Originally, I requested to read this manga in hopes I could add it to my middle school library. Complete misjudgment on my part. This manga is about a small group of 20 something's who work together and is for an older audience. 

This is a cute story about two otakus who start dating. An otaku is a super fan of gaming or manga or anime or pop culture to a degree that the fandom overwhelms their life. 

It is a very character driven manga. The overarching story is slow moving but flows well. The chapters feel like little one-shots with lots of Japanese pop culture references (explained in notations to the English reader). Light hearted jokes are peppered throughout. The topics can be more mature but they make sense with the audience. I really liked the four characters as individuals and am interested in where this manga is heading! 

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy.

I have a like and dislike relationship with this manga. On one hand I love the characters and how funny they can be, but I don't dislike how the story feels off pace.  It feels like everything moves too fast and the back story is bit choppy. Once I got past that first awkward stage I started to like the story. Despite the emphasis on being an otaku and how being that leads to all these other dramatic problems, I think it's a great and simple read. I would recommend it to readers looking for a different type of manga plot.

I think I'm losing my touch here. Every lover of the Japanese culture were at one point, in their young age, an Otaku. But how is it when these otakus are two full grown adults? The relationship between Narumi & Hirotaka is pretty hard to understand. They are both games and manga lovers, one of them tries to hide their otaku side (keeps getting dumped for being an otaku), the other one has no problem in showing it in public (stays on game console most of the time,everywhere!). No emotions or chemistry between these two, only their passion connects them.
  The plot was...what was it about again? It was incoherent and to be fair I didn't understood much from it. Would I recommend it to someone? Yes, maybe to an avid manga lover/gamer.

I had heard about this manga at the start of the year so when I saw this as a read now book on Netgalley, I knew I had to snap it up. What I didn’t realised Kodansha had done was make these into bind up volumes, so the English translated volumes contain 2 of the original Japanese volumes each. This was an absolute delight while reading, to know I still had a load more I could read! Seriously, bind up volumes are my favourite.

Moving onto the actual manga itself. You get the first couple of pages in colour which look a lot cleaner and sharper than the rest of the manga style but I actually really like the concept and how it all fits together. I love the character’s passions for what they love, be it games, manga, yaoi, BL(Boy Love) etc. It reminded me a lot of my teenage years with friends who were into what I was into and also a bit of me now. I still feel the need to hide the more weeb part of myself. I hope with these characters being more my age I will be able to laugh a long side them and also appreciate that I have a husband who has become a fan of manga/anime in the last few years. (I mean, he is also a gamer so there is that haha)

I love how different the characters are, especially Naru and Hirotaka. You can see all sorts of sides to the characters and it isn’t overly romantic, it just sorts of deals with life and how people work. I really enjoyed the fact they were older characters and they were referencing things I knew such as Sailor Moon and Neon Genesis Evangelion from my teenage years. There were a few gaming references I didn’t get but as with most manga that is a translation section at the end of each volume which explains references to things as well as japanese terms used such as -san/-chan etc. It was really helpful in this series for sure.

My only negatives for this was that it does start in a bit of rush! You are suddenly just thrown in but it kind of suits how this is a busy adult world. Maybe I’m just used to reading too much laid back High School set contemporaries. I would certainly recommend this series to other manga/anime/gaming nerds out there but maybe not to people who are looking to start out in reading manga for the first time.

Overall I really enjoyed this bind up. My husband even commented on how much I was laughing while I was reading it. If you are looking for a bit more of a grown up manga with a good laugh thrown in, then this is certainly one to check out.

I ended up enjoying Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku way more than I thought I would. I thought that I'd only end up enjoying it. So not only did I enjoy the story, I ended up loving the story as well.

Lovely art and story although feels a bit disjointed. The characters are all very interesting and although all come under the otaku trait, they are distinctive amongst each other. I enjoyed reading this manga very much

The story of the manga is quite simple. 
Our two main characters; Narumi, a heavy anime watcher and manga reader, and Hirotaka who specializes in video games, are two separated otaku's but get's along well. 

'quote'  Hirotaka likes games, and I (Narumi) likes Anime and manga. Although the things we liked, how we enjoyed them, and our devotion made us both otaku, we were still totally different. I think that by coming to that understanding, we just allow each other, to be ourselves. 'end quote' 
In other words, they are different people who allow each other to be who they and not be judged by it and we follow their story and how they are perfect for each other.  

However, I have read many manga's in the past, after discovering that Anime was a thing (from age 9), which is why this volume doesn't give me that "wow" factor. 
Once the main premises of the story is out of the way, the rest of the pages are filled with random scenes that are smaller incident of the future. And instead of showcasing that as a a whole story, they are shortened to the point that, they happens quickly and at random that it doesn't have a "flow." 

Having said that, even if it seems like I don't enjoy the story (which I did), I found some that were funny and adorable. But that isn't enough for me to LOVE the story, but enough to make me interested in more of the illustrator's future work.

A really interesting manga! I definitely had fun reading it but I wish it had more romance... hopefully, in the future volumes, we will be able to see that.
I do think that this, for someone who doesn't understand the otaku world, this may be a difficult story to get into but I appreciate the explanations at the end. It made it easier to understand!

Wotakoi blew my mind! I must say that I hardly ever read josei and shoujo even, since the characters tend to be bleak or cliched. In Wotakoi's case then? Totally the opposite. Love is Hard for Otaku actually portrays its characters in a realistic manner with humor that's actually aimed at adults  and even more than that, it's quite universal too. This in itself is a miracle since the topic is very Japanese. Narumi and Hirotaka are childhood friends and real geeks that end up in the same work place. Against all odds they start to date, since it's easier than to pretend to be normal - now they get to be the geeks they are, but together. Their friends, who are a couple too, are the same and their interactions are awesome. The manga is mostly slice of life and balanced around shorter story arcs that are quite mundane and brilliant at the same time. Wotakoi plays well the cultural aspects and the notes at the back are a great add-on.

The art looks great and the rhythm is awesome, but quite different to "basic" manga. It could be slightly off-putting for some, but I truly enjoyed it. The panels are quite stuffed at times, but the facial expressions are perfect! Wotakoi is very lively and different to boot. It's refreshing josei with actually clever characters and situations, which makes this so entertaining. No wonder this was a hit. I just hope this goes somewhere and evolves, since that's another thing that usually doesn't happen in manga and especially in slice of life, everything just keeps going but nowhere. I'm glad I tested this! I totally approve!

I could not get into this manga as it was absolutely ridiculous. Oh, my boyfriends break up with me once they find out I'm an otaku! That's bs unless she went to the extreme with it. And even then most guys wouldn't break up with someone because of what they watch unless they were really shallow.

Unfortunately I couldn't get into this as the humour and general writing style did not appeal to me and I found it somewhat confusing and hard to follow. I love the concept and art and the translation is fantastic, and I'm sure this series will be a favourite of many despite it not working for me.

Wotakoi was cute but honestly I didn't get much from it and soon began to skip through to the last chapter. As far as Otaku go, they weren't quirky, distinct, or even very interesting. The relationship was probably the only odd thing in the entire book since we don't get much of it and it is very underplayed.  I think in the end, I was expecting better observations on Otaku life, more humor, and a bit more emotion.

Story:  Narumi likes gaming and especially manga. Hirotaka loves gaming.  Both are considered Otaku - people who get obsessive about something like manga or gaming and are looked down upon for it by Japanese society.  Hirotaka doesn't care if people know but Narumi would prefer to hide it since she keeps getting dumped when her boyfriends find out. When Narumi meets Hirotaka, it brings back memories - they used to live near each other and were close in their love of their fandoms. Now, at 26, Hirotaka suggests they get together since neither has a problem with their otaku-ness.  Besides, their best friends are dating as well.

I think for me, I would have wanted to see their actual fandoms represented more.  Hirotaka spends a lot of time on a portable console, yes, but we don't really get much idea of how much he loves gaming.  E.g., at his house it's clean and tidy and not really 'gamer' much other than a few statues.  Same with Narumi - you'd think she'd have posters everywhere or walls of manga; perhaps even t-shirts for the weekend.  But .... nothing.  They are all pretty much boring and not very interesting people who talk about their obsessions occasionally but we never get to actually see it.  It felt fake, for that reason.  Publisher Kodansha does give us explanations of all the Otaku terms used, though, every four chapters, which was nice (how many people know what a "kabe don" is, for example?).

I also can't say much about the characters.  Hirotaka is pretty bland and spends most of the book emotionless.  Narumi is an idiot, screws up at work all the time, and looks to be an emotional wreck at best.  I'm not quite sure why anyone would be interested in her except for Hirotaka's situation in that she wouldn't put him down for his love of gaming.  But there wasn't a lot of chemistry there.

Side characters are two best friends who are dating but also fighting all the time.  Narumi's best friend is boyish and aggressive (sort of tsundere) while her boyfriend, Hirotaka's best friend, is somewhat hot headed. It leads to constant arguments between the two, of course.  Since they are also into the same interests, it makes the four a fairly tight group that does everything together.

It felt like the author is taking a tour of manga (especially BL/yaoi) and gaming memes and trying to incorporate them into a story.  There's not a lot here about WHY people fall in love with and become obsessive about these pursuits.  And if you've met a true Otaku, you see the passion and how it takes over their lives and how much it means to them.  I just didn't get any of that here. This should have been a love letter to Otakus but instead felt more like a slap in the face with a wet noodle.

The stories are somewhat incoherent, jumbled, and without a clear arc.  It's very "josei" rather than "shoujo/shounen" in that regard.  I was hoping for more than random snippet scenes and story arcs expanded from one simple idea that never really take off.  It got old very fast and after about ten minutes reading, I just wanted to get to the end of the volume already and never have to follow these insipid characters again.  Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

A cute slice of life manga that was easy for me to relate to. I like seeing more manga being published that is targeted to more of the older audiences. I appreciated the humor and cute story. It reminds me of an older version of gekkan shoujo nozaki kun manga which is a good thing!