Komi Can’t Communicate, Vol. 35

The journey to 100 friends begins with a single conversation.

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.

Komi’s final year of high school is going great! She led her class to victory at the culture festival (i.e., their ramen was a hit and nothing burned down), and she’s getting close to her goal of 100 friends! But her younger brother Shosuke isn’t having the same luck. Recently a menacing new group led by Tadano’s sister has started to target him, and they’re determined to make him smile!

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. In 2015, Komi Can’t Communicate debuted as a one-shot in Weekly Shonen Sunday and was picked up as a full series by the same magazine in 2016.