Hello everybody! I hope you've all been having a fantastic day,
because today, I'm going to talk about what is probably one of the
cutest anime you'll ever see. A show about MMOs and the girls who
play them. A show who's name is so long I do not feel like saying it,
but will anyway. Yes, I'm going to talk to about netoge no yome wa
onnanoko ja nai to omotta, or And You Thought There is Never a Girl
Online? God that was a mouthful.
We begin our story with a young woman confessing her love to the man
of her dreams, only to get shot down. Don't worry. This is all
happening online. Fortunately for us, our young heroine isn't quite
ready to give up. When her confession is rejected, she decides to go
for broke. (Add video audio). That's right, Ladies and gentlemen, she
figures that if he's going to reject her confession, then they should
just get married.
I really have to hand it to Project No. 9. When they first created
this series, I didn't think it was going to amount to much. My
thoughts were along the lines of, “oh, this is just gonna be
another Sword Art Online or Log Horizon.” Don't get me wrong. I
don't dislike either of those anime, but I didn't think this series
was going to contain anything original. I have never been so glad to
be wrong. While I wouldn't say And You Thought There is Never a Girl
Online? Brings anything new to the table, I feel like there are
enough original twists on used tropes that I didn't get bored with
the series. In fact, I enjoyed myself far more than I thought I
would.
The story follows Hideki Nishimura, an open otaku who spends a lot of
time playing the net game, Legendary Age. He, along with three other
people, have formed a guild within the game called Alley Cats. His
other companions are Schwein, a confident swordsman with a weird
catchphrase; Apricot, a mage who spends a lot of money buffing his
items and weapons, and also the leader of the Alley Cats; and
finally, Ako, his loving in-game waifu.
One day, Apricot decides that they should meet each other IRL. When
Nishimura goes to the meeting place, he is shocked to discover that
not only are all of the people in his guild women, but they all go to
his school. Coincidence? Of course not. The plot devicing is strong
in this one.
Despite my joke, I really enjoyed this series. I don't think there
was a single episode that I watched where I wasn't smiling. I was
greatly impressed by the humor. All of their jokes were not only well
timed, but they were also funny. I'm not lying when I say that the
humor found in here was probably some of the best I've seen in a
while. The only anime that was funnier was KonoSuba, but it would be
exceedingly difficult to beat that series when it comes to RPG gamer
jokes.
There were two jokes that I found particularly outstanding. The first
was when Ako decided to quite school due to a misunderstanding.
Hideki goes to her house to talk to her, but he ends up meeting her
mom first. He's then given a key to Ako's room. He goes up to Ako's
room and they talk for a bit. We hear some bumping noises in the
background, followed by Hideki telling Ako that he's coming in. Ako
tries to stop him, but he doesn't listen, and then unlocks and opens
the door. Ako is practically naked.
Now, walking in on a girl while she's naked is an anime trope that's
been done to death. In fact, having this trope is almost like a right
of passage for generic harem anime. What made this scene funny was
how they subvert the trope by putting an original twist on it. First,
the door is locked. In anime, whenever the main character walks in on
a girl when she's either changing or taking a shower, the door is
always unlocked. I'm not sure why this is. Maybe the girl's just
don't think the main character is capable of opening doors, or maybe
it's just a poorly disguised plot device to show some censored
boobies. Whatever the case may be, I like how the door is locked
here, and the main character unlocks it and enters anyway. The second
subversion of the trope is Ako's reason for being naked in the first
place. She likes to feel free and uninhabited when she's in her own
room. What makes this interesting is that there are actually people
who are like this. In fact, when I'm at home, I generally don't wear
much, and sometimes I don't wear anything.
The last subversion of the trope is when Ako tells Nishimura that
she's ready, and he opens the door again, only to discover that,
rather than putting her clothes back on, she has taken what little
she was wearing off. While this has been done before, what made me
laugh was how Ako feels like it's a perfectly normal response because
they're married in-game.
The other joke that I liked was the pee joke, and I don't think I
need an explanation as to why I found that funny.
While the comedy in this anime is often hilarious, this series is not
without its more touching moments. There are many instances where the
characters deal with real life issues, and while some of these
problems are exaggerated or overemphasized, I think a lot of people,
gamers especially, can relate to the quandaries these characters
face.
I was particularly interested in Ako's problem. Ako is a person who
has trouble separating reality from the video game. In fact, the
entire premise for this anime is that Ako is so absorbed by the game
world that she assumes what applies in the game also applies in real
life. A good example of this is how she thinks Nishimura is her
husband IRL. Not only does she think they're married in both reality
and the game, but she even calls him by his in-game name of Rusian
when they aren't playing, thereby informing everyone that when she
looks at Nishimura, she doesn't see Nishimura but Rusian instead.
Outside of Ako and her reality issues, my next favorite character is
Akane Segawa. I'll admit that a part of me likes her just because her
voice actress is Jad Saxton. I've loved her voice overs since she
played Suzuka Dairenji from Tokyo Ravens. However, I also feel like
Segawa's character is the strongest personality wise. Unlike the
other members of her guild, Segawa is a hardcore gamer who wants to
have a reputation in school as a normal high school girl. It's like
she wants to deny the part of herself that loves net games, but she
can't give them up, which is why she turns down every boy who
confesses to her. Having a boyfriend would mean less time to game.
Aside from Akane and Ako, the other four characters to note are
Nishimura Hideki, Kyo Goshoin, and the two supporting characters
Nanako and Yui. While none of these characters are bad, I felt like
they didn't have as strong of a personality as either Akane and Ako.
That said, I still had loads of fun watching them. Kyo, who plays
Apricot in the game, is the daughter of a wealthy family. She spends
crap loads of real money buffing her in-game weapons and armor. She's
also the spearhead for the get together, and the one who forms the
net game club so they can hang out at school. Meanwhile, Hideki is
technically the main character. I say technically because he gets the
most screen time, but in truth, Kyo, Ako, and Akane also play pivotal
roles in the series.
Aside from the cute story, the anime isn't anything especially
spectacular. I do appreciate the artwork, and the animations were
good enough that I certainly won't complain. That said, while the
artwork was lovely, this series isn't going to win any awards for
it's animation. It was just okay, and honestly, I don't think it
needs to be anything other than okay. Where this anime really shines
isn't with its animation and artwork, but with its characters. For
people who enjoy playing video games, and especially online games,
it's easy for you to feel a sense of kinship with these characters.
Aside from all of them being very likable, they also make me think of
myself when I went to high school.
For those of you who love video games, I would highly recommend
giving this series a watch. You can watch it in either subtitles or
dubbed. While I usually prefer subtitles to dubbing, I honestly
prefer the dubs for this anime. I believe the VAs had a really strong
showing here, and the jokes made more sense to me dubbed than when I
had to read subtitles.
