I’ve been watching anime for over 20 years now, and reading manga for a good 8 years or so. You’d think that by now, all plots were pretty much predictable, all dialogues and storylines pretty common and repetitive. I’m a person who gets giddy enough quite easily: give me a little romance there, a little rom-com here, and I’d be gushing like the hopeless romantic that I’ve always been. But sometimes, I bump into a story that just speaks to my very soul and gets me all jumpy and excited beyond the normal, and that’s just what happened to me a few days ago.
Meet Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashi, a manga by artist Fujita. The title literally translates as Loving an Otaku is Diffiult, or It’s Difficult to Love an Otaku, or something to that effect. The title pretty much explains it, in all its simplicity.
I don’t want to dwell too much into the actual story as I feel that personally reading it will be a much better experience for whoever decides to try out the manga (versus just reading my description of it), but here’s the more or less summary of the chapters I’ve read so far.
It’s the story of anime/manga otaku girl who happens to meet childhood friend and gaming otaku boy at her new company. Somehow through their gaming and manga/anime exploits, they enter into a relationship, tackling everyday work and life while living their otaku lives with their friends, and discovering more about each other and themselves along the way.
Somehow, the description I wrote doesn’t do the actual manga any justice, but I feel like talking about it too much will ruin the beauty of the story and the chapters. It’s really something that you have to read to understand and fall in love with.
Reading aside, I’m quite excited for the upcoming chapters. Apparently, the artist uploaded her works onto Pixiv, where it was recognized and later turned into its own manga. So as of right now, there’s only a handful of chapters available, but rest assured, the giddiness of the storyline doesn’t require chapters upon chapters to introduce. Most especially for gamers, and anime/manga fans, and even cosplayers, this is the kind of love story that hits home. There’s a lot of realism to it, a lot of things people can relate to, or learn from. Aside from the comedy parts, and there’s a lot, Fujita goes to a great deal to explain the otaku nuances that non-otakus might not understand right away.
So far, here are the things I really really like about the manga:
(Warning: Spoilers/Photos Ahead)
- The story revolves around more than just 2 characters. There are a wide variety of otakus in the world, and just having 2 characters is really not enough to show all the different kinds of otakus there are in the world. Technically, otakus don’t just fit into stereotypes like “only a gamer” or “only an anime fan”, but the manga does a really good job of showing different kinds of otakus, and the extent to which they love whatever otaku genre their strength is in.
- The dialogue/panels really center around everyday issues and how it relates to things like video games or mangas. Fujita does an amazing job of making her work so comedic but in such a realistic sense. I seriously laughed when I saw this panel, because I can just imagine it happening in real life, or at least you think about it happening in your head when you’re in a not so ideal situation. This happens a lot throughout the manga, which makes it all the more interesting.
- They’re not afraid to tackle what manga/anime otakus love…..FANSERVICE.
- How at the end of the day, the manga is really just about two people who love each other, despite their characteristics, their personalities, their dreams, their insecurities, their hobbies, etc. This manga doesn’t try to hide the not-so-cutesy or nice parts of everyday people, it can actually feel too real sometimes, but that’s where the beauty of the manga lies in. We have wonderful characters, each bringing something to the table in terms of story and in terms of relationship. But we also see how each character carries their own personality, their own skill sets and their own insecurities. It’s so wonderful to get to see that in a manga.
I can’t wait to see more of the artist’s upcoming chapters. For now, I think I’ll be reading the current chapters again, and again, and again, until the next ones come out.
If you can purchase copies at your nearest bookstore/ manga shop, please do so in support of the artist and other manga artists who work so hard to provide us with these kinds of stories.
Fujita’s Pixiv Account: http://www.pixiv.net/member.php?id=3165269
Fujita’s Twitter Account: https://twitter.com/fjthr
Note: None of the images are mine, and are just taken online where scanlated copies are available.
