The manga follows Komi Shouko, a 15-year-old regarded as the prettiest girl at her school but hopeless at talking to anyone1. Her friend Tadano Hitohito helps her chase a stated goal of making 100 friends2. Fans crop panels of Komi's flustered stares, tiny handwritten notes, and quiet reaction faces for use as image macros on Tumblr and Reddit.

Fan artists drove much of the online footprint around the series. A Tumblr post by user the-canine-king passed 12,000 notes, and a looping GIF by user 3DRod cleared 18,000 notes, both anchored to standout panels from the manga4.

Reaction images typically pull from panels showing Komi's wide-eyed panic when spoken to, or the small notepad messages she uses to stand in for speech. Common convention on Reddit and Tumblr is captioning her frozen stare with a relatable 'I want to say something but can't' beat, or pairing Tadano's calm expression with an exchange he would never actually have.