Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii Episode 4

PROTECT THIS PRECIOUS SMILE OH MY GOSH.

This episode was all sorts of adorable and… slightly uncomfortable feels with all the yelling between Kabakura and Hanako? This episode focuses more on the dynamic of Kabakura and Hanako’s relationship, which is definitely a nice change of pace. We got a little taste of what their relationship was like in the past couple episodes and it was nice to be able to delve a little further in this episode.

The episode starts off with Narumi crying… over Sailor Moon R. And excuse you Hirotaka, you can be a full grown adult and still cry to your favorite anime. And thus he immediately eats his words when he ends up freaking crying over it as well. They’re both such cutes~ When Narumi shows off a picture of Hirotaka dressed up as a woman was hilarious. Though Hirotaka’s comment of “I could be someone’s wife” killed me. For being rather masculine, Narumi was impressively able to fool Kabakura in believing Hirotaka was a woman. Having second thoughts about being introduced Kabakura? The next part was mildly disappointing since in the manga, Hanako had changed Kabakura’s phone wallpaper to that image as well, so the kick was better. But it was still a funny exchange nonetheless.

I think the anime is doing a pretty good job kind of splicing so many different short stories together to provide an overall theme to the episodes. It’s especially prevalent in this episode where it picked a lot of Kabakura/Hanako centered stories and strung them together. After that drunk picture of Kabakura and Hanako, we move right along to them in yet another fight. This time it’s over Hanako trying to get Kabakura to cosplay with her though he vehemently refuses. Now, I totally agree with Hanako that people should be willing to share hobbies/interests in a relationship and not just ignore what the other person does. And Hirotaka being A+ boyfriend material yet again. Despite him not being particularly interested in cosplaying, he still went ahead and played along for Narumi. They don’t have to do those things together all the time, but they should be willing to humor each others’ interests from time to time. To which Narumi states quite beautifully that while they enjoy different things, they still respect and accept the other’s interests… Aaaand then Hirotaka ruins it by saying that it’s too late to “save her.”

The next part, I don’t think was in the manga so it was a fun little surprise. Especially for Kabakura ‘cause he walks into his apartment to find it decked out like a photo shoot, on behalf of Hanako of course. The fact that she did SO MUCH to make sure the photo of a cosplaying Kabakura is both amazing and a little obsessive. But that’s just what makes her so much fun~ Not to mention the figure she bribed him with was of the utmost quality that he even stated was “amazing.”

I know we saw Hirotaka’s texts in the previous episode, but they finally address the state of his tests and it’s hilarious. The fact that Hirotaka has so much more expression in his texts rather than his face is actually pretty amusing. But the way he’s constantly checking up on Narumi to see how she’s doing and if she’s getting everything done… A++ my man.

And then we get into the more… uncomfortable part of the episode. I’m not sure if I agree with the state of Kabakura and Hanako’s relationship. Considering Kabakura sees their fights as normal, which Hanako points out that it’s not okay. I often have to wonder if their relationship is really okay like this. I know I shouldn’t be looking into the relationship too deeply due to this being a romantic comedy, but it does worry me a little if this is healthy or not. Especially by the end of the all the bickering, Hanako is in tears saying she can’t take this anymore. QAQ Also Narumi… now isn’t the time to be commenting on her chest. Hanako brings up some pretty… deep questions like if Kabakura is just settling with her because it’s easier to date other otakus, which ALSO causes Narumi to question the state of her and Hirotaka’s relationship… DANG IT WOTAKU WHY ARE YOU HITTING US WITH THESE HARD THOUGHTFUL QUESTIONS?! And I don’t really know if where Kabakura and Hanako are is good or not since there wasn’t really an apology from either and it really didn’t feel conclusive. So yeah… not sure how I feel about their relationship as of this point. (Not gonna lie that the hug was cute as heck though)

But what probably made the episode was when Narumi brought up the question of whether they’re dating because it’s easier that way or not. And Hirotaka… GIVING THE BEST BOYFRIEND ANSWERS POSSIBLE AND BEYOND. Saying that he didn’t start dating her because it was convenient or easy, but he genuinely liked her. I absolutely love their dynamic. They have heart to heart moments and quickly switch to just laughing and being silly with each other. AND THAT SMILE. BLESS THAT SMILE. That probably has to be the first time we’ve seen Hirotaka smile and it was GLORIOUS. At this point, I think it’s safe to assume that Narumi has developed mutual feelings for Hirotaka through dating him. She gets to see so many different sides to him she never saw before. Their relationship is so wonderful~ It’s not perfect by any means, they have their fights, but that’s normal in a relationship and the way their relationship is portrayed is freaking adorable.