Review of Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku
"Wotakoi: Love Is Hard For Otaku" is a cutesy, somewhat random comedy-romance anime based on a group of adults trying to make their way in a tragic love life (meanwhile being an Otaku, whether it be game or anime). The whole gist of these comedic skits is to show what it'd be like to be haunted by your interests in the dating world, which if you think about it it's somewhat relatable. For an anime based upon this culture, I'd say it seals the deal quite perfectly and in turn, allows us to resonate within it. However, as someone who mainly watches romance anime, I'dlike to express that my expectations for this show were not met.
The genres included in this anime, the main ones being romance and comedy, were extremely lacking. I found myself watching to find out where the story would go rather than watching because it was funny or remotely included said genres. I found the punchlines landed in some instances, then completely failed in others. To top it off, the amount of romance increased and decreased like a rollercoaster throughout the anime and even anti-climaxed when it would have fitted best.
The characters would most likely be my favourite part of the show, as I was able to become excited at the appearance of a favourite character. Even though the anime was short, I can say that the characters stuck with me and made me wonder how they continued within the manga. Nevertheless, I disliked how the character's relationships developed more than the actual characters did. I found it being a repetitive quality that each character would have a singular moment of development, then immediately snap back to their previous state. It also became evident that character tropes were left unfinished or discontinued by the end of the anime.
The soundtrack in this anime would have to be the least memorable part for me. When inquiring about this factor, I genuinely had to pull up the soundtrack and listen to it to give a decent outlook. From what I listened to, the music wasn't necessarily terrible but wasn't exactly fitting in the scenes it was used. Alongside this, for the life of me, I could not stand the small pieces of narration and the little noise that came along with it. It was incredibly irritating and jarred me every time it happened. Although, the opening for this anime is rather enjoyable and left my friends and I humming it for hours on end.
Overall, would I recommend this to a friend? Unlikely, to be honest. While it was entertaining in moments, it didn't have the consistency a rom-com needs to stay afloat. This is only something I'd recommend to watch if there was nothing else.