The following contains spoilers for Episode 17 of Komi Can't Communicate, "Snowmen," now streaming on Netflix.
In Komi Can't Communicate, much of Shoko Komi's character arc centers on her overcoming her extreme social anxiety and communication disorder. She bought self-help books to help her improve her communication skills and has made it her goal to make one hundred friends. Throughout Seasons 1 and 2, Komi has found herself in new situations that pushed her out of her comfort zone, such as working a part-time job, buying lunch for a friend, participating at her school's Sports Day event, working as a maid in her school's culture festival, and singing karaoke.
In Episode 17 of Komi Can't Communicate, Komi's social anxiety is challenged during a time of year most consider relaxing: winter holidays. Normally thought of as a festive time when friends and family members gather around each other's homes and wrap up the year, Komi still finds these social gatherings to be anxiety inducing. One of these anxious episodes occur between Christmas and New Year's Eve. On a snowy day, Najimi Osana invites Hitohito Tadano over to Komi's house to build a giant snowman together. Komi is okay with this activity since it's just her and her two closest friends, but once Najimi decides to have a snowball fight, she finds herself out of her comfort zone.
For the snowball fight, Najimi invites their other friends over to Komi's street, including Himiko Agari, Makeru Yadano, and Ren Yamai. They also invite some of Komi's neighbors, elementary school kids wanting to play a competitive game with their seniors. Since it's six high school students versus four elementary school kids, Komi is sent to the elementary team to even the numbers. During the fight, both the high school and elementary school kids aggressively throw snowballs at each other, hoping to knock out as many members of the opposite team as possible.
Between the two groups, the elementary school kids are easily over-powered, partially due to the high school kids being stronger than them, and because of Komi's paralyzing anxiety. Komi is playing against her own friends, and she freezes, unable to throw a snowball at any of them. It's not until Komi is the only one left standing that the game changes for the elementary school kids. Just when Yadano and Najimi get ready to knock Komi out, Yamai intervenes by knocking them both out of the game. With Komi and Yamai left standing, Komi reluctantly avenges Najimi and Yadano by taking out Yamai, securing a victory for the elementary school kids.
Another episode of extreme social anxiety occurs for Komi on New Year's Eve. To celebrate the new year, Komi's family returns to the house of the family matriarch, Yuiko. They are once again greeted by extended family members they met with during the summer, and their cousin Akira once again decides to spend her time with Komi. During their time together, Akira invites Komi to a game of Hanafuda, which their grandmother also happens to enjoying playing. When Yuiko plays against Akira, the latter loses after calling koi-koi and asks Komi to avenge her loss.
Akira's request flares Komi's anxiety at first, but she relaxes when playing against their grandmother, and ends up winning. It's not until the family decides to visit the local shrine that Komi is pushed to her limit. As it turns out, Yuiko is very good friends with the local priest, who is one miko short at the shrine shop due to one of the girls calling in sick. As a result, there is only one girl on shift, and Komi is asked to cover the shift. Komi is far from comfortable working in a retail position, and her anxiety spikes when she tends to her first customer.
Luckily for Komi, her classmate Nokoko Inaka is the other miko working at the shrine shop. At first, Inaka is worried about having Komi present since this would reveal her secret identity as a country girl. However, once Inaka sees Komi trembling with fear, she opts to help her instead and is able to help Komi calm down. After their shift ends for the day, Komi expresses her gratitude towards Inaka, who would not have survived the day without her.
While the winter holidays show Komi has made significant progress in her social skills since befriending her classmates, it also shows the many hurdles Komi must overcome before being confident in social situations. Now that Komi has worked part-time jobs, she should start feeling more and more comfortable with employment as the series progresses.