Yamada-kun to Lv999 no Koi wo Suru

[Wakasagihime]

The MMO sucks so much whenever it's on screen. I couldn't keep going mid Ep2.

 

[Nekus]

Episode 2 was really mediocre. As @Wakasagihime said the game portions of the episodes suck and everything else in general is very tame and by the book. I guess the biggest issue is that even after 2 episodes I really don't care if the two leads end up together or not. The male lead especially seems like he'd be better off being alone and not annoyed.

 

[AndriasSch]

Ep02. It's like Koikimo (high-school 'mature' character and not-so-mature 'adult') with My Dress-Up Darling vibes (or at least the main characters are quite similar).
As in Recovery of an MMO Junkie, it shows a standard MMO fantasy rpg where the characters meet and have their first interactions, and then

Spoiler: ep02

they randomly meet in real life. The female character is going through a rough moment in real life and something the guy told her is helping her to go through that.

 

[Santhizar]

Spoiler: Episode 2

An improvement. Akane leveled up as a person, and Yamada continues gaining points for his kindness, even if he is a loner at heart.

The entire story makes much more sense when you realize how young the characters are. I was in Wotakoi mode, comparing them to young professionals, but the dude's still in high school, and she's probably in her first or maybe second year of college at most if her mom just decided to purge her stuff from her old room.

I get why she'd like him at this point, but it seems they will need many more coincidences before he's on board, and I don't blame him.

 

[AndriasSch]

Ep. 2
At this point, I am not sure how these two would become romantically involved without massive shifts in their attitudes.

Spoiler: What do we see?

From this episode, we have learned how truly lonely Akane has been. Her family is distant, her friend Momo sucks as a friend, and Akane does not seem to have a social life. She relied on Takuma for love and lost something when he left.
Now, we know little about Yamada. He has been autistically coded so far, but it would not be unbelievable to learn that his life is lonely as well.
I do not think that these two really have enough to become romantics. I do see possible friendship. It would be nice to see an anime between a man and woman that aims for friendship instead of romance. I do not see that happening, but it would be more realistic.

Exactly my thoughts. I hope it doesn't end being that forced and that they just happen to develop feelings for each other just because.

Ep. 3
Wow, I have never been this early in posts before. One!
This was the best episode so far. The first two episodes were alright, but not more.
Now we are finally getting to the other characters. This may start to become more fun.
For now, I do not think this anime will focus on romance. Akane needs to get some friends, maybe even some good friends.
I hope the rest of this anime will be this fun.

And agree! I was about to drop this one but this episode was the turning point, now we can expect much more and there was even a cliffhanger, lol.

Btw, wasn't it weird how the college lecture talked about the Arab Spring?

 

[randomredneck]

Episode 3.

Spoiler

Yeah, the second they proposed the IRL meetup, I said "Ririhime is a guy in real life, isn't she?" Lo I was correct. A predictable twist, but a funny one anyway.

 

[knoxyal]

Took a peek at the manga reviews after episode 3. It’s going to be very cute.

 

[knoxyal]

So far, very enjoyable. I agree the game section sucks, but the rest it pretty cute.
It’s visually pleasing and the lofi music is doing a very good job at creating the mood.

Spoiler: Highlights ep1-4

 

[randomredneck]

Episode 4.

Spoiler

I like the moody girl. She's fun.

 

[KazeVongola]

Spoiler: Ep.4

Its funny seeing every woman in the vicinity going gaga for our plank of wood of a leading man. Even the human equivalent of "watching paint dry" will turn heads if he's attractive enough. At the end of the day, both men and women are pretty much the same.

Well I certainly didn't expect an ojisan and a hardcore otaku to be the most likable characters in the show, but here we are. As a guy who almost exclusively plays female characters in games, I completely understand Rurihime. What better time is there to just let loose and role play than in the game?
This was a fun little meetup, and made me think the show might make a better slice of life with some romance in it, than the romance focused while hinting drama that we got.

Also, it seems like they're setting up the old "they were friends when they were kids, but forgot about each other" trope, which would be pretty lame.

4 episodes in and it still isn't too bad, so I guess its a keeper.

 

[Nekus]

After 4 episodes I still wouldn't care in any way if these two characters got into a relationship or not.

Spoiler: Episode 4

And I really don't give a shit about seeing the drama between Runa and the mc. Or Yamada and whoever the girl in the flashback was.

It's fairly well made as a show and in another season I might have finished it but I'm handling way too many seasonals as is, so it's a drop for me.

 

[RBloop]

It's a decent romance story. As an mmo player, I've seen this stuff actually happen, oh boy the drama it caused in two of my now ex-guilds, I'm just glad I'm out. To me, the mmo scenes is just a vehicle to have the two mains try to understand each other, even if it does seem pointless at times to have it in.

 

[knoxyal]

Spoiler: Ep5

So Yamada is falling for Akane. I’m starting to see why though. She has admirable characteristics that Yamada doesn’t have. I think Yamada gets along quite well with bubbly types (his senpai being one such person), he and Akane are a good match probably.

I noticed someone played with the editing here and there. I like how they did the flashback on Yamada’s smartphone.

Also, can we appreciate Akane’s clothes for a moment.

 

[Eloibinette]

As a concept, it's a cute idea that hasn't been overly done. From the few episodes that we have however, the pacing for this anime sucks lol. Not a single interesting piece of development. Characters aren't particularly riveting and certainly not entertaining. This is just another anime release made to be stomachable by everyone, basically background noise at this point.

 

[randomredneck]

Episode 4.

Spoiler

I like the moody girl. She's fun.

Episode 5.
Yeah, I take that all the way back. Fuck her.

Spoiler

This little psycho sets her up to be stuck alone with a potentially dangerous stranger, and the show has the fucking nerve to try and make her look sympathetic. What kind of fucking psycho is this kid?

 

[YiliJams]

Madhouse has always given us a decent animation, but not this season. So it's a bit disappointing... And surprisingly, Doga Kobo surpassed themself with OnK
in fact, there is always the possibility that this show has been animated by a new team.

 

[knoxyal]

Madhouse has always given us a decent animation, but not this season. So it's a bit disappointing... And surprisingly, Doga Kobo surpassed themself with OnK
in fact, there is always the possibility that this show has been animated by a new team.

I have no idea what you mean by disappointing. The editing and coloring is A+++. The visual storytelling for episodes 5-6 is quite creative and pleasing to watch.

Allow me to gush over (not really a spoiler):

Spoiler: The visual creativity of ep6

1) Creative scene transitions

Matching editing style with what is happening in the story. Character wiping the blackboard incorporated into scene transition via “wiping”.

Fading sky > window > face > zoom into room.

Matching sound effects with scene transition. Chomp on crackers (Akari’s room, present)> can being popped open (Sasaki’s living room, future).

2) Text use in dialogue and narrative
Supplementing what is not being orally said with background text.

Narrative of character inner thoughts and dialogue through snapshot/text. Smooth framing.

Text bubble narrative emphasis:

3) Stylistic flower flair and color texture that is unique to this show. I’m digging the pastel bright color palette and shiny texture. It’s lovely that they went for white to contrast with the general colorfulness of the show to highlight the “moment”.

The editing, coloring and visual narrative of this show is way beyond the lvl of what you would normally expect from an ordinary rom com. Most shows regardless of genre don’t even go creative with the editing. Visually, I think this show is super entertaining. Kudos to Madhouse.

 

[randomredneck]

Episode 6.
Yeah, no. I didn't suddenly develop amnesia since last week, show. I didn't suddenly forget Runa is a complete jerkoff. And this 20 odd minute attempt to force me to like her did not work.

 

[RBloop]

It is jarring to having Runa not wanting Akane in the group, to just being besties all of a sudden. As others said, they are trying to give Runa "pet the dog" trope via epi 6

 

[Alezandra]

Watching this because I read the manga and liked it, so the investment is there. Just not sure how the pacing will be like and since the manga isn't actually done so would the anime veer off to something different or will it just be slow paced enough to wait for content from the manga?