English Dub Review: Recovery of an MMO Junkie “Recovery of an MMO Junkie | Moriko Logs In to Fruits de Mer”

This entire episode was a blast.

Overview:

Sakurai visits Moriko to help build her new computer, and Moriko worries about having a guest in her house. After she falls asleep while playing, she wakes up inside the game, where she meets Lily and Takashi.

Our Take:

The first half is a cute rom-com, where Sakurai helps Moriko build a new computer. Moriko keeps her apartment messy since she lives by herself, but she quickly cleans the whole place to make things presentable. She’s worried and flustered about having her love interest over. There are a few cute moments and an accidental kabedon, but all in all, it goes well.

It’s really nice to see Moriko and Sakurai being cute around each other. They’re still shy, but they’re happily comfortable together and have a good time. Now that their game lives are out in the open, they can be themselves. Of course, they’re comfortable playing side-by-side, and it’s charming. What a tease, I really thought they’d be moving in together in the first scene, but they were just moving computer parts. Someday, perhaps.

The second half is Moriko’s fever dream, which is entirely a JRPG parody. There are references to classic JRPGs galore, from having to fight the demon king (Koiwai) to facing the four strongest underlings, the Heavenly Kings. What can defeat the demon king is the classic bikini armor, which Moriko refuses to put on, understandably. The game and reality have overlapped, with both players and avatars appearing in the same space, but it is a dream. Still, it’s fun to see everyone working together.

A surprise came in the ending where Sakurai exploited a loophole— nobody said who had to wear the bikini armor, so he put it on instead. Luckily, that was censored out, but that was a hilarious twist. A lot of the humor in this show comes from video game tropes or the characters interacting with each other, which is lighthearted and funny. Altogether, this is a fun show, and the OVA was a cute addition.

Score
8.0/10