Fumiya Tomozaki is an ace gamer, but a bottom-tier character in real life. His favorite game is called Tackfam, which is an in-universe parody of Super Smash Brothers. One day while playing Tackfam online, he was invited to meet in-person with an old gaming rival called NONAME. When he arrived at the spot where they agreed to meet up, he was surprised to discover that NONAME’s true identity was his classmate, Aoi Hinami. Tomozaki has always been jealous of Aoi’s high social status, with her intelligence, confidence, and charisma, and wishes he could be like her. Aoi, on the other hand, was just as surprised as he was. She begins to unload her disappointment in discovering that her gaming hero, known online as the great Nanashi is actually a rock-bottom loser who has given up on life. Tomozaki claims that someone as popular as Aoi has no idea what it feels like to be unconfident in everything and that you can’t change your character in real life like you can in a game. Aoi begs to differ and begins to teach Tomozaki how to play the ultimate god-tier game called life.

Aoi begins meeing with Tomozaki regularly in an abandoned sewing room to check on the progress of his character development. In their first meeting, Aoi sets three goals for Tomozaki to achieve. The first is to get a family member or close friend to notice a change in his appearance. The second is for Tomozaki to get a girlfriend by his third year of high school. Tomozaki gasps at this goal. The third goal, to be completed on that day, is for Tomozaki to talk to three girls: Minami Nanami, Yuzu Izumi, and a third of his choosing.

Minami Nanami is a bouncy and bubbly class flirt. Her creedo is to always live life with a smile on her face, no matter how bad she feels on the inside. Tomozaki learns this when he walks home with her one evening. At first, he tried talking to Minami in his Home Ec class, but his awkwardness caused her to burst out laughing. That evening when Tomozaki walks home with her, he learns that Minami considers herself to be a young maiden with lots of worries.

Yuzu Izumi is a glamor girl who sits next to Tomozaki in his first class of the day. One morning, he tries asking her for a tissue, but she doesn’t have any. Tomozaki keeps trying to strike a conversation with her — usually something about her hair, her clothing, or their last homework assignment — but it always ends up getting awkward. So far, he hasn’t made much progress with Yuzu.

Fuka Kikuchi is a shy bookworm who has a secret eye for Tomozaki. When said protagonist tried to bum a tissue off of Yuzu, Fuka already had a package ready to present. Tomozaki thanks Fuka for the tisue and decides to count her as his third girl to talk to. When Aoi and Tomozaki got together at a restaurant, they were surprised to find out that their waitress was Fuka. Aoi says she confirmed her suspicions that Fuka has an eye for Tomozaki because she addressed him first. She also says they will work to make Fuka Tomozaki’s girlfriend. A few days later, Tomozaki meets Fuka in the library, where they talk about her passion for books. Aoi thinks Tomozaki’s relationship with Fuka is his most promising so far.

With Minami, Yuzu, and Fuka within the realm of girls Tomozaki talks to, the bottom-tier character seems to have built up quite a selection pool of women.

At the end of Episode 3, Tomozaki sees Yuzu sitting by herself outside the school. He approaches her and says she’s looking gloomy.

“How dare you, I am not!” snaps Yuzu.

Tomozaki instantly regrets talking to her and slowly backs away, but before he gets far, Yuzu continues.

“You’re good at Tackfam, aren’t you? Teach me.”

“Teach you what?”

“Ugh, Jeez! I’m asking you to teach me how to play Tackfam!”

A Lesson in Tackfam

At the beginning of Episode 4, the sun is setting as Yuzu and Tomozaki walk home together. Yuzu explains that she used to walk home with Shuji a lot, but lately he’s always practicing Tackfam after school. Shuji is the first name of Nakamura, an egotist who challenged Tomozaki to a game of Tackfam in the first episode, and now Tomozaki is certain he is preparing for a rematch. Yuzu asked Nakamura if she could play with him, but he said she was too weak and not worth his time. (Jeez, what a jerk.) Hence why Yuzu wants to get better at the game.

“That Shuji…he just doesn’t get it!” exclaims Yuzu, “You know that Erika girl? She told Shuji she liked him, and he blew her off!”

Tomozaki does know that Erika girl. Her full name is Erika Konno, and she is a member of Team Necktie (meaning she’s popular, as was explained in Episode 2). Yuzu explains that she thought Nakamura liked her, but she was always brushing her off.

I really like this anime, but the writing can feel a bit unorganized at times. I’m honestly not sure why Yuzu brought up Erika because it seems to be unrelated to what she says next. The reason why I chose to bring up Erika now is because she will appear later in this episode.

Tomozaki returns to the topic of teaching Yuzu how to play Tackfam and asks her where they are going to practice.

“My place!” says Yuzu.

Tomozaki seems to have a mild panic attack, as this will be the second time he has been in a girl’s bedroom. They begin Tackfam-ing in Yuzu’s bedroom. (Get it? It’s like Smash-ing.) Yuzu quickly becomes creeped out by Tomozaki’s insane moves. He begins droning on about her beginner moves, but Yuzu becomes even more creeped out. Suddenly, Tomozaki snaps into an authoritative persona.

“I know what I’m going to have you do,” announces Tomozaki. What he has her do is practice jumping. He shows her that if you tap the button lightly, the character does a short jump, but if you press the button hard, the character does a high jump. Next, Tomozaki gives Yuzu a stopwatch to practice her reaction speed. The quicker she presses the button, the faster her reaction speed will get.

“Practice button-mashing on that stopwatch every day, whenever you’re not with other people,” instructs Tomozaki, as he stands up and marches towards the front of the room. He points his finger out and says, “That’s how you get results!” in a rather “Hex-actly” manner.

“True enough, but what’s with the body language?” asks Yuzu.

Tomozaki realizes he has been imitating Aoi this whole time. He doesn’t answer the question and returns to his deadpan demeanor. He shows her a replay of a Tackfam game between NONAME and Nanashi and instructs her to memorize it to the point where she can replicate it perfectly. (Self promotion, I see.) He then draws a diagram showing all of the characters’ moves and range of attack. (Just imagine if he put this much effort into his studies.)

Yuzu asks Tomozaki what the point of going through all that trouble is.

“I don’t play Tackfam for any particular reason,” explains Tomozaki, “Not to make friends, and not win praise.”

“I mean, when you’re that good, it’s not much fun for anyone else. They think it’s weird. Don’t you hate that?”

“You mean, do I care what people think of me? I don’t not care. What I hate more is setting a goal to get stronger and not being able to meet it.”

“But doesn’t it suck, being an outsider? I know I’ve never seen you enjoying yourself at school.”

“I think there’s more to life than laughing with your friends.”

“Wow, I can’t see myself feeling that way. It’s just not me. Or maybe I’ve been like this for so long that I couldn’t change even if I wanted to.”

“Not you, huh? All my life, I’ve had the exact same personality. I saw life as an unreasonable garbage game, but lately I ran into this gamer with a real rotten attitude. They claim that life’s actually a god-tier game. I began playing this game called ‘life’ a little more seriously, and then I learned how to put in the effort. I don’t know if life is really a god-tier game, but at the very least, it’s a good game.”

“So it’s not god-tier?”

“I don’t know yet, but I did chage. That much I know. Which is why I’m sure you can change, too, Izumi–if you want to.”

Remember in my review of Episode 2 when I talked about how people are like icebergs? Here is another example of a character, in this case Yuzu Izumi, who doesn’t like the way she appears on the outside and wants to change to more reflect who she is on the inside. At the beginning of the series, Tomozaki felt like he was the only one who was different from everyone else, but the more he gets to know his fellow peers, the more he realizes that he’s not the only one who thinks this way.

The True Heroine

An unspecified amount of time later, Aoi and Tomozaki meet up at a restaurant where they talk about his conversation with Yuzu, again using gaming analogies.

“It’s like the sword you had equipped just happened to work on the boss’s elemental weakness,” says Aoi, “while your shield just happened to work on the boss’s elemental attack. It’s that miraculous. Though I’ll admit it was a miracle that you brought about.”

Aoi reminds Tomozaki who the true heroine of this playthough is and inquires as to whether or not he has asked Fuka out on a date yet, but Tomozaki isn’t sure if he wants to. Aoi slides two tickets across the table for a movie this Saturday in hopes that they will help Tomozaki land that date.

Later, Tomozaki meets with Fuka in the library again. He explains that he never actually read the books they talked about last time, and that he only takes Michael Andi books because they are closest to his usual spot. Most of the time, he just pretends to read while coming up with gaming strategies.

“Don’t worry about it,” says Fuka.

“But I’ll probably be here in the library again,” explains Tomozaki, “so maybe next time we can have a regular conversation–regardless of our favorite authors. What do you say?”

“Yes, of course you can,” she responds.

Tomozaki figures it wouldn’t have been best to ask her out to the movies after that, so he decides to try it another time.

Nakamura’s Revenge

At the end of another school day, Tomozaki is preparing to meet Aoi in the sewing room when he is stopped by Nakamura’s stooges. They bring him to the Old AV Room, where Tomozaki defeated Nakamura at Tackfam in the first episode. Nakamura has everything set up for a rematch. They are about to begin when Yuzu enters, followed by Erika and two of her friends. They seem to have arrived to resolve an issue with Nakamura, but now they are more interested in this “duel” between him and Tomozaki.

Nakamura selects Foxy, and Tomozaki chooses his main, Found. Just like last time, Tomozaki completely owns the floor with him. After three wins, Tomozaki declares his victory, but Nakamura isn’t done yet.

Meanwhile, Aoi has had enough waiting in the sewing room for Tomozaki to show up, so she leaves, but she ends up finding him in the Old AV Room playing Tackfam against Nakamura. Yuzu runs up to her and explains the situation.

For every defeat Tomozaki dishes out to Nakamura, the egotist demands another round. Eventually, Nakamura manages to make Tomozaki lose one life, but he still loses the match. Tomozaki thinks Nakamura should be satisfied, but he still requests another round.

“You really think I’d be satisfied with one lousy stock?” says Nakamura, “Who do you think I am?”

Erika sees an opportunity to get revenge.

“Listen, Shuji, why don’t you give it a rest already,” she begins, “It’s getting weird as hell. Why are you so into some game, anyway?”

“Why are you even hanging around, Erika?”

“Oh, what’s this? Did you go and get yourself a big head after I said I liked you? I only did it because I thought I’d be lucky to date the most popular guy in class. I would never have done it if I’d known you were such a freak. I mean, you can play over an over and still not win! You must seriously suck if we can tell just by watching. All this time, you’ve been coming here after school to practice, and all of that effort was for absolutely nothing. You should be mortified, taking a stupid game this seriously.

“What did you just say?” asks Tomozaki, because if there’s one thing you don’t do, it’s insult Tackfam in front of him.

“Got a problem with it, Tomozaki?” taunts Erika, clearly not happy that he’s talking back to her.

“You just called this game ‘stupid’. Don’t give me that! Tackfam combines a simple yet deep style game with an accessibility that means anyone can enjoy it. Don’t go proclaiming a game godly or garbage when you haven’t played it! I beat Nakamura last time, so he’s been working his ass off! That combo he used that made Foxy shoot me down? Do you know how much practice it takes to pull that off? Nakamura has a goal. Every single day, like it or not, he faced that goal, worked toward it–and now he’s getting results! I hate people who make fun of Tackfam, but even more than that, I hate people like you, who mock someone else’s efforts without ever making an effort of your own!”

(Sheesh, Tomozaki defends Tackfam like it’s his girlfriend. I would also like to note that he was screaming all of those words at the top of his lungs.)

The room goes quiet. Erika is the first to break the silence.

“What are you even talking about?” she asks.

Yuzu steps in and defends Tomozaki by explaining all of the intricate details about the game, the same details Tomozaki told her about when they were in her room. Eventually, Erika says she’s bored and walks away. Yuzu falls to the ground and says that was scary. Nakamura leaves, but assures Tomozaki he will win next time.

Tomozaki turns to Aoi and says, “Now that you mention it, you didn’t lift a finger this time around.”

Tomozaki and Aoi return to the diner where Aoi asks about his progress with Fuka. The bottom-tier protagonist assures Aoi he is still motivated, but he pulls out two tickets from his jacket and asks Aoi if she wants to go see a movie the next day. Aoi says she has plans, but is free right after this, so she asks if he wants to see a different movie.

“An intense feeling of elation hit me,” thinks Tomozaki, “But this wasn’t the joy of approaching a rich offline life, or the glee of being able to go out with a girl. This was something like, I don’t know–a primal joy, born from the feeling of achieving my desired results through my own hard work.”

(Breaking News: Introvert discovers the joy of friendship.)

Thoughts: A Self-Help Book Put to an Anime

Back in October 2021, there was an anime released called Tesla Note that is notorious for having some of the worst animation. While the story is intriguing, I have to agree that the bizzare mix of 3D and 2D animation makes for a very cringey visual experience. That said, there is one particular moment I remember when a main character is talking about self-help books and calls them “dull”. I haven’t read many self-help books myself, perhaps because I prefer analyzing fictional stories and finding characters to emulate. The only one I’ve really read, at least somewhat, is 12 Rules for Life by Jordan B. Peterson.

The reason why I’m bringing up self-help books in this review is because this show seems to be a self-help book put to an anime. It teaches things like setting goals and having effective conversations. Setting goals was something Tomozaki mastered when he was trying to get better at Tackfam, but never realized he could apply that practice in real life. That was until his friend Aoi showed him how. In this episode, Tomozaki seems to have come full circle because he is adapting Aoi’s habits and showing his peers how they can get better at video games by setting goals.

As the anime progresses, we will see more of these “self-help” principles and how they can be put into practice. Will they actually help Tomozaki level up from being a bottom-tier character? Find out in the next review of Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki.