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Impressions:

Ok, so my hopes for a nice, serious situation with some sort of tragedy involving Satou’s mum has been beaten down and crushed. On the other hand, the scene when Satou is told his allowance was cut was a work or art! Probably the best freak-out animations in the series I’ve seen so far. Satou’s temporary addiction to an MMORPG was also a funny result of his allowance-cut. I thought episode 15 would be focused mostly in the game, but only maybe a third of it was. Both episode 15 and 16 turned out to be surprisingly good. I was really pleased with everything that happened, as well as how Yamazaki played Mia to teach Satou a lesson. Although as obvious as it is, I didn’t realise the person playing Misa was him until he came through Satou’s door! Hmm, those two episodes also made me want to play Ragnarok Online again, but I quit because I got bored and I still remember why I quit, so there’s no chance of me starting again. And it looks like Satou is definitely not going to look at another MMORPG again. I was wondering, what exactly did Satou do all that time as a hikikomori before he re-met Yamazaki? I would’ve though that something like an MMORPG would be a hikikomori’s best friend…

I really like the new ED, which is something I should have said in the last entry (or did I already say that?) Although it’s probably the least fitting for the show, which revolves around a hikikomori LEET, the tune is really nice and soft to listen to. The OP also seems to have changed somewhat, leaving out that funky extra layer of sound. It sounds slightly emptier now, but I usually skip the OP and ED anyway, so it doesn’t matter. And is that Misaki singing the ED? Sounds like her, though much more mature. And while I’m on the topic of ‘mature’, it was hilarious watching Misaki dress up as a catgirl then schoolgirl/maid. I didn’t realise how literal it was when she said she’d help Satou with her own ‘body’. Anyway, next episode, another character is introduced! Hooray (though I was hoping that Mia would actually be a real girl and really visit Satou for another love conflict. I had always pictured Mia as a fat person though, as the anime seems like the type to do something like that XD) Satou’s high school class president looks a bit too old though, but maybe it’s just the curly hair and glasses. Then again, none of the girls in NHK look young, except for maybe Misaki.

Plot Outline:

- Now indulged in his new MMORPG, Satou starts levelling up and collecting items in the game
- He grows addicted to it when he falls in love with a character in the game, called Mia
- He even stops going to counselling with Misaki
- Misaki thinks that Satou made a turn for the better, but she gets worried and visits Satou’s apartment
- She enters through the unlocked door and finds Satou completely engulfed in the game
- Misaki tries to get him back to his senses by dressing up as a catgirl, but this fails miserably
- Satou continues playing and eventually accepts the game as better than reality, deciding to spend the rest of his sad life in this fictional world with Mia
- Mia however, wants to see Satou face to face

- She suddenly drops a bomb on him by telling him that she’s outside his apartment
- Mia enters his apartment as Satou is panicking, since his room is literally a garbage dump
- However, Mia turns out to be none other than Yamazaki
- Yamazaki explains that he did all he did to teach Satou a lesson for wasting so much time on a game
- Although Satou accepts that it was really all a waste of time, he doesn’t hesitate to throw a tantrum and charge at Yamazaki with his chair high above his head
- Shortly after, he gets a call from an old acquaintance, the class president when he was in high school
- The woman had been reminded of Satou after her brother mentioned his name while playing the MMORPG
- In the call, she says…

Preview:

Next episode - #17
Satou meets an old friend…

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