Review of Recovery of an MMO Junkie

Net-juu no Susume is a short little romcom series that deals with virtual relationships crossing beyond into real life. My partner and I had fun watching those relationships progress, although we did expect a bit more depth considering the characters are working adults and not awkward teenagers. As far as the story and characters go, it's pretty simple. The female main character, Morioka Moriko, quit her job and is now a NEET. It bothers me that it never is explained why she does this aside from the fact that her job was stressful. It is simply the set-up for the series and nothing more and that'sdisappointing. Moriko's transition from being a loner to someone with virtual friends and then even a real life love interest, namely office worker Sakurai Yuuta, however, is executed well enough. I mean, it's forced by happy coincidences and the efforts of Sakurai's best friend Koiwai Homare who tries his best to set them up together, but at least it's funny.

I found the characters to both be overly shy and awkward for people their age. Their interactions with one another aren't quite as bad as some other series where the main characters indeed are young and inexperienced teenagers, but still enough to keep the tone very lighthearted. I had frankly hoped for some more decisive and mature decisions on both sides, but it is what it is. All in all, it was a passable story and execution and the way everything was presented kept the pace going. The series is a good length for what it does and you do want to keep watching.

The artwork and animation are very low-budget. You can tell what they decided to spend money on, namely the main characters both in real life and in-game, while the rest such as backgrounds, enemy monsters and location shots are as vague as can be. Interestingly, shots of the computer and keyboard are actually quite good. It works to tell the story it wants to tell and especially Moriko's character design is quite cute, but it really isn't a pretty series overall.

Neither sound nor music were particularly noteworthy aside from one background song. Most songs kinda went in one ear and out the other but helped set the mood, nonetheless.

My partner and I watched the series an episode a day during dinnertime and enjoyed it. It was lighthearted and fun and nice for a change to see adult characters.