Gamers! The Complete Series

Keita Amano is a friendless high-schooler consumed by video-gaming, in which "dating sims" provide him with all the female companionship he thinks he can attain. His joy is boundless when radiant, popular blonde classmate Karen Tendo reveals that she is a closet gamer and invites him to join her in the student games club. Yet Keita turns her down—repeatedly—on the über-nerd basis that their games aren't to his liking. The surprise refusal only makes a shaken Karen redouble her efforts to lure Keita into the club, inspiring a very tentative romance. Meanwhile, other club members have their own dilemmas with clingy or non-gamer girlfriends, and much of this juvenile rom-com series involves gossipy talk over incipient triangles, date etiquette, potential matchmaking, and deep-dharma video game issues, such as whether characters visualized in ultra-cute "moe" artwork have hurt the Japanese game industry. While other anime series concerned with video games depict the joystick experience in high-fantasy total immersion spectacle, this one remains rooted in the mundane world, sometimes even switching the low-key action to board games, as the plot (based on serialized novels) dictates. Viewers who dial down their expectations to something akin to an otaku Whit Stillman screenplay may enjoy the savvy chatter. A closing episode features softcore bathing nudity as heroines discuss "deviant" qualities in games, which is apparently the joke. Presenting all 12 episodes from 2017 in a dual-language Blu-ray/DVD Combo set, rated TV-14, this is a strong optional purchase. (C. Cassady)