This show is seriously too friggin’ cute. And way funnier than a lot of the other ‘meta’ shows I’ve dealt with, lately.

Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii
Studio: A-1 Pictures
Genre: Comedy, Romance

I’m actually going to make this one short because there’s not much to say in this. This show continues to be one of my favorites of the Spring season, and with good reason. The characters have excellent chemistry, the jokes continue to land (for me, of course. humor is subjective), and there’s a nice sprinkling of genuinely sweet moments throughout.

Episodes 8 and 9 are especially good for that last part as they surprisingly get a bit more into Hirotaka’s character. Or at least it continued to build on how dedicated he really is to being Narumi’s boyfriend. She’s he’s not the smoothest (even if he does have his moments), but not everyone can be boyfriend-kun. And that’s kind of the point. Even the coolest of them, on paper, is still a huge dork. It makes him likable and relatable. The latter of those factors isn’t one I particularly need in any character. But it’s a plus when it’s there. A nice little bonus.

One thing that’s really surprised me is how much I actually like Hirotaka’s brother. I thought he’d get kind of annoying and hoped he wouldn’t be involved too much. But he isn’t really what I was expecting. It’s the weird cat-smile thing he has going on (Yes, Narumi does it when she goes Chibi, but it seems to be his resting face). Based on that, I figured he’d be really overly energetic, which wouldn’t be annoying to me in another series. But this one is fairly laidback and I just didn’t think it’d fit with everything else.

Luckily that’s not the case. He’s a little peppier than everyone else, but not to extreme hyperactive levels. And he’s a genuinely nice guy. One could argue he’s a bit too nosy about his brother’s love life, but I find it’s more of a general interest in the happiness of those around him, which makes him endearing. He’s really adorably innocent in that regard. Unrealistic? Absolutely. He lacks a lot of the cynicism of the other characters. But it’s part of his charm. I also like how they handle the gag of him being bad at games. Especially after meeting his new buddy in Episode 10. Not a clue where they plan on taking that. Seemed a bit odd to shift over to having an episode focus more on him out of the blue. But it wasn’t a bad experience.

Overall, these episodes were everything I’ve come to expect from this series. They’re witty, charming, and ominously relatable at times. The references never get old and I like seeing how the characters are juuust flawed enough to keep them from being too cartoony and unbelievable. I love this show, and each episode manages to keep up its Super Effective rating. I’d probably say, if anything, Episode 10 tapers off a liiittle bit, but not enough to drop the rating. If you’re more interested in a different kind of romance involving Otaku, there’s always 3D Kanojo: Real Girl.

Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii is streaming on Amazon Prime Video. That’s all I’ve got for ya here. As always, thanks for reading, folks. Keep up the awesome.

Take care,
C. Voyage