Another show I’m watching this season is Kubo Won’t Let Me Be Invisible, about a quiet boy, Junta Shiraishi, who usually goes unnoticed in class because he’s so generic and forgettable. Happily for him, he sits next to the adorable Nagisa Kubo, a girl who can’t seem to leave Shiraishi alone. Let’s see if this low-key romantic comedy is worth your time!
The Story Setup of Kubo Won’t Let Me Be Invisible
Junta Shiraishi is a boy who just wants to lead a fulfilling life in high school, but he’s got a problem: he’s so forgettable that no one in class notices him, not even his teacher. There’s even a rumor that if you manage to catch a glimpse of Shiraishi in class, you’ll have good luck that day.
Happily, he’s been adopted by Kubo-san, a cute girl who sits next to him. Unlike everyone else in the school, she has no problem seeing Shiraishi whenever he walks into class, and she loves performing experiments to see if she can make others notice him. She’s got a big crush on him and always tries to get him to go places with her.
Studio Pine Jam made the genius decision to cast Queen of Seiyu Hana Kanazawa — who Mrs. J-List calls “The Tuturu Lady” because she voiced Mayuri in Steins;Gate — as Kubo-san. This one choice managed to transform a fun and relaxing show into a joy for fans of HanaKan’s delightful voice.
Can you guess which anime voice actress Hana Kanazawa is married to? Read this blog post about famous seiyu married couples!
The story mechanic in Kubo Won’t Let Me Be Invisible is known as kage ga usui, literally “his shadow is thin,” meaning a character with so little presence that people fail to notice them. It’s been seen in anime, most famously with the character of Kagero Usui from Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, who’s so invisible to his classmates, it’s literally his name. Other characters who make use of this joke include Tetsuya from Kuruko’s Basket, Canada from Hetalia and Akari from Yuru Yuri.
What’s in a Mob?
Kubo-san wa Mob wo Yurusanai is also “one of those odd recent anime that use the word ‘mob’ in the title for some reason,” along with Mob Psycho 100 and Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games Is Tough for Mobs. I asked the Japanese staff of J-List what “mob” meant and no one seemed to know.
Investigating further, it seems that “mob” in anime refers to the nameless characters who exist in the background in relation to the main characters, like NPCs in a game or extras in a movie. Japanese fans love to obsess over these “mob chara,” like the time everyone fell in love with Himeko Tachibana, the super-cute side character in season 2 of K-On!. (She’s at the bottom in the picture above, three over from the left.)
So apparently the Kubo-san wa Mob wo Yurusanai title could be translated as “Kubo-san Won’t Let Me Get Away With Being Just Another Nondescript Background Character.”
We Live in a Golden Age of Manga-to-Anime Adaptions
If you think about it, it’s a great time to be a manga fan who loves watching their favorite Japanese comics get animated. Whether it’s Don’t Toy With Me Miss Nagatoro, Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out or Komi Can’t Communicate, it seems any manga popular enough to show up in memes on the Internet will always get multiple anime seasons.
The anime is based on the Kubo-san wa Mob wo Yurusanai manga by Nene Yukimori. Going from the first episode, I assumed the manga would be a 4-koma with a simple story filled with jokes about Shiraishi’s “social invisibility,” but I was surprised to see it’s got a very involved story following the development of the main characters’ romantic relationship. I hope the anime captures the high emotion of the manga!
Thanks for reading this blog post about the adorable new Kubo Won’t Let Me Be Invisible anime. It’s worth watching just to hear Hana Kanazawa’s sweet voice, but the story is good, too!
J-List’s sister company J18 Publishing has been hard at work bringing out more tankobon format manga which are 100% uncensored and translated into English. The newest book is by celebrated artist Shiwasu no Okina!, and it’s in stock in San Diego now!
