Alternative title(s): Yamada-kun to Lv999 no Koi o Suru, Loving Yamada at Lv999
Manga Adaptation by Madhouse
Streaming on Crunchyroll

Premise

Akane tried playing an MMO with her boyfriend as a way to spend time together, but instead she gets dumped when he meets another girl in-game. She keeps playing to blow off some steam and reveals all of this to a guild mate, setting up a chance encounter that will change their lives.

Jel’s verdict: Worth a 30 Day Free Trial

You would be forgiven for reading this title and thinking it’s another trashy, fantasy video gamed themed isekai show, or at least I hope so because that’s sure what I thought when I saw it. Thankfully, it’s not! This first episode is the kind of pastel colored emotional roller coaster you might expect from a shojo rom com, with a few solid gamer jokes squeezed in when they can.

While I think this is generally a good thing, it also feels a bit formulaic and predictable. Yamada is the typical cool, stoic pretty guy you’d see in any other show like this, and I cringed a bit when Akane seemed to instantly fall in love when he shows her a small amount of basic human kindness. There are some interesting wrinkles though, most notably that the characters are adults. In fact, the cliffhanger at the end of the episode involves Akane getting drunk then waking up in Yamada’s bed, leaving us all to wonder: did they have s…s…sssex??? I’m sure they didn’t, but even that feels a little more saucy than the usual.

I’ll also give this episode credit for having some decent jokes and an abundance of silly anime faces, my one true weakness. While My Love Story with Yamada-kun at Lv999 might not feel groundbreaking, there’s always something to be said for good execution. I enjoyed it enough to give it another episode, depending on how many others shows I end up watching.