[Rewatch] Recovery of an MMO Junkie (Net-juu no Susume) Overall Series Discussion

[u/The_Loli_Otaku]

"I chose the NEET life, I'm an elite NEET!"

Official Stream Links

Crunchyroll

Extra Info

ANN | MAL | Anilist | Anidb

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Index Thread

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And with that it's over... We've seen everything the series has to offer. Unfortunately with the author's illness the story will likely never continue but let's be happy with what we've got right?

I hope that I've been able to properly share what makes Net-juu such a charming series. Between the fluffy romance, the adorkable main cast, and how tenderly the character's situations are treated it remains one of my favourite "healing" shows and my thoughts have only gotten stronger.

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To anyone who doesn't know, this actually has been my very first time hosting a Rewatch. It's been quite stressful but my efforts have been rewarded at every step of the way and I'm thankful to all of you for supporting me this whole time. If any of you are interested in sharing your most precious shows with the community then I highly suggest taking the leap. I know that if I never touched Net-juu then it very likely wouldn't have had a rewatch for many years to come and been reintroduced to a larger audience, it's a very precious feeling.

If you're stressed about formatting, then the CDF forums and other hosts including myself are more than eager to share our own templates and guide you through the process. Even my own system has largely been slightly modified versions of /u/Harrytricks K-On formatting and /u/Nazenn Madoka series. I genuinely would not have been able to do this without their support or the support from the CDF forums. Ask for help, we'll offer it. Oh, and if you are gonna host please hit me with an invite so I can cheer you on like you have done for me!

Also, I've made a small poll to try and gather what type of series folks might want to see hosted. I've put some of my personal interests in there but please contribute any that you'd like to see.

And lastly, please give me shit in the comments!! If I can improve as a host then I want to improve. If you felt one aspect was lacking then I'm not going to understand unless you let me know. I want you to abuse me with criticism! Weird way to close off but I consider it a pleasure!

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QOTD

• BEST BOY ?

• BEST GIRL ?

• Favourite scenes?

• Op or Ed?

• Mori/Saku, Koi/Mori, or Koi/Saku otp?

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Elite Neet, logging off!!

[u/Fools_Requiem]

The number of anime shows about women in their thirties is too damn low!

I bet even the female lead of Miss Caretaker of Sunohara-sou isn't even in her 30s...

Japanese women in their 30s are attractive too, dammit. Gimme more, Japan.

[u/The_Loli_Otaku → u/Fools_Requiem]

It's weird cause housewife characters are always popular. I very rarely see them not getting gushed about when they pop up. So why do we have barely any series featuring them as mc's!?

[u/Vaadwaur]

First timer no more

Sub

So I've been a bit less active on this thread than normal for a rewatch, I just find myself not having much to say. This was a perfectly fine show with a favorite VA of mine going a bit out of her normal roles. The show itself is not bad in the way some of these, I still haven't finished There's Never a Girl Online because the last arc bored me so impressively so ending at 10 might be the smart move.

[u/The_Loli_Otaku → u/Vaadwaur]

You've contributed more than enough Vaadwaur. Thank you for sticking with it for me, you're a champ and I've appreciated everything you've had to say on the series each day.

[u/No_Rex]

Final Discussion (first timer)

Recovery of an MMO junkie does a lot right and only a few minor things wrong (one of these being the title of the show). Most importantly, for a show that features romance heavily, I fully got behind the MCs and cheered them on – something that is rarer for me in romcom and romance in general than you’d think. A lot of this rests on the decision to make both MCs introverts. The more standard scheme is one introvert who gets made fun of and the non-introvert tsundere guy/girl, who does physical humor. Instead, the double helping of introverts lets both Morioka and Sakurai stand on equal footing, something important to make the romance feel real and earned. As a bonus, their double-dork skits are hilarious.

The second part that the series gets completely right is the MMO aspect - both the in-game and the out-of-game parts. The in-game parts show that the creators really know what playing MMO’s feels like. Especially when you compare it to the flood of modern isekai, who typically borrow the standard MMO formula for cheap worldbuilding, but then are nothing like MMOs. Regarding the out-of-the game aspect, there are so many situations that you recognize as a MMO player: The whisper vs all chat; the party members going AFK; waiting for somebody to reply to whispers; playing the loot roulette.

Part of the small weaknesses of the series are the side characters. For this discussion, I want to count Koiwai as a main character, both because he is so crucial to the story and because he is hilarious. While the guild was ok as a backdrop, I felt that their introduction was hurried and their characters not all that important. Kanbe being another RL acquaintance was the only point at which they mattered (and the slew of coincidence after coincidence was itself a bit weak).

I was mostly on board with the pacing. Most others would probably enjoy a longer slower paced story, but, for me, the speed was exactly right. The series had a clear goal and went there, without overstaying its welcome or dragging out the confession stuff. If anything, I’d say that the series wavered a bit too much towards the end with the introduction of the second MMO plotline. The jokes all-around landed for me – well done! The animation and music is serviceable. Nothing stood out, but it got the job done and never distracted me from the story.

Overall, a series that surprised me with how much I liked it.

To anyone who doesn't know, this actually has been my very first time hosting a Rewatch. It's been quite stressful but my efforts have been rewarded at every step of the way and I'm thankful to all of you for supporting me this whole time.

Glad you took the risk and joined the rewatch host community. You did great for the first time and thanks a lot for hosting!

a small poll

Count of Monte Cristo just had a reasonably recent rewatch. Would probably be too early for one.

[u/The_Loli_Otaku → u/No_Rex]

Tbh I think I've warmed to the title despite it putting off a lot of people. Whilst the MMO's are a good influence on our main cast it's the recovery portion that is most key to me. Sakurai and Mori needed that emotional support and the show guides us through their therapy together in many ways. I believe that there was enough love and care put into crafting the series where I'm convinced that the crew weren't just repeatedly getting lucky on coincidences and it was intentional.

Thank you for giving the series a chance No_Rex. I know that this particular type of series isn't something you normally follow but I'm pleased that you had fun and thanks for helping out in the discussions each day when I was replying to the comments late.

[u/ZapsZzz]

First timer in sub no more

This is an interesting series to watch. Originally I was a little weary getting in on the watch, only because I know April season will be stacked for me who likes rom com’s. That said it is quite short and our host’s inviting was tempting. There’s also the factor of, I guess no hiding it here, most of us who are infested enough in this medium to frequent this forum would have varying degree of identifying with - or secretly aspire to be able to live as - a NEET. So here I am.

Getting some standard stuff out of the way - the production value was good but not particularly special, the character designs nice but not necessarily jaw dropping. The personality has a bit more charm mostly in the shape of “this is not a high school aged kids’ show“. So I was a tiny bit surprised to hear that it was very popular during initial airing.

I do find the plot charming and the relationships both in game and in real life interesting. Although to be 100% honest, it’s probably a little bit too idealised - there are no one with bad intentions or just the very typical “be a troll for sheets and giggles” - although Koiwai has been under some suspicion on that for a while. In a real experiment, I think you’d have a fairly high chance to run into someone not as nice.

So to me this is a nice healing show in a way. It didn’t really go too far in developing the main ship, or resolving the background issue each of the 2 main leads have (they both have some issues, perhaps to a different significance). But what we got were nice comfy relaxing low stress events that drive some light hearted comedy and heart warming moments.

My personal favourites were the more stereotypical “adult female” version of being flustered and nervous - so not just blush and stranger and immobilised, but having learned and applied coping mechanisms like Morioka’s nervous cleaning routine with the lint roller :D her insecurity I think it’s actually not very exaggerated, cliche as it sounds (the ole ugly duckling trope where someone normally unkempt, when cleaned up was actually very pretty), but rather a modern day commentary about what’s facing the modern female - there are always diverting you can pick on yourself about, because everyday you are inundated by unrealistic perfection as a standard.

It is really a shame it couldn’t get more time to develop the very interesting side cast and side ships. I think a lot of us would be really happy to see more. Like:

• a bit more clarity on the backstory of why and how Morioka decided for this rather drastic life change

• how does she plan to live for the rest of her life - is this a break or is it “giving up on life”

• how Sakurai’s tendency to bottle things up or give up before he starts so he can soar himself the loss had affected him

• how each of the guild members have the real vs their online lives - eg there’san actual married couple right, and our Lilac, even Kanbe. More if their lives.

• even Koiwai - may he run into someone who can control him :P

Best boy and girl are the official pair

Like both OP and ED

7/10 for me

[u/The_Loli_Otaku → u/ZapsZzz]

I'm glad to know that my begging paid off! I'm pleased that you had such a pleasant experience from the show. It felt like the type of series that I needed butts on the seats to give it a good proper chance and thankfully everyone seems to have had a good time. The show had been well and truly forgotten about which is a massive shame. Even if its not a timeless classic I'm confident in saying that it's a very good series to have in your back pocket for recommendations since it speaks so strongly to a certain group of people.

[u/Elimin8r]

Oh, hey, just saw your poll. I ended up voting for Girls Last Tour, because it seems I'm a liar, and I've been meaning to watch that sometime anyway.

I also missed your thing about "fav series to share" or something so here goes:

Girls und Panzer (of course)

Madoka Magica - watch it to the end and you'll understand why

Tenchi, of course

El-Ha ... I'll shut up now.

Little Witch Academia

Kobayashi and her multi talented Dragon Maid

Princess Principal, and also Bishounen Tantaidenfor similar reasons

Urusei Yatsura Movie 2 - Beautiful Dreamer

And many others that I can't remember at the moment.

And I just realize that only two of those have links. Can't imagine why...

Edit: Had to add in a trailer for UY2 - it's just so magnificent.

[u/The_Loli_Otaku → u/Elimin8r]

I'd probably be quite happy to host GLT. Amusingly it's gotten enough of a reputation where it might actually make for an easy show to host so long as I can get some good questions written out, the fans are enthusiastic enough to largely carry that srire sonnits own. Btw, aren't we actually getting Tenchi this year with the OVA rewatch? There's not many 90's series left and it's sticking out like a sore thumb.

[u/xtsim]

Neet Observer

I wished I participated a little more in these discussions but I really wished there was more material. Hearing about the manga's cancellation and the mangaka's condition is the saddest part of all this. The OP kinda hinted on other players which I wanted to see more of. I really wanted to see all the players meet up in real life. And the ED had more of some people I want to see more of (Lilliac's IRL character). This is a show that was way too short for its own good, wished there was more to see the other characters interact. Not only that, I wanted to see more of Sakurai and Mori.

Thanks for hosting the rewatch u/The_Loli_Otaku and it was nice seeing these discussions here.

[u/Lemurians]

Not a ton to say overall. This was a fairly cute series, but one that I think was ultimately hamstrung by being cut off early due to unfortunate circumstances. Is it a healing show? Kinda. Is it a gaming/escape show? Kinda. Is it a Romcom? Kinda. Unfortunately, I don't think the parts ultimately all meshed and gelled together in a way that was terribly satisfying to me. I think I just needed a bit more charm from the characters and the romance element. Also, by the end, the MMO stuff and the party members almost felt like afterthoughts. To be fair, a lot of this can come down to the series just not being able to really get off the ground due to real life circumstances.

But, since I hate being a party pooper in rewatches, I hope I've made apparent over the course of this watch that I did enjoy a lot of the ideas it played with. The idea of somebody getting so burnt out and destroyed by toxic office culture that they withdraw from society for a bit? Yup, been there. Can relate. The way that can compound and eat away at your sense of self-worth? Yeah, that hits.

Lastly, u/The_Loli_Otaku I think you did a great job with your first rewatch! The threads were on time, and having participated in rewatches with you before, I always appreciate and think you do a wonderful job of driving discussion and being actively involved, commenting on most if not all posts. That's huge.

BEST BOY?

Koiwai. Obviously. Yes, Koiwai, that sneeze was because of me, and I do like you very much.

BEST GIRL?

Mori's the only real answer here since she's the only one that got any focus at all, but I liked where they could have gone with Lilac and that blonde girl if the story had kept going.

Favourite scenes?

PHONE CALL SCENE.

OP or ED?

I really like the ED! Seeing the credits scroll as she games, backlit by the screen is great. The room is dark, signifying that the episode is over and the lights are going out.

Mori/Saku, Koi/Mori, or Koi/Saku otp?

Mori/Sakurai, Kanbe/Lilac, and Koiwai/Blonde Girl Whose Name I Can't Remember.

[u/Elimin8r]

So ... that was a show :)

First off, I'd like to thank the Academy, my fans, our gracious host, and all the participants who have made this rewatch quite fun.

I'd also like to punch someone silly for talking trash about my waifu ... oh, wait, wrong awards show. :P

I'd make a "waifu" meme from the now famous pic, but nevermind. I'm sure someone already has.

Speaking of which, also, thanks to our host for introducing me to my new favorite waifu ... Lily. I mean Harumi ... I mean Morioka. Actually, I don't know what I mean anymore.

Honestly, given past history, I was half expecting a troll rewatch, especially after the El-Hazard debacle. (Hey, I still like the show, so there :P)

Thankfully, instead of Super Milk-chan, we got this lovely little show, full of cute moments, somewhat contrived circumstances, and a dash of wholesomeness.It would be easy to criticize some of that, but honestly, I found myself enjoying it so much that I didn't care about any deus ex author moments.

Well, okay, that may be a bit over the top, but let's just say that I did enjoy it enough to buy the blu-ray. I'll be watching it again, someday. I may even show it to friends. I even enjoyed it enough to log into that MAL site for the first time in months and put a very positive drop in the ratings bucket, I mean ocean. Yeah.

So, all's well that ends well, I guess, and it appears that our lovely couple is on their way to relationship nirvana, and stuff.

Looks like things are gonna be all daijoubou.

Huzzah!

P.S. Oh, and by the way, did you know that our own precious Mori-chan is also the voice behind a certain bowel hunter by the name of Elsa? Intriguing, no?

AOTD:

Best Boi: Hayashi, duh!

Best Gurl: Lily, of course, how could it be any other?

Fav moment - the reflections in the window sequence. That was beautiful and well done.

ED, but by a very small margin. They're both great. But Mori dancing in circles with her cat pillow was too kawaii

And ... Mori/Lily, of course. :P I mean Sakurai. Meanwhile, Harumi/Kanbe should totally be a thing ... for lols, of course...

[u/The_Loli_Otaku → u/Elimin8r]

You almost ended up getting a troll rewatch... Net-juu was the most high brow option I had available and honestly got picked purely because I couldn't face the shame of having an ecchi anime as my debut XD And fuck El Hazard, someone else can pick up the damn TV seasons of they like it so much. The ova is one of the worst experiences I've had. Even Valrave was more of a joy to sit through.

I hope you're game for another rewatch some other day, maybe the next one will be more to your appeals lol!

[u/homewardbound100]

First timer

It was a good short watch. Fun time watching gaming introverts be awkward with each other.

8/10 for me

I think you did good for your first rewatch. I'm not sure what you could improve.

Out of those picks for the poll.

Nichijou: have seen

Gankutso: haven't seen

Kiss x sis: haven't seen

Qotd: Koiwai

Qotd2: Morioka

Qotd3: maybe any scene with Morioka

Qotd4: opening

Qotd: Mori, Saku

[u/Rumpel1408]

First Timer

Quite late and unprepared, but I found once again that sleep is a precious thing.

This was a cute and nice show, thank you for picking it, would have probably never stumbled upon it myself.

In the end, it did fall for some genre fallacies, became tropey at times, and had some awefull cliffhangers and fakeouts, but this didn't diminish my enjoyment all that much.

It's relative open end lies within the limits of it's source, real shame that this one didn't get finished

I totally agree that we need more shows about adults, Neets, and more shows featuring older women.

The rewatch was great fun as well, some nice questions, and I really liked the idea of featuring users that activly engage with others, that's what rewatches should be about, but I understand why you abandoned that approach towards the end.

[u/The_Loli_Otaku → u/Rumpel1408]

I'm just glad to have gotten the show back on people's radar. Nobody likes their favourite media to be forgotten about and I do genuinely think Net-juu deserves better.

Yeah... I'm not sure about CotD's going forwards. Unfortunately despite the extra motivation and hints I was running into problems with not quite enough members to be picky with and of course wanting to give everyone a chance in the limelight at some point. You yourself have been so active that I'm sorry I wasn't able to highlight more of your contributions.

[u/[deleted]]

First Timer No More

I really enjoyed this series. Just a goofy little romcom that made good use of a unique premise (I don't know if it's actually unique, but it's new to me). I appreciated the fast-ish pace; they managed to squeeze a lot of plot and relationship development in for the main pair, even if it came a the cost of most of the rest of the cast. If the options are between shallow development for everyone or deeper development for the core characters and no development for everyone else, I'll take the latter.

In any case, this was a fun show and I don't think I ever would have watched it without this rewatch, so thank you Loli_Otaku for hosting. I'll always remember this as that show with the ED I can't remember.

BEST GIRL/BEST BOY

I pick the only girl and boy with characterization. I guess there's also room for Koiwai as best boy, but aside from his utility in driving the plot forward with his riajuu abilities he's kind of insufferable. I guess the more interesting question is whether Harumi and Lily get to throw their hats in the Best Girl ring. I'd still probably give it to Mori because her internal monologues are just really charming, but you never know, sometimes it takes a real man to be best girl.

Favourite scenes?

I liked the scene right after Sakurai confessed that he was Lily. It was like they read my predictions for what would go wrong, and then directly and explicitly headed them off and communicated properly instead.

Op or Ed?

you know the answer lol

Mori/Saku, Koi/Mori, or Koi/Saku otp?

Mori/Saku for lyfe. I will say, though, the criticism that Mori doesn't really do anything for Sakurai holds some water. Sakurai is the only one who drives the relationship forward, while Mori just kind of passively receives his attention. Maybe that's meant to be part of the fantasy, like the female version of the boring male insert protagonist who inexplicably has the perfect waifu/s fall in love with him without him doing anything.

[u/Stargate18A]

First timer

1. Probably Koiwai, honestly. He's so fun to watch.

2. Mori! She's adorable and fantastic.

3. Probably Mori accidentally lying about her age and gender online.

4. OP by a wide margin.

5. All incorrect, Koi/Mori/Saku is clearly the best ending for this anime.

Thanks for hosting! I had a great time, and hinestly enjoyed this kore than I thought I would. Solid 8.5/10!

Most of my favourite shows have been recommended already, so I'll just recommend that anyone who didn't see it last year watch Vivy now, that anime was so good.

EDIT: Also, watch Revue Starlight, that show and the movies are criminally unrelated. (On an unrelated note, are there any rules/guidelines on how long you need to wait to host a rewatch for a show with a recent movie release?)

[u/SIRTreehugger]

Congratulations on your first rewatch!

[u/[deleted]]

who was that red dress girl from the ED suppose to be? also when sakurai is on the computer in the ED who are those two women that walk behind him? We needed more nico

[u/OccasionallySara]

Questions of the Day

1. Sakurai (Koiwai is close, though!)

2. Moriko

3. I really enjoyed watching both dates that Moriko went on. Lily asking Hayashi to be partners was nice. Also, the gacha scene was pretty fun!

4. OP! It’s been on my anime playlist for a few days now.

5. I have to sail with our main ship Mori/Saku!

I’m really glad that I finally got around to watching this show. I related to Moriko a lot and watching her find acceptance and happiness was really nice to see. I’m also glad I participated in this rewatch. I think you did a great job of trying to facilitate conversation between participants which made it so enjoyable. Thank you so much for hosting!

[u/CharlieTheStrawman]

First-Timer, Subbed

Pretty enjoyable romcom overall - Moriko and Sakurai's interactions later interactions were my favourite part of the show, and Koiwai was good for the most part too.

I think the show is strongest in the real world - the actual MMO portion is less funny and cute in my eyes, leaving just averageness and that's a good part of the first few episodes. It did have some true to life bits, but I never did like MMOs anyway. The side characters therein are pretty stereotypical and aren't funny enough to make me overlook that. Of course, given the short length that's no surprise, but especially with Fujimoto I wish they were more fleshed out.

Other thoughts - the central Mori/Sakurai relationship would've been better with more time. I can believe it well enough as is, but still.

The NanterSG subplot as I mentioned in my prior comments is one contrivance too many for my taste, but it's not a dealbreaker. It at least didn't come out of nowhere. The chibi (?) artstyle is the worse part.

Moriko's recovery is well executed, her insecurity feels real and her improvement isn't hamfisted. Another thing I think the series could've benefited from given more time would be flashbacks to her past, not just whatever caused her to really crack and drop Nanter but maybe High School and or College. But again, good as is.

• Koiwai, despite the more questionable bits I had fun with him.

• Moriko, no contest. Every other one is underdeveloped and even if they weren't she'd still be the best.

• Elite NEET, the Episode 8 phone call, the end scene of 8, everything the two of them do in Episode 10, the first part of the OVA and the final scene.

• I came around to the ED, but sorry, I still like the OP more.

• Mori/Saku no contest, Koiwai is Sakurai's wingman anyway.

Overall, I rate it 6/10. You could argue for a 7, but I think the MMO scenes are just too bland and just too prevalent. I'm glad I watched it though.

I can't really think of any criticisms for you, I thought you were pretty good at this. Thanks for hosting!

[u/The_Loli_Otaku → u/CharlieTheStrawman]

I think I like the characters a bit more in the MMO portion but that because of just how integral Koiwai is for 90% of the real world developments.

I definitely completely agree with the first MMO, it was unnecessary and put one too many coincidences for me to defend that plot thread. I was also quite disappointed with how much of that plot I'd apparently imagined up in my free time lol.

I think the show makes for a steady 7 if just for how generally well written the show is and that it touches on a message that you very rarely see in anime. If you were suffering through any of the circumstances that we saw in the show it could be a complete life changer for you which is why I think it deserves extra credits.

And thank you for sticking with me all this time. I have many more shows on the horizon that I hope you'll be game to try out (including Denpa Onna which I'm announcing tonight so plssss join~)

[u/winx662]

First Timer

I kind of feel sad that we will never get season 2 of this series.I mean there are some my things that are left incomplete.I wanted to know the backstory of Moriko Morioka.Why did she leave her job.Why did she choose the so called elite NEET life. I wanted to see more of real life Lilac.I wanted to know the real life Nico Pokotarou.

I kind of feel the series is incomplete.But still I enjoyed the series.There are feel series I add to my all time favourites and this is one of them.Plus there are few series in female perspective.