The comedy lives entirely in awkward silence and tiny visual details, which means if you don't find humor in a girl's panic attack expressed through three frames of chibi faces, you're out immediately. The animation is so deliberately gentle it feels like watching someone's doodles come to life, every shot designed to make you relax instead of think. The whole show is about two people discovering that being terrible at talking doesn't mean you're actually alone.

Tadano expects his first day of high school to be perfectly ordinary: show up, blend in, avoid trouble. That plan falls apart when he ends up seated beside Komi, the most admired girl in class, and his jealous classmates start treating him as a rival. Left alone with her in the classroom, he discovers she isn't aloof at all. She has severe social anxiety and a communication disorder that keep her from talking to anyone. The two trade words by writing on the blackboard, and Komi reveals her dream of making one hundred friends. Tadano becomes the first and promises to help her find the other ninety-nine. What follows is a gentle comedy with a touch of romance, built around everyday school life and the awkward work of making friends.