the right time to end the series, and hopefully the author has something nice reserved for the inevitable end.

I have been following this series, and the recent chapters are some of its best, a return to the form which once made this series a must-read for me, and worthy to be collected in physical form for re-reads to come. Komi and Tadano studying for the university entrance exam in Komi's ancestral home with her grandmother is an arc to look forward in a future collection. There's still some life in this series yet.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another volume bites the dust and it enjoyable??? Of course! Because this series can do no wrong. I say that after marketing this series to my oldest daughter and her finally diving in this year (2025). She has now caught up to me and passed me in volumes proving that the series is wildly entertaining, addictive and just enjoyable. I cannot wait for her to watch the anime as well! The cover tells (to me) the most precious part of the volume, and you will enjoy it!

[Francine Cocks · Rating 5 out of 5]

I Haven’t read it but I love the series and I bet this will be good, and I want to read Komi Can’t Commuicate Vol. 31 so very much. Oh and if you really want to know something that I know from so many spoilers I’ve gotten but here: Shoko Komi and HitoHito Tadano have their first kiss and second in Komi Can’t Communicate Vol. 31 that’s all I know.

Thank you for reading this review

[Casey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Komi and Todano. I get she wanted (wants) to make friends and so ignoring them doesn't wholly work. But When the vast majority of the book isn't about Komi at all... I find myself not caring all that much.

With only 3 more books in the series I am not going to give up on it, but I am glad Oda-sensei isn't going to do more if they end up like this.

[Ady Weasley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Conocemos a la familia de Kawai....me dio un poco de cosa, pero se ve que quieren mucho a Kawai.

Es verano e inesperadamente todos terminan conviviendo en el festival de verano, aunque les dan la oportunidad de que Komi y Tadano tengan un tiempo a solas en el último festival , pero no siempre las cosas salen bien.

Quiero saber qué pasó con Mangabi

[Cat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Komi's kinda like that!

i've read this series since the beginning so i want to see it to the end but y'all, i don't know who 90% of these characters are. i'm glad she's made so much progress making friends and i'm glad her and Tadano are dating, but i really just wanted to see her develop her communication. and she has! but there's just too much going on these days.

[Mithun Sarker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, progression is on!

"So Komi's that kinda girl, huh?"- Probably inner Tadano. This volume was much more enjoyable than the previous. Rumiko's story is kinda interesting. Komi and Tadano's relationship keeps getting better and better.

8/10

[Chase · Rating 3 out of 5]

Charming

Still very charming, however lacking a little now in romantic storytelling. Nothing is really in the way of the couple so everything is just coming together too well. Like I said though, still charming.