And you thought there is never a girl online?

Episode 5

My supposition last week was correct: Sette is Nanako, Akane's pink-haired friend. Although Akane laments that her high school life is now over because her best friend knows about her hobby, I don't think she's giving Nanako enough credit. On the other hand, Ako overestimates her relationship with Hideki/Rusian, despite Nanako making it harshly clear that she has no interest in Hideki in real life, spinning off into the crisis which forms the bulk of this episode.

The run-up to the crisis starts before Sette's identity is revealed. Ako, upon seeing Sette getting chummy with Rusian, suddenly has an interest in doing another game the next day – no doubt because she wants to dodge Sette. So the gang tries out a first-person shooter, and they discover to their surprise that Ako is quite competent at sniping. Things seem mostly cool until the next day when Nanako asks where the group was, hence revealing her game identity. When she teasingly flirts with Hideki just a little, Ako can't take it. She doesn't show up for school the next day and declares that she's dropping out to concentrate on getting strong enough in the game to reincarnate so she can become a new person.

That line raised a major red flag for me, and it apparently did for Hideki too, given its many bad potential meanings. In fact, I'd go as far as saying that it could be the turning point of the series. Ultimately the story backs off from the much grimmer direction it could have gone – i.e., a suicide alert – and instead sticks to more of a “withdraw from the world” interpretation. That's still a big and all-too-common issue though, which Ako's mother seems to recognize when Hideki comes calling. While giving Hideki the key to her daughter's room and then leaving could be looked at as the kind of sly parental behavior mostly only seen in anime, it can also be seen as an acknowledgement that she recognizes Hideki as the best candidate to draw her daughter back into the real world.

Then comes Hideki's opportunity to truly shine. To be sure, some sexy antics are involved – Ako apparently hangs out in the buff at home, and she's ready to interpret Hideki's visit in the most lascivious fashion – but this isn't a doujinshi, so Hideki has a higher purpose here. The patience he shows and the way he gently attacks Ako's determination to drop out is handled very nicely, showing that Hideki has better insight than male leads normally have in these kind of shows. He understands that Ako isn't actually selfish and doesn't want to drag anyone down with her, so he sets the situation up so that she'll have to pull him down to do what she wants. In offering support should she start to get overwhelmed again, he leaves her no way to protest. The finishing touch arrives the next day, when the girls who had shown signs of being friendly before engage her, and Nanako even gives her a prod in the right direction.

While there may be quibbles about whether or not the bits of fan service were necessary, I don't see how this scenario could have been executed better given the set-up. This was the make-or-break moment for the show and it soars rather than stumbles. It even adds in a couple of other nice touches, such as showing how Ako clearly gets her looks from her mother. I'm not expecting the series to maintain at this level, but a job well-done deserves to be acknowledged.

Rating: A-

And you thought there is never a girl online? is currently streaming on Funimation.