English Dub Review: Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki “Say what you want; famous games are usually fun”

Overview

Based on the Japanese light novel series written by Yūki Yaku and illustrated by Fly. Shogakukan, the story follows Fumiya Tomozaki, a highschool kid who is considered to be Japan’s best player in the online game “Attack Families”, commonly known as “Tackfam.” Despite holding such a revered title, a lack of social skills and charm causes him to fall short in his everyday high school life. Failing to have many friends, he blames the convoluted mechanics and unfair rules of life, forcing him to give up and proclaim himself a bottom-tier character in this “game”.

After a fateful meeting with another top-tier Tackfam player, Fumiya is shocked to discover the player’s true identity—Aoi Hinami, a popular, smart, and sociable classmate who is the complete opposite of himself. Aoi, surprised at how inept Fumiya is at everything besides video gaming, decides to assist him in succeeding in what she calls the “greatest game of them all”…



Our Take

This was one hell of a start for this new series. Despite some of the subtle parodic references to the Nintendo Switch and “Super Smash Bros” The anime itself gives off some “Hi-Score Girl” Vibes but the characters and central premise thankfully differentiate itself as it’s own thing. What Aoi somewhat proposes to help Fumiya is an idea I don’t think has ever been explored and I’m surprised they’ve never used this idea in a live-action format.

Upon research, people often compare Fumiya to Rent a Girlfriend’s protagonist Kazuya Kinoshita in terms of having such a closed-minded perspective, and as of right now, it’s never explained why he even developed such a depressing outlook about real life in the first place. And the repeated display of his game-oriented perspective and complaints against how screwed up the real world can get progressively annoying. But at the very least, I’m also really interested in the chemistry between Tomozaki and Aoi as she is helping Fumiya face such a herculean task.

The animation is really good, the colors are bright and the 3D animation in the “Takfam” segments properly replicates the game it’s parodying. Fumiya’s goals look like they’re going to make this series an enjoyable one. He’s a relatable kid whose offline life is normal in itself and feels like a reflection of actual people out there which makes the proceedings compelling enough to keep watching. If I have any major complaints at the way this idea is written, it’s attempting to simplify social interactions a bit too much but I hope this is further touched upon at some point and we grow to root for the lead despite part of me seeing where this is going from a mile away…