Story:
While not as dark as the reality of the topic at hand, Net-juu no Susume (or Net-juu as I'll be calling it from now on), touches on the story of Morioka Moriko, a 30 year old NEET who recently quit her job and begins playing an MMO called 'Fruits de Mer'. Now a newbie at the game going by the name 'Hayashi', she meets a player who goes by the name of 'Lily', and the two kindle a partnership in the game. Unbeknownst to each other, their two real world selves crash into each other in a fate encounter, beginning a relationship that spans both the real world, and the digital world.
At first glance, Net-juu comes off a bit as a standard romcom. As the episodes roll by, we're shown the progression of the relationship between Moriko and Yuuta at a steady pace as they inch their way towards the end goal however sluggish that may be. The problem here lies in the presentation. Sure the gradual romance is cute and all, but the two main characters are so introverted in a comedic sense that more often than not, they fluster when around each other and that can get vaguely annoying rather fast. Indeed this style of comedy is an acquired taste, and while I think it was cute at the beginning, it got kinda irritating the more and more the two shared scenes together.
However despite that, the introverted aspects with the characters, particularly with Moriko, plays a large part into why the show's story excels ahead of its other romance half. Gradually we're shown why Moriko became a NEET with information delivered at a consistent rate. The show swaps between its more comical side to its more serious side rather effortlessly and is genuinely an aspect of the show that I like. Not only that, but the bridge between online where you hide behind a facade and reality comes into play quite frequently, meshing a lot of the themes and aspects of the show together. It's here where I feel the show is at its best, and proves itself to be more than just an awkward romcom with two gamers in their late 20's early 30's spending real money on in-game currency and playing their weekends away.
Overall, Net-juu no Susume has a story that while seemingly cutesy on the surface, has a deeper message within itself that delivers on what it set out to do through and through. The ending if you ask me is less satisfactory than it should've been (partially because the show just cannot for the life of itself decide if its main couple should stay passive and awkward or note), but can mostly be forgiven because the progression throughout the whole show made that up in dividends.
Overview:
+ Balances comedy and serious
+ Serious tones feel genuine and are well executed
+/- Unsatisfactory end (if you ask me)
- Romance is sluggish and/or lacking
Characters:
Morioka Moriko, our 30 year old NEET is the star of the show. Recently quitting her office job, she spends day and night eating away at her savings on loot boxes and beer while she spends the waking hours grinding and playing her newfound love, Fruits de Mer. An extremely awkward character who violently switches between a 'normal demeanor' to filling herself with intense, almost frightening self guilt, Moriko's story is the brunt of the series and takes up most if not all of storytelling of the series. Everything from the cast's motivation and participation in the series to series focus is solely put on who and what Moriko is and does as a person, and the end result is well-paced growth that eventually blossoms into a relatively satisfactory end result.
On the flipside, we have Sakurai Yuuta, who despite being the main male protagonist, doesn't really get as much screentime as that title might say he does. As mentioned before, practically every character spends their screentime and attention on Moriko and her story, leaving very little for anyone else. Yuuta indeed does get a decent amount of time dedicated to himself, as we see him grow more and more confident with meddling in Moriko's affairs with a backstory of his own put in there, but pales in comparison to what Moriko gets in the series. The imbalance makes the character feel a lot less important despite how crucial he is to the series, and I honestly wish we got more of him, or at the very least, not make him a copycat of Moriko when it comes to love. I get why she gets flustered, but this man acting like a 'cinnamon roll' and getting flustered as well just unnecessarily pads out the runtime.
Of course I would be remised if I didn't mention their avatars, Hayashi and Lily, but they're more or less just gender-swapped versions of their real world selves, so there's not much to say there.
The supporting cast is a bit of a crying shame. Not much can be said for them because their importance to the series is honestly quite minimal. In a show dedicated to comparing real world vs. digital avatars, the guild members that're featured get surprisingly little screentime. Hell, all we see is their digital avatars without much of an inkling as to who they are in the real world. Indeed their purpose is to make the cast feel more vibrant and lively, but I wanted to at least see who these people were irl instead of just Kanbe. And that guy's relevance to the story is almost mute. The only side character that's worth mentioning is Koiwai, but even he's rather pointless cause he just serves to drive the plot as the 'wingman' character.
Overview:
+ Well-developed main protagonist
- Secondary main protagonist feels lacking
- Supporting cast feels very lacking and almost non-existent aside from 'cast filler'
Art:
Produced by Signal. MD, the art for Net-juu is...average. Or as I like to sugarcoat it: standard fare. Honestly, the art isn't anything really worthy of noting. Looks pretty good up-close, farther away you start to notice the low quality frames that come with distance, and comedic moments display blush, simplified, exaggerated expressions, the lot. Again, not bad, but not amazing.
Sound:
"Saturday Night Question." I honestly didn't expect a rock song as the show's OP. Personally I feel like the show is a bit out of place in a romcom-esque show, but that doesn't take away from the fact that the song is actually...pretty good. It's worth at least a listen to, and it's kinda catchy. "Hikari, Hikari", the show's ED sung by Aisaka Yuuka (who also voices a character who really should've gotten some expansion. Cause that'd be nice) is similar to the OP by being a rock song but releases some of its energy for being more mellow than its counterpart. Again, the show feels a little out of place being a rock song in a show about fantasy gamers, but hey, it's still pretty good.
I do want to give special mention to Moriko's seiyuu, Noto Mamiko. Her performance being able to dramatically change her vocal range at the drop of a dime from high to low to high again and back and forth, etc, etc...not only made Moriko more believable that she has comical social anxiety, but made her a lot more entertaining to watch. Seriously though, she made the character.
Overview:
+ Good tracks
+ Mamiko's performance as the protagonist
Personal Enjoyment:
Honestly, I expected Net-juu to just be your standard romcom. I did pique my interest, so I did have a decent amount of hope going into it, coming out of it feeling like it did meet the expectation that I had of it, but also relieved that they did more than just a standard romcom. I would've liked more expansion on the cast and potentially the runtime, as usually, 10 episode long shows don't do too well because of the rush to fill in that time gap. Thankfully Net-juu didn't fall into that trap, but there were still things that were left to be desired.
Did I enjoy this series?
Yes. While not my favorite of the season, the show had a number of aspects of itself that came off as genuine and had a good chunk of storytelling and character development that I both didn't expect and was glad was a thing that happened.
What didn't I like about this series?
Ok, I actually have a number of vague annoyances with this show, Koiwai being a main contributor. I don't know why, but the guy just comes off as creepy to me. He's so overly cheerful that it's kind of off-putting and having him on-screen just gives me bad vibes. Aside from that, the passiveness of the romance and how often the two fluster is annoying. Very often they use this to break the tension in the show being as subtle as a sledgehammer on glass. It's so sudden that it actually breaks the immersion and just...why. Seriously, we get enough cockblocking with characters who're still in high school. You're telling me in animeworld that shit doesn't end even when you're a full-grown adult? Also Lilac, the chitoge clone, Pokotarou, and Himeralda seriously needed some time to themselves. I would've loved to see at least their real world selves touched upon to give the show some variety aside from NEETs, officer workers, and a college student working a convenience store.
Would I recommend this series?
If you're an introvert, I would recommend this series. A lot of its content is something introverts like myself are able to relate to on a personal level and as mentioned many times before, has surprisingly good story despite its seemingly comedic exterior. Honestly though, this is a show that I would recommend anyone to watch just to watch. Despite its problems I feel like it has enough positive merits to itself to warrant having a spot on peoples' lists.
