The Week Wait Between Episodes Is Killing Me! – Recovery Of An MMO Junkie

October 23, 2017

We have plenty of shows that involve characters being stuck in an MMO, but how many shows do we have of people just playing them normally? Recovery of an MMO Junkie (Crunchyroll’s title), or Recommendation of the Wonderful Virtual Life (according to the show’s title card), or Net-juu no Susume (the Japanese Title) is a slice of life for anyone looking for excellent characters and a very friendly and welcoming atmosphere.

Story-wise, it’s about a 30-year-old woman, Moriko, who recently became a NEET, spending all her time in a new MMO as a male character, Hayashi. In the game, she makes friends with a female character named Lily and they become fast friends. Little does she know, Lily is actually a guy in real life. The show hints at some romantic tension between the two which eventually develops into an in-game “partnership” between the two at the end of episode 3. The cover literally has the virtual characters behind the wrong player.

The guild Hayashi and Lily are in is quite a close-knit group of friends, in the game at least. You can tell they’ve been playing together for a while and have gotten used to each other. They aren’t afraid to gossip, but they are also there to lend a shoulder to lean on when someone needs it. The guildmates are definitely toward the top of the “best supporting characters” list.

I love this show. It really speaks to me on a personal level because I play an MMO and I have met several of my friends through that game. The social interactions between the players in-game is very true to life and even the real world reactions between the players feels all too common to me too. I am generally picky when it comes to slice of life shows but this one has the most lovable characters that make the wait between episodes torture.

This is definitely the top of my list for this season. It’s even higher priority than Inuyashiki, a manga I read now being animated. Recovery of an MMO Junkie airs on Crunchyroll on Fridays. Let me know what you think in the comments! Are you enjoying this slice of life as much as I am?