Anime have to stop making me feel so old. Has it really been almost three years since Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii ended? That’s nuts. I thought we might get a second season to this – and if Hataraku Maou-sama has taught us anything, it’s that we still might. Instead we’ve just seen a couple of OVAs, which is certainly better than nothing but not quite the same thing. The manga is still ongoing, so anything is possible, but recent events notwithstanding the longer you go without a sequel, the less likely it is to happen.
Watakoi was a classic “good but not great” series for me. It ranked #13 for me in 2018, certainly not a great anime year but strongest in that area of the rankings. What frustrated me about it was the lack of real romantic chemistry between Hirotaka and Narumi – there was plenty of friendship and even sibling-style development, but they never really progressed as a couple. And that’s what I would really have hoped to see in a hypothetical season 2.
With that in mind, this OVA was a bit frustrating for me in that it focused entirely on the “C” couple. That would be Hirotaka’s younger brother Nao and Kou, the young woman who when last we saw them was being mistaken for a boy by Nao. Not only were Hirotaka and Narumi a minor element here, but Hanako and Tarou – the one couple in the series who actually acted like a couple – never even make an appearance. So no satisfaction on the development front there, to be sure.
Nao and Kou are fine, though I don’t find them as interesting as either of the older pairings. I am glad the series didn’t milk the gender confusion thing (one less thing to worry about if we do get another season), as the truth is revealed halfway through this episode thanks to a restroom exit. But these are college kids who act like high schoolers and Kaji Yuuki is in full-on annoying mode with Nao (who isn’t an otaku to boot), so I don’t get a whole lot out of seeing these two interact. They’re fine as a B-plot, less so as the center of attention.
Wotakoi sold quite well on disc, and the manga remains quite popular, the elements which make the lack of a second season a bit surprising. They’re also easy to understand because this is one of the better series out there when it comes to seriously looking at otaku trying to form romantic relationships. It’s a comedy but there’s a vein of truth running through the wall of silliness, and the main cast are all fairly complex and interesting characters. If there was never much romantic chemistry with the main couple (unlike Tarou and Hanako) – partly because neither of them seem all that interested – that was one of the elements of intrigue with the story going forward. I still hope we get the chance to see that happen, though I’m not as optimistic about that as I once was.
