Oct 13, 2017
Given that watching anime is already considered a kind of geeky hobby it's probably fair to say that most people in the anime community could be classed as 'gamers' in some way, so besides making a show that stars and panders to otaku, a show that stars and panders to gamers should be a safe bet for any anime studio. When I saw the title and premise of this show that was certainly my first thought anyway, and as a non-gamer I had little interest in what I assumed was just a lazy cash-grab aimed at a completely different demographic to myself, but then it
...
got a Simuldub so... here I am 12 episodes later.
The more I watched the show and saw others' reactions to it, the more I realised this show was definitely not aimed at me both because I'm not a gamer and because I don't particularly care for romance anime, but despite feeling frustrated with the show at times because of both these things I still came back week after week. For that reason I'd say Gamers! is still a good quality show generally even if it's not personally for me, and I'm glad I watched it for that reason if nothing else.
So, what specifically did I find frustrating here? It isn't, as you might expect, that I didn't understand any of the terms used or the references made - I only remember one or two odd lines I didn't understand throughout the whole show and even though there were a lot of references I didn't know, I was expecting that so it didn't bother me - the real problem I had throughout was the way the show seemed to revere gamers as some kind of rare, distinct species separate from regular humans with a hobby non-gamers couldn't possibly ever get their heads around. The portrayal of Aguri, the lone non-gamer in the group of friends, illustrated this whenever she talked about games with the others with the last episode in-particular really trying to hammer this point home. Now I must say I, personally, don't play games because my visual impairment makes it near impossible and I don't enjoy watching others play games, but I still understand why other people find them fun. Aguri, however, seems unable to wrap her head around this idea at all, which I found infuriating. All humans like doing fun, challenging things and while it may be hard to understand the motivations of more extreme gamers, none of the characters in this group of friends could be considered extreme - they're just dedicated fans and it isn't rocket science to understand why they like gaming, yet the show presents the idea that games are fun like it's some little-known nugget of wisdom only the chosen few know.
In the end this was my biggest gripe with the show, as even though I didn't care for the romcom elements I still found all the characters (bar the protagonist, but alas you can't have everything) very likeable and fun and everything felt like it was executed well generally. I can't say I'd ever want to re-watch Gamers! but it certainly wasn't a bad experience, which is more than I can say for some shows of its ilk.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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