WataMote: No Matter How I Look At It, It's You Guys' Fault I'm Not Popular!

Tomoko Kuroki believes she'd be popular upon entering high school, having spent countless hours playing otome games. However, two months has passed since she started high school and she hasn't so much as made a single friend, let alone get a boyfriend. After taking a good look in the mirror, she realises she is not the popular girl she thought herself to be. Wanting to change, Tomoko comes to her brother, Tomoki, to try and learn how to have a conversation with a guy, which he does not appreciate one bit. The nexy day, Tomoko tries doing some 'high school girl' activities such as reading in a book shop and eating at a burger joint, though it does little to raise her esteem.

Tomoko receives a call from her old middle school friend, Yuu Naruse, asking to meet up with her, though she becomes nervous about meeting her due to her uneventful high school life. Whilst trying to improve herself before her meeting, she ends up spending an annoyingly brief time with another boy in the art room due to skipping classes, though feels touched by the portrait he drew of her. On the day of the meeting, Tomoko is surprised to find that Yuu's appearance has changed a lot since she last saw her, but feels relieved that she is still the same on the inside. After spending the day playing at the arcades, Tomoko feels encouraged by Yuu to keep doing her best, only to become depressed again after hearing she has a boyfriend.

On a rainy day, Tomoko gets an earful from her teacher and a passerby and her umbrella breaks, forcing her to take shelter. As two other boys take shelter as well, she awkwardly attempts to make conversation with them. After being sent home early the next day after being hit by a basketball, Tomoko decides to tease Tomoki who is sick with a cold (caused by Tomoko herself), later becoming depressed when his female classmates come to deliver his homework.

Tomoko tries to follow a guide to have an erotic dream, but only winds up having nightmares. Later, she end up being consistently stuck on a train, where she fears she is being molested only to find that she had just gotten snagged on another girl's equipment. Afterwards, Tomoko asks Yuu to help her shop for some underwear, though she later ends up embarrassing herself by mistaking her newly bought panties as a handkerchief. She soon feels better after winning a massager from a raffle ticket which came from a BL game.

Tomoko attempts to become popular by playing as a cool, silent character, but this does not play out how she would have hoped. Later, she tries to get some photo stickers taken of her, though is less than pleased with the results. The next day, Tomoko contemplates taking up a job as a cabaret girl and decides to practise lighting cigarettes and mixing drinks. However, she becomes less eager when she travels to the red light district the following night.

After noticing she looks somewhat cuter following a night of playing otome games, Tomoko believes she can grow even more cute by constantly playing games about sex, though unbeknownst to her, she is just getting greasier from not washing. Later, after spraying herself with soda, she believes she is getting looks from other boys, when really they are just noticing the ants crawling over her body as a result. The next day, Tomoko tries to find some people to go watch the fireworks with, to no avail. As Tomoko decides to go alone to an abandoned rooftop to watch the fireworks, she is joined by a pair of schoolboys and ends up watching a very different kind of 'fireworks' with them.

After spending several days doing nothing but playing games, reading manga and browsing the internet, Tomoko comes to the realization that she is wasting her summer vacation. To alleviate this, Tomoko buys a webcam in the hopes of becoming an internet personality, only to back out under the pressure. Later, she discovers she has a ticket enabling her to meet an otome game voice actor and request a line from him. After spending the whole night looking up what to make him say, she ends up cracking under pressure when she finally meets him and winds up giving a weird jumbled request. She attempts to remix it with her own voice to form a dubious dialogue, which her mother ends up listening to.

Tomoko grows anxious when she learns her cousin, Ki, is coming over, feeling she needs to look like a 'slut' in order to back up the tall tales she had previously told her. She attempts to cover her body with vacuum cleaner hickeys, only to be scolded by her mother. Whilst taking Ki to the library, Tomoko meets Kousaka, one of the boys she met whilst sheltering from the rain the other day, who Kii assumes to be Tomoko's boyfriend. The next day, they see him with another girl, prompting Ki to confront him, bringing Tomoko's bluff to light. With Ki's impression of her waning, Tomoko attempts to restore her faith by showing off her prowess in a children's card game. Despite noticing that Tomoko is nothing but a cheater, Ki appreciates how hard Tomoko tried to make a good impression.

After Tomoko visits a fancy café where Yu is helping out, she decides to take up a job making cakes in the hopes of also becoming trendy, only for it to turn out to be a not-so-glamorous factory job. Later, Tomoko's mother forces her to do some cleaning, where she finds an essay written by Tomoki about how he used to admire his big sister. Afterwards, Tomoko goes to watch a meteor shower, accompanied by a cat.

The second school term begins and Tomoko is still as unpopular as ever, made worse when she is relocated into the center of the class. She manages to find herself a secret spot amongst a pile of unused desks where she can eat and play game in private during lunch breaks, but it is inevitably cleaned up. As the school prepares for a culture festival, Tomoko contemplates starting her own club, but it is ultimately denied due to it being too vague.

Whilst trying to get involved with her class for the culture festival preparations, Tomoko cuts her hand but is helped out by the kind festival committee president, Megumi Imae. During the festival, Tomoko has little reason to enjoy herself, but nonetheless receives encouragement from Megumi. The next day, Tomoko is visited by Yuu, hoping to get an intimate hug from her but nonetheless appreciating the time spent with her. Noticing Tomoko feeling downhearted after Yuu leaves, Megumi borrows a mascot costume in order to give Tomoko a comforting hug.

As Tomoko reflects on her uneventful past and thinks about her future, she views Megumi as the kind of student she should aim to become. When a cockroach roams about the class, Tomoko kills it hoping to be praised as a hero, only to leave a less than desirable impression on her classmates. Later that day, Tomoko tries to initiate a conversation with Megumi, but runs off after a blustery wind ruins the mood, not staying to hear Megumi's words of praise about her. The episode ends with Tomoko reading the Unpopular Girl definition from the first episode and laughing, realizing that none of it matters.