English Dub Review: My Love Story with Yamada-kun at Lv999 “I’ll Definitely Be Hurt Someday”

Overview (Spoilers Below):
Akane was about to collapse while going through a horrible cold, but then Yamada appears before her. Yamada picks her up and carries her to a nearby hospital. Meanwhile, noticing that he had missed his cram school lesson, his classmate Tsubaki, who recently joined their guild, starts to worry about him. Tsubaki had become acquainted with Yamada after playing against him in another online game and also knows why he avoids associating too closely with women. In her heart, she knew, “it would be horrible to fall for someone this cruel,” but she couldn’t help but feel Yamada was starting to mean more and more to her…

Our Take:
The Chocolate Rabbit guild has gained a new member in the form of Yamada’s gloomy classmate, Tsubaki, who appears to have a crush on the pro gamer. However, it doesn’t look like we’ll see her gaming skills in FOS in this week’s episode. Instead, it further explores Tsubaki’s concern about not being able to confess her love to Yamada due to what happened in his childhood.
The flashbacks indicate that a classmate was being bullied for liking Yamada despite him trying to be at her side, resulting in her transferring schools. This led Yamada to avoid every girl in the world, including Tsubaki, who delayed her confession until now. So, in a way, Yamada wasn’t entirely at fault that the student he encountered moved away. Despite being handsome-looking, Yamada’s emotionless expression and behavior caused people to unfairly judge him as mean and unlikable without getting to know him. What makes it even more heartbreaking is how they bully other people for liking Yamada, maybe even loving him. In other words, Yamada is a victim of people’s lack of common sense.
The episode also continues where the previous one ended, with Yamada helping a sick Akane to the hospital, explaining his absence from school. Afterward, Yamada slept over at Akane’s apartment to ensure her safety, making her realize his generosity. With everything that’s been happening to these characters, I can bet that Yamada is on the verge of becoming confident around girls and himself, while Akane is healing from the heartache caused by Takuma. This is mainly due to Akane gradually becoming more comfortable around Yamada, especially when he healed her cramped leg. However, she still struggles to find the strength to confess her feelings to him, probably because…well, she’s still sick.
Episodes like this made me glad that I started watching anime from the rom-com genre as much as the isekai and action ones. It provided the infectious chemistry that isn’t without its silliness, mainly from the Akane and Yamada segments. More importantly, it offered more character moments that made me wish nothing but good fortunes for them, mainly for Yamada. From the looks of it, that wish might start to come true for the complex gamer. Now, if only Akane can muster up the courage to confess her feelings before Tsubaki can.