First Impressions / Netoge no Yome wa Onnanoko ja Nai to Omotta?

「お泊まりしたら仲良くなれると思った？」 (Otomari shitara Nakayoku nareru to Omotta?)
“I Thought If We Stayed Over, We Would Get Along Better?”

It’s a bouncy, fluffy, squishy sleepover.

Fluffy Friendly Antics

I don’t know if it was, but this had an anime original feeling to it, or at least like an OVA. That’s not to say that nothing of consequence happened, but almost nothing did—Nanako asked the question someone should have asked long ago, the others were tainted by Ako, and that was it. On the one hand, I enjoyed this episode—it was funny, friendly, and more than a little sexy, and I now know that I need more smug Ako in my life (poor Akane). On the other hand, this is the kind of episode that is liable to fade from memory almost immediately—it’s cotton candy rather than a succulent cake. As long as there are no pacing problems later on, I’ll probably end up remembering this one fondly, though.

Talking About Rusian

The only substantive complaint I have about this episode is how often the girls talked about Hideki. It makes sense to a large degree—he’s the only member of their group who’s missing, and he looms so large in Ako’s mind that he’s bound to come up often. They did seem to bring him up too often, though—for example, when Akane mentioned him not being able to join in on the bath event even if he had been there. The male lead can sometimes suck all the oxygen out of the room until everyone seems focused on him, which isn’t ideal. Hideki hasn’t had that problem often, but this was one time.

I did appreciate some of the talking-about-Rusian scenes, though. The bath scene, of course—which was bolstered by a non-Hideki topic when Akane indulged in some rare albeit justified oppai envy—but also the one between Akane and Kyou where Akane was worried about whether she was too harsh to Hideki most of the time. It’s sadly rare, but so enjoyable to see a boy/girl relationship in anime where both parties are intent on remaining friends, with no hint of shipping. That is to say, Hideki’s friendship is important to Akane, she likes the guy and doesn’t want to be too harsh to him, so she was worried. Friendship, d’aawww!

tl;dr: @StiltsOutLoud – Fluffy sleepover episode, with lots of fanservice & talking about Rusian. Also, boobs #netoge 09

Random thoughts:

  • I laughed when Kyou revealed that actually, her house doesn’t have maids, they’re all just employees cosplaying. Who do I have to bribe to see Ako in one of those outfits? Don’t ruin this for us, Akane!
  • There’s a melon joke in there somewhere. Two of ’em, probably.
  • What’s your favorite: Ako x Nanako yuri, or Akane x Nanako yuri? I definitely favor the latter. The Ako/Hideki OTP can’t be broken up, but another OTP would be great. Then that clears the way for Kyou x Sensei? Approved on all counts!
  • Ako is the abyss that gazes back. She’s like a Lovecraftian deity of net game love. The scary thing? She almost has a point. The corruption is spreading!
  • Master is still the best Apricot, but the others aren’t too shaby either.

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: I love sales jobs, Good realism is character realism, Dying idols, and Frictionless routines.

Full-length images: 17, 18, 20, 21, 26, 27.

 

Preview

32 Comments

  1. A bit sad that there was no Yui-sensei there too, but plenty of Kyou! =D

    But yeah, it does make me face-palm a bit when there’s a girls-only episode like this, only for them to constantly just talk about the male lead rather than further developing the girls (at least more than a little).

    HalfDemonInuyasha
    Reply

    1. Yes but they do talk about school work. And they are teen aged girls with only one with a boyfriend I have the strong impression that would be the big topic the first all girl grouping. Now more adult women I would call foul if they stay male centric too much.

      RedRocket
      Reply

  2. No Rusian but more FANSERVICE…

    https://randomc.net/image/Netoge%20no%20Yome%20wa%20Onnanoko%20ja%20Nai%20to%20Omotta/Netoge%20no%20Yome%20wa%20Onnanoko%20ja%20Nai%20to%20Omotta%20-%2009%20-%20Large%2004.jpg
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    aprub
    Reply

  3. So. Many. Melons… @_@

    What’s your favorite: Ako x Nanako yuri, or Akane x Nanako yuri?

    All yuri is good yuri. Akane x Nanako is probably most appropriate and least disruptive, though.

    Wanderer
    Reply

  4. Um actually it ‘s noot far off from what girls would do at a sleep-over. From a brother who had to stay home while my younger sister has one, trust me, they mainly talk about guys and nonsense. I thought it was cliche stuff when i saw it on movies but yeah so that didnt bother me

    omeganx
    Reply

  5. not gonna lie stilts, when i was watching this ep, i initially agreed with you on the whole “stop bringing hideki up too much” thing; that these batch of girls dont have to make mr. male MC the center of their alone time. But then as i thought about it and reflected on how the show has been doing a decent job with the character interactions, it dawned on me that hideki wasnt being brought up because of some single male mc trope or some sexist disposition (not that im saying that you were implying that), but simply because hideki has become so integral to their group, their daily lives, and is an important friend that they just miss him. Even when they are bathing and they know that this is a personal time, they’re still thinking “man, it would be cool to have hideki around”, indicating that they’re going the motions of missing their guy friend. It’s like having that 1 person in your group (let’s say she’s a female) of friends that’s always really lively but one day, your boys want to have guy time so ya go out on a weekend trip. You guys are doing all these activities but then you realize, “Maaaaannn, i miss Katie” during every single activity. I think that’s what it was like for them. After realizing that i couldnt help but go “wow, there’s genuine friendship in this group…awww”.

    sonicsenryaku
    Reply

      1. agreed; however that doesnt change the fact that the ep did feel a bit fillery. For me, the bright spots of this ep was akane becoming self-conscious of how she treats hideki and the slight nod to missing hideki affirming the gang’s friendship

        sonicsenryaku
        Reply

  6. I wonder if the disks will be sold without hair and steam artificial never fall off coverings? 😉

    I loved the computer envy.

    Yep if I was super rich I would have secret rooms, it’s just fun.

    RedRocket
    Reply

  9. Is it just me or are there literally only 2 breast sizes in this anime, Akane’s and everyone elses? It just seems like every pair of boobs that isn’t Akane’s is the exact same size and shape down to the millimeter. This bugs me so much I don’t know why this bugs me. I wish it didn’t. Please save me from this boob quandary.

    Nitro
    Reply

    1. https://randomc.net/image/Netoge%20no%20Yome%20wa%20Onnanoko%20ja%20Nai%20to%20Omotta/Netoge%20no%20Yome%20wa%20Onnanoko%20ja%20Nai%20to%20Omotta%20-%2009%20-%20Large%2001.jpg
      https://randomc.net/image/Netoge%20no%20Yome%20wa%20Onnanoko%20ja%20Nai%20to%20Omotta/Netoge%20no%20Yome%20wa%20Onnanoko%20ja%20Nai%20to%20Omotta%20-%2009%20-%20Large%2003.jpg
      Looks to me like Kyou>Ako>Nanako>>Akane, though Kyou’s are a little harder to tell with her baggier clothes.

      SK
      Reply

    2. Yep they are all different sized but yes everyone but Akane is on the large size. And it natural for Akane to worry the Peacock with the biggest display, often gets the Peahen thus large can be better, luckily for Akane there are always some into something different and lots of guys like the small. Me I’m a harem type of guy I want a large variety in my collection and plenty of guys with similar tastes will settle for one love, if that really what you want, no real preference for what body shape you have.

      It is animation there probably some errors in constant sizes and maybe if they were rushed some frames the larger girls are same size.

      RedRocket
      Reply

  11. Watching the episode again, man I really want Kyou’s computer setup. The only way to make it better would be to have full-on borderless monitors so there wouldn’t have to be any interruption between screens.

    Wanderer
    Reply

  12. Master is still the best Apricot, but the others aren’t too shaby either.

    Random thing I noticed: each person has a different sound-effect when they take over as Apricot. Ako has some sort of… zappy magic sound. Akane has her adorable “Puhi!” noise. Kyou has the sound of a cash register. And Nanako has… a truncated damsel-in-distress scream, it sounds like?

    Wanderer
    Reply

  15. This might be weird but…I’m still trying to get what Ako said that got everyone freaked out, and for some reason made everyone turn into Kyou’s Apricot avatar. That and Akane throwing a tantrum was cute.

    Zhinvu
    Reply

    1. Someone elsewhere made a post that explains it in detail:

      Ako is married to Rusian in-game, and in real life, Ako considers the two of them a couple. Sette asks Ako what Ako thought of that.

      Ako draws a comparison with what would be the case if the opposite occurred. Suppose Sette and Schwein were married in real life and not in-game (as opposed to being married in-game but not in real life). Sette asks Schwein if they should get married in-game and Schwein refuses with the reason that “games and reality are separate”.

      Sette, Schwein and Master react to this, saying that because they are married in reality, it’s a no-brainer that they should get married in-game. If they were to be married to other players in-game, it would, to them, be “cheating”.

      In a similar vein, Ako projects her relationship with Rusian in-game to reality. If Rusian were to date another girl in real life, Ako would consider it cheating. Imagine the awkwardness to admit that one was married in-game to one girl but is dating another girl in reality.

      Basically it’s a matter of projection and/or pretending. Even if you consider your in-game self to be a faker that you role-play as, it can be still be difficult to do something not aligned with what you believe in reality. If you are a staunch pacifist, for example, it could be difficult for you to act as a mass murderer in a skit. In Ako’s case, she considers her in-game self to be more “real” or important than her real life self, so the reasoning is similar but reversed in that sense.

      As for everyone turning into Kyou’s avatar, it’s because they were all using her computer. They logged in as “Master,” and each of them just took over the keyboard to type at Rusian.

      Wanderer
      Reply

    2. Ahh, finally got it now thanks! Man, I was kinda confused about that scene cuz perhaps the sentence sequencing was in reverse in a way? Bah, I dunno, but at least I managed to get it now.

      Nishizawa Mihashi
      Reply

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