Initial Thoughts: Morita-san wa Mukuchi

 Morita Mayu, a high school girl. She is extremely reticent and her silence and habit of looking at people's eyes straightly sometimes cause misunderstanding. The reason behind it is not because she doesn’t like to talk nor because she has nothing to say. The reason she rarely speaks is due to the fact she thinks too much before speaking, thus losing the timing to speak altogether. But she lives a happy school life with her classmates. (via MAL)

For an episode that is only three minutes long - including a super short opening title sequence - I found the premiere of Morita-san wa Mukuchi to be surpisingly sweet and satisfying. Morita the taciturn has great difficulties talkig to her classmates, but she has managed to find a balance between silence and speaking and has even made a friend - the talkative chatterbox Miki, who acts as the 'standard' high school girl with her fleeting crushes and adorable mannerisms.

In this episode, Morita finds herself in what is probably a typical one-sided conversation with Miki, who is going on about a cute boy she’s just seen. Morita finds herself remembering a lesson from her mother about maintaining eye contact with the person talking to her and it helps her get through the conversation with few difficulties. Some people might find Morita’s over-analyzation of everyday social events strange, but as someone who does this all the time, it makes perfect sense. What if I say the wrong thing? Did I take too long to reply? Do they think I’m selfish now? It’s nice to see an anime with a ‘taciturn’ protagonist such as Morita who is allowed to be quiet and overthink things without being seen as a freak.

(It also helps the character design is super cute and the color palette is pleasing to the eye. Yay, adorable aesthetics!)

So far, Morita-san wa Mukuchi looks like a fun little series to watch amid all the fantasy drama that will be premiering this month. I’m looking forward to the further non-verbal adventures of Morita and friends.