Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku

Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku is a romantic comedy about grown-ups, not teenagers. It started as a web comic by an artist named Fujita, who first posted it on the art site pixiv in 2014. It was so popular that it moved to the online magazine Comic Pool and was printed in 11 books by Ichijinsha. In 2015 it won the first Next Manga Award for web comics, and by 2020 it had over 10 million copies in print. The studio A-1 Pictures made the 11-episode TV anime, directed by Yoshimasa Hiraike. It aired on Fuji TV's late-night Noitamina slot from April to June 2018, and Amazon Prime Video streamed it outside Japan.

First, a quick word guide. An otaku is a person who is a very big fan of anime, manga or video games. In Japan the word can sound a bit embarrassing, and many adult fans keep their hobbies private at work. A fujoshi is a woman who loves stories about romance between men, often called boys' love or BL.

Narumi Momose is a cheerful office worker in her twenties, and she is both of these things. She has just changed jobs, partly because people at her last company found out about her hobbies and her boyfriend left her over it. At her new office, she wants to keep her secret. But she soon meets Hirotaka Nifuji, a friend she has known since they were kids. Hirotaka works at the same company. He is calm, quiet, handsome, and a serious gamer who is almost always holding a handheld game system.

The two start dating, and the show follows what happens next. This is not a story about "will they or won't they." It is about how two adults, who are already friends, learn to be a couple. Narumi is loud and emotional. Hirotaka is flat and hard to read, but he cares about her deeply. They go to game nights, comic events and karaoke, and they slowly figure out how to share their feelings as well as their hobbies.

The show also has a second couple. Hanako Koyanagi is a senior coworker of Narumi who loves cosplay, which means dressing up as anime characters. Taro Kabakura is Hirotaka's senior at work, a fan of cute idol-style anime. Hanako and Kabakura have been together for a long time, and they argue loudly about almost everything, but they are clearly a good match. Later, Hirotaka's younger brother Naoya joins the group. He is sweet and friendly, but he is not an otaku at all, which gives the others someone to explain their world to.

Most of the jokes come from fan culture: game terms, shipping arguments (fans debating which characters should be a couple), and the small stress of being a fan in an office. You do not need to know every reference to enjoy it, but fans will spot many of them. The tone is warm, quick and easy to watch, with short scenes that feel like pages from the comic.

The anime was followed by three OVAs (special episodes sold with the manga books) from 2019 to 2021, and a live-action film in 2020. It is a good pick for adults who want a light, honest love story about people who are a little bit nerdy.