I was curious what this OVA would entail, what with it being the very last episode of the Wotakoi anime. Evidently, we have ourselves yet another non-finale final episode. The plot of this episode is simply the main cast’s company going on a retreat at a hot springs inn. I checked and this episode is apparently based on a couple of chapters from the sixth volume of the manga. Seeing as the manga is eleven volumes long, I think it’s safe to say that these events are not where the story ends. Oh well, at least it’s a fun stopping point for the anime.
Knowing the main cast, there’s some differing opinions about the company retreat. Koyanagi doesn’t want to go, Narumi does, and Hirotaka could care less. Really, what compels all three of them to go is Kabakura being credited for planning the event. They all know too well how easy it is to get on his nerves. The funny thing is that Kabakura himself isn’t that enthusiastic about the trip. He only planned it because he didn’t want to say “no” to his boss. Kabakura is often shown to be very efficient at his job, even keeping the others on task, so I chuckled when he’s shown as a yes man for a change.
Definitely the weirdest part about this episode is the somewhat pronounced appearances of other employees of the company. In particular, Hirotaka is shown hanging out with two co-workers, Aiba (Taku Yashiro) and Baba (Takuma Terashima). I think both characters appeared in the seventh main episode though, funnily enough, their faces were often obscured from the frame. There’s also this new lady hanging around Narumi and Koyanagi but honestly, I don’t think she’s ever addressed by name in the dialogue. I only find this strange because, well, this is the last episode of the anime. It’s a bit late to focus on these characters, don’t you think?
At least with Aiba and Baba, them being around is part of the plot. Narumi is hoping that Hirotaka will make more friends during the retreat so she deliberately leaves Hirotaka with his two co-workers. For what it’s worth, the plan seems to work, even though Hirotaka can’t remember Aiba and Baba’s names for the life of him (which is a really funny joke to make in light of these two getting the spotlight). Even so, I kept wanting the show to focus back on the main four.
Thankfully, there’s still a couple of moments with them. Koyanagi messes with Narumi in the hot spring. Hirotaka and Kabakura compete to see who can last in the sauna the longest. After dinner, Koyanagi looks after a drunk and atypically affectionate Kabakura. Meanwhile, Narumi joins Hirotaka outside while she tries her luck with a gacha game (of course she ends up whaling to get what she wants). It’s all fun and cute. I kind of wish Hirotaka and Narumi’s scene was more romantic but I suppose them exuding the energy of two friends agreeing to get married if they’re still single by the age of 30 is par for the course. At least these two are happy being around each other.
Sometime after the trip, we see the main four have a gaming party with Naoya and Kou. Even though it’s brief, it’s neat to see Kou with the rest of the cast in the same frame. That never really happened in the main episodes, apart from everyone bumping into each other in the finale. I much prefer this get-together over that. During the party, Narumi asks Hirotaka if she could plan a trip for the two of them, to which Hirotaka accepts. This wouldn’t be a bad note to end things on. The pinky promise the two do exemplifies the platonic nature of their relationship but the glance they share shows that they do indeed have feelings for each other. The two images together perfectly describes this couple.
Surprisingly however, there is six more minutes after that scene. You first get an ED summing up the show and detailing what the gang is up to next. In particular, you see the trip Narumi and Hirotaka talks about in the previous scene. The one part that makes me go “Hey, wait a minute!” is when Kabakura and Koyanagi get married. That does seem like the natural conclusion for those two but it’s a goddamn crime to show for a few seconds, within a montage no less. It really should be a whole episode instead.
We then get a post-credit scene where Narumi and Koyanagi fantasize about gender-swapped versions of the cast. This is an extremely random note to end the entire show on. At the same time however, there’s a couple of good laughs here. I chuckled when Narumi and Koyanagi become self-conscious about themselves after gender-swapping themselves recontextualizes their personalities. Kou looking about the same even when the other women envision her as a man is pretty good. Also funny is the cast voicing the gender-swapped version of their character’s significant other. For example, you have Tomokazu Sugita voice the male Koyanagi while Miyuki Sawashiro voices the female Kabakura. That could absolutely be a budget thing but it serves the comedy well.
With that, I’ve reached the end of the road with Wotakoi (again). There probably is enough material for a second season but I’m not betting on it happening. The manga is finished so the production committee doesn’t need to promote it anymore. The fact that they greenlit this OVA to promote the last volume suggests that they had no intention to make anything more than that anyway. It’s a shame. I admit that I’m not as fond of the anime as I may have been back in the day, I certainly don’t look back to it like I do with other shows I’ve blogged about, but this is a fun show. A second season would’ve been nice. That said, there is still the manga and to the anime’s credit, it’s done a good job selling me on it.
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