Review of Recovery of an MMO Junkie

MMO Junkie is one big build-up to a finale which is totally unsatisfying. Right off the bat, an impending “reveal” is set up that will be used as the fuel for all of the dramatic tension of the series. The reveal consists of the main characters realizing that they are actually long-time friends in an online game – which will undoubtedly result in the beginning of a romantic relationship. The problem is that the reveal is held off until so late into the story that there is no time to explore the aftermath, and that it’s dealt with in the most juvenile and unrealistic waypossible.

The first half of the show sets up a nice little opening to a story: Morioka has quit her job due to anxiety and spends her days playing an MMO when she begins bonding with someone in-game, only to meet that person in real life – unbeknownst to her. They take an interest in each other in the real world, but are too shy and dependent on gaming to advance their relationship. With that premise established, all that’s left to do is reveal their identities and watch as they develop as a couple and overcome their issues in life. Instead, the reveal occurs at the very end of the series, amidst a bunch of forced misunderstandings and delays, so that nothing really happens until literally the final seconds of the last episode.

This is disappointing for a number of reasons; for one, it’s all build-up and no payoff – we don’t get to see how the characters are affected by this reveal. For another, none of the major problems affecting the characters are resolved: Morioka’s crippling anxiety, addiction to gaming, lack of a job, and the various problems arising from a relationship between socially-deficient gaming addicts who hardly know eachother are completely swept under the rug.

That’s what makes the show frustratingly and offensively simple – the audience is expected to believe that love literally solves everything. Two characters love eachother, therefore there’s no need to deal with any of their problems on-screen because the audience just knows it will all fix itself somehow. This is juvenile fantasy to the extreme and an insulting finish to a story that was promising so much more.

Everything else in the story is left untouched after 6 episodes; the videogame itself, the numerous side-characters, and Morioka’s future are just kind of forgotten and never explored again. What should have been a 15-minute scene in the middle of series instead consumes the entire latter half by spending 2 hours showing Morioka idly sitting around while she builds up the courage to do the thing that ends the show.

Otherwise, the writing is generally mediocre; the whole premise is built off of impossible coincidences and stereotypes played completely straight. It's like the writer knows how to set up a good story but has no idea how to finish it, and hasn't had a relationship since the fifth grade. The fact that the characters are well into adulthood makes their childish behavior that much harder to stomach