|
"Mature Content Warning!" |
Ren Yamai (山やま井い恋れん Yamai Ren?) is the main antagonist of the romantic comedy manga/anime series. Komi Can't Communicate. She is a student of Itan Private High School who has a perverted obsession towards her classmate, Shouko Komi, acting as her personal stalker who is willing to do anything to keep Komi for herself.
She is voiced in Japanese by Rina Hidaka, and by Cristina "Vee" Valenzuela in the English dub.
What Makes Her a Scrappy?[]
- While she was written to be a plucky Comic Relief, viewers tended to find her major schtick of being an obsessive stalker with a creepy sexual obsession towards Komi with Yandere tendencies to be more disgusting and annoying than funny, not helped by her tendencies being so extreme and over-the-top as the series continues.
- She was introduced into Komi's social circle in a rather controversial way, she kidnapped and threatened to kill Tadano, so she could approach to Komi and called him unworthy of being her friend, and despite this she is easily forgiven and is added to Komi's social circle.
- Another issue is that in her introduction, her negative aspects are meant to be taken seriously and is treated as the villain of the week, which makes it all the most jarring when her same tendencies are treated as an amusing joke in later episodes.
- She's unnecessarily hostile against Tadano and pretty much everyone who tries to approach Komi despite being aware later on of her problems with socializing and that Tadano is the only one who can understand her.
- She can be seen as a replacement to Himiko Agari, one of the earliest of Komi's friends who was quickly overshadowed by her, as she was already not the most popular character of the series but was commonly regarded as much more likable and enjoyable and having her perverted tendencies more downplayed that Yamai (which ironically is the reason Akari wasn't particularly beloved in the first place thus making ironic she is being replaced by Yamai).
- Despite her unpopularity, she was initially the most recurring character behind the main duo and Najimi, thankfully her role got reduced later on in the manga.
- Some wonder how is that Tadano was so easy around Yamai despise his early experience with her or how Komi was able to accept her as a friend despite her profound adoration towards Tadano.
- Some viewers have accused her of being a bit of a Psycho Lesbian stereotype which is commonly regarded as homophobic, not helped by her being the most relevant LGBT character in the series.
- Pretty much any episode/chapter focused on her will involve her trying to get a closer view to Komi's more intimate parts or attempting to get her to fulfill her perverted wishes which is much creepier than amusing.
- Yamai desperately wanted to see Komi in a bikini that she went as far as to stake out her residence for eight days (clearing disturbing nearby passersby).
- She threatened to kill herself when she thinks Komi is against forgiving her, which leads to her joining Komi's social circle.
- She never gets any comeuppance for her actions through the series beyond being called out 2 times for Komi and never accepts the fact she's not interested.
- In the manga, she goes to Komi's house planning to drug Komi and rape her. Although she never actually acts this out, the mere fact that she wanted to and never felt bad about having such twisted fantasies further cements her reputation as a perverted creep who has no rules and no boundaries while the story tries and fails to present her as a comic relief.