English Dub Review: My Love Story with Yamada-kun at Lv999 “There’s Something I Want To Talk To You About”

Overview (Spoilers Below):
Akane had recovered from her cold thanks to Yamada’s care, and she is finally able to log into FOS again. There, she meets the new guild member, TSUBAKI, in her FOS avatar. The two go to challenge a boss battle straight away but are overcome by its incredibly “solid” defense. They reach the time limit, and, unfortunately, the boss gets away. But after fighting alongside each other, Akane deepens her friendship with TSUBAKI. After logging out, Akane calls Yamada to ask him for advice on how to strategize against this boss, which ends up turning into a very long phone call. Once the call ends, Akane finds new determination within herself.

Our Take:
Well, it looks like Akane is feeling much better after two episodes of suffering from a cold. However, this week’s episode shows she’s coming down with another sickness. By that, I mean “love sickness”. Regarding how Akane felt when Yamada left at the end of the previous episode, it’s evident that she’s one step closer to confessing her feelings for him or embarrassing herself further. In the case of this episode, it’s likely the latter, with a lengthy phone call between the gamers concluding abruptly thanks to Akane’s “humiliating” compliment.
But that’s not all this episode has to offer. We also get to see Tsubaki in action in FOS, as she assists the Chocolate Rabbit guild in a seemingly impossible quest to defeat a powerful boss with regeneration magic. We only got a glimpse of her game avatar waiting for her guild members to show up in the previous episode, but now we are finally able to see what she’s capable of in the game. Of course, Tsubaki has another reason for joining the guild, but she doesn’t explain it further. Considering her feelings toward Yamada, I’m assuming she wants to get closer to him, with Akane being the only obstacle in her path. Tsubaki and Akane were able to form an in-game friendship, but who knows how long that’ll last before one of them confesses first.
Since the show focuses more on real-world drama than the characters playing FOS, it’s nice to see one that gives the FOS segment as much attention as Akane’s romantic scenario. I can still see other viewers being disappointed at how much focus the show places on the rom-com formula than the online game. However, it’s got enough moments of vibrancy and humor to compensate for it, especially when Akane and Tsubaki try to break their keyboards fighting an undefeatable boss while Eita watches the action from afar. Thankfully, Eita made up for it with another MVP moment, in which he, as a waiter, forcefully moves the unruly guys from Momo’s group date to another table.
It may seem like a filler episode at first, but it’s actually about Akane’s next step in finding love again, as she wonders why Takuma dumped her. Well, in my case, it’s obviously due to Takuma being a huge dick. However, Akane wants to know her flaws so she can overcome them and learn to love again. I wonder if that’s what Akane wants to ask Eita about. Only time will tell as we’re nearing the end of this charming series.