Review of Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku

I feel like there was so much flying by through this anime without anything specific ever happening, and I don't know how to write a review for something like that. A 7 is sort of the best I could give it because of how fragmented this series was, even though there were a few parts that I really liked. Much like the anime itself, my opinions about it are all over the place, so let's try and figure out what I think of it: Starting with the bad here, the pacing was so weird. I haven't read the manga, but if this adaptation is faithful, Igather that it isn't a linear story that's being told but rather smaller stories with the connecting factor being the romance. That kind of structure doesn't really sit well with me because there's never a place to rest and enjoy the series. It feels far too scattered, even if the goal wasn't to create a story but simply show the lives of these characters. But that's the thing: whether it was supposed to be one story or something closer to Kimi to Boku, it didn't succeed in either. It pulled enough of the romance's plot points forward to make me crave a fleshed out story, so it came out feeling choppy instead of episodic. Also choppy was the humor. There were times it worked nicely, but only when it was more traditional anime humor; anything that felt Wotakoi-specific was actually kind of grating to listen to.

Speaking of the romance, I don't think I'd agree with the harshest reviews of this anime that say it isn't a romance at all; it definitely is, but it's just not like every other romance anime where the characters take forever to realize they're in love and then take forever to get together. The romance in Wotakoi is almost background noise for how little it's addressed, though it does also have a few moments where it's directly addressed. But those moments aren't the ones that get carried forward. I feel like there were direct statements of a certain character's feelings, like, multiple times throughout this season, and those statements never got addressed. So, even though the romance is there throughout the season, the relationship development of the main couple is so inconsistent it makes it annoying to be invested in them.

But there are a few charming points about Wotakoi that kept me watching. The characters, for one thing, got a lot better over time. Again, the humorous aspects were often hit or miss--though I found that that didn't apply to ever character; I felt the boys were much more consistently funny than the girls, which I think is due to the girls' characterization being quite over-the-top and sporadic--but when they hit, they made the most of the characters and the moment itself. The seriousness of the anime increased the longer it went on, which balanced it a lot better and left me satisfied at the end of episodes more often. Adding onto that, when there was actually a proper attempt at romance made, it was done super well. Usually the build-up to them was effective, though I'd say the way the plot used humor to come out of them didn't always work. But it's those moments that makes me want to continue this story in the manga, even if I could give-or-take the rest of the series elements.

At the end of the day, I did end up being fond of these characters and how they are when they're around each other, but the main character was far too flat for her to stick out as especially important (which is why I got so excited when she was actually serious in a scene), and the characters weren't quite enough to carry the series for me. Still, it's a decent enough watch if you just want something cute to pass the time with. I don't know if I'll brave the manga or not, but either way, at least I've got this anime off of my PTW list.