Series protagonist Moriko Morioka had a successful career but now, aged thirty, she has quit... she is now a NEET who spends her time playing 'Fruits de Mer'. This is a video game where she plays as male character 'Hayashi'. Here she makes friends and joins their guild. In particular she gets close to a girl named Lilly who she often sits and chats with. She doesn't tell Lilly she is actually a girl; and certainly doesn't suspect that Lilly might not be. Away from the game she starts to get close to Yuta Sakurai, a handsome young businessman... inevitably it turns out she also knows him in the game but it takes a while before she realises this.
There are plenty of anime series that largely take place within a video game; this one is rather different though; these people aren't trapped in the game and even though we hear the game character's talking it is made clear that what they say is just what the players type... this means it makes sense that they don't realise the genders of their in-game companions. Moriko is also an interesting protagonist; older than most anime protagonists and not the greatest player in the game. It was fun that ultimately what happened in the game wasn't what really mattered it was the friendships formed in real life and the realisation that characters have discussed certain matters in the game not knowing that they actually knew the person in real life. The animation is good and character designs are effective; I particularly liked how the characters in real life have a different, more realistic, style to those in the game. Overall I found this series to be enjoyable and more original than I expected.
These comments are based on watching the series in Japanese with English subtitles.
There are plenty of anime series that largely take place within a video game; this one is rather different though; these people aren't trapped in the game and even though we hear the game character's talking it is made clear that what they say is just what the players type... this means it makes sense that they don't realise the genders of their in-game companions. Moriko is also an interesting protagonist; older than most anime protagonists and not the greatest player in the game. It was fun that ultimately what happened in the game wasn't what really mattered it was the friendships formed in real life and the realisation that characters have discussed certain matters in the game not knowing that they actually knew the person in real life. The animation is good and character designs are effective; I particularly liked how the characters in real life have a different, more realistic, style to those in the game. Overall I found this series to be enjoyable and more original than I expected.
These comments are based on watching the series in Japanese with English subtitles.