Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii: After Thoughts

Wotaku ni koi wa Muzukashii was one of the first mangas I read since I returned to the manga world. Its manga was so easy to read and was also really fun. When I heard the news of it getting an adaptation, I was really ecstatic. I always wanted this manga to get famous cuz it deserves it.

As an avid manga reader of this series, I admit, I was abit worried. I freakin’ love this series and I’m scared that its adaptation would be bad. Thank God, so many people loved this series.

What got me invested to this series first was the story. Almost all the slice-of-life animes that involves otaku protagonists, either get an isekai story or their daily life as an high schooler. In this series, we actually get a story that focus on working adults who happens to be hardcore otakus, and thats new and really really interesting. Seeing them interacting and discussing otaku stuff got me wishing I would experience those stuff too soon. The lifestyle the characters have in the series is what I desire to have in the future.

It wasn’t just the story that made this series amazing, its also about how the studio adapted the manga, the timing of the jokes, sprinkle of romance, and its consistent pacing. This series was originally a web manga. The arrangement of the story in the manga was abit all over the place, but still everything is connected. In the anime, they were able to straighten out all the subplots in the manga that was shuffled and produced a coherent storyline, that’s why it had consistent pacing. Each subplot wasn’t wasted and there is no fillers in it. The timing of the comedic moments and romance was also on point. The studio properly adapted them. I love it.

Another reason that made me love this series was the amazing cast. I adored all of them since the manga, but I love them more now in the anime. Narumi Momose was the first one to be introduced, was the hardcore otaku who tries to fit in with the norm. I totally understand her reasoning as to why she tries to fit in with the norm. It’s understandable, that’s why seeing her unleash her ‘otaku-ness’ the moment she knew she wasn’t the only otaku in her workplace gave me a smile on my face. Its so adorable. Hirotaka Nifuji was in a way, opposite of Narumi. He openly shows he loves gaming by always playing his twitch and he doesn’t try to fit in. Their interactions and clashed personalities made them one of the cutest couple I had ever shipped on in my entire life. The anime doesn’t only revolves around them as the other lovebirds that is also cute and adorable in this show were Hanako Koanagi and Tarou Kabakura. Kanako is a cosplayer and a huge BL fan (ah! Narumi is also a BL fan), while Tarou is a yuri and shoujo manga fan. Totally opposites in interests, but are mature enough to compromise with each other.

Uuuggghhhh, their relationship is top tier bruh.

Cuz of these diverse casts, they made the whole series really enjoyable to watch. Their chemistry with each other is so casual and natural, its not hard for viewers to get sucked in into their conversations. I can’t help but smile on their antics and laugh at their funny moments. You can really feel that their relationships with each other are genuine and real. It makes me jealous. LOL. Its not just that, their development too is amazing. Its not really in your face, but their growth through out the series was subtle but notable. Its really nice to watch.

Before I moved on to the next reason, I want to point out first the thing that amplified the awesomeness of the main characters. Those are the voice actors and actresses of the main characters. They brought the characters to life in a way that exceeded my expectations. The synergy between the voices and the personality of the characters were through the roof, it made my watching of the series really amazing. I specifically love how Sawashiro Miyuki handled Hanako’s character. She was so on point, I actually dropped my mouth watching and listening to her voice. Damn. Everyone did so well, I actually searched their profiles on the internet. I’m definitely going to look out and invest more time knowing them. Ooohoohohohoho.

Now for the art & animation, the character designs and overall color palette of the series were similar to the manga. The background art were well animated too. The whole series wasn’t really bright or too dark, rather its tones reflects the overall mood of the series. Its here in the animation where we have some problems. The first episode was really fantastic. We get to see first hand the amazingly animated OP, then the fluid and consistent animation all through out the episode…but all except the OP got thrown out of the window. Episode 2 onwards, there was alot of stiff and poor animation. It was abit disappointing. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t really really bad, it wasn’t consistent that’s all. With the amazing animation in the OP, you would expect alot in the story animation, but it didn’t delivered. Still, the overall enjoyment you feel watching the whole series doesn’t fade so…all is good.

Now that I opened the negative side of the series, I’ll just continue on. The series is not perfect as I want it to be. Other than the animation, another negative remark I could give in the series would be the lack of or weak supporting casts. Even in the manga, this was also a problem. I do like it that the manga focused only on the main characters, but it would be nice if we get to meet more peepz to keep things interesting. Insert Nao & Kou. Nao is okay. We get to know him better all through out the series as he was introduced in the early half of the series. He’s really adorable and innocent, he needs to be protected. LOL. Kou, on the other hand, was introduced near the end of the series. Even on the manga, she’s also introduced really really late. It’s a bummer. I want to know more about her. The manga is still ongoing so I know she’ll get flesh out soon. For the anime side, it’s a shame that we could see more of her. I do hope they’ll be season 2 of the series so that we could get more of her.

Overall, this series is a must watch for me. It has a unique and interesting premise, even non-romance slice-of-life anime fans would definitely enjoy. If you move past the negative remarks I shared then this anime is all worth the watch.

That is all for now.
Thanks for reading!!