- The author says some parts of the series come from old high school memories, so it makes sense.
- Maybe it’s a Light Novel instead given Tomoko’s current goal is a LN author
- So she'll try invoking Must Not Die a Virgin, then will turn out the guy is not a virgin at all, then she confesses her own virginity, awkwardness issues, but she'll get her wish anyway.
- Then she wakes up, turns out it was All Just a Dream or something, but hints are dropped that the life-threatening situation from the dream may happen soon in real-life, cut to black, the end.
- Jossed. From Chapter 82 onward, Tomoko makes new friends (or at least regular social acquaintances), let's go of most of her resentment against schoolmates more popular than her, and matures emotionally as well. While her life is still not all flowers and sunshine, things are on a whole on the upturn.
- Most likely European or American, given that she has green eyes, but she lives her life in Japan. Japan has a habit of xenophobia (especially since Japan isn't very culturally diverse, 98% of Japan's population is Japanese), and therefore the students could be excluding Tomoko because she's foreign. She grew more and more secluded because of the exclusion. When she started high school, she's had enough of being so introverted and tries her best to fit in, but because she's spent so long by herself, it isn't working.
- If this is true, it's likely that one of her grandparents on the foreign (most likely her father's, as her mother seems to be Japanese) side of her family is Holden Caulfield.
- Tomoko seems to, ever so slowly, be getting closer to her brother. And has in the past thought that him looking at her strangely was an indication that he viewed her as more than just a sister. There will be at least one chapter where she believes herself to be in love with her brother, in that kind of way. Though knowing the manga, it will turn out to be something completely different before the chapter ends. Possibly a momentary lapse in sanity after her brother finally does something kind towards her. She seems to freak out towards anyone showing her even a little bit of kindness after all.
- Because someone had to do this. Tomoko is what Haruhi would be if Haruhi never awakened/received her Reality Warper/GOD status.
- In fact, she might have been the TV witch.
- Tomoko is a borderline shut-in, who cannot take normally around anyone except her family. The perfect victim for the NHK's machinations. The boy giving her an umbrella? The middle school kids she hangs around with? All ploys to give her a sense of hope, before it is brutally torn away from her. They'll stop at nothing to turn her into a NEET and a hikkikommori. Nothing, I say!
- Or maybe a mixture of mental issues and internalized misanthropy is keeping her from having friends. Whatever works.
- Because I can't be the only one who is reminded of a really messed up Konata when I see Tomoko.
- ... ended with Tomoko realizing that she is just an anime character, and being driven insane by this realization. This is why she became aware of the narration, and agreed with the narrator than her story doesn't matter.
- She's been sort-of aware of this for a while. She sees the people around her as manga/anime charaters. Which is why "Emoji-Face" has an emoji face, despite being a pretty cheerleader in "real life" as everyone else sees her.
- Tomoki is clearly more in the life of a sports series (friends, social life, afterschool sports), the students Tomoko sees daily are from a slice-of-life comedy (constantly talking and hanging out), and Imae is the protagonist of her own series; possibly a magical girl (popularity, friendly even to Tomoko). To each of them, Tomoko is a side character of their own series, hence why she never gets a high viewpoint from any of them but Imae who may want her to join her team or just be her friend. On that note, other possibilities include...
- Yuri is from a more serious and dramatic Coming of Age Story about an insecure teenage recluse who has to put up with the turbulence of high school life and frequent bullying from the resident Alpha Bitch, and who learns to come out of her shell thanks to the antics of her wacky new friend (Tomoko).
- Hina Nemoto stars in a comedic anime that celebrates otaku culture, much like Lucky Star or Himouto! Umaru-chan. Regular school girl by day, extreme fan of anime and pop culture by night!
- Ucchi is the protagonist of a yuri dramedy about a teenage girl coming to terms with her lesbianism after developing her first crush on a girl.
- Or tried to get him to "rape" her. We've seen Tomoko try to get Tomoki to play along with her scenarios, i.e. "wall-slamming" her, and she's displayed an inability to distinguish fantasy from reality, especially when at a low point. That plus Tomoko's tendency to ignore the effect she has on others, and the fact that Tomoki's the only guy she has real conversations with (plus the tendency of H-games to feature Brother–Sister Incest, blood-related or otherwise), could mean trouble.
- The ending theme has Tomoko sing a tune with an uplifting tone. It tries to go with Stylistic Suck but frequently slips up, causing Tomoko to sound quite good. She's just a little rough around the edges unless she's starting to have an emotional breakdown, then it goes into the crapper but that's true for everyone. Of course the ending theme is obviously not part of the main story. Chekhov's Gun? Doesn't quite fit the definition. Foreshadowing? Yeah, that's more appropriate.
- Semi-confirmed with the What If? of the Asuka-Group Tomoko AU in the Volume 18 and 20 special booklets.
- At the end of the series, she comments that her story doesn't matter and then laughs. She learned to laugh at her problems instead of taking them and herself so seriously, finding a certain humor in them. also, Tomoko's situation isnt completely hopeless; Though she didn't become popular, someone out there wants to "keep an eye on her".
- Showing how messed up you have to be in order to be into that.
- Because why not? It would also serve as a nice way to show just how much Tomoko's Character Development progressed since the series started.
- Because of all the new additions to Tomoko's vastly-expanded social circle, she's still missing the odd freshmen who has a skewed perception of her. And no, Akari doesn't count. Bonus points if said junior happens to be related to Imae.
- Confirmed. Chapter 132 introduces said kohai into Tomoko's growing social circle, and expected, she's got an extremely positive perception of Tomoko. She's not related to Megumi at all, though.
- We get small glimpses of what Ucchi may likely had she been drawn "normally" every time she experiences strong emotions, and most of the time it's due to Tomoko. Once she finally realizes that she is romantically attracted to Tomoko, she'll be drawn (at least in that moment) as a normal person.
- Bonus points if she really does resemble Yuu.
Rather than simply being an ambiguous disorder, Yuri has actually have been diagnosed with either high functioning autism (she doesn't have any issues with day to day living apart from poor social ability and seems to have average intelligence if her marks are an indication) or Asperger Syndrome in-universe. However, due to the stigma surrounding developmental disorders in Japan, nobody apart from Yuri, her family (who might be unwilling to take Yuri to the therapy and social skills training that she needs), Mako (her best and only friend, and it's the reason why Mako is so accepting of Yuri's lack of tact and social graces) and maybe Ogino (who has pulled strings at the school to ensure that Yuri and Mako are in her homeroom every year, so that Yuri won't be completely socially isolated and has a sympathetic homeroom teacher). However, Tomoko might find out before the end of the third year, either through Yuri telling her (possibly during or after a falling-out that's being hinted at), or she finds out about it similarly to how she found out about Nemo's dream of being a voice actress. This might bring the two closer, or it could drive them permanently apart depending on Tomoko's reaction.
However the damage has been done that Yuri believes in Safety in Indifference and is content with just having Mako from time to time. Yuri's new friendship with Tomoko makes it her lack of social skills apparent to the readers due to years of actively avoiding social interactions.
The alternative to the scenario above — Tomoko passes, but none of her friends do. While this is a kind of soft reset, it lays some groundwork for drama among the cast. Sure, Tomoko is much more socially capable before, but how much is she willing to invest into keeping the bonds she'd manage to make in high school. And is she willing to start over with other people IN college?
- Indirectly Jossed with chapters where Tomoko isn’t the main focus or doesn’t appear at all.
- Sachi finds out that Tomoko is the older sister of Tomoki and decides to go after her. Initially Sachi looks down on Tomoko because that’s what she does and Tomoko also dislikes Sachi for this. However, with Tomoko being a Weirdness Magnet and others’ tendencies to be confused by her the first time they meet, Sachi can’t figure out what type of person Tomoko is. She decides to go after her friends instead (excluding Yuri and Mako), but all the quirks they display combined breaks her.
- As of Chapter 217-3, the older sister bit is Jossed: Sachi seems to be unable to comprehend that Tomoko and Tomoki are siblings even if someone spells it out loud in front of her.
- As of Chapter 222-2, fully Jossed. Sachi and Tomoko still doesn’t have an interaction, and it took Mako directly telling Sachi about the entire siblings thing for her to realise. Even then Sachi’s initial reaction is that of shock and confusion.
Unfortunately, things went downhill almost immediately afterward. For just as Asuka was about to come forward and admit her feelings, Fuuka then, without ever knowing how Asuka felt or was about to say, said something that was not only absolutely moronic, but also ended up revealing that she was absolutely not into girls at all, couldn't imagine what getting together with one romantically or sexually would be like, and/or maybe even found the whole idea of lesbianism icky. Whatever it was, it caused all of Asuka's previous feelings and respect for Fuuka to come crashing down. From her perspective, what Fuuka said was tantamount to a nasty rejection even if it wasn't meant to be or even aimed at her, and it's for that reason why she has since held the athlete at a distance and gets so bothered whenever she hears Fuuka sing. And for all these years, Fuuka still doesn't realize what effect she had on the young lady.