The Japanese word otaku is a slippery one to define, but it is mostly used to define an obsessive fan of a pop culture phenomenon, such as anime or manga. In the wider culture, otaku long had a negative image as unkempt, anti-social and even sexually deviant. Say, a pudgy, wild-haired guy who rarely leaves his room except to buy sketchy anime, on which he is a leading expert.
But "Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku," Yuichi Fukuda's bubbly, hyper-comic musical about two otaku who fall for each other, shows how that image has changed. Far from being grubby social outcasts, its central couple — a male gamer and a female fan of BL ("boys love" or gay romance) comics — work regular jobs and present as normal. That is, they indulge in their hobbies in their private time and try to hide their "otaku-ness" from their co-workers.
But when the fangirl, Narumi Momose (Mitsuki Takahata), lands a job at the company where the gamer, Hirotaka Nifuji (Kento Yamazaki), works, her mask immediately slips. Narumi and Hirotaka, we learn, were childhood pals and know about each other's proclivities. But Narumi tells the handsome Hirotaka upfront that he's not her type since she doesn't date otaku. Looking as though he would be unimpressed by the apocalypse, Hirotaka coolly tells Narumi he can be her assistant at Comiket — Tokyo's semi-annual market for self-published manga, where she sells her BL comics.