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Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku
Episode 11

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Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku ?
Community score: 4.1

It's been a fun eleven weeks talking about anime, laughing about manga, and getting mad about video games, but all good things must come to an end, so it's time to say goodbye to Wotakoi. Of course, this is only a finale in the sense that the anime is over; the manga continues and so does its localization, so that will still be around for people who want their fix of nerd love. In that regard, this final episode doesn't provide any sense of closure for its characters or relationships, but it does give us some peak-form Wotakoi, full of in-depth diatribes about thorny subculture topics, snappy dialogue, and a deluge of cuteness.

Everyone's on holiday, so instead of the usual workplace shenanigans, Wotakoi focuses on the domestic lives of its couples. Hanako and Kabakura start out sharing a lazy afternoon of reading manga together. Despite their often colorful interactions, there's an unspoken degree of affection between them, and Hanako can't help but wistfully recall how they started dating at the end of high school. Naturally, this soon gives way to a heated argument about BL. This is a comedy, so their reactions are played up for that purpose, but it turns out to be a positive frank discussion about popular attitudes toward the genre. Hanako's love of the genre clashes against Kabakura's insecurity, who insists that he can't understand the appeal of BL. It's a common sentiment among straight dudes that's commonly hypocritical, as Hanako mentions that he has no problem enjoying yuri manga. To his credit, Kabakura understands that he was in the wrong right away, but Hanako senses his curiosity and refuses to let go that easily, insisting that he read some BL himself in order to understand it better. The whole scene basically plays out like a hornier version of Green Eggs and Ham, with Kabakura eventually relenting and loving the manga she picks out for him. To get to this point, Hanako has to air out his fundamental insecurity over vocally liking things, since it makes him vulnerable to other people's opinions, but it's also good for him to get over that too. Life's too short to worry about other people might think of your passions. It's a great life lesson for Wotakoi to emphasize.

I should mention that it's totally okay if BL is not your thing, but in a world where dudes still monopolize the conversation around nerd stuff, BL's reputation suffers from a lot of homophobic dismissal. Like any genre, BL has works ranging from the most unforgivably trashy to the most heartwrenchingly sentimental, and there can be something for everyone in there! Like Hanako says, it's just shoujo manga at its core, and sometimes the best porn is the porn for your soul. Well, she doesn't say that second thing exactly, but reading/watching something because it looks hot and getting sucked into the story instead is a feeling I think we can all relate to.

Though not as big a presence this week, Kou and Naoya's burgeoning friendship continues into this episode. Being a bundle of social anxiety, Kou grows worried since Naoya hasn't been logging into their MMO lately. Her impulse is to think that she did something wrong, because that's exactly what I'd do, but of course that's anything but the truth. The truth is that Hirotaka has all but barricaded himself in his apartment for a holiday full of marathon gaming, so Naoya simply didn't have access to his computer. Thankfully this gets cleared up as soon as Naoya runs into Kou at the Starbocks. We don't get to see any more of their gaming misadventures, but Kou does give Naoya a handmade strategy guide, which is so cute I literally cannot stand it. How dare they be so adorable together!

Our main couple have their own little storyline as well this week. The crux of it is that Narumi finally sees Hirotaka's dick. The End.

Okay, more stuff happens than that, but none of it is remotely as important. Narumi decides to surprise Hirotaka with a visit to his apartment, which is one level of spontaneity above their current comfort level, so naturally she agonizes about it all the way there. Turns out it was a good thing she did, since Hirotaka's self-imposed gaming exile had also inadvertently exiled himself from food. She throws her disaster of a boyfriend in the bath and whips up some fried rice while Hanako and Kabakura can barely contain their laughter over the phone. Normally, I'd wag my finger at the implicit expectation that a girlfriend should act like her boyfriend's mother, since Hirotaka is a grown-ass man who should be able to feed himself. But there's a later revelation that Naoya has been acting like Hirotaka's mother this whole time, and his visits are likely the only reason why Hirotaka has been able to live on his own, which makes the situation so much more upsetting that it loops back around to hilarious. Narumi, not to be outdone by her boyfriend's brother, whisks Hirotaka away on an impromptu date, which manifests itself as a comfy chat on a park bench about their lives as otaku. A lot has changed, but here they are, still gaming hard, still crying over manga, still racing home to see their favorite seiyuu guest star on the dumb variety show du jour.

Fittingly, the episode ends with the gang talking about their first 2D crushes (or in Hanako's case, her first Takarazuka crush). We've all got one, we've probably had many since, and we'll continue to have them into the far-flung future. Fiction both enriches our lives and creates a link through which we can bond with other people. Ideally, that's what being an otaku is all about, and that's how Wotakoi stands out as a celebration not simply of the subculture, but of how it can bring people together. It isn't a gut-bustingly funny show, nor is it the prettiest, but it's a consistently cute look at cute nerds in love.

Rating: A-

Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku is currently streaming on Amazon.

Steve is a longtime anime fan who can be found making bad posts about anime on his Twitter.


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