First Impressions / Netojuu no Susume

「まるで恋する乙女のような」 (Marude Koisuru Otome no Youna)
“Like a Maiden in Love”

Hands down, this week’s episode catapulted Netojuu no Susume to the top show of the season for me.

General Impressions

Before starting on the post, let me apologize for the late posts to come. I was out of town for the weekend and need to catch up on the plethora of shows that air on Friday and Saturday 🙁

Okay, back to the serious stuff. HOLY COW was this episode freaking fantastic. Instead of giving us the run around and prolonging things for way longer than it needed to, I’m nearly in shock that the story actually is pushing us toward a reality where Moriko and Yuuta may become a thing in real life. Up until the last few minutes, I was sitting here thinking about how awkward it would be for Moriko to fall into some awkward love triangle / square / pentagon. You have Fujimoto (Convenience Store Guy), Koiwai (Yuuta’s co-worker), Yuuta himself, and just for a little extra confusion there’s Lilac, all of whom have a pretty legitimate reason for having feelings for Moriko and would in my opinion morph this show into something completely different than what we were promised.

But instead of that, we get the bombshell moment where Sakurai Yuuta puts two and two together and realizes that he might be luckiest person in the whole god damn world. And while it doesn’t solve the whole issue that there are a ton of people who are into Moriko, I think it makes it pretty clear that Yuuta has a good chance at becoming the chose one. Honestly, the mere fact that he managed to somehow transcend anime stupidity is such a huge selling trait that I can barely contain myself. My god, the more I think about it, the more I start thinking about how long it takes for any shoujo romance to even more past square one.

Getting back on topic though, I can’t wait to see where things head in this direction. We’re only a third of the way through, but it’s become clear that there’s two distinct stories going on. Between Moriko’s real life troubles and the life she lives as Hayashi in-game, it feels like there’s almost too much going on. Tack on the possibility that some real emotional stuff might show up related to her past work experiences and you have the ingredients to make something amazing. And as if that wasn’t enough, the show doesn’t take itself too seriously and drops some awesome gamer references and tidbits that anyone can appreciate.

Man, I can’t stop gushing about this show. Seeing how it’s late though and there are more shows that need to get watched, I’ll cut things here. See you guys next week where we’ll hopefully see the fated conversation when IRL and in-game get violently smashed together.

 

Preview

36 Comments

  2. Just caught up on this show recently, and I might have to agree with its ranking this season. It’s too cute!

    Maybe it’s just me, but I felt more like Mr. Coworker is trying to engineer a situation where our main two end up meeting again. Might just be wishful thinking, he was definitely kinda creeping on her either way, but that’d help calm down the love… shape at least a little.

    Nex
    Reply

    2. I could have worded that better, but it was late.

      What should also be in that blurb, is that I’m glad we don’t have the typical situation where the guy who’s trying to be a bro ends up creating a situation where he becomes the anti-bro.

      Takaii
      Reply

    3. Yeah, Mr. Coworker knows full well how much Yuuta has a crush on her. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a setup date for her and Yuuta. He was really lucky though. Yuuta went at different hours and couldn’t find her and Fujimoto had something going but their conversation went awry. He just happened to find here (though why purposely looked for the department store is suspicious).

      Kelfistan
      Reply

  3. https://randomc.net/image/Netojuu%20no%20Susume/Netojuu%20no%20Susume%20-%2004%20-%20Large%2010.jpg
    Ah, MMO event* loot boxes… (And most MMOG loot boxes in general.) You sink time, (real or in-game) money, and/or in-game resources hoping to get good items from those things and mostly end up with crud or duplicate items 90% of the time.

    Fortunately, I haven’t sunk any real money into those things so far. (I know, I know, that’s how MMOs make money to keep their game running…) Just in-game resources and in-game coins I earned from selling excess valuable items/resources on the in-game market.

    (* – Incidentally, Crossout is holding its Halloween event. I assume it’s the same case for other MMO games at this time of the year such as Overwatch and World of Tanks/Warships/Warplanes.)

    https://randomc.net/image/Netojuu%20no%20Susume/Netojuu%20no%20Susume%20-%2004%20-%20Large%2039.jpg
    Anyway, while the previous episode already revealed that Yuuta is Lily in-game, it’s still good to have a scene that reinforces what was revealed in the last episode.

    Though on Moriko’s side, I hope the show will eventually reveal the reason why she left her job and became an “elite neet.” OK, the best guess so far is “work burnout,” but what exactly caused that burnout? (One too many bad days at work? Getting caught in the crossfire of nasty office politics? Or–God forbid and at the risk of being “too soon”–a sexual harasser boss?)

    In any case, glad to see Netojuu no Susume being picked up and covered. While I’ve had my fun with the high-school love dodecahedron of Gamers!, I guess it’s high time I’ve watched romantic comedies that involve older characters (who also happen to play an online game).

    Incognito
    Reply

    2. been playing WOT/WS for a long time and the halloween events this year are best ever!
      as for the games themselves you are free to not spend anything as long as you dont have the ambition of playing hightier vehicles. You even can get some premium tanks/ships free by mission system, althought this often requires quite big time investment.
      Got myself t26e4 super pershing and is-6 that way, and nowadays im more into warships, graf spee, texas and october revolution…

      ewok40k
      Reply

    3. Regarding reasons for MoriMori quitting job it seems she is quite shy and bad at human relationships. She might have been overwhelmed by office social life… I would love her to find some support in Yuuta and get her job life back ontracks.

      ewok40k
      Reply

  4. put aside for romance, i wonder any of you guys did play mmorpg, play as a female character and did actually manage to pull off for keeping secret of identity for at least 1 year. (might not be appealing of feminity or masculinity, a sample character like how Yuuta – Lily manage his character for quite some time…

    Asahi
    Reply

    2. I’m sure tons of people do. One of good friends, I thought was a girl for like 3 years while we played together. We talked about all sorts of things, but in that entire time, I always had assumed he was a girl and nothing he said directly contradicted it. And then, randomly during a conversation, it came up and I was totally surprised and freaked out after all that time that he was a guy.

      Alice
      Reply

      1. I had a game friend like that. He was quietly devious about fooling others about his gender. We went to voice chat pretty quickly so I don’t know if I was fooled or not (I wasn’t surprised but we’d only recently met so I had made no assumptions) but he fooled many others.

        I think one of the most important elements is: don’t claim to be, let alone insist, you are female. Play it quiet and take a “whatever” attitude if challenged. People who insist or often bring up their claim of being female are instantly assumed to be male or females who think someone’s still handing out prizes for being a unico … I mean, girl who plays games. Lots of girls play games.

        danny
        Reply

    3. i tried it one time and failed miserably. its hard to keep your identity as a “female” for more than a year because others will start asking for your social media account to check. others going hardcore like, wanting a video chat.

      Jeffers
      Reply

    5. literally half of my SWTOR characters are females – I am altoholic with every faction/class/subclass covered
      also made that for every npc romace to be tried out
      since SWTOR is constructed the way that allows to play it single-player style I am not really interacting much with other players, so probably most characters never have been even asked about true gender

      ewok40k
      Reply

    6. I always played as a female character, and often has the benefits of getting lots of gift boxes from other male characters.
      Some of the eventually found out, but still continue to give me freebies. I guess its really another world out there.

      ornehx
      Reply

  5. “surprise! mother fuckers” sound played on my brain when the anime finally revealed that lily in game is yuuta IRL and i was like laughing how it fits the scene very well.

    anyway, i am interested how, yuuta “passed” as a girl ingame for a long time. since, disguising yourself as female player in MMOs is now hard. to me, it is 80-95% possible that the player is a male if the character is too girly (only wears cute girly costumes and stuffs) just like lily and or is noticeably trying too hard to act cute and stuffs.

    Jeffers
    Reply

    1. I know a IRL girl who likes super cute stuff IRL and in games. You’d assume she was a guy 🙂
      Maybe the big stereotype she likes to break is that she wants to be the most powerful DPS instead of the most useful support.

      From what we’ve seen in the anime, it’s clear Yuuta played it quiet and didn’t ever claim or insist he’s a girl. He has a “softer” personality to begin with: a bit shy, non-aggressive, and maybe sometimes lacking confidence. There are many, many men with traits like these but they are considered “unmasculine” so quiet men often get assumed to be female. Just by being himself while wearing the appearance of a girl makes it believable.

      The other point to remember is that a player’s gender doesn’t actually even matter and I think most gamers get this now. Most players appear to just shrug off any sort of interest, concern, or information about IRL gender. It’s not an issue anymore. And I think players broadly recognize we all have the ability to create any character type we want.

      The “OMG girls play games?!?” trope is done and dead. We do. Enough of us play that it’s become easy for non-aggressive boys to play believable females; the key is to never insist you are what you aren’t. Just play it down or, best of all, avoid participating in IRL gender discussions. Be friendly and talk with a lot of players, in no time you’ll have a gender-unknown harem of others all wanting to play with you!

      danny
      Reply

      1. My ultimate check to know if the female in game is female IRL is ask “her” social media account like facebook (i know its rude though specially if i am asking a real girl). Anyway,most RPGs (R-ole P-laying G-irls) often gets nuked through that well unless they can borrow their sister or girlfriend account.

        Jeffers
        Reply

      2. Nowdays the re-creation of 2nd account of facebook or other social account do possible. With make believe, i believe most people are highly doubted either is a he/she irl. Making to the progress, through the ultimate way of lying is to be like how yuuta-lily character which make believe without any forcing people to believe he is a girl in real life.
        Even if some gamers try to force to break by knowing the person’s identity, it will determine on the character behavior itself even if he/she been treated as male.

        Asahi
        Reply

    2. I’ve seen it all too often that some guy gets their heart broken when they get invested into a girl in-game who ends up being a guy.

      That said, I also know a lot of girls who play guy characters to avoid getting hit on so that they can focus on playing the damn game.

      Takaii
      Reply

    1. Lily has a professional job, supports himself and has nobody else to spend his money on, ha! MMOs wouldn’t survive if the only people who played were broke students. Game whales tend to be like Lily: older then you think and employed full time.

      danny
      Reply

  7. I tend to watch this show when it’s late and I’ve had a few drinks so maybe I’ve missed the answer to this, but how is Moriko getting by? Did she just save up a lot when she was working or does she have some other source of income? I’m assuming there’s no kind of welfare payment in Japan that you can get if you voluntarily give up a job.

    Angelus
    Reply

    1. I recall her mentioning some savings.

      She is living a very bare necessity life (cheap room, few possessions, no car) which a deep pocket could sustain for some years. It could be she happened into a fat chunk of money somehow, or it could just all have been saved up by her having been a single, dedicated workaholic in a good-paying job.

      That said, she’s spending easily on the cheap but not really frivolously. She can afford beer and some play money but expressed some reservation about spending too much, IIRC.

      danny
      Reply

    2. I actually have the same question and have generalized it in one of a few ways:

      1. Not sure how Japan handles unemployment, but might be something related here.
      2. She did work as an OL in what I’m assuming was a large corporation — probably saved up a good chunk of money to survive on (but it’s been 1+ years based on the timeline, so not sure how that works)>
      3. Possibly Parents supplementing income.
      4. Maybe she’s working odd jobs that we just don’t see.
      4a. Maybe she’s actually selling items for money and surviving off of that!

      Who knows :’)

      Takaii
      Reply

    3. If we get clues from the episodes, we can say moriko managed to indeed save huge sum of money before leaving the job. Because aside from the fact that she working in a corporate business, it seems she is also doing overtime and it seems she is also very good at it (performance bonus) and maybe even graveyard bonus. And there`s the question of “what is her position?” its common knowledge that higher position = bigger pay. So maybe that how she got money to survive.

      Jeffers
      Reply

      1. Japanese corporate life seems to often involve a lot of unpaid overtime. A lot of workers are salarymen, and then they’re not allowed to leave before the boss if they want a chance of promotion, which is often several hours after work officially ends.

        Supposedly it’s better now, but back in the 80s if you asked to be paid for your overtime, your company would take you to court.

        Guile
        Reply

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