Review of Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku

This anime was very refreshing. Its storyline is among the most realistic out there which makes it very relatable and having something this relatable makes you soon grow attached to the characters. It covers many aspects of love being difficult for people with special interests. Finding it, maintaining it and growing through it. I also loved how it portrayed the insecurities of not just individuals in a relationship but also of average people in general- how we try to change ourselves to fit an image that is more acceptable in society. Among the few downsides of this anime are: - The similarities in MC names (thiswas a personal peeve right from the first episode and confused me as a non-Japanese speaker. This is breaking a basal story rule of not having characters of similar sounding/spelt names in close association)
- The boyfriend, girlfriend titles seems to be just a formality at times to provide a connection between two characters even when at times the couple does not behave as so (But you feel this is intentional as the characters don't want to draw unnecessary attention to themselves and honestly it gets better towards the last few episodes)
- It gets better towards the end and has promise for the future. It should have been longer or had a second season.
- The mature relationship is not portrayed quite accurately. There doesn't seem to be enough going on between the pair to have kept them together 'unmarried' for as many years as is implied.
- Its target audience is narrow (enjoyable by those who can relate: various degrees of otakus).

More positives:
- The animation tries to outdo its own sphere and it's not bad.
- The voice actors are perfect for their characters.
- The number of true-to-life moments that occur in this anime is very high.
- The opening and ending songs lyrically are on point for the story and the tunes as well are quite nice- like someone put the effort in.
- There are no tropes being abused here, nor employed. It's just anime characters who are so realistic you just might know someone (or be that someone) who shares their story.
- Being such a light-hearted anime while still being deep (with its various devices: dialogue, backstory, solid characters...) and able to elicit various emotions from you at just the right amounts so that it's not drama should be a huge reason for anyone to watch it (if you're an otaku)
- It is not swarming with aesthetically perfect characters. Most of them are average looking living average lives.
- No melodrama.