E no Genten: Starting Point

Author Naoshi Komi wrote my single favorite one-shot, "Island", when he was just 20 years old in 2006. I've followed his career ever since and was curious what he produced as a 31 year-old with "E No Genten". Alas, the answer is "nothing special". It's a pitch for an e-sports shounen series with all the standard ingredients. Aimless protagonist that sucks at school and is obsessed with video games? Check. Serious, academically gifted girl with glasses who turns out to be an amazing gamer and friend of the main character? Check, nevermind that no actual high-level gamer matches that description. Even Komi's execution, usually sogood, is clunky at times. There is a bunch of awkward exposition explaining what e-sports are and how players make money that the main character, despite his obsession, is blissfully, conveniently unaware of. The e-sport in question here is a fighting game, but the author seems very unfamiliar with the genre. The protagonist, despite being on the cusp of the top 100, loses seemingly every round against top players at first. This simply wouldn't happen given the variance of such games, let alone the further variance of character match-ups and Internet connections. Thus, even a top 1000 player would win some matches against virtually any top player. Nor would the protagonist achieve his level without being aware of the larger competitive community, in which case he would absolutely know of e-sports as well. These may all seem like small details, but without that, what are we left with? A generic shounen plot with stock characters? There is a genuine passion to the two main characters that rings true, even if it's oversimplified. Komi also conveys the thrill of competition as well as the camaraderie of the gamer house that I appreciated. Unfortunately, soon after these positive elements, there is an emotional twist that had me laughing at how simultaneously absurd and manipulative it was. It's a cheap, lousy way for the protagonist to become the hero despite being far inferior to the bespectacled girl at the game and less serious and hard-working. It's a shame that Komi had to resort to such a cheap plot device. It leads to a predictable, unearned ending to cap off a mediocre, forgettable one-shot. I know he is capable of vastly better.