Springtime is often crowded for me where anime is concerned, and this one is no exception.  Spring schedules aren’t by any means always the best, but they’re pretty much always the biggest – and this season seems, at the very minimum, to have a lot of shows good enough to at least consider following.  NoitaminA is late to the part as ever, but their entry Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii (henceforth to be known by its much easier to type nickname, Wotakoi) is off to a better than pretty good start.  It’s been a long time since NoitaminA has had what one could call a winning streak – it would be great if this series could close the deal and make that happen.

I don’t think it’s any coincidence that we’re starting to see more and more series depicting otaku trying to adapt to adulthood – romance and life in the workplace.  The first generation that saw otaku truly take ownership of anime commercially and made the industry (and its business model) as it is today are now in the 25-30 bracket, and series like Wotakoi (which started as a web manga) and Net-juu no Susume are squarely aimed at (and perhaps written by) members of that demographic.  I liked Net-juu, and hopefully Wotakoi has a chance to be even better – and as a bonus, hopefully not directed by a Nazi.

Wotakoi is the story of two otaku – Momose Narumi (Date Arisa) and Nifuji Hirotaka (Itou Kento) who coincidentally end up working at the same company.  Momose, who specializes in yaoi and was a successful doujin writer, is a self-hating fujo*** and tries to hide her true nature.  In fact, she quit her last job because her boyfriend who worked at the company dumped her when he found out about her lifestyle.  Hirotaka basically doesn’t give a damn, or at least he acts that way – he plays games (his specialty) at work (during lunch – this is still Japan) and professes not to care what people think of him.  But he doesn’t have a girlfriend, and it becomes clear soon enough that he wants one.

There are a fair number of different threads at work in these sorts of series, I find, and this one is no exception.  I mean for starters, it really is absurd that otaku should feel they have to hide their hobbies in order not to be shamed – this isn’t middle school, for crying out loud.  Maybe series like Wotakoi are a bit of a cry in the wilderness against that element of Japanese society, but more so I think they’re case studies of how otaku try to cope with a society that makes what they love (quite legally and without the remotest reason for shame) a reason to dismiss them as human beings.

The chemistry between Hirotaka and Momose is quite interesting right off the bat – which in this case is the moment she recognizes him on her first day in the office and outs her (quite innocently I think).  He’s generally a pretty gruff fellow, but she’s downright rude – when a self-loathing otaku projects outward, it becomes demeaning to any others within firing range.  But Hirotaka has a thick skin and it’s clear he, at least, has carried a torch for her since they were kids.  We all know where this is going, but that’s OK because it makes sense – clearly both Momose and Hirotaka like having a confidante around with whom they can be themselves.  In spite of her “I don’t want to date an otaku!” diatribe, why the hell shouldn’t the two of them give it a go?

I’m glad we got the awkward bit out of the way in the first episode – Hirotaka asks Momose out, and the bulk of the series will actually depict them as a couple (presumably), which is the more interesting part.  Also on-board are their sempai Koyanagi Hanako (Sawashiro Miyuki) and Kabakura Tarou (Sugita Tomokazu) – getting no-names for the leads and big names for the sidekicks is apparently a trend in anime now.  Koyanagi-san is also an otaku (a cosplayer) who knows Momose’s old identity, which is a bit of a strain on the already-stretched “small world” fabric, but Kabakura-san (who she’s destined to pair with) betrays no hint that he might be the same.

All in all this was a thoroughly pleasant, funny and likeable premiere – nothing stood out as exceptional but it all just clicked. We have a very experienced comedy/slice of life director in Hiraike Yoshimasa at the helm, and the production values seem more than sufficient for a series of this sort.  The downside, as usual, is that this is an ongoing manga and A-1 Pictures has only one cour to adapt it – and it’s a “NoitaminA cour” too, 11 episodes.  But I feel better about that with the main pairing already a couple by the second episode, so my hopes for Wotakoi are pretty high at this point.