Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku

Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii (Wotakoi for short) is a romance comedy which characters are Otakus (Anime or Game Otakus). It is set in an office setting, featuring 4 main characters (2 couples) that are dating each other. Here in there, you would see direct references to manga, anime, games, and the likes. However, this anime fails to deliver well in both comedy and romance. I think it is important for you to treat this more as a slice of life show featuring otaku couples, as to not give any unmet expectations. The romance in this anime is more of just a setting as it ishardly explored. It will only occasionally throw in some romantic moments. Meanwhile, the jokes in this anime are rarely funny. I feel like the biggest problem to the comedy is the awful timing. It is really slow at delivering punchlines, making it unfunny at most times. To make it worse, there are sometimes short explanations by the game-sounding-narrator, which further slows down the pace. The characters here are not really outstanding. There's no traits or moments that I feel really stand out from them. Also, even though the couples' relationships might change a little, the characters themselves hardly changes. The background music is one problem I have with this anime. Maybe it's just not my taste, but although there are some good tracks, there are a lot of weird tracks that are just slapped unto an unfitting scene (honestly, I don't think those tracks could fit anywhere). Overall, I think this anime fails to deliver a good romcom. There is only a little romance development and jokes fall flat. This is an anime for watching the daily lives of otaku couples. And that's it, since the only thing this anime got going for it is its relatability for people familiar with the otaku culture.

I picked up Wotaku ni koi wa Muzukashii along with 3D Kanojo together back when the show first aired and expected both to be about the same, I gave the former an 8 and the latter a 7 originally if my memory doesn't fail me, and from then on even though both featured otaku (now it's obvious that 3D Kanojo only has one while Wotakoi has it's entire casts as the same but I picked it up together for the same reason) it became clear as day which was fresh garbage and which was the anime that made me dance. Looking at the rating Ithink you know what show turned out to be the one that made me dance, yes. This is my review of Wotaku ni koi wa Muzukashii, ikuze!!! Let's start with some backstory. My last seasonal romance watch was in Summer of 2017, almost exactly three seasons ago, which is shocking because if you know me, I love romance and always strive to watch it in some way or the other but in terms of seasonals I felt tired and stopped focusing on the genre. To reasons obvious to romance fans I felt Spring would be the best season for a romance fan to return to the seasonal genre and found a lot of romance anime to watch, but none, absolutely none made me fall over them as much as I fell over Wotaku ni koi wa Muzukashii. Not because it's cute, but because it's unique, it's fun, and of course, it's got everything else going for it. I mean, look at it's competition this season (or even the last), what romance anime did we have? Tada-kun started strong but suffered with it's cliche problem shortly after, FranXX continues to be complete garbage in the romance category (and dare I say it every other category), the anime I formerly mentioned, 3D Kanojo almost immediately disappointed me with it's second episode, Grancrest had the same FranXX situation, while Beatless could be considered one slot better than the two mentioned. Leaving us with two romance anime this season that continued to be adored by me, Wotaku ni koi wa Muzukashii and Akkun To Kanojo. The latter was and still is an enjoyable show but being a short, it can't compare to Wotakoi in the same breath. Why? Read on! First off, it's a fantastic slice of life anime. Wotakoi is how you make a Slice of Life Romance work and I can't find any other examples that bettered it till Winter 2017 (when I first started seasonals) and overall I'm sure it'll rank up in my top 5. Yet again you ask why? Because it knows how to captivate it's watchers with warmth. This brings us to the question, why do we watch romance anime? Many would say that it's because it brings them warmth, and surprise, surprise, Wotakoi gives you that. A cute, warm and fuzzy slice of life anime you can cosy up to whether you're single or with your partner. Even though it's centered on Otakus, it's biggest feature is that there's something for everyone. Everyone will find something in the anime worth relating to and laughing at, and I'm just talking about the normies here, if you're a mild anime watcher or a hardcore one, both parties will find lots and lots to laugh at and references to gloss over with this anime. Be it a Dragon Quest reference, a Final Fantasy reference, a Saekano reference, etc etc. There's lots to list and I don't have enough time to list them all for we must move on to the next best part. The soundtrack. I don't think I need to tell you how popular the Opening is especially with it's dance and there's been countless videos on YouTube (some of which were taken down because Sony Music) showing viewers how the dance is done or how they reacted to this marvelous choreography. And that's not to mention the ED as well. Fantastic, cosy and just a joy to watch, it's an excellent example of a testament to the anime. And we've barely scratched the surface. What else makes the anime so fun? The biggest reason why? THE CHARACTERS! I haven't seen such vibrant AND relatable characters in an anime in a very long time and this was just fabulous. I mean, it makes me wanna write on every character. First off, we didn't get one pairup, we got TWO. Then the interactions, motivations, situations, all made for a really cute yet not over the top anime. It didn't overstep its bounds yet created an environment that only Wotakoi could create and excel in. This isn't a Utopia, this is real life, and the real life says Wotakoi is excellent. Speaking of real life, the wonderful staff who worked on this anime. Having renowned VAs like Sawashiro Miyuki and the legendary Sugita Tomokazu himself, this anime wasn't at all short of talent, and the others too did brilliantly. I never for once felt like the voice actors did a bad job, or that the directing or scripting was bad in any way. I might be sounding like I'm fanboying like crazy but let's just say Wotakoi IS that kind of show. It makes you warm and you're left beaming with happiness. Definitely something I'd call a feel-good show. Oh and, another reason why the anime is so amazing? It's got adults. Not high school kids as the main characters and that gives a LOT of room for different scenarios and even though our lovely cast might seem childish, in the first place, being an otaku is a throwback to childhood anyway. And second, we don't have any blushing game of random meetups and random kisses and random blushes and random etc like most high school anime (I already triggered the FranXX fanboys, don't want another group to come after me so I won't give examples now) because from the very first episode itself, everyone is dating. Yes. You read that right. They're dating from the first episode itself and they're adults and they're Otakus. Reasons enough for why it's so fantastic? Still not convinced? How about I tell you that in spite of having such a unique setup, it handles it excellently? Convinced? I sure do hope you are, because I still have more to say. I haven't even gone to the characters in detail yet! Hirotaka might seem like your dense that you see in most high school romance but NO. Do not underestimate him because he is sharp. I mean, the ending of episode 1 changed my view of him from the get go. Surprised? I was too! He continued to be brilliant like the rest of the cast. Narumi on the other hand is fortunately not a flat female character (I just love making that pun) as we see in some romance anime and much like Hirotaka, is just a joy to watch. She's cute, relatable, and is a perfect matchup for Hirotaka. Then we got the polar opposites, Hana-chan and Gintoki- I mean Bakaku- I mean Kabakura. Both were the most loveable lovebirds and sworn enemies, which was a sharp contrast to Hirotaka and Narumi and offered an excellent balance to the aforementioned pair. Though MAL marked them as Supporting Characters they're very much main characters as well since they're a main focus of the anime too! And that's not to mention the other supporting cast too, they're cute too and the biggest part is that even though they're a supporting cast, the brief moments they feature in were all relatable and enjoyable in their own regard and this was me trying my hardest to describe how lovable the cast is, I can't find the words to describe what I feel to the exact point but this should serve as a somewhat great substitute. STILL NOT CONVINCED? Then I can bring up the last of my cards, the artstyle. Many scorned and scoffed at the name of the studio when they first saw it's synopsis since it was made by A-1 Pictures. A studio that is designed for freelancers. What many realised later was that fortunately this was one of those “once in a blue baboon” situations where they turned out to be good, and I'm talking from the perspective of people who don't like A-1 but are objective critics. Me? Well, much like the other fans, I just enjoyed this. I have liked A-1’s many other works before in particular the Working! series and this just adds on to the fun. Coming back to the topic, it's artstyle was unique, vibrant, cheerful and not to mention adorable. There was just that some thing about it that made it such a joy to look at, whether you're watching it in 1080p, 720p, a CR free subscriber, or the 144p master race (is the show even available in this resolution? Maybe in YouTube). Needless to say it's artstyle is YET another plus point the anime had. It's very very tough to find negatives in this anime and the ones I found were that perhaps it's comedy didn't hit me every single time, though it did usually, I perhaps laughed at least once every episode and just longed for the next week’s episode to come out already and when it did, oh the joy I had. Overall, I don't think I need to point this out, but Wotaku ni koi wa Muzukashii is a romance anime that you definitely must watch if you're a fan of the genre or are looking for that fun Slice of Life anime to entertain and cosy up to. I wouldn't be surprised at all if this is my pick for Anime of the Year or to the extreme minimum, Romance/SoL of the Year. Romance? Yes. Otaku stuff? Yes, but that isn't too deep for someone to get bored with. End product? Something great that anyone and everyone can watch and enjoy! Yes. Even normies :P You and I might not see eye to eye on the anime, but I'm sure you'll leave the anime with a smile, that is, if you love watching fun shows. Much like with everyone, you'll definitely find out that you struck a chord with a lot of the things in the anime. I mean, we're all Otakus aren't we? P.S: That last episode man. Incorporated everything that was great in the previous episodes and brought out the best from them to make for a fantastic end to a fantastic anime. If I were to describe Wotakoi in one word, it would ironically be that it's inclusive despite it's otaku centered focus. Hirotaka GO!

Looking for a true romance, one with suspense, fluff, and drama? Then I will make this incredibly clear that this anime is not for you! I feel like I have to make this clear because I went into this anime based on description, genre, and rating expecting a romance and it really did not deliver. It has a lot of good qualities however. Anime and game lovers will find themselves identifying with the characters, and you’ll find yourself laughing at the exaggerated, but still relatable content. The art is also really cute, all the characters are distinct and different despite all being categorized as otaku’s.You get a peek into the lives of otaku’s of all different types, cosplay, crossplay, manga, videogames, anime, bl, etc. The main fandoms are all represented at least briefly. In its purest form, this anime is just about balancing otaku life with work life, that’s it. Still don’t believe me this isn’t a romance? Then I will spoil (but not really) the romance involved in this anime. For starters, the couple gets together by the end of episode one and it’s treated more like a joke. There is only one kiss scene the entire anime and all it is, is a peck (and it’s not even at the end of the series that this happens, so yea...no kiss at the end either) and again, it’s treated more like a joke. There’s really no development shown in the relationship, no misunderstands, or ups and downs. It’s more like two coworkers who share similar interests that happen to be a couple. I will confess that my score may be on the lower end than what this anime deserves. It’s actually a pretty good light-hearted, comedy. The art is cute, the characters are distinct and fun, and I admittedly got some laughs out of it, but I didn’t get what I wanted out of it and thus ended up rather disappointed.

I have absolutely, ZERO clue how this has managed to pull a borderline 8 stars on MAL. Just because the setting does not reside in a high school doesn't mean it is better than the ones that are. I want to write this quick review to make sure you don't waste your time with this one. The story is horrendously stale and the characters go nowhere. I'm not kidding when I say this and please take my word for it, I legitimately almost fell asleep like 3 or 4 times while watching this anime. That is how boring it was. Simply put, don't watch it.There are far better romance anime out there.