Anime Hajime Review: Gamers

***Warning, the following may contain spoilers for Gamers. Reader discretion is advised.***

Series Synopsis

Any gamer will tell you the same. No matter how bad you’re playing, you can always restart. Unfortunately, life does not work that way.

Keita Amano (voiced by Megumi Han) is always glued to some kind of screen. He’s grown accustomed to solitude. That’s why he’s surprised when the most beautiful girl in school starts talking to him.

Out of nowhere, Karen Tendo (voiced by Hisako Kanemoto) invites Keita to her club. To his shock, Karen is actually a devout gamer and offers a stunned Keita a spot in the Game Club. Here, they can spend their time improving their skills and making friends.

The offer is more than anything Keita could’ve ever hoped for. Except that’s not the kind of gamer he is. So, to Karen’s bewilderment, he turns her down.

Yet Keita got to thinking it would be nice to spend time with like-minded people. As it so happens, there is another gamer closer to his style of play, Chiaki Hoshinomori (voiced by Manaka Iwami). The two hit it off quick. Too bad their personal player philosophies conflict. Thus turning the most obvious couple ever into bitter enemies.

Kieta is, at last, willing to explore outside his comfort zone. Except neither he nor anyone could comprehend where Karen’s invitation would end up leading. The former NPC now finds himself as the unlikeliest of protagonists.

Series Positives

Welcome to “Misunderstandings – The Series”.

If you’re thinking Gamers will be a show revolving around video games, you wouldn’t be the first. I myself had that mindset about this one going in. You’ll soon discover how much that’s not the case.

Though video games were a focus, playing video games was not. Games just happened to be the thing that connected everyone. Gamers, if you can believe it, is a romantic comedy. A pretty good one at that.

I never knew what was going to happen next. Given my love of the romance genre, it’s a thrill whenever a series manages to do that. Except, Gamers did this, really?

You never know. That’s what this teaches us. You’d think I would’ve learned this lesson by now.

As a comedy, this was hilarious. The opening minutes are a testament to that. Despite not knowing any of the characters. Despite not knowing anyone’s name. Despite not knowing a single ounce of context, this first scene was beyond tense.

Everyone was on the verge of a full-blown freakout. The awkward, shocked silence of the whole thing was uncomfortable. Something big had occurred. I’m not sure how Gamers did this. If you want to know how to start a show off right, look no further.

In mere seconds, this series had me. Why did I find this so funny? It’s not an exaggeration, nothing had happened yet. Regardless, from that point, this show had my attention.

Gamers was a ton of fun. Everyone was over-the-top and quick to react. No one thought with a calm mind. Characters’ imaginations only fueled the worst possible scenarios. Which proceeded to make things even more complicated.

This group of characters existed in their own world. There wasn’t anyone or anything that could release the tension. This buildup led to the madness that was the opening scene. By the by, this moment was even funnier in context.

For a comedy series, Gamers was a home run. There didn’t need to be anything else. But lo and behold, there was.

The Romance

The thing that impressed me the most was how solid Gamers was a romance series. I’m not talking about the best I’ve seen in a while. I’m talking about the best I’ve seen. This was unlike other love stories. It has its own identity which helps it stick out.

No doubt sillier than most in the genre, don’t underestimate this show. There were two sides to this aspect. Both of which made this series hard to put down.

The first involved Kieta and Chiaki. From the moment of Chiaki’s introduction, it was clear that these two were perfect for each other. If there is a couple out with this much compatibility, I wish you two many years of happiness.

If you didn’t know any better, you could mistake Keita and Chiaki to be the same person. There wasn’t a thing these two didn’t see eye to eye on. Aside from one super small, super insignificant detail.

Except, that one detail could not have been more important in their minds. It blinded them from seeing how right they were for each other. Even their gung-ho insistence on this one issue made them adorable.

There was a turning point. Based on the information up to that, it’s not hard to guess what road everything would go down. After that, the ultimate end wasn’t clear. That had to do with Karen.

Up front, Karen was great. I have nothing bad to say about her. She was kind, a total sweetheart, and an honest to goodness caring person. In any other series, she would’ve been the character to root for. Not this time.

Gamers was both brilliant and cruel for doing this. I don’t know how someone cannot be on team Chiaki. Too bad you’re not going to want to see Karen get heartbroken either. This was a constant battle. The likes of which I did not expect to get when I pressed play.

The other side to Gamers’ romance was Tasuku Uehara (voiced by Toshiyuki Toyonaga) and Aguri (voiced by Rumi Okubo). While the other three were dealing with a potential relationship, these two were in one.

At first, Tasuku was a prick. To the point where I thought Aguri would end up a part of some potential Keita harem. That did not happen. Thank Christ that did not happen.

Gamers had a beautiful moment where Tasuku fell in love with Aguri. I’ve seen countless characters fall for someone. Few to this degree and none this cute. When Tasuku realized this, it was like he got hit with a highspeed train.

It was sudden, he did not see it coming, and he was not prepared. All steaming from the simplest of reasons. Yet it was that simplicity that made it so wonderful.

As much as I wanted to see what would happen with Karen and Chiaki, Tasuku and Aguri’s storyline was of equal importance.

This environment turned Gamers into something special. Although, the sheer number of misunderstandings did have an unfortunate side effect. More on that soon.

The Characters

This was a fantastic cast. If Gamers had gone the full comedy route, it would’ve done fine. 

Karen, like I mentioned earlier, was incredible.

One thing I didn’t quite get was why she wasn’t more open about her love of gaming. It wasn’t as if she was keeping it a secret. But it did seem like she didn’t want people to know. Odd given how she wasn’t trying to win people’s respect and admiration. Her default actions were already getting the job done.

That was what I liked most about Karen. She was a hard worker. She put time and effort into her studying and social interactions. This was who she was. There was never an underlining need to do this. She wasn’t faking anything. Karen’s methodical thought process was a by-product of her nature. You could see it in the type of gamer she was.

When Karen played games, she played to get good at them. Fighting games, FPSs, puzzle games, these were her choices. Games with a more competitive edge gave her the biggest thrill. Yet it was her love for the medium I respected the most.

Plus, we got a tiny glimpse of her set up and I so am jealous.

Chiaki was…well, let’s just say I loved Chiaki. Her game style is like mine. I’m sure every gamer in this series had done a twenty-four hour plus gaming session in their life. Multiple times. Even though Chiaki may be my favorite character, there’s only one thing I have to say about her. If I had to choose someone to join me in my next all-nighter, it would be her, no question.

Tasuku, as stated, did start off as a jerk. I didn’t think I was going to like him. Once he had his little moment, though, he grew on me. Of the group, he was the “most” level-headed. He had better foresight and insight into what was going on.

Although, he did have his limits. Most of which involved Aguri. Tasuku did not want to lose her.

On the other side of that coin was Aguri herself. She was energetic, but not ditsy. There’s a difference. In a contest for the most jealous type, she was neck and neck with Tasuku. They both cared for each other, they just didn’t know the best way to show it. Also, given that Tasuku felt the same, it was nice to see Aguri’s calm acceptance of how much she loved her man. Yeah, things got difficult, but that did not change the way she felt about him.

If you think I’m forgetting someone, don’t worry. I’m not.

From left to right: Karen, Tasuku, Chiaki, Keita, and Aguri

Series Negatives

The final episode of the series was number eleven. Episode twelve was a total throw away. A massive shame since there was no excuse for this. Stories best saved for OVAs aren’t the greatest way to cap off a show. Particularly one as good as this.

The driving force behind Gamers was how quick characters were to jump the gun. Everyone was good friends. They spend a lot of time together. Too bad love and relationships were a constant presence. Everyone kept assuming the worst with little to no evidence.

I wasn’t joking when I called this show “Misunderstandings – The Series”. This was at the heart of Gamers. Due to that, the story did accommodate for how messy things got.

But God damn it. Even when intentional, this was frustrating. For a good bit of the show, this got on my nerves. Except in a fun kind of way. If that makes sense. Yeah, it was annoying. Yeah, things could’ve and should’ve gotten fixed with little effort. The foundation, though, was rock hard.

These characters did like each other. The ones that loved each other, loved each other. The problem was, everyone was awkward about it. This was not without its charm. Yet that only went so far.

The further this series went along the less enjoyable things were becoming. That frustration factor began to dig its claws deep. It got to the point where things were getting out of hand. That and it got harder to keep track of who thought what.

This led to an interesting consequence. Though everyone was at fault, they were at least pleasant. With the exception of one.

Keita

I tried to convince myself this wasn’t the case. He had moments. But the more I thought about him, the clearer it became. Keita was a bit of dick.

His level of cluelessness was a detriment. The depths of his self-consciousness, while understandable, did not help. He kept making things more problematic. The amount of assuming he did, made me want to punch him in the face. If only he shut his mouth for two seconds, a ton of issues could’ve gotten resolved.

The most infuriating part was how Keita acted towards Karen. In fairness, he wasn’t aware how much Karen liked him. And for what it’s worth, I get why Karen did fall for the guy. My issue is, Kieta was clueless on how lucky he was to have someone like Karen in his life.

Also, there was his stubbornness towards Chiaki. Yes, these two bickered over a silly argument. An argument Keita was on the wrong side of. He was that type of main character. Given a choice between deep, thoughtful connections or boobs, he’d choose the latter.

What saved Keita were the people around him. They made up for his many faults. They were what made this show fun. A decent one-liner here and there made him not awful. But he is the weak link in an otherwise stellar series.

Final Thoughts

At the beginning, I said this is one of the better romance stories I’ve seen. At the same time, I did not care for the lead character. That may knock this series down a few pugs. Yet this show started from a high place.

The comedy and characters made this a great watch. It was fun. It was sweet. It was more than what I gave this series credit for. In addition, I expected New Game to get at least one reference in this review. This show did more than enough on its own.

Season two, please. There is no way this can be the end. Nor should it be. Gamers is an easy recommendation.

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