Bottom-tier Character Tomozaki

Episode 2... this series just 180 flipped me!
Never before have I been so positively whiplashed in my opinion on a show. This was absolutely amazing. The depth, the pacing, the characterizations... and especially the lessons. So well crafted. It's like the perfect merging of a school instructional video and quality anime. I'm sold!
It's amusing that it took such a shit premise to make an awesome story. I think what makes it different is the main character is actually trying rather than having the joke be him avoiding attempting, then the comedy comes from the situation. You can actual tell Hinami is actually cultivating his teaching to specific people she knows will interact with him well in her friend groups. And, the Hexactly conversation grounds her as a character and not just his teaching figure. Hexcellently crafted!

Calling it now: Tama is best girl!
I'm all in on this one; even gonna up my rating right now!
 
I had a great time watching this
Whenever the two would have there little lessons on having a conversation I actually found myself learning along with him! Now I’m on the autistic side and have a hard time socially so I have a really hard time talking to others but watching him struggle talking to his classmates hit right at home for me. It made me feel like I’m not... alone. There were a lot of funny moments too like when they were voting for who had the weird sense of humor I found myself laughing out loud at that! This was a complete change from the first episode and was a great time waster! So excited for the next episode!
 
Episode 2 was leagues above the first one (the second part of ep 1). It has diverse and colorful characters, and it really grounded its theme in this one.
Looks like it will be fun going on.
 
Am I the only one who feels like this anime is secretly trying to teach introverts (like me) how to speak and engage in small talks? more like how to develop your social interactions? lmao it's the basics of the basics though
 
Ep 3

The lessons continue, I don't like the subtle messaging being put out here. His mental roadblock is sincerity, or rather the plans to execute lacked, or outright overlooked sincerity. And everytime he brought up is concerns about it, she got annoyed, later saying she hopes he doesn't use that to run away, rather than forming some schooling plan that was fairer to the test subjects.

To me this kind of teaches that if you want to be happy in life, you move towards goals without caring about how you're affecting people.

She''s pretty good at teaching this stuff, but should getting into a relationship be such a strong focus coming from someone who clearly doesn't have a boyfriend herself? What would she know about it? No way she'd get away with all that alone coaching time with him if she had a boyfriend.

Anyways I like how the show is grounded in unpredictable realism. She guides, but random unexpected events can happen, like the cliffhanger. That week's worth of effort probably gave her the courage to ask him, because it didn't look like it was an easy question for her to ask. If he kept reserved around her, never talked to her, it seems to me it's very unlikely she'd take that step and ask him, even though she was probably thinking it for a while.
 
Really enjoying this show
Really enjoyed the calm feel of the first half of the episode. I still feel the best parts of the episodes are when the two main characters are talking together alone in the classroom or when the boy is alone with one of the girls (sorry I'm bad at names) My favorite part was when the white haired girl and him are chatting alone in the library. She is now my favorite character of the bunch. Overall this episode had a nice feel to it and I just had fun watching it the entire time. This is turning out to be my favorite new show of the season... who knew?
 
Episode 3... oh yeah, he's heading right down "The World God Only Knows" mental breakdown path.
He's gonna form these bonds with people and won't be able to let them go when Hinami tells him to. Wait, is she grooming him for herself? Wow, that's a dark thought. Hopefully this won't automatically be "first girl wins" because I'm starting to not like her.

The teach me video games moment kind of came out of left field. Is she trying to date sore loser douche bag and this is her in? Time to wait and see where this twist leads.
Officially keeping this series for the season; very pleased what this transpired into.
 
EP 4

Great episode.

The student kind of surpassed the teacher this episode. The blonde chick is certainly at the top of the food chain. Aoi was stuck silent in the background only 3 people had any balls to stand up to her, Tomozaki, Nakamura and Izumi, and it freaked Izumi the fk out to do so.

That aside, I'm glad he was able to follow his heart and not continue with a phony relationship with the novel girl built on lies. While at the same time not giving up on his goal of getting better at life.

It's looking like Aoi is going to be the girlfriend he gets before the next term. She's definitely marked his value.........I mean she already acknowledged his ability to speak his mind, and now she's seeing it in action against someone she doesn't have the courage to speak out against. The fear for being left out, That blonde chick certainly wields that kind of power. The girls behind her look like they're dying inside......what happens when you gats no spine.

But anyways. when it comes to game references, Tomozaki just started playing, and already took down the necktie boss all the regular players were afraid of, he's got potential.
 
Episode 4... the jester can say anything to the king.
Tomozaki having valued the importance of hard work, even in his... enemy? ... rival? .... pain in the ass? Even though the queen of the mountain wants to humiliate the guy who turned her down, don't taunt him for working towards a goal. And what's she gonna do? He already has no social status that she can ruin. You are powerless to stop his words and you and your cohorts look foolish... more foolish than you already are.
This is kind of like a Hachiman truth bomb speech from SNAFU, just without the polish.

I enjoy how he started unconsciously mimicked Nanami's teaching persona instinctively; she's affecting him more than he realizes, and he praises her consciously too. He's on the way to be a decent character in the game of life.

His choice to not outright manipulate and keep up the lie to Fuka is pure and good. I'm pleased he has the freedom to do so and not have to abide by some strict format of the lessons presented.
This show is still in my tops this season and is surprising me more each week how much I like it.
 
Well after some pause and terrible pilot episode that breaks my expectation for the show, I binged 3 episodes and...
Well, the show gets better, but still I feel kind of cheated. I still cannot consider Tomozaki as a gamer and the game they featured is stupid. Moreover, I would not consider him to be "the best player in Japan", unless the game community of Japan is really really really small.

But the show seems to dial down on absurdities and become slightly more high-school slice-of-life (rather than harem), which is good. It slowly become entertaining and more interesting side characters in typical high school settings. Only Tomozaki remains a little bit pathetic, but at least far more sound and logical. What Tomozaki did for Fuka was really nice and while I does not seem they will date, they will probably become good friends (which is nice to see in anime, love/lust is not the only positive feeling between a boy and a girl, you need to also have friends).

The tantrum at the end of the episode was especially good, when he finally spoke out to defend his opponent efforts to achieve his goal against the Erika (the famous girl in school). If he had initially defended Nakamura (the best move) he would have win some social points for himself, while Erika would have lost her charm by her character. Instead, he chose the initial topic to be "how good the game is" (Erika does not care obviously) and then allowed weak-ass defense of Izumi to end the argument, so he kind of "got away" without appear to be a freak more than usual.

Of course, this is high school. Reading my online conversation in high school they seems pathetic to me now, but even then I was good at winning an argument (it does not matter if it is true or not, nor if I believe in the point I am making or not, I just win). But even so, Tomozaki can still be a little more pragmatic about his social life, because it is clear that he has quite pragmatic personality for his favorite game, and stir the social stigma in his own class.

In conclusion, this anime could have been way better, but also (based on the first episode) could have been way worse and boring. Choosing to be a general high-school slice-of-life story with kind of unusual character makes it entertaining dialed-down anime. I can patiently wait for the next week episode without asking what will happen next, but still I would be entertained when I watch it, it won't be a waste of time.
 
illuminatibg said:
Well, the show gets better, but still I feel kind of cheated. I still cannot consider Tomozaki as a gamer and the game they featured is stupid. Moreover, I would not consider him to be "the best player in Japan", unless the game community of Japan is really really really small.
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Say that to his face, I dare ya.......

Well IMO the game looks like a smash bros rip off so it's not a stupid game, probably just not a genre YOU enjoy specifically.

And he was objectively the best at the game according to the leaderboards. So if anyone was better than him, they don't play online. And it's real hard to get great at anything if you only beat up on local scrubs.
 
Episode 5... I'm just getting a bad feeling.
I don't know if it's just Nanami's shallow outlook on life or the actual rules of life in general when you say them out loud, but it seems like she's more broken then he is.

Mizusawa add on was odd... it feels like he and Tomozaki have a passing history with each other, but it's as yet unexplained, or he's that kind of guy who just acts overly familiar with everybody. Him actually dating Nanami may just be a rumor, or perhaps he's a product of her previous training, hence why he is able to spot Tomozaki's changes so easy and how he did exactly the steps that was Tomozaki's goals.

Why does his sister not have a name?

Good episode over all; I was hoping for more Fuka and/or Tama, but I'm patient. I don't know if the friend vs friend campaigning will be of any real importance or just a hindrance of Nanami's already busy time.
I did not notice a difference in his hair.
 
oninosweeney said:
Why does his sister not have a name?

.
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Cause the lame bitch don't need one, that's why.

Lets see, Most popular guy is definitely gonna be concerned with this guy hanging around Izumi so much. She's become easy for him to talk to, and I get the feeling he's relying on choosing her as a default because it's easier than poking around. (though I think both bowtie girls would be easier to deal with)

Are they or aren't they dating? Who knows, I will say this though, I find it hard to believe she's dating ANYONE while having so much 1 on 1 time with MC. And thinking realistic highschool life, it's not hard to tell who's dating who, from our perspective, if there is a rumor, it should be that our 2 main characters are dating.

Yeah though, Aoi is a victim of the life game. She's playing it to the point she's just a fake persona and lets her true self come out when around just Tomozaki. Apparently, she doesn't like cheese and told him, but in order to keep a group in good spirits, she's allowed them to think she likes cheese.

Sure you can't have everything your way, and you must make compromises in life, but she seems like wind to me in a group dynamic, moving quickly out of the way of any group motion in fear of being a weight on the group as a whole. I can only wonder how much fun being a part of a group is when your existence in that group doesn't really mean anything.

Tomozaki clearly stopped thinking about the objective when that random rumor came his way. It's common so far this show that Aoi forms a plan, and it kinda goes sideways because you can't predict people, and random shit they decide to do changes the course of things. Think of suggestions would be easy I think if he was thinking ahead of time of suggestions, something simple as, "lets take this route" would suffice.

The fact that that rumor threw him off so much kinda proves he's fallen for Aoi. Not unusual to fall for the 1st girl to give you attention in forever. But it brings complications. Her acting like an expert in teenager psychology should have realized that her involvement with this introvert is going to cause him to fall for her (maybe why she keeps trying to push him on to other girls). I wonder if she'd continue to coach him, or back off entirely if she caught wind of it.
 
Is Tomozaki getting jealous by chance? I’m interested. Kinda upset he didnt push the question of “are y’all dating?” But it makes sense for his character. When you have an abrasive response like ‘this better not be stupid’ of course it’s gonna dissuade someone whose introverted like that from speaking at all. Overall good episode. This show hasn’t missed for me yet.
 
Yuyunarutoballz said:
Is Tomozaki getting jealous by chance? I’m interested. Kinda upset he didnt push the question of “are y’all dating?” But it makes sense for his character. When you have an abrasive response like ‘this better not be stupid’ of course it’s gonna dissuade someone whose introverted like that from speaking at all. Overall good episode. This show hasn’t missed for me yet.
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As long as it took him to accept that group invite, which by in large was the easy obvious choice to do, asking her if she's dating is massive in comparison, and he's going to have to gain more "levels" before he can ask that question.

For one thing, people like him freeze because they think everything out in advance like chess. (if I ask her, I might get an answer, then what? SHe'll probably ask me why I want to know, I don't have an answer for it, or I can't answer honestly).........

Basically, that question is going to open a door to more things to deal with that he hasn't been educated on yet, so for the time being, that's just going to be that lingering thing.
 
Me after every episode: "is this so called 'game of life' really that complicated? Am I doing it right?" haha
 
tootalls said:
Say that to his face, I dare ya.......

Well IMO the game looks like a smash bros rip off so it's not a stupid game, probably just not a genre YOU enjoy specifically.

And he was objectively the best at the game according to the leaderboards. So if anyone was better than him, they don't play online. And it's real hard to get great at anything if you only beat up on local scrubs.
Click to expand...

My earlier comment for episode one commented on the game that it is like smash bro. I know the game, even if I did not played it, and I am not even a gamer (since I play games in less than 50% of my time, nor I play professionally), I am just a casual that just happens to know (watched and played) a lot of games in a lot of genres. I expect a true gamer to know more games than I do and be better than me in most of them.

As for "the best player in Japan" it could be a translation issue, but the narratives seems to imply he is the best gamer in Japan, not just the best gamer in Japan in Tackfam. It is possible I misunderstood something in the subs translation there.
 
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