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This Week in Anime - Why is Recovery of an MMO Junkie So Relatable?


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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23665
PostPosted: Tue Oct 24, 2017 2:15 pm Reply with quote
I agree - I love the fact the protagonist is a woman in her 30s. I hope the show does well so that it sparks a move towards stories with adult main characters.
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Greed1914



Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 4410
PostPosted: Tue Oct 24, 2017 2:34 pm Reply with quote
I'm definitely digging that there have been shows about adults recently. I'm counting Sakura Quest and New Game in that regard, and probably Re-Life, too.
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relyat08



Joined: 20 Mar 2013
Posts: 4125
Location: Northern Virginia
PostPosted: Tue Oct 24, 2017 2:42 pm Reply with quote
I feel like they are setting up just one too many unnecessary coincidences with the suggestion that spoiler[they probably played games together as kids a long time ago]. For the most part, all of the coincidences work to build a cute, but slightly cheesy romance, but we already have spoiler[1. randomly run into each other at a corner 2. happen to play the same game and 3. work for the same company]. I'm genuinely fine with these 3, but throwing in that latest twist was ever so slightly eye-rolling for me. We've seen the spoiler[unknown childhood friendship] a million times in anime already. It hasn't been totally solidified yet, so I hope their spoiler[childhood gaming partner does not end up being each other.]


Otherwise, it is a very charming an enjoyable show. And not like that is a huge deal, but I'd rather not have it take that cliched route.
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Compelled to Reply



Joined: 14 Jan 2017
Posts: 358
PostPosted: Tue Oct 24, 2017 2:55 pm Reply with quote
It looks like fifteen years in the future, give or take, Tomoko Kuroki gave up on trying to be popular.
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John Thacker



Joined: 28 Oct 2013
Posts: 1006
PostPosted: Tue Oct 24, 2017 6:39 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
I mean, I love those shows too, but they don't have the protagonist hanging around her apartment looking frumpy and drinking beer.


Didn't Kobayashi's Maid Dragon do this some, despite her being a successful software developer?

And the couple shows like I Can't Understand What My Husband Is Saying and Osake wa Fuufu ni Natte kara have a bit of this too.
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#876114



Joined: 22 Oct 2017
Posts: 5
PostPosted: Tue Oct 24, 2017 7:07 pm Reply with quote
Compelled to Reply wrote:
It looks like fifteen years in the future, give or take, Tomoko Kuroki gave up on trying to be popular.


It reminded of dat suffering and cringe I had watching Watamote but still carrying on with the hope and desire that by the end of the season she would change for the better but she didn't. Well this show is fullfilling that desire now.

Im lowkey imagining this show to be the actual sequel to watamote really.
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Sakagami Tomoyo



Joined: 06 Dec 2008
Posts: 940
Location: Melbourne, VIC, Australia
PostPosted: Tue Oct 24, 2017 8:25 pm Reply with quote
I'm loving the hell outta this show for basically all the reasons everyone's already mentioned, as well as A) Morimori's various facial expressions, and B) her voice. Noto Mamiko is doing a really good job on this one.

relyat08 wrote:
I feel like they are setting up just one too many unnecessary coincidences with the suggestion that spoiler[they probably played games together as kids a long time ago]. For the most part, all of the coincidences work to build a cute, but slightly cheesy romance, but we already have spoiler[1. randomly run into each other at a corner 2. happen to play the same game and 3. work for the same company]. I'm genuinely fine with these 3, but throwing in that latest twist was ever so slightly eye-rolling for me. We've seen the spoiler[unknown childhood friendship] a million times in anime already.


spoiler[Personally, I don't mind it here - what annoys me is when that element is sprung on the audience towards the end without any kind of foreshadowing. Here, it's strongly implied nice and early, and doesn't feel to me like too big of a coincidence. I guess it helps that I like a well-executed "ships passing in the night" scenario.]
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Tue Oct 24, 2017 10:11 pm Reply with quote
relyat08 wrote:
but we already have spoiler[1. randomly run into each other at a corner 2. happen to play the same game and 3. work for the same company]. I'm genuinely fine with these 3, but throwing in that latest twist was ever so slightly eye-rolling for me. We've seen the spoiler[unknown childhood friendship] a million times in anime already. It hasn't been totally solidified yet, so I hope their spoiler[childhood gaming partner does not end up being each other.]

spoiler[Koiwai used to work at her company, not Sakurai, but that was a different company. And even though the past characters were chibis, I got the impression that this took place maybe a couple years ago, if that, not when they were kids. I could be wrong though.]

I just don't find the coincidences all that coincidental (having experienced similar things myself), but clearly ymmv. To me this is kind of like when people complain that it's contrived when two characters "just happen" to run into each other, even though both were looking for the same person, following clues that led them to the same place. Chalk it up to threads of fate or whatever makes it palatable enough to swallow, but this kind of stuff happens all the time irl, to pretty much everyone, though some real life coincidences are more outlandish than others. But I suppose such complaints are why writers often lampshade things with "no one would believe this if it were in a movie." Smile

Anyway, this is currently the series I look forward to the most each week and devour as soon as it's up. #waytoorelatable
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MJKS



Joined: 28 Jul 2017
Posts: 102
PostPosted: Tue Oct 24, 2017 11:04 pm Reply with quote
MMO Junkie is making a strong case on behalf of Netflix for the binge model in anime. I crave the next episode at the end of the most recent one every week.
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BodaciousSpacePirate
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Joined: 17 Apr 2015
Posts: 3017
PostPosted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 2:05 am Reply with quote
#876114 wrote:
It reminded of dat suffering and cringe I had watching Watamote but still carrying on with the hope and desire that by the end of the season she would change for the better but she didn't.


I wholeheartedly recommend you check out the current Watamote storyline, starting around Volume 8 or so, as I think you'd be pleasantly surprised by the direction the mangaka has been taking Tomoko's character arc.
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15433
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 2:50 am Reply with quote
Shows with adult characters have continued to climb up, and that is without them necessarily being some dark story where they are a detective or a cop or something. That they can actually be relatable.
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relyat08



Joined: 20 Mar 2013
Posts: 4125
Location: Northern Virginia
PostPosted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 3:07 am Reply with quote
I don't really get the Watamote vibes at all from this, personally. She is much more in control of her social interactions than Tomoko ever was. This is like relatably awkward, Tomoko was like please see a therapist right now!.

Gina Szanboti wrote:

I just don't find the coincidences all that coincidental (having experienced similar things myself), but clearly ymmv.


Well, as I noted, I don't have a problem with the first three because I haven't seen them executed like this before, and it feels new and interesting. But you add that last one on there, and I just feel like I've seen it a million-and-a-half times... executed in basically the exact same way. The spoiler[childhood friendship connection] is basically a sub-genre at this point. It's harder for me to think of a romance anime that doesn't employ it on some level, rather than the other way around. Which makes it a little grating rather than endearing, unfortunately..
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Chrono1000





PostPosted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 1:36 pm Reply with quote
I thought the show would be good when I saw the promo video but so far it is one of the best shows of the season. Moriko is a great protagonist, Lily is adorable in several ways, and the romance might be predictable but it is nice and pleasant.

John Thacker wrote:
Quote:
I mean, I love those shows too, but they don't have the protagonist hanging around her apartment looking frumpy and drinking beer.


Didn't Kobayashi's Maid Dragon do this some, despite her being a successful software developer?
That is true for Kobayashi in Dragon Maid but for the protagonist to be an adult nerdy woman is so rare that before this year it could be counted on one hand.
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Sakagami Tomoyo



Joined: 06 Dec 2008
Posts: 940
Location: Melbourne, VIC, Australia
PostPosted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 6:20 pm Reply with quote
An adult woman protagonist of any kind is rare enough as it is, and that's counting adult but not yet of drinking age.
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Compelled to Reply



Joined: 14 Jan 2017
Posts: 358
PostPosted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 9:50 pm Reply with quote
relyat08 wrote:
I don't really get the Watamote vibes at all from this, personally. She is much more in control of her social interactions than Tomoko ever was. This is like relatably awkward, Tomoko was like please see a therapist right now!.

From what's I've seen so far, Morioka in her state is far more socially withdrawn than Tomoko, considering she is unemployed and doesn't have to go to school, nor could even face the mini mart clerk. That's an exact parallel from Watamote!
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