It might be an unpopular opinion, but I normally despise this trend of VRMMO/isekai-adjacent anime. There are only so many times I can watch the same story about a “regular guy” who dies in his sleep and wakes up reborn as an overpowered character in an MMORPG or a dating sim or what-have-you. And I promise — I’m not being unfair here, they’re all the same story, and I’m tired of pretending they’re not.
But this season brings us a fresh helping of new takes on a tired trope. If you think the genre is lacking when it comes to accurate gamer representation, there’s Shangri-La Frontier. If you like thinking about death and feeling sad, there’s Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End. And if you like lo-fi let’s plays to study/relax to, there’s A Playthrough of a Certain Dude’s VRMMO Life.
I know what you might be thinking — it has a startlingly long title, and if you’re anything like me, you might think it seems like yet another basic VRMMO series filled with wish fulfillment. And with only one episode out as of writing, I can’t really counter those claims. But, what I can do is tell you the series feels like a chill let’s play of a low-tier VRMMORPG while also lightly educating viewers on economic concepts.
Gaming becomes an unlikely escape in A Playthrough of a Certain Dude’s VRMMO Life
A Playthrough of a Certain Dude’s VRMMO Life follows Tanaka Taichi, a middle-aged man who loves to play games but, due to his full-time job, is limited on when he plays. Sound familiar? To counteract this, he decides to start playing what might be the most noncommittal MMO out there, One More Free Life Online, and because he can’t play during peak periods, he picks the most unpopular skills and abilities so he’s not expected to party-up with anyone else.
It’s then the series uses Taichi’s internal monologue as a narrative device to both show and tell viewers what he’s doing as if he were a let’s player or streamer elaborating to his audience. I think that aspect might have been the thing that kept me engaged when I would’ve normally dropped it.
If future episodes are anything like the season opener, there won’t be any melodramatic arcs where Taichi has to defeat the demon king using a secret arcane power or anything like that. In fact, I imagine the rest of the season will deal with somewhat mundane aspects of playing One More Free Life Online.
For example, in the first episode, Taichi explains that because the NPC shopkeepers sell potions, no one in the game values potion crafting. So, he decides to pursue potion crafting just in time for an update to prevent players from purchasing potions from the NPC shops, causing system-wide panic. Taichi, who has at this point mastered the art of potion crafting, decides to become the new potion supplier, earning him accolades among the players, much to his chagrin.
I can’t attest to the series’ overall quality as I haven’t partaken of the source material, but if it’s anything like the first episode, this one might be worth the watch. New episodes of A Playthrough of a Certain Dude’s VRMMO Life are available every Monday at 12:00 p.m. CT on Crunchyroll.
