「あの子の秘密がバレないと思った?」 (Anoko no Himitsu ga Barenai to Omotta?)
“I Thought Her Secret Wasn’t Going To Get Out?”

Just give up the subterfuge, Akane. This is why honesty is the best policy. Though on second thought, your freaking out is hilarious, so keep it up.

The Masquerade Falls, Partially

My alignment is simpatico with Rusian’s—I’m an open nerd. (I don’t use the word otaku for myself since I’m not Japanese, and because my nerdery extends far beyond the English version of the word otaku, i.e. an anime nerd, but it’s a comparative outlook.) All my friends and family know that I write fantasy novels, blog about anime, keep a meticulous list of all the beers I’ve tried (3,977 as of this writing!), and so much more. Why hide it? It’s as I told Enzo: People can think I’m weird all they want. I don’t care. And in the end, they mostly don’t care either. People are cool like that.

That doesn’t mean I don’t find Akane’s denials friggin’ hilarious, though! Her utter freak out, transparent lies, temporary meltdown were a hoot, and serious kudos go to Minase Inori for selling the role. She’s breaking out from her Chino-chan/Nekone cool imouto shell in a big way, though when I look through her past roles, she’s never really been typecast; that’s just the niche she became popular for. I wasn’t sure if she could pull off caustic tsundere otaku going into this show, but she’s bringing the funnies with aplomb. More please!

Too Much, Even For This Lot

I appreciate how Netoge isn’t portraying its characters’ often extreme attitudes towards MMORPGs as a good thing. The uber-hardcore guild at the beginning is an obvious example, but Ako’s (and some of the others’) loose and slipping grips on reality apply as well. It doesn’t glorify this particular brand of insanity, which is good because we can enjoy it without it sparking an uncomfortable feeling/moral outrage! Though on a structural level, this episode felt disjointed, bouncing between exploring the depths of addiction/eccentricities (Nekohime’s ex-guildmates being another example), to Akane’s freak out, to that strange mid-episode daito—which felt more like an episode twelve victory lap than something that takes place in the first third—to the real reason for the episode.

Rusian Does It Again

I’m zero percent surprised that Ako stalked her way into Rusian’s heart. Nor am I surprised that a new newbie popped out, and let’s say it—it’s Nanako (Ohwada Hitomi). I don’t know that for sure, and maybe this is a glorious red herring—I would love it if it was—-but all signs are pointing to Nanako wanting to figure out what Akane likes about the game, and Rusian being the only name she remembers (Master did say Schwein once, but Nanako might not have caught that). Either way, with Ako slipping more and more into yandere mode as Hideki apparently collects a newbie waifu again (dude’s too nice for his own good), it should be fun to watch a ton of people freak out, and Hideki suffer. Keep your armor repaired, dude. You’re gonna need it.

tl;dr: @StiltsOutLoud – Akane’s secret it out, & her meltdown is hilarious! Stalker/yandere Ako too. Nekohime’s elite guard too. Everything’s hilarious! #netoge 04

Random thoughts:

  • This. This butt is important.
  • To be fair Ako, you didn’t do so bad in your oppai and oshiri stat rolls, ufufu~
  • So that’s what Don Cheadle has been up to lately.
  • Ako soooo wants to cyber with Rusian. Don’t give in! Go for the real oppai instead! Er, wait.
  • This. This butt and these breasts are important. That’s the hard-hitting reporting you’ve come to depend on from RandomC.

My first novel, Wage Slave Rebellion, is available now. (More info—now in paperback!) Sign up for my email list for a FREE sequel novella. Over at stephenwgee.com, the last four posts: Dying idols, Frictionless routines, Even if you see it coming, it can still work, and Batman does not kill. Superman does not kill.

Full-length images: 32, 35.

 

Preview

30 Comments

      1. She 7000% is. She just won’t switch to that form until the characters know it’s Nanako, just as Master and Akane did. (Nekohime-sensei being the exception, because the stark difference between her real and game selves is part of what makes her so funny.)

      2. I would love it if even just once before the show ends Nekohime has to get serious and go into sensei-mode mid game and then to keep it from getting too serious she forgets to not insert the nyaa’s while she lectures someone.

        qwert
    1. it was quite obvious even without this hint…
      boy this episode was fun…
      I reminded myself of all thsoe times I wanted a teleport home when returning tired from work or carrying heavy shopping bag…
      and Rusian is too good for his own good… Yandere mode imminent!
      also, poor Nekohime-sensei, not only she is blackmailed by own students, now shes chased by bunch of former guildmates who formed cult following…

      ewok40k
    2. Plus just like Nekohime, Sette’s VA isn’t credited at all in the ED. And when Nekohime’s identity was revealed, she was properly credited along with her RL name…which clearly implies Sette is someone we’ve already met.

      Hanabira.Kage
  1. One Pinch Man
  2. “Reincarnation,” lol. When I heard that I thought it was the moniker for a sort of fictional psychosis contracted by no-life fanatic players; their obsession with the game gets to the point where they think they’ve actually become their in-game characters- psychotic, all-in-your-head “reincarnation” ala-Overlord minus the real part.

    Then they went on and explained that it was just a prestige system. Yawn…boring…XP

    Zen
  3. Ayss, tittiesAyss, ayss and titties…” (Would be NSFW if not for Angry Joe’s face censoring the naughty bits. Gah!!)

    Also, then I saw that scene with the in-game couple at the inn, the first thing that came to mind was, “16.5! 16.5!” (even though I no longer wanted to be reminded of Sword Art Online).

    OK, that’s enough naughtiness for one day.

    – LOL at Akane calling her gaming rig “War Machine” (and yes, Don Cheadle’s character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe also came to mind). Also, that face when her IRL friend found out about Akane playing Legendary Age… XD
    – The opening already spoiled that Nanako and Sette are the same person. But I do wonder what motivated her to join Legendary Age, and whether this new development will lead to a love triangle between her, Hideki/Rusian, and Ako.
    – Am I the only one who thought that the guildmaster in that first screencap looks a lot like Diablo III‘s Demon Hunter?

    Finally, I also read the manga version of the previous episode… Ako did use a cutter (hopefully, that was a toy one–and I believe it was, since Ako only wanted to threaten Nekohime/Saito-sensei), but still ended with the same result (Saito-sensei clotheslining Ako).

    Incognito
  4. I thought Ako was just socially awkward and assumed nobody talked to her in class. I didn’t know she was being a loner on purpose. Ako is gorgeous definitely, though this isn’t exactly a good move in my opinion. It turned out Ako now gets chances to socialize but doesn’t take them. Those two girls talking to her seem like nice people.

    And I don’t know what kind of character creation system Legendary Age has but i like Sette’s in-game character. That ponytail! Actually, make it that overall design.

    Zhinvu
    1. To be fair, it’s still because she’s socially awkward. It’s both because she doesn’t approach anyone, and because she doesn’t know how to respond when they approach her (outside of the game). Her becoming a loner on purpose is probably true, but it’s as much an excuse for her lack of social abilities/her lack of desire to improve those skills, so she doesn’t have to feel bad for being alone—then it’s not because she’s bad at social skills, it’s because she doesn’t want to try!

      Granted, it’s not like everyone needs to be all talkative in class. You were much more likely to find me reading a book between classes than yammering with others, way back when I was in high school. But I had friends in some classes I did talk to. Ako is just that dialed up to 11 until it becomes a mild-to-moderate dysfunction. Or moe, depending on your point of view.

  5. Yeah, this episode felt a bit like they glued a bunch of random manga chapters together, as opposed to the more coherent stories we got so far. Doesn’t matter that much though, since it was still funny (though I could’ve done with overlong insert-song date, it felt like a giant Big Lipped Alligator Moment).

    I quite love how the show isn’t afraid of delving into the weirder parts of MMO’s either. The no-lifers, the girl with a weird group of White Knights following her (the fact that it’s the teacher just makes it even more hilarious) and of course the cybering. Cripes, I’ve encountered them all during my years of playing. Especially the latter. Some things cannot be unseen!

    Though I sure didn’t mind that imagine spot (and I love how it was Ako’s idea in the first place). I kind of like the show’s way of doing fanservice in general – it’s just indulging in the male gaze rather than constructing contrived situations (like walking into a shower or whatever) or an overload of pantyshots.

    The character’s quirks outside the game (Akane’s denials, Ako’s yandere tendencies) are equally funny, and this bunch of nerds really plays off of each other well, so they’re quite amusing to follow even without story progress. Makes me wonder then what the dynamic is going to be with Nanako then (because of course that girl’s her), because she hasn’t shown too much personality so far. It’s certainly big enough of a question to give me a ‘dammit, why’s it not next week yet!’ feeling.

    Ah, my fondness for this show is ever increasing.

    Dvalinn
    1. Congratulations! You referred to a trope I actually had to look up. That hasn’t happened in years.

      The male gaze moments are always a bit uncomfortable, once you realize how often TV and movies indulge in that kind of thing. None of them have rubbed me the wrong way in this show, though that’s at least in part because I am male, so the gaze’s target is appealing to me, haha. That’s why I’ve just been pointing them out and not saying much else—I like highlighting them so viewers become more aware of that tendency, but this is a show where it’s not really a problem. It’s only because it happens in so many shows that it’s problematic. Even if the male gaze was diminished across most of fiction, it’d be fine in the occasional show, this one included.

      In the context of this show though, the second instance I pointed out (Sette stumbling out of the bushes) was better than the first (the unnecessary camera pan on Ako’s butt). The Sette scene was at least shameless enough to be goofy, whereas the former was pure “I see what you’re doing there.” Even if Ako’s got a nice booty, that did jog me out of the show enough to get me thinking about that.

      Like I said, not much of a problem in this show. Just something I like talking about. And yeah, I’m happy with having picked up this show ^^

  6. Finally something that this series should’ve had as of now; Somebody who can present serious threat to Hideki’s and Ako’s relationship. Well, initially i was hoping that Nekohime would fulfill that role awhile ago, but her mini arc got resolved fairly quickly and didn’t build into something dramatic. Not saying that i dislike HidekiXAko so far, but they’ve become too sweet with each other that any more of that will make it tedious. That’s why i’m hoping that this new girl will actually make something happen between the two of them.

    Amiluhur
  7. Lol is anyone else cringing or face palming while they watch these episodes, like I literally get embarrassed in real life watching all these awkward scenarios that Rusian finds himself in, aha. Not that it’s a bad thing, it’s still funny to watch. It just amazes me how much convenience the author puts in this story. 3 random users on the internet are all girls in the same high school, nekohime is somehow the teacher, and the newbie so just so happens to run into Rusian of all people. The show mostly gets away with it though for being funny and lighthearted, but yeah.

    Also, there’s no way someone as gorgeous as the student council president would have no friends or not have anyone approach her. I refuse to believe it!!

    ChromeNova
  8. I knew as soon as Nanako waltzed into the club room that she was going to show up in the game as well. “Assuming” she is Sette, I have to say her in-game character is pretty cute (ponytail ftw). Ako should be suspicious and jealous. I can’t wait to see what happens as a result of this predicament.

    Annyms

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