Narumi Momose is a cute office girl with a secret: She’s
an Otaku of the highest caliber. Though
she’s desperate to keep this a secret from her coworkers, fate has other
plans…like having Naru run into her childhood friend Hirotaka Nifuji on her
first day. Hirotaka also happens to be
an Otaku as well…an unapologetic Gamer with no equal. Thrust back into each others lives, the pair
reflect on their lack of love in life because theyre Otaku. Hirotaka births an idea, the two of them
becoming a couple. One is into Yaoi love
and the next episode of her favorite show.
The other will spend weekends leveling up in dungeons and slaughtering
digital monsters. Even with two very
feisty but caring Otaku looking over them, is there a chance Naru and Hirotaka
can make things workout? No one ever
said love is easy when it comes to Otaku.
Like many shows not related to the
mecha/scifi/fantasy/action genre, Wotakoi is a show I would not have approached
so quickly or easily. It’s a romance and
nothing blows up (not in the usual action manner anyway). However, besides whispers of its actual
goodness ill admit, the concept of an Otaku based romance did intrigue me. After all, ive heard of love blossoming at
Conventions everywhere with varied results.
How would an Anime capture that?
Would it play it all for laughs or end up taking itself seriously? The answer by the end of the series is more
the former but the latter is very much part of it’s successful formula too.
Contrary to what the promos might say, yes Narumi and
Hirotaka are the “central couple”, I believe that Wotakoi actually does a good
job highlighting both of the two main couplings in the series. There’s Naru and Hirotaka, long time friends
who are giving romance a try cause they aren’t getting lucky anywhere
else. And then there’s Hanako and
Kabakura, high school sweethearts who act more like they want to kill each
other than love each other. Both
couplings learn a great deal bouncing back and forth between the workplace, the
bar, their own homes and beyond. And
both groups never, EVER got boring…that was the wild thing. Much like K-On, Wotakoi could dole on with
this core quartet for hours and I would never get tired of watching them chat
and find ways to poke at their hidden weaknesses. The character writing here is on point and
never runs out of gas…mostly but ill get to that.
But I should talk about Naru and Hirotaka a bit. Naru is the Yaoi fangirl who is the
quintessential definition of Otaku (a lover of all things Manga and
Anime). Hirotaka is an Otaku of a
different guy, having sold his mind, body and soul to Video Games at a very
young age. What initially surprised me
about this pairing was: A. they already knew each other and had a long history
and B. there wasn’t a season long attempt to keep their Otaku sides secret a la
Himouto Umaru Chan. Everything is out in
the open between Naru, Hirotaka and their two friends by the end of the first
episode. Heck by the end of the first
episode, Hirotaka proposes dating Naru after he listens to her rant about her
lack of love life. It defies
expectations and is stronger for it. All
of the subsequent humor and growth comes through natural interactions (in an
Anime style) and genuine emotion.
Despite his quiet and seemingly bored demeanor, Hirotaka is the stronger
between him and Naru. He seems more
willing to admit to Naru how he really feels and often wonders about going the
next step to utter those three little words.
Naru may show this from time to time…but tends to unleash an unexpected
joke to dodge the subject all together, like remembering an Anime title or
suddenly forgetting there was a convention the following day. That’s not to say Naru isn’t
likeable…Hirotaka just impressed me more that’s all.
As for Kabakura and Hanako, their bit never got old
either. If Naru and Hirotaka are trying
to find out how to like each other despite their differences, Kanakura and
Hanako are often times left wondering why they even fell in love to begin with. Their bickering produces some great humor,
particularly with Hana teasing Kabakura about interests he’s yet to reveal to
everyone else. But true to Wotakoi’s
powers of storytelling, it knows when it’s time to let the humor take a break
and allow those two a moment to look and behave like a pair that have been in
love for a long time and will continue to be that way even when one drives the
other crazy (personally Hanako is so hot and whenever she triggers a reaction
out of Kabakura, I could watch her be wicked and evil all day). Pair them up with Naru and Hirotaka as their
guides and guardians and you’ve got one of Anime strongest lead groups since
the boys of Iwatobi High School in Free.
The way Wotakoi plays out reminds me very much of a US
Sitcom not unlike Friends or The Big Bang Theory. In that regard, this series is one I could
definitely recommend to both casual fans who rarely watch Anime and die hard
fans who watch far more than I do. The
show surprisingly explore multiple facets of many fandoms: from being at an
Anime convention, to cosplaying, to joining friends in an MMORPG, and just
being a general nerd talking shop about a Manga or Anime that was just
released. It makes Wotakoi both
educational and open to all watchers.
Kind of like FLCL though, I feel like you’ll be better off as an Otaku
cause you’ll spot most if not all of the references (some definitely flew over
my head but otherwise I was entertained enough I didn’t really care).
As much as I praise it, Wotakoi isn’t perfect, though it
does come damn near close sometimes. The
problems are three fold. First is
Hirotaka’s normal brother Naoya…he never did anything for me. Yeah I get that he’s supposed to be a normal
human being compared to his forever gamer brother, so he should be here as a
representation of Non Otaku…but I just never found a reason to like him like
the rest of the main characters. Heck, I
did think Kabakura was a little stiff in the beginning until his relationship
with Hanako was revealed and he started hanging out with the gang. I guess that’s a nitpick then cause, like I
said, Nao is here for a reason. The
second is Ko, a gamer that Nao meets towards the end of the series…and is
actually a shy girl who looks very boyish (Ouran High School Host Club
inspiration?). Ko was a good fit for Nao
and gradually began to ease him into gaming fandom (it even pissed off Hirotaka
when his brother rolled in on his gaming time).
However, Ko comes in super late in the show and is never given a good
deal to do or grow. What scenes she does
have are great (she’s so shy it’s adorable…and admittedly so is Nao’s
obliviousness to Ko being a girl), I just wish there were more. And that brings us to the third and biggest
problem: The series length. Now, for 11
episodes where the story feels stagnant but develops a lot as well, all of them
are great. But the series just ends for
no reason and without a proper finale.
It looks like Hirotaka will finally confess his feelings for Naru…and
then they just run off to catch an interview with a voice actor before joining
their friends at Nao’s café the next day.
Shows like Pilot Candidate and Silent Mobius both had the ultimate flaw
of ending with the story unfinished in a very frustrating way. The only reason I don’t lump Wotakoi with
those two is because this was a damn good series overall compared to those
train wrecks. That said…are we getting a
Season Two? I hope this show was popular enough to warrant one.
Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku is not a lie of a
title. If Naru, Hirotaka, Hanako and
Kabakura taught us anything it was THAT exactly. Pairing up with your fellow nerd for romance
isn’t as easy or magical as one might think.
However, that’s where the fun and adventure comes into play and there’s
plenty of that in these 11 amazing episodes.
I was never bored, always anxious to see what happened next and
definitely nodded in approval when something did go right for both
couples. And I want more…yeah did I
imagine saying that before watching this series, no way. So yes, I hope Season 2 or some kind of
continuation does come along. Because
love may be hard for Otaku. But if Naru,
Hirotaka, Hanako and Kabakura are any example…it can be fun as hell…and not
impossible.
9/10
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