Review of Recovery of an MMO Junkie

The fact that i enjoyed this series is a testament to how modern anime has numbed all of our brains and lowered our standards to levels that we would've never thought possible. This is an ultra-safe "story" where minuscule events are blown out of proportion to make it seem like things are happening, but truly there is almost no development. Any Disney movie will achieve more in 15 minutes than this series in 3 hours. It will pretty much never surprise you. Everything just follows the path of least resistance, free of any twist or conflict, and you are leftwith a non-ending, in typical nu-anime fashion. Cause hey, maybe this show will get popular and we can milk it for another season right? Can't just end it cleanly, there is money to be made.

So why do you watch it? Because it does MMOs properly. It's the only anime that does MMOs properly. It doesn't try to follow this insane fad that these games are riveting adventures packed with action that the players are completely immersed in. No, Net-juu understands what MMOs are all about. Mundane repetitive tasks, chatrooming, pseudo-romances, outfit whoring, cash shop whales, crafting, emojis, holding on to a max level guild, etc. It brought me right back to my teenage Ragnarok Online days. The way people play the game and what it represents to them is a very loyal portrayal of how it happens in real life. The only difference is that the players are adults, who would probably not behave like flustered teens the way they do in this anime. In general, this made the viewing very comfy and nostalgic, even though i was pretty far from the edge of my seat.

The female lead sucks. She has absolutely nothing going for her, in my opinion. Unattractive with those silly white pupils, personality boring like a slab of concrete, a non-existent backstory and no explanation on how she can support herself with no income (as is usual for these unicorn-like NEET creatures they have in Nipland). The other characters are, while not original or impressive, fairly likable. Lily is very very cute with one of the sweetest voices that i hope to hear more in future animes.

Art and animation are mediocre, there is very little eye candy in here. Occasionally it succeeds at being funny and cracking a smile out of you.

All around mediocre but endurable anime, but i would only recommend it if you've spent a lot of time playing MMOs and have diverse and cherished memories of them.