I love romance anime. I love gaming. I love multiple-choice romance. So Let’s Play really didn’t have to work very hard to get me on board.
It had me from the first episode, when Sam gets asked out on a date by a handsome friend and shuts it down in front of everyone because, sorry, she has a raid that night. Hilarious. Sold. Unfortunately, I spent the rest of the series wishing it threw out more one-liners like that. For an anime sitting right at the intersection of gaming and romance, there are some great comedic one-liners hiding, and I wanted it to lean into it harder.
Sam herself is incredibly endearing. She’s awkward, incredibly anxious, passionate about gaming and game development, and generally far more capable online than she is when dealing with actual humans. Yes, Let’s Play gets cringe in places, but I breezed straight past it. This is a story filled with modern-day, anxiety-riddled nerds who overthink everything and occasionally malfunction during basic human interaction. The awkwardness almost comes with the territory.
My biggest issue is that I wanted the romantic mess to get messy sooner. With multiple potential love interests circling Sam, I wish the opening episodes had treated each one as a proper introduction. Give me one man per episode. Let me understand the chemistry, convince myself I’ve found The One, and then introduce the next terrible option. By episode four, I want to have picked a team, changed teams twice and become emotionally invested in a mess entirely of my own making.
Basically, give me enough evidence to make a terrible decision.
Thankfully, Let’s Play does eventually start delivering exactly that. Once the different relationships are established and the men start competing, clashing and getting increasingly territorial over Sam, the romance becomes much more fun. Suddenly there are options. There are teams to pick. There are reasons to change your mind. This is the multiple-choice romance nonsense I came here for.
And underneath all of that silliness, Sam remains easy to root for. The gaming culture, online friendships, streaming world and game development give the series its own personality, while the romance gives me the increasingly complicated dumpster fire I am always delighted to watch burn.
I just wish Let’s Play had reached that point a little sooner and kept more of the sharp gamer humour it showed us right at the beginning. But romance, gaming and several men competing for one socially awkward gamer girl?
Apparently, that’s all it takes to keep me pressing next episode.
