News Reporting

Kodansha USA Licenses “Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku” Manga


They’re otaku. You know, they love, they laugh, they learn, and all that other stuff.

On Friday, Anime News Network reported that Kodansha Comics licensed Fujita’s Otaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii manga. They will release the series under the title Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku under their imprint. The first three volumes are scheduled as follows:

  • Volume 1: 4/17/2018
  • Volume 2: 6/12/2018
  • Volume 3: 10/2/2018

Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku originally launched on image hosting platform Pixiv in 2014. The series was picked up by Ichijinsha, and made its début in online publication Comic POOL in November 2015. The title currently spans four collected volumes, with the fourth volume slated to hit stores on February 2.

Kodansha Comics describes the series as:

The awkward, romantic comedy manga about geeks in love that inspired the new anime! Can a professional man who’s secretly a hardcore gamer and a woman who’s secretly a fujoshi date without their hobbies getting in the way, or revealing each other’s secrets?

Narumi and Hirotaka are, by all appearances, a power couple. They’re young, good-looking professionals. But they have secrets from everyone but each other: They’re serious geeks! Narumi is a fujoshi, and Hirotaka’s a hardcore gamer. Their sweet, awkward love story started life as a webcomic before becoming a full-blown manga series by popular demand, and is about to become a major anime series!

An anime adaptation of Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku is currently in the works for an April premiere. Yoshimasa Hiraike (Gugure! Kokkuri-san, Wagnaria!!) was tapped to pull double duty as director and series composition lead Otaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii at A-1 Pictures. Takahiro Yasuda (Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi: Yokozawa Takafumi no Baai) will provide character designs for the project, while Akimitsu Honma scores the soundtrack.

Source: Anime News Network

About the author

Samantha Ferreira

Samantha Ferreira is Anime Herald’s founder and editor-in-chief. A Rhode Island native, Samantha has been an anime fan since 1992, and an active member of the anime press since 2002, when she began working as a reviewer for Anime Dream. She launched Anime Herald in 2010, and continues to oversee its operations to this day. Outside of journalism, Samantha actively studies the history of the North American anime fandom and industry, with a particular focus on the 2000s anime boom and bust. She’s a huge fan of all things Sakura Wars, and maintains series fansite Combat Revue Review when she has free time available. When not in the Anime Herald Discord, Samantha can typically be found on Bluesky.

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