Otaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii

Background

Written and illustrated by Fujita, Wotakoi is a webmanga series that started on Pixiv, a Japanese art sharing community, in April 2014. Due to its overwhelming popularity as the most bookmarked work, it was later moved to Comic Pool, an online publication platform jointly run by Ichijinsha and Pixiv, in November 2015. In 2014, it won first place in the “Web Manga You Want to See in Print” category of the Tsugi ni Kuru (Next-Gen) Manga Award and was picked up by Ichijinsha in April 2015 as a result. As of February 2018, Wotakoi has 5 volumes published, and Kodansha Comics has announced an upcoming English release as well.

An anime adaptation by A-1 Pictures was announced in July 2017 and is set to premiere in April 2018 on Fuji TV’s Noitamina programming block. It will be exclusively streamed on Amazon Prime Video.

Characters

Hirotaka Nifuji (CV: Kent Ito)
Narumi’s childhood friend and secretly a game otaku, Hirotaka is good at every game he plays but is especially fond of action, FPS, and fighting games. He also has an appreciation for anime and manga. He has an expressionless face and wears high-spec glasses that look cool but are also suitable for work.

Narumi Momose (CV: Arisa Date)
An all-rounder fujoshi who loves everything from manga and otome games to idols, Narumi is a childhood friend of Hirotaka’s who also works at the same company. Her biggest fear is being exposed as an otaku, which is why she tries hard to hide her true nature at her workplace.

Taro Kabakura (CV: Tomokazu Sugita)
A casual otaku who likes cliche subjects such as heroes and bishoujo. Underneath his scary face lies an earnest, caring personality. He works in the same company as Hirotaka and Narumi, and he went to the same high school as Hanako.

Hanako Koyanagi (CV: Miyuki Sawashiro)
Taro’s former senpai and a popular ikemen cosplayer, Hanako loves 3D art forms such as drama and stage plays, but she also doesn’t shy away from a bit of BL. She might not look like it, but she is meddlesome and nosy.

Naoya Nifuji (CV: Yuki Kaji)
Hirotaka’s younger brother as well as polar opposite. He has an outgoing personality and a wide range of facial expressions, and, unlike his brother, he’s dreadful at playing games. He thinks otaku slang is a kind of technical jargon used at companies.

Ko Sakuragi (CV: Aoi Yuki)
A very introverted and quiet solo gamer who goes to the same university with Naoya. He’s very bad at communicating and his most often used expression is “I’m sorry.”

Staff

Original Creator: Fujita
Director & Series Composition: Yoshimasa Hiraike
Character Design: Kyoko Yasuda
Music: Akimitsu Honma
Director of Photography: Toshiaki Aoshima
Art Director: Michiko Morokuma
Art Settings: Emi Kesamaru
Prop Design: Saiko Asai
Animation Production: A-1 Pictures
Music Production: Half H.P. Studio

Broadcast Information

Broadcasts begin on Fuji TV’s Noitamina block in April 2018

Online Streaming

Amazon Prime Video

Official Links

Anime Site (Japanese)
Ichijinsha Special Site (Japanese)
Twitter (Japanese)
Fujita’s Twitter (Japanese)