Otaku ni Koi wa Hanaku (It's Hard to Love for Otaku) Episode 8: Whether it's an event or an arcade, when two people go out together, I think it's a date.

Narumi is an office worker who is secretly a rotten girl, and Hirotaka is a serious video game otaku. The romance between the two is a new type of romantic comedy that portrays otaku romance in a positive light. This is a new type of romantic comedy that portrays otaku love in a positive light. This is "Otaku ni koi wa dakunai" (It's hard to fall in love for an otaku). In this issue, we will share our impressions of episode 8.

At the end of the first episode, Hirotaka's proposal "I'll be fine" was met with an immediate "I'll take it! The heroine, Narumi, immediately decides to go out with Hirotake in the second episode.
In the second episode, Narumi has agreed to go out with Hirotake, but she can't bear the awkwardness of avoiding him and finds out that Kabakura and Hana-chan (who have become good friends and call each other "Hana-chan" and "Naru") are dating.

In the second episode, the two couples had already become two couples, but this was also the episode in which three out of the four turned out to be otaku in a rather terminal stage, as enjoying the spoils of war was more important than dining with their fellow otaku.
In the third episode, the two of them go to an event together, and the spidery Hirotaka gets a "Hey, brother...how do you feel now? And even though it's their first sleepover, they invite their senpai to join them in a mariachi cart, betraying the author's expectations of normal business.
In the fourth episode, the senpai's lover's quarrel was shown for a long time, and in the fifth episode, the interloper finally intervened, but it turned out to be Hirotake's younger brother. In episode 6, they are enjoying their otaku life as usual.

The composition of Narumi and Hirotake playing a certain hunting game and the seniors having a picture-perfect Christmas dinner at an upscale restaurant is a scene that makes it hard to know whether to be relieved or envious.

Episode 7 was probably the most intense wotaku episode to date, with online games and coupling discussions.

So, what's in store for wotaku love this week?

This week, Narumi is being driven by the building wind amidst the hustle and bustle of the city.
He is completely in full kitchen mode, saying, "The wind is making a ...... racket" (with a stern look on his face).

It seems that the wind has turned into a storm and is hitting the city. After the opening commercial, the window of the office opens and the view from the window is of a rainy cityscape. And even the thunder started to rumble.
While Narumi is still in the middle of playing the kitchen game, saying things like, "After thousands of years, ...... has come back to life," Hirotaka looks very unhappy and somewhat nervous.
And then, Hirotake almost drops the canned coffee in his hand.

Hmm?　Hirotake, are you ......?

I thought, but then I saw Kabakura-senpai instructing him to back up his work frequently because the lightning is bad.
However, Hirotake-kun has headphones !!!!! in his ears.
He was rightly scolded for not listening to what others had to say.

He finally confesses, fiddling with the cord of his headphones.

I don't have any good memories of it, so I don't like it.

As I thought, Hirotake is afraid of thunder!

And since the reason for his fear was that he had lost a lot of saved game data due to lightning when he was a child, Narumi and Kabakura, who understand the horror of lightning too well, are in a sympathetic mode.
However, Koyanagi, who is not an expert in games, did not seem to be affected.

Just as he was about to pick up the pen he had dropped, lightning struck again, and Hirotaka, freaked out, hit his head on the desk.

Hirotake's head banged against the desk. "This is no good, I need to check my SAN value," he reasoned, and went to take a break.

While the senpai see him off, Narumi, remembering a time when he was a child and worried about him, decides to take a restroom break and check on him as well.

He recalls the time when he was a little boy and Narumi visited him on a stormy day when he was sick in bed with a cold.
I'm scared of thunder too! Narumi jumped into the room and asked him to play a game with him.
Narumi wonders if he is okay despite having a cold, but he tells him, "If I don't play games, I will die.
He has been a genuine gamer ever since he was a kid.

Hirotake, who has recovered his SAN value and made up for the delay, finishes school without incident.
On the other hand, Narumi, who helped Hirotake recover, ended up working overtime.

Really.

In part B, the story of how Hirotake got his ears pierced is told.

Narumi's boyfriend at the time was a rock star who had piercings all the way to the helix and tragus area.
I didn't think that was the reason. ......Hi, Hirotake, you're even healthier than I thought you'd be.

Now, the usual members of the group gathered at an izakaya, where an otaku drinking party was being held.
While everyone is laughing at Hirotake's lack of progress in practicing his wink, Koyanagi gets drunk and starts teasing Narumi, and Kabakura gets jealous.
Then Koyanagi gets drunk and starts teasing Narumi, causing Kabakura to get jealous.　Of course not," was the unsympathetic reply.

It seems that those words stuck in him and became a thorn in his side that he couldn't get rid of.
Ahhhh, I've been hit by a balky thing!
I've been carried into camp!
What a rare scene to see that Hirotake-kun getting beaten up.

This time, the seniors start fighting in the company.
Watching the scene, Hirotake asks, "What do you do when you two are alone?

Hirotake replies, "You guys do the same thing," but then he thinks back and realizes that it's not the same at all.

Wow, this time, there is an air of progress.

Comparing themselves with their seniors, they seemed to feel again that "they are not the same at all.

At the same time, Narumi was murmuring the same thing.

The one who was looking at him was Hirotaka's younger brother, Naoya.
What Narumi saw was Naoya wearing glasses.
He was looking at his younger brother, who had to wear glasses because he could not put in his contacts properly, and he seemed to be murmuring that he did not look like his brother.

However, when Narumi was asked by his younger brother what kind of dates he went on, he replied, "I go shopping on event dates, leaving the vendor of my space to do the selling, or I go to Ani*ito and split the shopping between the male and female floors, or I go to the arcade or play games at home, or read books. I would go to the arcade, play games at home, read books, etc., and I would think back to those dates that were completely otaku-full.

Then, Narumi returns home with Hirotake.
Hirotake asks her what kind of dates she had with her previous boyfriends.
Narumi, who had been hiding the fact that she was an otaku, replied, "I would never do such a thing," and mumbled, "Usually movies and such.

Hearing this, Hirotake replied

Then we'll go to the movies this Sunday," he announced simply.

What were we talking about?　The arcade? Narumi was confused.
Hirotake-kun said, "A date.

Thanks to Kabakura's senpai, the shy Hirotake-kun seems to be steadily raising his level.
Good, good, good.

08 "Bitter thunder and anxious old age
Hirotake asks Hanako and Kabakura how they are when they are alone together.
Kabakura says, "It's just like you guys," but he feels something is different.
On the way home that day, he makes a proposal to Narumi and ......?

Script by Tomoko Shinozuka / Storyboards by Tetsuto Saito / Directed by Matsuo Asami / Chief Animation Directors: Kyohiro Yasuda and Yao Araki

(Editorial department, U)