Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku Episode 4 Review: Is Mature Love As Difficult?

I can’t believe it’s already the fourth episode of Wotakoi! But at the same time, it feels as if it has been way longer since I feel like I know the characters all too well as if they are my friends. The episode this week only deepens that feeling, because we face some more emotional moments with them and their relationships.

Japanese title: オトナの恋も難しい (Otona no Koi mo Muzukashii)

Episode 4 – Is Mature Love As Difficult?

It starts off nice and well at work, with Narumi doing what otakus do during their break: watch anime. The first half of the episode shows mostly some nice play between Narumi, Hirotaka, Hanako, and Kabakura. They look at cosplay pictures and then the talk takes a sudden turn and Kabakura and Hanako end up fighting with each other. We soon find them at a bar drinking and then we see how the playful fights between Kabakura and Hanako are not always playful and that they do indeed have thoughts about the things the other person says. Even knowing the other person and that they probably don’t mean what they say does not make one immune to hurtful words…

Highlights

No more hiding

We start with a simple thing; Narumi is watching anime during her break (#relatable). Which is totally normal, at least for me, but I wonder if she somehow gave up on hiding being an otaku? Does that mean it was only necessary to hide it from (possible) boyfriends and not friends and co-workers in general? Somehow people must notice that she is watching something on her phone and that she is crying while doing so and then they would probably ask her… Well, she does have Hirotaka to keep her company, so I guess she just doesn’t need to worry about other people seeing it. As open as he is with his otaku-ness, Narumi probably can also be since they are already together.

Perfect Boyfriend Hirotaka

Why. Is. He. So. Perfect. He watches Sailor Moon with Narumi and then they cry together because he is, after all, a good otaku and recognizes the beauty of certain scenes. And it doesn’t stop there, he also wore a cosplay and ROCKED IT! On top of that, he did not only let Narumi take a picture of it, he also properly posed and was serious about it. Can I also ask, did anybody else notice the holes he has in his ears? At first, I didn’t pay much attention and tried to ignore them, but he most definitely has ear holes where the others do not. It just makes me curious what kind of person he was in his youth and if we ever get to see him put earrings in or what purpose they serve since the animators took the time to put them in. Will we see him wearing piercings?

The Relationships

This week we get to see the beauty of their relationships during hardships. There is the new couple who think they don’t argue but then Hirotaka says a classic line I have heard from many ex-boyfriends, ‘I can’t save her anymore and gave up.’ (#relatable) How many people have told me that they simply gave up on me and let me do what I want with my fandom, as long as I leave them in peace? Not only former boyfriends, even my own family sometimes says this to me. Since I am very sure that Hirotaka (and my family and ex-boyfriends) said this as a joke, I am fine with it. The fun part is how Narumi just sees it differently. And how she somehow turns into baby Godzilla when she gets angry. No real brutality here, only her pretending to get up and hit him.

And then the second couple with their problems… Seeing them how they are, always bickering and being snarky and sometimes throwing around some insults, I thought that I would probably have smacked my boyfriend/girlfriend already. However, I do know that some couples are just like that, I just think that everybody at some point will take something the other person said to heart. We can see how that played out for them. Our amazing Hanako is not just a lady of iron and doesn’t think about the preferences of her boyfriend… It only comes out when she is drunk. Isn’t she precious? Can I also say that I love Kabakura even more after this episode? How he appreciates Hanako and how much he loves her can be seen in his actions and the way he treats her… It’s just exactly what makes my heart beat faster. <3

Otaku in Moderation

When they argued about how he didn’t want to cosplay and tried to defend his way of otaku-ing, I related to him for the very first time! I mean, really related to him, as a fellow anime-fan. He just doesn’t want to bother the people around him with his craziness, so he keeps it to himself and those around him who like the same stuff. He doesn’t make anybody do something they don’t want to and in return doesn’t want to be made to do anything either (#relatable).

Trivia

I wanted to address the episode title this time because I think the translation does not do it justice. Some might remember that the Japanese title of this series is Otaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii. The title of this episode is Otona no Koi mo Muzukashii. So if we translate the series title quite literally, it’s ‘the love of an otaku is hard’ and based on that is this week’s episode title, ‘the love of an adult is also hard’. It’s a cute play with words and so true, as not only otaku have it hard. On top of that, the title for this episode uses the katakana writing オトナ(otona) for adult, instead of the normal Chinese writing 大人, which might be because when we write otaku オタク, we also use katakana. This is such a simple play on words that international viewers often miss, so I wanted to address it here and let everybody know how awesome the creators of this series are.

See you next week!

I have no idea where this series will go, but I am looking forward to next week’s episode! To be honest, I am now looking forward to the other two characters which were introduced to us before the series start in this article. I don’t think they were mentioned yet and seeing how easy it was for me to fall in love with the four characters we follow now, I can’t wait to meet the two others as well. Because what I can guess from their introduction is that we will follow their slow, blossoming love and like that have three different kinds of relationships to look at.