Why not just take turns?
— Oh hey, we finally get an MMORPG-inspired episode. I was wondering when that would happen. I’m just hoping for some good jokes. One of Wotakoi’s primary problems is that it often just relies on giving its audience a nerdy reference and doing nothing more. “Heh, only nerds would get this” is not enough to make a show entertaining.
— I mean, if you really wanna remain true to MMOs, why are we watching Taro pick these gold coins up one-by-one? They should just magically appear in his inventory. At the very least, most games would just have him walk into the coins in order to “pick them up.”
— Speaking of MMOs, I tried recently to get back into Final Fantasy XIV, but I don’t seem to have it in me anymore. I unlocked Red Mage, stared at the various guides on how to play the job, then signed off. I pretty much bought a time card just to log in and keep my house from being auto-demolished. Look, I have precious memories to maintain, okay?
— Feels like Taro has a crush on Narumi, which looks bad when you consider how bad of a boyfriend he is. I don’t think he would ever betray his best bud, but it’s not about that. I just don’t think he treats Hanako very well. As for Narumi, I just think she’s kinda insensitive.
— Despite Taro’s expectations, Narumi is actually playing an assassin… a pink-clad assassin. On the other hand, he’s a generic swordsman. Personally, I tend to play ranged classes in MMOs, because I’m lazy and they tend to be rather easy compared to the melee classes.
— This is what I’m talking about. She’s going nuts on a cute mob just because she can… but where’s the joke?
— Considering how Hanako likes to cosplay as bishies, I’m surprised her in-game avatar isn’t also a dude. Anime characters seem to almost always stick to their actual gender when they play MMOs, huh? On the other hand, people genderbend all the time in real life.
— Eh, I could never find anything in chibi-form to be sexy.
— Both Hanako and Narumi’s avatars look equally cute to me, but it’s interesting how Taro comments on whether or not her outfit was bought with real world money.
— Hirotaka doesn’t like the fact that online games cater t.o, well, social interactions. But I mean, he doesn’t have to play with other people. He can just play with his girlfriend. Up until the day that I quit, I played FFXIV with my ex and my ex only.
— But I agree… if you have no one to play with, MMORPGs are generally terrible games. Don’t even get me started on their nonexistent stories…
— Hirotaka is willing to play MMOs with Narumi, but she assumes it’s just because he’s a game otaku. Like I said, she seems insensitive. Sure, she’s not doing it on purpose, but eh…
— Honestly, she and Taro aren’t very high on my list.
— See, Taro doesn’t act like an actual MMO player, and in general, anime characters never do. They always act as if MMOs are the same thing as real life. Unless you’re on a role-playing server, hardly anyone stays in character. There’s no reason to be afraid of dying (assuming you’re not playing a game with severe penalties for death). Why would you ever run away from a strong mob? Who cares? You just respawn and spend a few minutes at most walking back to your original location.
— God, I remember when dying meant lost EXP, so you could actually delevel. You could even end up naked, because deleveling meant you could no longer wear your current equipment. As an adult with a full-time job, fuck those games.
— It’s also weird to be level sixty something, and nevertheless tell your girlfriend how to play her class. Like what did he think she was gonna do? Use magic from the front?
— Hirotaka’s avatar finally shows up in a joke costume. Unfortunately, it’s being controlled by Nao, who’s absolutely terrible at video games.
— It’s interesting how Hirotaka has the highest level character even though he supposedly doesn’t like MMOs. Hmm.
— Finally, Hirotaka returns and looks way too cool for his own good. He can also apparently defeat the big, terrible dragon with one shot.
— Nao is such a little brother. He’s just sitting off to the side, swaying back and forth. This is probably the most accurate thing about this week’s episode.
— In the second half of the episode, the boys and girls split up. The girls are on their own, but the boys have to deal with some juniors.
— At first, it looks like Narumi and Hanako are having a nice night out, but the mood quickly turns sour. They tend to like the same anime characters, but never the same relationship pairing. See, the joke here (haha…) is that they support different ships, and you know how stupid otakus can be about these meaningless trivialities.
— Personally, I almost always go for the canon pairing… oddly enough, this show is one of the exceptions.
— As for the boys, the juniors don’t have the balls to tell Taro that he often looks like an asshole. Hirotaka isn’t scared, though!
— Eventually, the juniors start talking about Narumi. They don’t seem to realize that Hirotaka is already dating the girl, but I guess I can sorta understand why it’s a secret. After all, they’re coworkers. If I was dating a coworker, I wouldn’t necessarily announce it at the top of a mountain tops. After all, HR would probably call me in and ask me to sign some sort of waiver. Nevertheless, the idea that I have to hide the relationship also makes me uneasy. I guess I could go either way…
— Plus, those two don’t really act like a couple even outside of work. Unfortunately, Hirotaka is so deprived of affection that he will take any table scraps that he can get. She recently (and reluctantly) admitted to another coworker that she had spent her Christmas with her boyfriend. As you can expect, this is enough to make Hirotaka happy. Ah well, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
— Taro isn’t spared either when the juniors eventually start talking about Hanako and her large breasts. They don’t know that he’s dating her either. Honestly, I’d have a hard time keeping my mouth shut. I’d be yelling at those two if I was in Taro’s shoes. Even if I wasn’t dating Hanako, you don’t talk about your coworker’s body.
— Apparently, Hirotaka is willing to talk to Narumi about her yaoi manga, and that’s still not enough for the girl.
— And now they’re arguing about who gets to be on top. Oh boy.
— Geez… this is why I don’t like Narumi and Hirotaka as a couple. I just think people deserve to be with someone who is excited about them. And likewise, people deserve to be with someone whom they are excited about.
— Taro eventually tells his juniors off, but eh… his argument is more that they shouldn’t talk about taken girls like that.
— Meanwhile, the debate rages on for the ladies. They’re even going at it so loudly that the entire restaurant can hear them. In my opinion, the seme/uke dynamic is horribly stale and kinda rapey at times.
— In the end, the girls bump into the boys, but they act like strangers so that the juniors don’t realize anything. Again, I’m ambivalent about this.
— Nao apparently overheard the girls, but he’s so clueless about boy love stuff, he thought they were just bragging about their boyfriends. God, he’s so innocent.