Netoge no Yome wa Onnanoko ja Nai to Omotta? – 06-07
“I’m not saying it was Ako, but it was Ako”
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Welcome back, everyone. I’ve got another two-fer, so let’s dig in… |
Real Life Online?
When the newb pwns you…
Episode Six brings us back to the comedy that this show has been somewhat lacking in the last couple of outings. While there have been some pretty awkward moments in trying to shift Ako out of the game world and into Real Life Offline, this time they manage to do it with a bit more grace and quite a few more funny bits that actually look kinda pertinent; a gripe I’ll get to in the final thoughts.
But if there is one thing this show is good at it’s pacing it’s humor and characterizations. This is actually something that Project 9 usually does a very good job on, for all the good it does what with the instant negative hype that get’s attached to it; another thing I’ll handle in final thoughts. But they usually handle shows that have light-hearted situations, with heavier text going with it. Jokes are punctuation, and situations are kept lively and mirthfully. So yeah, it’s not that they do knee-slappers from start to finish, they’re just better than average at projecting the proper mood.
Does anyone pay attention to what the Kyou says?
“The blind play period ended a long time ago! Right now, in the offline world, all that’s left are 100% completion parties who are only recruiting players with regular work experience”. And I couldn’t say it better to the game-head that is Ako. Sometimes you just have to talk nerdy to someone, get them on your side, right? It’s the joke that punctuates the episode and allows for the rest of the story to build on. With this outing, as with the next, things are kept very brisk, and the exam preparation is taxing on Ako and to an extent the rest of the cast, but not us. We can feel for Nishimura’s strained attempts at a confession, but not feel like he’s being an idiot. It’s hard to admit love, hardest of all to admit it to a chuuni…
We dance to celebrate our ridicule!
So Close…So Close…
This was just perfect…
Episode Seven, however puts all that has come before on a decent rail to a plot-line. They’ve built up to the summer vacation with Master’s announcement last episode. That means that we get treated to some beach and vacation time service that comes at us from a very atypical angle. And it’s all fun and games til sensei loses a bit of her mind trying to get the kids to act like energetic kids; such a huge vein in Japanese storytelling, have fun and be lazy as kids when you can, when you get to be an adult you won’t have time at all, and you’ll get old and curmudgeony…
REAL LIFE OFF-LINE GIT GUD!!!!
I have to hand it to them for turning that fanservice hype around. Akane is dressed very demurely and fitting for her layered personality and for her petite body type. Ako is basically wearing the bikini version of the Hero Costume, and even though they didn’t show it, the other girls worked on that bikini for her/with her. But Kyou is…well let’s just say she dresses along the lines of Unusually Uninteresting Sight because that’s just her way. But it was that total reversal of fortune that had us feeling for Ako….and I do feel sorry for her…so close girl. Next time, no hesitation.
…mind your own schwein-business Akane!
But the real meat of the program comes with that rather jarring security break. I don’t know what the protocols are in Japan in exacting detail, other than not being a dumb ass, when it comes to use of public PCs, but whatever those are, they were broken here. What a dumb-ass! But, all of that is in the middle of all the excitement and, of course, his mounting anxiety over telling Ako his true feelings, so we can forgive him? Now he has managed to level up on his Confession to Ako skill, but like last episode it’s misconstrued. I wonder how this “intruder” is going to mess things up.
Geez…
Extras Abound!
All in all I feel this show is still going strong; it’s just for the sake of a weekly column that I wish it had more meat, but the two-fer is just fine. If I do have complaints, then it is some light ones. First, part of me has to work a bit overtime projecting feelings onto Ako’s character. Part of me feels that she should be suffering a bit more for her actions and/or lack thereof. For all the supposed trouble she’s causing to herself, the rest of the cast treat her with to many reservations. Yeah, it was a chore to nail her down to study, but not that much of one to convince me she’s doing much wrong…
..you have to have fireworks, good work, Studio 9…
But that brings me to the next point I was to cover here, and that’s Studio 9’s style. The studio isn’t the best thing ever, don’ t get me wrong. But in the “yes, I will judge by a cover” world of net based fandom, I really do think it gets put further down the hole than it really deserves to be in most cases. So, their shows have a harder time than most getting attention out the outset, much less the attention that goes past some of it’s flaws. In just one mild counter example, Ufotable is great on animation and sound; but really sloppy on script and endgame, IMO. But them’s the breaks I guess. I’ll see you next time, and we’ll see if there’s enough meat on the bone for episode 9 to do a single post.
About skylion
All around nerd that enjoys just about any anime genre. I love history, politics, public policy, the sciences, literature, arts...pretty much anything can make me geeky...except sports. Follow me @theskylion
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Given that they had already talked about account security, it’s even less forgivable that they logged in on a public computer. Come on, folks, don’t screw up like that!
But it does give perhaps a nice opportunity for a riajuu meetup between Ako and Rusian, since he might have to go to her room in the real hotel to stop the sketchy person.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
…I guess they gotta build that hero moment…