2018 modern romantic comedy, josei manga adaptation in 11 episodes:
AniDB, vt
"Love is Hard for Nerds". Obsessive fans of games and manga try to
balance their passions with real life.
While this is billed as a romantic comedy it's really more of a
comedy about lifestyles. Narumi the manga fan has tried to date
non-otaku, and it hasn't gone well, but she's still trying to conceal
her obsessive nature from her workmates; so she agrees with Hirotaka
the games fan that they'll have a dating relationship of convenience.
But the other two major characters in this show are also otaku, and
each couple has something to teach the other.
That said, it's a shame there's so little progress; once the
situation's set up in the first couple of episodes, it's virtually
static to the end of the run. On the other hand, the characters have
distinctive personalities, rather than falling into generic gender
roles, and one can even believe in the relationships as something more
than simply conforming to the roles that society expects of them.
OK, most of what actually happens could be in high school rather than
the working adult lives that these people have, but there's just a
little bit of extra sophistication in the writing (this is a "josei"
series, aimed at adult women, which means it gets away from the usual
clichés I've seen elsewhere, and I haven't seen enough josei to
recognise what are probably its own inevitable clichés) that leaves
this as a surprisingly thoughtful piece.
There's been no word on renewal, and noitaminA shows don't usually get
continued, but I'll watch more if it's made.
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