You know in those fighting games, you have top tier characters that are basically popular characters because a whole lot more of players use them. Then there are those not so popular characters that form the bottom tier because, well, they aren’t so great to play with. So how do you deal with such characters if you have to use them? You train like hell! Okay, anyway… This is somewhat applicable in real life. At least in Jaku-Chara Tomozaki-kun. Our titular character is in introvert and socially awkward gamer geek. No socializing skills whatsoever. Just good as his fighting game. But if there is a chance encounter that would enhance his social and life skills, would he be able to do it? How? Yup, you train like hell! He’s not going to be training blindly, though. He’s got the guidance of the most popular chick in school to help him out. Getting to learn all the best from the best. Yeah. He’ll be a top tier character in life in no time.
Episode 1
Fumiya Tomozaki is a top level player under the moniker Nanashi in a god tier game known as Super Attack Families AKA Tackfam. Basically a Super Smash Bros spoof. Yeah, god tier spoof, more like it! He plays with his fellow classmate, Shuuji Nakamura who unlike him is good looking, smart and athletic. The perfect guy in life. Hence the only thing Tomozaki has that is better than him is Tackfam. When Nakamura loses, he blames the game as being sh*tty. Of course Tomozaki will not allow that to slide and will have a rematch using different characters. If Tomozaki wins, he must retract his words. And Tomozaki did just that. Back home, Tomozaki continues to play Tackfam. He notices another player by the moniker of NO NAME has been gaining ground on him. Like as though he has been practising to beat him one day. In the end, Tomozaki barely wins by the skin of his teeth. NO NAME messages him and wants to meet up. Back to Tomozaki’s normal school life. Boring. He narrates Aoi Hinami as Nakamura’s counterpart. Yeah, this top tier babe is out of his league. Come the weekend, he goes to meet NO NAME. Well, well. Are you not surprised? NO NAME is Hinami! Both in shock but Tomozaki gets mad thinking she was being rude by badmouthing the loser he is. Okay, there’s some truth in that but Hinami points out it’s like he is not even set on trying due to his shabby clothes and hair. Is this how he dresses to meet somebody? Tomozaki lashes back that people like her have it good in life and they don’t know the kind of obstacles he has to go through. Basically his life sucks so don’t force your values onto him. In that case, Hinami brings him back to her home to prove something. Oh dear. Did this escalate quickly?!
As Tomozaki waits in her room, suddenly it’s like her sister comes in. Actually it is Hinami herself without all that makeup and nice clothes. See what one’s appearance can do? So she lectures him about appearance stats as well as her admiration for Nanashi since he was the top of his game and that meant he put in a lot of effort. To her shock, she couldn’t imagine it was her loser classmate who wasn’t even trying. So to say, if this jerk beat her in Tackfam, doesn’t that mean she is also useless? Twisted logic, but I get what she’s saying. Long story short, she is going to teach him about the god tier game known as life. Basically, giving him a new makeover, huh? Tomozaki asks her how god tier is this game of life and is blown away by her answer that she considers life and Tackfam to be equal. He feels like his efforts has been finally recognized. With Tomozaki agreeing to play, Hinami first teaches him the basics. The first step is to build your own character. She has him start off by wearing a mask and smile. He tries his best practising at home but he looks so creepy that his sister just tells him not to further embarrass her already! Having a loser brother like him is already embarrassing enough for her at school! Ouch. Next day, Hinami continues her guidance. Basically, setting some goals for him. It’s like suddenly his bar has gone sky high because she wants him to get a girlfriend when he reaches his third year of high school! Did he set the challenge to nightmare mode?!
Episode 2
One of the ways to achieve that goal is for him to go talk to a few girls. Hinami suggests Yuzu Izumi who sits next to him. On pretence to ask for a tissue for his cold, since she doesn’t have any, she seeks for help from Fuuka Kikuchi. Not bad. 2 girls already he talked to. Too bad Kikuchi gets freaked out seeing his smile… That still needs practice… Next girl he is supposed to talk to is Minami Nanami AKA Mimimi whom he sits next to during home economics class. Because of her liveliness, he gets taken aback when she casually talks to him. Because of that, he panics and answers in a funny way, making her laugh out loud. When Nakamura and his groupie come by to see what’s so funny, they didn’t think so. Furthermore, they vote that it is Mimimi who has a weird sense of humour. While they debate on that, Tomozaki notices, Hanabi “Tama” Natsubayashi giving him an intense stare. Did he do something wrong? Hinami barges into the conversation as she points out how he lost to Tomozaki in Tackfam so he can’t pick on him like that, the reason his older girlfriend dumped him. With the class laughing out loud, Hinami, Tomozaki and Tama now vote alongside Mimimi to overturn the decision. So it is Nakamura who has a weird sense of humour. If he isn’t satisfied, maybe they can duke it out via Tackfam later. Tomozaki watches Mimimi sexually harassing Tama and Hinami. Uhm are we watching a yuri show now?!
Later in Hinami’s private lesson, she tells Tomozaki that she knows Nakamura holds a grudge against him for losing at Tackfam. That’s why she had to set off his emotion bomb as soon as possible and make it sound like a joke or he’ll have a hard time later in this game of life. Next lesson has Hinami teaching him about postures. Yeah, use your butt muscles like that whenever he stands. Remember, keep practising! Then she has him walk home with Mimimi. The latter wonders if there’s anything going on between them since they look awfully close. Tomozaki denies and of course this makes her laugh as he sounded funny in denying. Then they talk about Tama who is quite an uptight, rigid and stubborn person unlike Mimimi who is so casual and goes with the flow just to have fun. In that sense, she respects Tama for being that. Tomozaki’s next lesson with Hinami brings up the topic of how different Mimimi and Tama interact with others. Basically, Tomozaki has some reservations when it comes to speaking so he can use that as a weapon and his strong point. He further notices that Mimimi often starts a new topic while Hinami expands it. Both factors are essential for a conversation to go smoothly. Hence she lets him practice introducing new topics and expanding on them by giving him flashcards and their recorded conversation. Her next plan is for him to go out with her this Saturday. Wow. Things are really escalating fast.
Episode 3
The next makeover has Hinami taking Tomozaki to the clothes shop to get some decent clothes. Thanks to his nervousness, he slips up asking to buy the mannequin! Then as they plan their next step at the restaurant, they are surprised to see Kikuchi working here part time as she serves them. Later, Hinami thinks Kikuchi would be the ideal girlfriend for him and he should work towards that goal. REALLY?! Hinami noticed that when Tomozaki asked Izumi for tissues, Kikuchi already had them out. Also, Kikuchi noticed Tomozaki first rather than her who is considered to be more popular. Though Tomozaki feels weird and isn’t sure, he isn’t giving up this game he started. Next day, Tomozaki tells Hinami the great news that his sister ‘complimented’ his looks. It was more of sarcasm but I guess he took it as a compliment. With this small goal cleared, she assigns him the next mini goal: Go somewhere with a girl from this school who isn’t her. Basically a date? Another includes talking to Izumi twice a day because by doing so, this raises the stats of other girls close to him and make them feel possessive. So for the entire week, Tomozaki tries to talk to Izumi but they mostly feel like blunders. One day at the library, Kikuchi talks to him thinking he is a fan of some author (he just randomly grabbed a book to pretend to read while thinking of Tackfam strategies). I guess he is winging it but she feels quite happy to talk to him. Then she tells him a secret. She is writing a novel herself and wants him to read her work and tell her what he thinks. So why the long face as he relays this to Hinami? He thinks he is lying to Kikuchi and making her misunderstand with such false hopes. Even if it does seem like it, what’s important is what comes next. Unlike games, when you lose a battle in real life, you gain experience. Hence in life, you’re better off keeping up the fight. Later he sees Izumi seemingly depressed. Although his task to talk to her is over, he still goes to talk to her anyway. She sounds agitated and confronting when asked. He thinks of getting out of here but then she wants him to teach her how to play Tackfam. Is this the root of the issue?
Episode 4
Apparently Nakamura has been so intense practising Tackfam that he barely hangs out with her. Oh, are they dating? Oh well, better than Erika Konno, the girl who confessed to Nakamura but get turned down. Izumi wanted to play with him too but was told off it she would just get in his way. Hence she bought her own copy to practice but as you can tell, she sucks. That’s why she wants Tomozaki to teach her. At her home. Now it’s his turn to teach somebody, eh? First he has her master some short jump by practising to button mash on the stopwatch. Then he also explains all the characters’ move set and techniques. Yup, he memorized them all. All the characters. Creepy or genius? Yeah, getting to technical for a girl like her. Ask why he is so into this game for what purpose, this leads him to talk about a certain someone introducing the god tier game of life so he wants to know how much he has changed.
One evening, looks like Nakamura is ready for his revenge match. His groupie as well as Konno’s girls stay to watch. Will it be different this time? Nope. Tomozaki still wipes the floor off his ass. But Nakamura isn’t happy. One more time. Each time, he gets his ass handed to him. Hinami senses her disciple late so she goes to check out what’s happening. Yeah, for the umpteenth time Nakamura loses although at times he gets close. This goes on and one until Konno snaps and basically she is telling him how much of a loser he is since he wasted all his effort and couldn’t beat this guy. But when she calls Tackfam a sh*t game, this is when Tomozaki loses his sh*t. Basically, he tells her to STFU because she doesn’t even play the game and calls it garbage. He goes on ranting about Nakamura putting in all those effort and he could tell from the tough combos he pulled off. He hates those who belittle others who put in effort without making their own. Wow, I hope Tomozaki doesn’t pop his vocal chords at this rate. Thick face Konno just brushes everything off as Izumi tries to sooth the situation but Konno takes this as her siding Nakamura and not her. It ends with everyone leaving. Game over. Nakamura vows to win next time. Izumi feels so scared after that but Nakamura calms her down. In the aftermath, Tomozaki talks to Hinami and thought she didn’t do anything that time. He believes she pulled some strings since Nakamura and Konno stopped giving him a hard time. She didn’t directly answer but hinted something of that sort. Tomozaki then invites her to a preview screening tomorrow. Too bad she has club activities then. However she is free to go with him after this. Tomozaki could felt a sense of happiness not because he managed to ask a girl out but rather a feeling born out of achieving his desired results. Like getting a game achievement, no?
Episode 5
Takahiro Mizusawa approaches Tomozaki and is impressed with what he said that day. He wants to be his friend, I take it? Tomozaki tells this to Hinami so she thinks it is a great opportunity to accomplish another mini goal of his of inviting another girl out. He thinks he should invite Izumi since she is thinking about getting Nakamura a birthday present. At first he has troubles trying to ask her this but once he gets the ball rolling, Izumi feels a sense of relief and happiness. Yes, she’ll come. Later, Mizusawa talks to Tomozaki and is suspicious of him levelling up lately. And with many girls talking to him, could it be… He read a book on how to improve himself?! Close enough. During dinner, Tomozaki is invited to join a group chat consisting of Hinami, Izumi and Mizusawa. I guess he took him a while to finally accept. The quartet meet up on an outing. Tomozaki trying his best to come up with suggestions for Izumi but nothing good. With Hinami and Mizusawa a bit too close, Izumi hints to Tomozaki that they might be dating. Later Hinami has Tomozaki take on the task of leading group discussions and suggestions at least twice and this would lead him to control moods of groups and bigger ones in the future. Tomozaki suggests some pimple cream but I guess that kind of present for Nakamura isn’t what Izumi is looking for. This is when Mizusawa steps in to suggest some hair cream. He then gives Tomozaki some hair makeover to make him look a little different. Later Mizusawa notices some cheesy pizza on promotion and so Hinami is eager to try it. Just before Tomozaki could note Hinami’s love for anything cheese related, because Mizusawa also mentions this, Tomozaki wonders if he isn’t the only one who knows about this. The outing ends and in the next session, Hinami is disappointed at Tomozaki he couldn’t even complete his task. But at least he is able to pick up his slightly improved appearance after Mizusawa’s makeover. When he starts mentioning Mizusawa’s better suggestions, she shuts him up and won’t hear any of his self-depreciation. When Hinami talks about the rule of tricking someone into making a suggestion that sounds good and not necessarily a better one, Tomozaki is shocked. Before he could call this a lousy game, she further explains about information warfare and effective speech skills for convincing others. With such, you can rope others into joining your party. In other words, you won’t get others to change their mind if you keep yelling you are right. So you have to change yourself and exploit this rule. Later nominations are open to those interested in running for the student council. Hinami volunteers herself followed by Mimimi.
Episode 6
Hinami wants Tomozaki to be Mimimi’s campaign manager. This will help him better achieve his long term goals. Tomozaki fears Mimimi might lose because of him but it doesn’t matter to Hinami. She is an important person to her no matter what. So when Tomozaki talks to Mimimi about this, she rejects him because he doesn’t look reliable. Ouch. Next day, Tomozaki learns Mimimi has hired her junior, Yumiko Yamashita as her campaign manager. And who is Hinami’s campaign manager? Why, it’s Mizusawa. Definitely looking like a winning pair. Later when Mimimi hands Tomozaki her manifesto, he helps makes it more readable with the fonts, spacing and everything. He suggests he could be her brain and do those brainy stuffs. She likes the ring to it and accepts since she isn’t the best in that kind of thing. She asks why he wants to help her. Because wants to bring Hinami down. I take that as in a gaming rival sense. Tomozaki follows Mimimi as she goes around canvassing for votes. One stop is the volleyball club where Tama is in. First order is Mimimi outraging her modesty by sniffing her body, licking her belly and unstrapping her bra???!!! WTF???!!! WHAT THA FFFFUUUUUU???!!! Then she talks to the club leader about some electric ball pump she’ll get the clubs if she gets elected. Once that is done, Tomozaki asks her why she wants to beat Hinami so bad. Mimimi asks him to name a few first things like the first American president and tallest mountain in Japan. Easy, right? But what about the second best? Can’t name them, right? Closer to home, who is the top scoring girl in the grade? Hinami. Obviously. The second? Don’t know, right? It’s Mimimi. In short, those in first place stands out and is popular. Mimimi considers herself multi-talented and noticed he grades slipping recently so you bet that’s her reason of wanting to win. Tomozaki continues to help in brainstorming Mimimi’s campaign and one of them includes promising air-conditioners for the first years. Hey, Mimimi will go all her way to ensure they get it if she wins, right? Or end up being one of those potential liar politicians in the future… He also writes her campaign speech in which she gleefully approves. They’re going to take down Hinami alright. But Hinami notices their smooth dynamism together and is glad things are working out for them.
Episode 7
The student council president candidates give their speech. First up is Hinami. Not only she gets the crowd’s attention, her election promise is air-conditioners for every room. Is Tomozaki’s plans screwed? Next is Mimimi. Looks like she is talking to a virtual assistant about her chances to become president. It is all adlib so this gets the crowd’s attention too. In the end, Hinami wins the election by a landslide. Tomozaki and Mimimi keep up their positivism despite their loss. Well, it was good experience. Later Hinami talks to Tomozaki and finds out the whole adlib thingy was actually scripted. Despite the loss, she feels he still has potential and hopes to keep applying this in life. Later, Tomozaki manages to eke out his courage to invite Kikuchi to see a movie (part of his task). She accepts and this gives him the opportunity to read up on some books she likes so they have something to talk about. Ever since her loss to Hinami in the election, Mimimi has been challenging Hinami to some running practice. Of course, Hinami always beats her. Hence Hinami talks to Tomozaki about this effort thingy but cautions that sometimes in life putting in too much effort, some things cannot be solved easily. On another evening, Tomozaki and Tama watch another running practice by the duo. This has Tomozaki learn that Tama’s friendship with Mimimi came about not too long ago. Tama didn’t know how to make friends and was always alone. Until Mimimi came to bug her by poking her face and it became normalized. That too led her to make more friends. Apparently all this was done under Hinami’s advice as to slowly go talk to Tama and make her open up. Hence Mimimi’s teasing was done for her sake. Tomozaki continues to observe the strong bonds between Hinami, Mimimi and Tama. However the next day, Mimimi wasn’t herself.
Episode 8
It seems Mimimi is really overdoing her challenge with Hinami. So much so it is painful for Tomozaki and Tama to just watch. So one day he asks her if she really wants to beat Hinami that bad. And her reply is that it sucks to lose but it would suck even more to give up now. Flashback shows in middle school, Mimimi’s basketball team lost early to Hinami’s team in the preliminaries. Mimimi’s teammates were cool with losing because they got this far but Mimimi obviously wasn’t. However they told her because of their effort, they felt happy at how far they got. More Mimimi drama as Tomozaki and Tama thought she would continue to run alone in the rain. Nope. It’s Hinami. Subsequently, Mimimi doesn’t show up anymore so Tomozaki confronts her about it. He also heard from Yamashita about that basketball thingy. Mimimi has no choice but to further explain how she always fails to shine. That basketball tournament, she went on to see Hinami’s team played in the finals. Although her team lost and they were happy to be runner’s up, Hinami wasn’t. She cried when the winning school’s name was announced. Hence Mimimi felt ashamed of herself for not being able to be like her. That became her reason to want to be more like her, the person whom she looks up to and doesn’t want to lose. But then it gets worse. Mimimi quits the club and it’s just awkward seeing the girls apologize to each other even though they did nothing wrong. The melancholy of Mimimi blows up when Tama and Tomozaki later go talk to her again. Starting off at how much she loves Hinami for always looking out for her, it then descends into a teary cry of jealousy. The more Hinami bested her, the more she wanted her gone. Thus Mimimi hated herself for thinking this way. Tama gets one back herself as she sexually harasses her. If Mimimi is so obsessed to be number one, at least to Tama she’ll always be her number 1 idiot. Just like that, her blues are blown away and now it’s her turn to sexually harass Tama back. Oh yeah. Number 1 sexual harasser too. Tama might regret it but it’s worth bringing her friend back. In the aftermath, Mimimi returns to her usual genki self and rejoins the club. Tomozaki as part of his task has to give Nakamura a present and talk to him for 3 minutes. Because it ended too soon, Tomozaki panics for a talking subject and accidentally blurts out about rumours of Hinami and Mizusawa dating. Later, everyone laughs at his gaffe. Even Hinami. She clears the air they’re not dating. Mimimi apologizes to everyone by giving them, uhm, hideous cat key chains? WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY’RE CUTE?!
Episode 9
With Hinami speeding up Tomozaki’s goals, now he has to date Kikuchi by summer! Hence, a date rehearsal? Part of the prep for the date is Hinami taking him to the clothes store to get some decent clothes. Hinami managed to get Kikuchi’s permission to add Tomozaki’s contact so after doing so, Tomozaki invites her to the movies. History shows she is a slow responder but today it was surprisingly fast. She is excited to go out with him and it shows she was really anticipating this. Also, Hinami tells of a BBQ plan among their friends. The goal of this is to get Izumi and Nakamura together. She asks if Tomozaki wants to join in and since he wants to, she also sets goals for him. Something about teasing Mizusawa a few times so that he won’t become the punching bag. Along with Mimimi, they converge at Tomozaki’s house to discuss plans. Tomozaki’s sister in shock he brought friends over! And with mom they panic on what to do! Sorry Mimimi, not going to find any smutty stuff in Tomozaki’s room. Just a box filled with rundown controllers. Yeah, that’s how much he dedicated his life playing Tackfam. Tomozaki manages to make a bond with Mizusawa as he teaches him how to use the hair gel. Yeah, the girls teasingly suspicious something yaoi might have happened between them. Tomozaki meets up with Kikuchi for the date. After the movie, they go eat. Tomozaki thinks he is doing well by coming up with topics to talk. So proud, huh? But why does Kikuchi look sad? Then she brings it up. He has somewhat turned into someone who was easy to talk to into someone hard to talk. And just like that Tomozaki realizes he is still a bottom tier character. What a way to drop back to reality. Hard! But at the end of the day, all is not lost as she hopes to hang out with him again. Later Hinami calls him. It’s like she knows what happened. Probably it’s all written in his voice. Anyway, she doesn’t need to tell him what needs to be done next. Yes, he needs more experience and training. So which means the upcoming fireworks event should be up next. Tomozaki invites Kikuchi for this and instantly she replies yes! It’s like she’s waiting for it. Things are looking up.
Episode 10
The friends take a trip to the river for the BBQ party. I guess they had an extra space so they brought along another idiot guy, Takei. As they setup things, Tomozaki is surprised Hinami pairs up with him. She admits she sometimes get tired putting up all that act and being with him, she can just act naturally. The friends have fun but nothing serious coming out from Nakamura and Izumi pair. A few close incidents but nothing serious. As the guys retreat to their rooms, Mizusawa and Takei keep teasing Nakamura about moving on from his ex. Tomozaki manages to get by with some wise cracks and this leads to Nakamura admitting that there is some girl he likes although she keeps coming to him for love advice. Tomozaki and Mizusawa confer with Hinami and Mimimi on their instant chat and it is greatly hinted that girl is Izumi since she told Nakamura her ‘friend’ is interested in some guy. Then the friends converge to play cards and this leads to them talking about Mizusawa flirting with another girl from another school. When Tomozaki later tries to talk to him about this because he sounded like he doesn’t like this girl but yet he is trying to flirt with her. Mizusawa of course doesn’t give any answers and remains elusive. Bath time. You think it’s free fanservice but instead we get to see the guys. Yeah, everyone making a big fuss on how ‘big’ Tomozaki’s is! Tomozaki’s greatest comeback that sends the guy’s laughing as he points out how ‘small’ Nakamura’s is!!! OMFG. He just killed it. That night as they play kimodameshi, obviously Nakamura is paired up with Izumi who is looking scared. When the rest goes to setup, Tomozaki is left with Hinami. Suddenly she acts all scared and gets clingy to him. Tomozaki knows she is just putting up an act just to see his flustered reaction. Trying to get back at her, he sees a cicada and tries to disturb it to make her scream when it flies her way. Yeah, both of them screamed. Serves you right, eh? But I guess he can’t tell if she is trolling at this point because after helping her up, she embraces him and with those look in her starry eyes…
Episode 11
As you would expect, Hinami was just trolling him. The moment he baulks, he loses. That night, Hinami and Tomozaki meet to discuss his progress. Seems to be going well. Tomozaki has to hide since Mizusawa comes by. He talks about wanting to be honest like Tomozaki and also knows Hinami has been putting up a show according to what people want. Something that Hinami doesn’t deny. In the end, what Mizusawa wants to do is to confess that he really likes her. Of course she rejects him. He expected this but he isn’t sad or anything. Just glad he got this off his chest. Thus he possess a question to her, how long is she going to keep up that façade? That’s when Tomozaki comes out of his hiding because he feels guilty the more he eavesdrop. With the trip over, Tomozaki reflects all that. Should he continue wearing a mask or choose his true feelings? Because looks like the fireworks date with Kikuchi is coming up and Hinami wants him to confess to her. Everything goes on perfectly fine. In the end, Kikuchi felt he was quite easy to talk to today. But Tomozaki didn’t do his confession. They just went home. Subsequently as Tomozaki and Hinami meet up to discuss about this, he says he did not confess because he could not. He just didn’t. That’s because before he went on his date, he didn’t memorize the things he should, hence their conversation got a bit odd. He went with his guts. Even so, Kikuchi said he was easy to talk to. He thinks she saw through the mask he created. Before Hinami could come up with countermeasures and strategies, he stops her because the big question now is finding out what he wants. Does he even like Kikuchi in the first place? Hinami knows that Mizusawa’s incident must have got to him and hence this is just textbook human weakness of thinking they know what they want. I guess the last straw is when Tomozaki feels it is weird to view human connections in terms of tasks and goals, so a very disappointed Hinami thinks he is abandoning his personal development. I guess it’s over then. You lose control of your character once you let go of the controller. Bye. After she leaves, Tomozaki narrates that what he wanted was to find out in the earnest way if they could bridge the gap between them and move forward. But looks like he lost a relationship as easy as that. So Tomozaki back to being a bottom tier character?
Episode 12
Tomozaki has been going back to his original ways that even his sister tells him off how uncool he is! Is she trying to hint something?! How does she know that Kikuchi has sent a message to him 2 days ago?! Anyway, realizing how far he has fallen, he tries to pick himself up as he agrees to go on an outing with Kikuchi. During the date, we hear Tomozaki’s thoughts about himself and all the lessons that Hinami gave him. It makes him question about his true desires having guide to his actions. He comes clean with Kikuchi as he admits somewhat is coaching him on how to talk, etc. Kikuchi replies that everything he has said has been honest and direct. Because pictures come to her mind when someone talks to her, for a long time it had been monochrome. So it has been delightful that Tomozaki had colour in his so fast. She thinks it is great that he is putting in effort to change. Now Tomozaki needs to talk with Hinami. From the sounds of it, she isn’t interested. Last boss is going to be hard. But she gives him a chance. As they meet, you can see her face that isn’t thrilled. Gonna need more than just an excuse. So he starts off by saying he loves games. Thanks to her, he likes this game of life. That isn’t going to convince her the slightest as she denies anything about true desires and he is only doing it because of idealism and sentimentalism. Of course he claims he can prove it and he hits a nerve by saying about her not being good in Tackfam. Of everything else that she is tops at, Tackfam is the only thing she cannot beat him. Why is that? What is it that she wants? This irks her as he keeps her hanging on that answer. After all, Tomozaki knows that she is one who hates to lose. Hinami compromises that she still thinks there is no such thing as true desires but can’t totally deny it doesn’t exist. So he has to really prove it to her if he wants to convince her. Hence he’ll show it to her with his hybrid play style of using skills and true desires. So with their friendship at least back on track, he returns the bag to her. Then she gives him another task and that is to get a part time job. He realizes he is screwed because this place is where Mizusawa works. Tomozaki continues to hang out with his buddies. Perhaps he needs more training when he says all the dresses Izumi picks are cute. Standard on the fence answer. He bought a souvenir for his sister. WTF this ugly thingy? Oh, it’s what Mimimi likes. And now she loves it! He also continues to go out with Tomozaki and she looks forward of him reading her novel when it’s finished. Is Hinami ready for the next task she gives him: Playing Tackfam with him? You know who the winner will be. Another round!
Beauty And The Geek: Kusoge-tte Iuna!
So is it safe to say that life is one continues gaming process because you can’t give up and have to continue improving yourself until the day you die? Well, that seems like the most logical explanation because if you do, you’re as good as dead. Worse, a living zombie. Hence Tomozaki making up with Hinami and continuing to be under her tutelage proves that he isn’t about to throw in the towel yet. After all, he already has put him some effort and made some decent progress, does he not want to see his true ending? Yeah. It’s a long way but I am betting that it is going to be worth it. The true ending that he would definitely want to get.
This must be one of those character development series, right? Well, I’m not entirely sure myself. The whole point of this anime is to raise the stats level of Tomozaki. Obviously, from one who is the bottom of the barrel to one who is of top class. Or at least somewhere at that high prestigious level in the eyes of society. Being clueless on how to improve himself, he follows the guidance and instructions of someone who has been in this game for a long time. Sometimes it feels weird that he takes instructions and tries to clear them like a robot but for a person like him, I don’t think he has any other better ideas. After all, you’re getting up close and personal lessons from the master herself.
This brings the interesting and debatable topic of what is perceived as society acceptable and its norms. There is a Japanese saying whereby one wears 3 faces or masks. The first face you show the world, the second to your close friends and family and the third one only to yourself. While it is all for the good sake of Tomozaki that he gets to enhance his personal image, at one point he has got to start asking himself the purpose that he is doing this all. Sure, life is like a game and challenge for him to clear but at the end of it, what does he want to get out of it the most. So what he becomes a cool person like Hinami in the end? Is this what he really wants? Who is it does he want to impress? At this point as we have seen, Tomozaki has reached that level well enough to start questioning the value of these free lessons from Hinami. Is it worth to continue or are there other ways and other means that he wants to achieve?
So that’s why the final arc drama of Hinami seemingly throwing the silent tantrum may be amounting to not because of Tomozaki getting successful and not needing her anymore. But rather they have spent quite some time together, especially she has imparted quite a number of invaluable life lessons to him. Only for him to imply he doesn’t need all this anymore. All that hard work and effort. I can see why she feels somewhat sore. Whatever tasks she tells him to do, he does. And now the game has changed. Or perhaps she’s just heartbroken knowing she can’t be with the guy she loves! Who knows? She could’ve been in love with him for a long time even before the Tackfam days. She’s just playing and trying to get better just to get his attention. That claim of being good at everything except this hurt her pride seems like utter BS. After all, of all the geeks in town (I’m sure Tomozaki isn’t the only Tackfam aficionado around) why choose him? Why would a popular girl so easily throw themselves into this makeover challenge when a normal girl of her status would be throwing caution all the way? I don’t think sexism or pride has anything to do with it. So it’s gotta be love, right?!
Because with all the females spamming the opening credits, it trolled me into thinking this is one of those typical harem genres. It seems like it but so far it is anywhere near that. It gave me the idea that as Tomozaki levels himself up, other girls will start to be attracted to him and finally the big boss herself, Hinami. While this may be very subtle, at the end of the season, looking back in hindsight, I just don’t quite see it happening. Mimimi had her mini arc of her own and while he became her campaign manager, it felt it just remained as that. After all, Mimimi’s lively, bubbly, cheerful and sporting behaviour makes it hard for us to spot whether she is putting up a façade to hide her love for him. Then there is Kikuchi who just feels barely there. Like as though she is the targeted girlfriend of convenience. You see them talk and hang out but nothing really much happens. It’s like an arranged marriage but without the real love. Everything just feels iffy. It feels like they’re just putting up with the charade so as not to be rude to each other and not because they want to. Of course it’s hard to tell if Kikuchi really likes him due to her shy demeanour and is just being nice thinking of trying not to offend him. I mean, when she hints about him being hard or easy to talk to, isn’t that some sort of a warning sign?
Izumi despite having her feelings directed towards Nakamura, this may just be diverting our attention because they’re both too shy in moving forward and taking too long means feelings are at risk of being changed. It may be a long shot and improbable that Izumi’s secret crush is on Tomozaki but the small chances are there. I mean, learning Tackfam from him and trying to be good isn’t for Nakamura but for his sake. Maybe. I could be wrong. But you never know. Then there is the seemingly emotionless Tama who feels underutilized. It’s like there isn’t enough episodes to flesh out her character but she is one of the main heroines of this series so they can’t completely discard her. As far as I can see this season, she is somewhat redundant and can be done without. Otherwise she is mostly forgettable and mostly we’ll remember her for the wrong reasons like being the sexual harassment object for Mimimi. Yeah… Lastly, Hinami herself. Perhaps the greatest pretender of all. A few times she showed us hints that she may be falling for Tomozaki but at this point I can’t tell if she is trolling or for real. She can easily switch masks in a blink of an eye and confuse us all. But what are the odds? Tomozaki does make some improvements and if Hinami does actually fall for him, isn’t this working? Yeah, it’s a bit confusing because it’s like she’s so good in giving a geek a makeover that she starts falling for him, which feels like she stepped into her own trap. Then, can you say that it is Tomozaki’s own effort or Hinami’s guidance that brought about this? I’m so confused! Essentially, everybody is a pretender in this social game of society.
What else can I say more about Tomozaki? He is trying his best but like I’ve said, he has reached a point where he starts questioning the purpose of this game. So he becomes more sociable. So what it allows him to get more friends and hot chicks easily. His whole life he has been practising and perfecting his craft in Tackfam. He finds his joy in playing this Super Smash Bros knockoff and trying to equate achieving that great level of height in real life is either commendable or insane. I know, many would try to equate how life is like a game and vice versa. However they aren’t really substitutes for each other. The results and consequences vary a lot. Most obviously, no save game feature in real life and you certainly can’t change character midway. You screw up, that’s it. So Tomozaki has new friends like Nakamura from the boys’ side and Mimimi from the girls’ side. So what, right?
The other male characters are rather okay. Nakamura feels like he is stuck between trying not to give a sh*t about anybody but at the same time don’t want not to give a sh*t about anybody. Confused? That’s why he has that grumpy outlook. His voice tone might sound like he wants to pick a fight but he’s pretty okay. Especially after becoming somewhat friends with Tomozaki, it’s like they can do guy talk and dick jokes? Either Nakamura views Tomozaki as a minor joker character or his tolerance level is super high. Then there’s Mizusawa who is supposedly Hinami’s counterpart in terms playing the great pretender game. However he can’t beat her in this game as we have seen because even before his earnest confession, he has this look on his face and that tone in his voice that he is tired of putting up with the charade. That confession just made it clear. Yeah, it’s tiring trying to play the cool guy all the time. Lastly, there’s Takei. I think he is Mimimi’s equivalent for the boys but he isn’t as spirited and vibrant as her. I guess they just needed to somewhat balance up the boy-girl ratio…
Art and animation are pretty decent. Bishoujo and bishonen alert because it’s that kind of genre. Heck, even Tomozaki in his geek mode doesn’t look that all bad. I mean, he doesn’t look like your typical chubby bespectacled ugly otaku, right? Yeah, it just takes a few propping up and he has levelled up on his outlook. So easy. Herald, Tomozaki the new man! Since this series rips off Tackfam from Super Smash Bros, I’m thinking how they rip off some character designs from other anime. Of course this is just me purely speculating but I happen to see shades of Nagato from Suzumiya Haruhi No Yuutsu in Kikuchi. So this is what she looks like if that alien smiles a little bit more, huh? And aren’t they both book enthusiasts generally? And doesn’t Mimimi look a bit like Chidori from Full Metal Panic? Hot guys like Nakamura and Mizusawa look so hot that they look like other hot guys in other anime like Kyouya in Ookami Shoujo To Kuro Ouji and Isshiki from Shokugeki No Souma. This anime is done by Project No.9 who did Dokyuu Hentai HxEros, Shoujo-tachi Wa Kouya Wo Mezasu and Netoge No Yome Wa Onnanoko Ja Nai To Omotta.
Voice acting, I only recognize Ai Kayano as Kikuchi and Nobuhiko Okamoto as Nakamura (feels like he could blow up into Accelerator mode any minute). The rest of the casts are Gen Sato as Tomozaki (Chrome in Dr Stone), Hisako Kanemoto as Hinami (Ika in Shinryaku! Ika Musume), Ikumi Hasegawa as Mimimi (Sorane in Oshi Ga Budoukan Ittekuretara Shinu), Nene Hieda as Izumi (Miyako in Senyoku No Sigrdrifa), Ryouko Maekawa as Tama (Yumine in Stella No Mahou), Nobunaga Shimazaki as Mizusawa (Shido in Date A Live) and Shuntarou Mizuno as Takei. The opening theme is Jinsei Easy by Dialogue+. Sounds like typical idol pop to me. Same for the ending theme, Ayafuwa Asterisk also by Dialogue+, albeit to a much slower beat. In addition, there are a few versions of this, each sung by a different girl. More specifically, Mimimi, Kikuchi or Izumi. Hmm… No Hinami version? Is that some sign or am I reading too much?
Overall, this anime just feels passable. Despite its potential and development, it feels like it didn’t go anywhere much. Of course that isn’t entirely a bad thing because levelling up in the real game of life takes a long time especially of Tomozaki’s calibre. It would be just weird if Tomozaki suddenly becomes good in this social game in just a span of a semester. Unrealistic. Even Tomozaki took a considerable time to master Tackfam. I doubt this anime is the holy bible for what a geek should do to be more sociable. Sure, Hinami has some tips and hints but you have to take it with a pinch of salt and use your own judgment as those advices aren’t one-size-fits-all glove. A lot say Yahari Ore No Seishun Love Comedy Wa Machigatteiru is better but I find that series to be too much dialogue and complicating. Hey, at least this show isn’t bottom tier anime. Of course not legendary tier either. Mediocre tier anime? Maybe. Still sounds as bad, though. Try harder or do we need to look elsewhere for life advice?
Chua Tek Ming~*Anime Power*~ !LiVe FoR AnImE, aNiMe FoR LiFe! 