Review of Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku

When I picked up Wotakoi this season, I didn't expect much. It appeared to be just another rom-com to add to the old "completed" list. To my surprise, however, Wotakoi ended up flooring me for one, extremely simple reason: it made me laugh. I'm not talking about the amused exhale out of the nose that many forms of comedic entertainment usually elicit, but laugh out loud kind of amusement. In and of itself, that's an impressive feat. Wotakoi joins the company of shows like Konosuba and Inferno Cop, to name a couple, that have really made me laugh like that. Now, you'd have to look fairlyhard to find something that Wotakoi does specially or differently from other rom-coms, besides just doing it better than most. The main place Wotakoi excels is in its lack of dependence on relationship drama. Not once does it hang on the tried and true romantic tension for longer than a single episode, which is extremely refreshing for a genre that seems to be synonymous with drama fueled by miscommunication, jealousy, etc. That isn't to say that Wotakoi never uses such tactics, but the fact that it doesn't use them as crutches makes Wotakoi a cut above the rest.

There are other positives to Wotakoi, of course, like its fantastically groovy opening, its small cast of lovable characters, each with very distinctive personalities and tastes, and, strangely enough, its hand animation. I'm not joking, Wotakoi's hand animation may be the best I've ever seen in any form of animation. Just watch the opening and pay attention to the character's hands. It's mindbogglingly good.

That being said, Wotakoi isn't exactly the perfect anime. I mean, it's only 11 episodes. Who decided that was a good idea? More seriously, if you don't understand the references that Wotakoi makes, you may have a hard time appreciating some of the humor involved, which can detract from Wotakoi's accessibility.

To be honest, there aren't many negatives to speak of regarding Wotakoi. It just won't be for everyone. Not everyone wants to watch a romantic comedy with far more comedy and slice of life than actual romance. And that's okay. Wotakoi can inhabit the nerdy rom-com niche and safely say that it does it best.