ヲタクに恋は難しい

WOTAKU NI KOI WA MUZUKASHII

ANIME

STATUS
COMPLETE
EPISODES
11
RELEASE
June 22, 2018
LENGTH
23 min

DESCRIPTION

Having slept through all four of her alarms, the energetic Narumi Momose finds herself running late for her first day of work at a new office. As she races to catch her train, she makes a promise to herself that none of her coworkers will find out about her dark secret: that she is an otaku and a fujoshi. Her plan goes instantly awry, though, when she runs into Hirotaka Nifuji, an old friend from middle school. Although she tries to keep her secret by inviting him out for drinks after work, her cover is blown when he casually asks her whether or not she will be attending the upcoming Summer Comiket. Luckily for her, the only witnesses—Hanako Koyanagi and Tarou Kabakura—are otaku as well.

Later that night, the pair go out for drinks so that they can catch up after all the years apart. After Narumi complains about her previous boyfriend breaking up with her because he refused to date a fujoshi, Hirotaka suggests that she try dating a fellow otaku, specifically himself. He makes a solemn promise to always be there for her, to support her, and to help her farm for rare drops in Monster Hunter. Blown away by the proposal, Narumi agrees immediately. Thus the two otaku start dating, and their adorably awkward romance begins.

(Source: MAL Rewrite)

CAST

Hirotaka Nifuji
Kento Itou
Hanako Koyanagi
Miyuki Sawashiro
Narumi Momose
Arisa Date
Tarou Kabakura
Tomokazu Sugita
Naoya Nifuji
Yuuki Kaji
Kou Sakuragi
Aoi Yuuki
Yoshiki Ichijou
Kenji Akabane
Kensuke Mitsui
Nobuhiko Okamoto
Chiba
Rika Nagae
Aiba
Taku Yashiro
Baba
Takuma Terashima
Doumoto
Shouto Kashii

EPISODES

Dubbed

| | |

Not available on crunchyroll

RELATED TO WOTAKU NI KOI WA MUZUKASHII

Cover Art for Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii

MANGA ComedyWotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii

Cover Art for Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii OVA

OVA ComedyWotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii OVA

REVIEWS

pent
70/100
A cute and realistic look at how 20-something year old nerds make friends in the workplace.
I don't think I'm alone in the fact that one glance at the title of this anime sets off a lot of red flags. It seems like it's going to be another creepy, one-sided, wish fulfillment fantasy for otakus who can't get a girlfriend. You know what I'm talking about.

Thankfully, it doesn't even hint to go in that direction. This anime is about four friends, and all of them are nerds.

Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii was written for nerds, and the writers know their target audience well. Specially 20-something year old nerds who have worked in an interactive workplace. Any working class nerd can probably relate to this: trying to find nerdy friends at work without being too obvious about it, with the issue of other nerds doing the same thing. You want to relate to others about your passions, but you also don't want to make yourself out to be the office weirdo.

Although this is a romance between two of the characters, it's really about a group of four nerdy coworkers and what they do when they hang out together. The show isn't set over any specific period of time, it just shows times when they hang out.

It's a cute show, and definitely worth a watch. There's really not much to it, but it's cute.

One of the best aspects of this show is that it doesn't explain anything. It assumes you are a nerd if you're watching this, and doesn't explain any of the nerdy references, or what they're doing, so I wouldn't recommend this if you're not into gaming, anime, manga, or whatever. The fact that you're reading this review means that you're most likely at least one half the target audience. Congratulations!

Really, my only gripe is that when I say this anime is about these four friends, I mean that there's barely even other humans in this universe. The world feels hollow, as episodes exclusively show times they hang out together. They do not interact with other people, which would have been a great opportunity to flesh them out and see how they interact with acquaintances who aren't nerds or friends.

Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii isn't the best anime out there, but if you're apart of its target audience (20-something year old working class nerds), I implore you to at least give it a shot. It definitely reminded me of how I met my work friends and got a few laughs out of me. The characters seem more realistic than most characters in this genre, which surprised me.
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isahbellah
100/100
One of the best romcoms and the best new anime of this season. Plus, it's SO relatable!!
Ok ok, maybe I'm biased. But let me start my review by saying this: I don't give away 10 stars so easily. I'm actually very picky. Most of my 10s are from a few shows from my childhood (nostalgia is a thing that affects all of us, don't you deny it!) and some are from shows that I actually, legitimately, truly loved.

And boy oh boy, did I reeeeaaaally love Wotakoi.

While it doesn't exactly have a linear plot (I guess it follows more of a "slice of life episodic" formula), the cast more than makes up for it. We have a fujoshi that doesn't want her secret to come out to normies, a hardcore gamer who doesn't care what other people think of him 'cause he's pretty much antisocial, a cosplayer who's also a fujoshi and who mostly cosplays as male characters and a mild otaku who's not that into the weird spectrum of "otakuness" [except for lolis and yuri. he's VERY MUCH into that.]

And those are just the 4 main characters, I could spoil a bit and talk about the others but I'll let you watch it and meet them yourselves instead ;)

So. These four work together in a firm and become really close friends and THAT'S where the story really begins. Two of them were already dating but the other two start dating at the beginning of the story and it's really cute and funny to compare these two couples and see how different their dynamics is.

This anime deals with the awkwardness of being an otaku and trying to date with someone who is/isn't a part of your circle of interest. It deals with the friendships that you can find if only you open up a little bit and show other people your interests and see what their interests are like, too. It deals with light themes ("haha wouldn't it be funny if our boyfriends fucked each other? BUT MY BOYFRIEND IS TOTALLY A TOP! YOURS IS A BOTTOM!") and dark themes ("hmm i think i'm gonna get my ears pierced just so I can get the attention of my childhood friend who I have this major crush on"). And so on...

True, it does deliver more comedy than romance. If you're looking for kissing, romantic confessions and such... hmmm... maybe this isn't exactly the anime for you. But it will definitely melt your heart and put a smile on your face, for sure.

Another downside is that it's so SHORT. Only 11 episodes, 23 minutes each. But even so, I think it's a sweet, short ride that's worth getting on.
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Yas
94/100
The best and most unique adult otaku romance you'll ever see
I picked up Wotaku ni koi wa Muzukashii along with 3D Kanojo together back when the show first aired and expected both to be about the same, I gave the former an 8 and the latter a 7 if my memory doesn't fail me, and from then on even though both featured otaku (now it's obvious that 3D Kanojo only has one while Wotakoi has it's entire casts as the same but I picked it up together for the same reason) it became clear as day which was fresh garbage and which was the anime that made me dance. Looking at the rating I think you know what show turned out to be the one that made me dance, yes. This is my review of Wotaku ni koi wa Muzukashii, ikuze!!! Original Review Published on June 21, 2018 on MAL.

Let's start with some backstory. My last seasonal romance watch was in Summer of 2017, almost exactly three seasons ago, which is shocking because if you know me, I love romance and always strive to watch it in some way or the other but in terms of seasonals I felt tired and stopped focusing on the genre. To reasons obvious to romance fans I felt Spring would be the best season for a romance fan to return to the seasonal genre and found a lot of romance anime to watch, but none, absolutely none made me fall over them as much as I fell over Wotaku ni koi wa Muzukashii. Not because it's cute, but because it's unique, it's fun, and of course, it's got everything else going for it.

I mean, look at it's competition this season (or even the last), what romance anime did we have? Tada-kun started strong but suffered with it's cliche problem shortly after, FranXX continues to be complete garbage in the romance category (and dare I say it every other category), the anime I formerly mentioned, 3D Kanojo almost immediately disappointed me with it's second episode, Grancrest had the same FranXX situation, while Beatless could be considered one slot better than the two mentioned. Leaving us with two romance anime this season that continued to be adored by me, Wotaku ni koi wa Muzukashii and Akkun To Kanojo. The latter was and still is an enjoyable show but being a short, it can't compare to Wotakoi in the same breath. Why? Read on!

First off, it's a fantastic slice of life anime. Wotakoi is how you make a Slice of Life Romance work and I can't find any other examples that bettered it till Winter 2017 (when I first started seasonals) and overall I'm sure it'll rank up in my top 5. Yet again you ask why? Because it knows how to captivate it's watchers with warmth. This brings us to the question, why do we watch romance anime? Many would say that it's because it brings them warmth, and surprise, surprise, Wotakoi gives you that. A cute, warm and fuzzy slice of life anime you can cosy up to whether you're single or with your partner. Even though it's centered on Otakus, it's biggest feature is that there's something for everyone.

Everyone will find something in the anime worth relating to and laughing at, and I'm just talking about the normies here, if you're a mild anime watcher or a hardcore one, both parties will find lots and lots to laugh at and references to gloss over with this anime. Be it a Dragon Quest reference, a Final Fantasy reference, a Saekano reference, etc etc. There's lots to list and I don't have enough time to list them all for we must move on to the next best part. The soundtrack. I don't think I need to tell you how popular the Opening is especially with it's dance and there's been countless videos on the Tube (some of which were taken down because Sony Music) showing viewers how the dance is done or how they reacted to this marvelous choreography. And that's not to mention the ED as well. Fantastic, cosy and just a joy to watch, it's an excellent example of a testament to the anime.

And we've barely scratched the surface. What else makes the anime so fun? The biggest reason why? THE CHARACTERS! I haven't seen such vibrant AND relatable characters in an anime in a very long time and this was just fabulous. I mean, it makes me wanna write on every character. First off, we didn't get one pairup, we got TWO. Then the interactions, motivations, situations, all made for a really cute yet not over the top anime. It didn't overstep its bounds yet created an environment that only Wotakoi could create and excel in. This isn't a Utopia, this is real life, and the real life says Wotakoi is excellent. Speaking of real life, the wonderful staff who worked on this anime. Having renowned VAs like Sawashiro Miyuki and the legendary Sugita Tomokazu himself, this anime wasn't at all short of talent, and the others too did brilliantly. I never for once felt like the voice actors did a bad job, or that the directing or scripting was bad in any way.

I might be sounding like I'm fanboying like crazy but let's just say Wotakoi IS that kind of show. It makes you warm and you're left beaming with happiness. Definitely something I'd call a feel-good show. Oh and, another reason why the anime is so amazing? It's got adults. Not high school kids as the main characters and that gives a LOT of room for different scenarios and even though our lovely cast might seem childish, in the first place, being an otaku is a throwback to childhood anyway. And second, we don't have any blushing game of random meetups and random kisses and random blushes and random etc like most high school anime (I already triggered the FranXX fanboys, don't want another group to come after me so I won't give examples now) because from the very first episode itself, everyone is dating. Yes. You read that right. They're dating from the first episode itself and they're adults and they're Otakus. Reasons enough for why it's so fantastic?

Still not convinced? How about I tell you that in spite of having such a unique setup, it handles it excellently? Convinced? I sure do hope you are, because I still have more to say. I haven't even gone to the characters in detail yet! Hirotaka might seem like your dense that you see in most high school romance but NO. Do not underestimate him because he is sharp. I mean, the ending of episode 1 changed my view of him from the get go. Surprised? I was too! He continued to be brilliant like the rest of the cast. Narumi on the other hand is fortunately not a flat female character (I just love making that pun) as we see in some romance anime and much like Hirotaka, is just a joy to watch. She's cute, relatable, and is a perfect matchup for Hirotaka. Then we got the polar opposites, Hana-chan and Gintoki- I mean Bakaku- I mean Kabakura. Both were the most loveable lovebirds and sworn enemies, which was a sharp contrast to Hirotaka and Narumi and offered an excellent balance to the aforementioned pair. Though MAL marked them as Supporting Characters they're very much main characters as well since they're a main focus of the anime too! And that's not to mention the other supporting cast too, they're cute too and the biggest part is that even though they're a supporting cast, the brief moments they feature in were all relatable and enjoyable in their own regard and this was me trying my hardest to describe how lovable the cast is, I can't find the words to describe what I feel to the exact point but this should serve as a somewhat great substitute.

STILL NOT CONVINCED? Then I can bring up the last of my cards, the artstyle. Many scorned and scoffed at the name of the studio when they first saw it's synopsis since it was made by A-1 Pictures. A studio that is designed for freelancers. What many realised later was that fortunately this was one of those “once in a blue baboon” situations where they turned out to be good, and I'm talking from the perspective of people who don't like A-1 but are objective critics. Me? Well, much like the other fans, I just enjoyed this. I have liked A-1’s many other works before in particular the Working! series and this just adds on to the fun.
Coming back to the topic, it's artstyle was unique, vibrant, cheerful and not to mention adorable. There was just that some thing about it that made it such a joy to look at, whether you're watching it in 1080p, 720p, a CR free subscriber, or the 144p master race (is the show even available in this resolution? Maybe in the Tube). Needless to say it's artstyle is YET another plus point the anime had.

It's very very tough to find negatives in this anime and the ones I found were that perhaps it's comedy didn't hit me every single time, though it did usually, I perhaps laughed at least once every episode and just longed for the next week’s episode to come out already and when it did, oh the joy I had.

Overall, I don't think I need to point this out, but Wotaku ni koi wa Muzukashii is a romance anime that you definitely must watch if you're a fan of the genre or are looking for that fun Slice of Life anime to entertain and cosy up to. I wouldn't be surprised at all if this is my pick for Anime of the Year or to the extreme minimum, Romance/SoL of the Year. Romance? Yes. Otaku stuff? Yes, but that isn't too deep for someone to get bored with. End product? Something great that anyone and everyone can watch and enjoy! Yes. Even normies :P

You and I might not see eye to eye on the anime, but I'm sure you'll leave the anime with a smile, that is, if you love watching fun shows. Much like with everyone, you'll definitely find out that you struck a chord with a lot of the things in the anime. I mean, we're all Otakus aren't we?

P.S: That last episode man. Incorporated everything that was great in the previous episodes and brought out the best from them to make for a fantastic end to a fantastic anime. If I were to describe Wotakoi in one word, it would ironically be that it's inclusive despite it's otaku centered focus. Hirotaka GO!

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