Manga Review: Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku, Volume 3, by Fujita

Rating (Out of 5): ~4.5

Publisher: Kodansha Comics

Release Date: November 2018

Volumes: 7+

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. RightStuf.

Volume: 1. 2. 4.

Goodreads Synopsis:

A tall, quiet gamer boy and a geeky girl whose life revolves around yaoi manga are old friends, but when they start working in the same office, they decide to date. It's a relationship of convenience at first, but could it become something more? This manga comedy is now a hit streaming anime!

Extra-long book includes 2 Japanese volumes!

Narumi and Hirotaka are, by all appearances, a power couple. They're young, good-looking professionals. But they have secrets from everyone but each other: They're serious geeks! Narumi is a fujoshi, and Hirotaka's a hardcore gamer. Their sweet, awkward love story started life as a webcomic before becoming a full-blown manga series by popular demand, and is about to become a major anime series!

Review:

It feels like it came on very suddenly, but I am now obsessed. I love Naoya, so much. He's my favorite.

This series seems like it should be more episodic, more of a 4-koma style, and yet it has more ongoing plot than that. It's also just so good, and keeps my attention all the way through.

There's lots of fun geekiness in this volume—including a convention and cosplay—as well as lots of gaming and arguments and other fun. There's also some couple stuff—they go to a hot spring in the second half.

But back to Naoya. After finding out that Ko is a female, he freaks out a bit, and then feels awful because of how it upset Ko. It's all super adorable. And then they end up on a double date with Narumi and Hirotaka, which is adorable, and also really good for them. They're all very geeky, and it's super cute. Even though Naoya doesn't quite understand just how much of an otaku any of these people are.

He's literally so cute it hurts me. I love him so much it doesn't make sense.

I need more of this so badly, I'm probably going to end up watching the anime while I wait.

Manga Review: Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku, Volume 2, by Fujita

Rating (Out of 5): ~4

Publisher: Kodansha Comics

Release Date: June 2018

Volumes: 7+

Spoilers?: Light.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. RightStuf.

Volume: 1. 3.

Goodreads Synopsis:

NOTHING VENTURED, NO XP GAINED Frustrated at the slow pace of their relationship, Hirotaka asks Narumi on a real date, with one critical stipulation: They can’t show their otaku sides at all! Can the two find something to bond over in the absence of games, manga, and anime? Meanwhile, Hanako and Taro revisit the origins of their own tempestuous relationship back when they were in high school, and even Naoya seems to be spending more time with a new friend!

Review:

This series is very quickly growing on me.

In the first half, the author plays around with mixing up the chapters, extending a main plot line. It makes for a fun read, though I think she does it better in the second volume with timing.

We get to see Hirotaka and Narumi go on a real date and try to leave out anything otaku related. It's hard, as that's a large part of their lives. Narumi also gets to act like a “real” girlfriend and take care of Hirotaka when he's overworked himself. In the second half, we get to see how Narumi and Hanako actually became friends by revealing their otaku obsessions. And we go way back, to see how Hanako and Taro met in high school and started going out. We got to see a vulnerable side of Hanako during this, which was really sweet—and honestly a surprise.

My main excitement in this volume, though, was seeing Naoya. He is literally the cutest, and I love him so much. I realized just how much in this volume, and I'm a bit obsessed. In this volume, he meets a girl, Ko, who is awkward and shy and afraid of interacting with people. Given how oblivious and outgoing Nao is, it makes for a really sweet pair. I will admit I was a little disappointed that Naoya doesn't meet a cute boy instead, but that's okay. I was kind of hoping there would be more diversity in the characters, but I was very quickly won over by Nao x Ko.

It might be mainly because of Nao at this point, but I'm a bit obsessed, and feel like I must read the next one as soon as possible.

Manga Review: Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku, Volume 1, by Fujita

Rating (Out of 5): ~4

Publisher: Kodansha Comics

Release Date: April 2018

Volumes: 6+

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. RightStuf.

Volume: 2.

Goodreads Synopsis:

The awkward, romantic comedy manga about geeks in love that inspired the new anime! Can a professional man who's secretly a hardcore gamer and a woman who's secretly a fujoshi date without their hobbies getting in the way, or revealing each other's secrets?

Extra-long book includes 2 Japanese volumes!

Narumi and Hirotaka are, by all appearances, a power couple. They're young, good-looking professionals. But they have secrets from everyone but each other: They're serious geeks! Narumi is a fujoshi, and Hirotaka's a hardcore gamer. Their sweet, awkward love story started life as a webcomic before becoming a full-blown manga series by popular demand, and is about to become a major anime series!work.

Review:

This isn't 4-koma, but it is short, comedic chapters. Narumi meets an old classmate at her new job, Hirotaka, who is a fellow otaku. This is something they related to while in school, but now Narumi avoids telling people these things, and has had issues in the dating world because of it. So upon seeing Hirotaka again, she gets excited to have someone with this in common.

They decide to start dating, and in the moment, it feels like a “why not?” situation. A convenient decision. But as the story progresses, we get to see that there are real feelings involved, and that they do work well together. We also meet Koyanagi and Kabakura, fellow otaku work friends, who are also dating.

This was a really fun volume. Having such big, comedy-based volumes always take me a while to get through, but this was fun. Otaku series are always on my radar, and since this is also josei—or, at least, with adult characters—that's even more of a plus. This is fun and geeky, and the artwork is also really pretty.