I’m sad to see this series go, but honestly, I felt like 11 episodes may have been just enough. Especially since I was essentially done with the main pairing. Nothing against them, but it’s been feeling repetitive after their first official date and I became more interested in what was going on with the other two pairings. There’s definitely A LOT more to explore with the other two pairs. Especially Sakuragi and Naoya since Sakuragi literally came so late into the series. If only the series could give them more focus, I’d be okay with this being longer. Unfortunately, they would probably still highlight Hirotaka and Narumi more, so I’m pretty content where it ended.
I was wondering what they were going to cover for this final episode and while it didn’t end with a bang like I had hoped, it still was a cute little array of different moments between the different pairs. It was cute to start off with Hanako and Kabakura relaxing together. And did we have such a tease with seeing just a smidge of their backstory of how they possibly got together. (Still waiting to see what else happened in their backstory in the manga) I was honestly a bit bummed that they didn’t animate their backstory, but I can understand considering it just wouldn’t fit within the 11 episode parameter. And it’s also just nice to see how civil they can be, with Kabakura getting her some more to drink without her asking.
As soon as Narumi went to Hirotaka’s house my response was: Oh, it’s THIS part of the manga. It was a pretty short scene in the manga and it doesn’t really have a follow up. Well, not to my knowledge anyway. However, the fact that Narumi finds Hirotaka passed out on the floor because he hasn’t eaten in days and had just been playing video games is pretty amusing. Though the kicker comes when Hirotaka emerges from the shower completely naked and had forgotten that Narumi was even there. And thus Narumi’s attempt at being a good girlfriend by cooking for him comes to a rather awkward halt.
I was blessed with some small Naoya and Sakuragi moments in this episode. And while I should have seen it coming since it’s the last episode, I didn’t expect them to be super adorable. After Naoya came into her (gaming) life, I found it super cute how she was wondering where he’s been since he hasn’t logged in for a while. Not to mention she got super self-conscious about being seen as a boy. She even went to go look for him at his work. She be crushing HARD and they’ve only been hanging out for a little bit. It makes sense though. Considering she’s been alone for so long and Naoya comes along and breaks through her barriers, offering her company and a warm smile. Who wouldn’t fall for that?
And while it’s not noticeable right away, we actually do get to see how Hanako and Kabakura’s relationship has progressed since the beginning of the series. Though things still tend to sail above Kabakura’s head, I really like how Hanako has started to talk to Kabakura about what she’d like to do in their relationship rather than just keep it bottled up and yell at him for not understanding. (Him getting defensive about Hanako berating yuri was hilarious. Kabakura you hypocrite lol) I love how she admits she understands his tastes and general personality. Hanako just honestly wants something in common with Kabakura to bond over, sharing some interests and such. Since Hirotaka always humors Narumi’s interests even if he’s not particularly interested. And I totally get that. When you like something, you want to talk to others about it and humor you. Instead of being adamant about not wanting to do it, Kabakura relents and humors her, despite his initial embarrassment. It’s hilarious that he actually liked the BL manga that Hanako gave him to read lol. But I’m glad to see their relationship progressing to more of an understanding and they’re COMMUNICATING more by talking rather than yelling. Sure, they still get into spats, but it’s just their personalities.
While Hirotaka enjoys his first meal made by Narumi, we learn how much of a wife Naoya is. The boy cooks, irons clothes, restocks toilet paper… Nao continuing to be the precious treasure that he is. Speaking of which, he graces us with his presence, much to Sakuragi’s shock. What surprises me is how much I have grown to love this ship in the short amount of time it’s been around. Usually, I don’t like the super energetic guy with the shy girl. However, when I thought about it, Nao actually isn’t that energetic. He’s really bubbly and nice, but he’s actually a lot more laid back than you’d get from how he looks. He isn’t a ball of boundless energy, more like a warm ball of sunshine that casually warms you with its rays. And I think he matches Sakuragi pretty well, especially with how inviting and encouraging he is towards her. Both are precious treasures~ Being a precious treasure, Sakuragi gives Nao a personally hand-made game strategy guide. All with an adorable blush on her face too. This ship gives me so much feels and it was just established just an episode ago. I NEED MORE OF THEM.
We end off the series with Narumi asking the question of who everyone’s first love were, since she had been reading Shojo manga as opposed to her usual BL. It’s pretty hilarious that they’re too embarrassed to say who their love was but have an immediate response as to who their first 2D love was. Kabakura being hilariously adorable when he admitted to liking older women when he was younger. (Also them name dropping Cardcaptor Sakura was great) And then Nao comes in and gives a “normal person response” by saying how his first love was his kindergarten teacher (precious). When he goes on to say that Hirotaka actually got to date his first love, Hirotaka gives him such a terrifying glare that it struck Kabakura speechless, much to Narumi’s confusion. While Narumi goes to catch up with Hirotaka, she bumps into precious treasure #2. And while this wasn’t the most solid way to end the series, I do like how they were able to get all the main characters into one space for the finale. It was a cute little send off for all of these lovely characters.
Final Thoughts:
This series was an absolute treasure to watch. As soon as I found out this manga series was being animated, I lost my crap. I already loved the manga and seeing it in anime form made me love it even more, especially now that I can attach voices to them. The episodes definitely had Gekkan Shojo Nozaki-kun vibes and it worked pretty well. I was also impressed by the anime original content they put in, most notably that Christmas dinner date Kabakura and Hanako went on.
I absolutely love how most of the ships were already sailing by the first few episodes, save for Nao and Sakuragi because of how late she appeared, but they’re getting there. Not to mention there were so many title drops throughout the series that it was always fun to try and and spot the reference.
Wotakoi was just a fun and cute thing to watch and I’m sad to see it go, but also glad that it basically had just the right amount of episodes. This anime made me even more excited to see what else the manga has in store. I’ll definitely be picking up the hard copies of this manga in the future. Definitely a 9/10 anime for anyone looking for a cute romance~
