Review: My Love Story With Yamada-kun at Lv999 (2023)

Japan has been well-known for its amazing animation and cute storyline like shoujo anime. Popular anime like; Horimiya, A Sign of Affection, Blue Spring Ride and Kimi Ni Todoke have always been trending throughout the year. Anime lovers often have a hard time finding a shoujo, romance anime to binge watch and a popular manga just happened to be adapted into an anime series in the middle of 2023 called “My Love Story With Yamada-kun at Lv999”.

My Love Story With Yamada-kun at Lv999 tells the story of Akane Kinoshita, our female protagonist being dumped by her boyfriend. She casually attends an event from the game that she played with her ex-boyfriend before and bumped into Akito Yamada , our super cold and mysterious male protagonist by accident. Akane also met her ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend holding hands and this made Akane impulsively state that Yamada is her current boyfriend. Moreover, Yamada is actually a famous pro gamer in the game itself. Their relationship goes from strangers to mutual friends and eventually to lovers through Akane’s journey in life.

Akane has a bubbly personality and mostly prioritizes other people she dears rather than herself. She is approachable and doesn’t have a hard time expressing her feelings which attracted Yamada in the first place. Akane is also supportive towards her friends and very helpful for people who have low self-esteem. While Akane has a childish demeanor at first, she is firm with her own words and doesn’t let people around her influence her in a bad way. Akane is a very fun person to communicate with, whether it be a trivial matter or business matter, she seems to be very engaging in most topics for now.

Meanwhile, Yamada has an aloof personality that makes him harder to understand people’s feelings and their intentions to him. This makes him uninterested in people with opposite genders and his love for gaming grows as his hobby deepens in the “Forest of Savior” game. After meeting Akane and becoming closer with her as time went by, he became more expressive towards Akane and even socialized more once graduating from high school. Character-wise, they have a well-developed personality and their character complements each other excellently.

The animation style is very cute and light. It didn’t disappoint anime fans and the art looks similar to the manga which amazes us as well. The music in the anime also is a certified banger and very pleasant to the ears. Not only that, the humor and shoujo genre are mixed in the anime which gives a good vibe around the characters. Though the anime doesn’t really focus on the game system itself, it portrays real life situations like when Eita, Yamada’s best friend and also a gamer, is a Nekama, a person who uses opposite gender roles to play in a game. This matter also applies in real life and not only in anime. It’s a very heartwarming and well-paced anime for a young adult theme.

The introduction arc of this anime is already mesmerizing as the plot thickens when Akane meets Yamada in the game event. It starts at a slow pace but with a deep character introduction toward their inner struggle, it makes it seem entertaining to follow the storylines all up ahead. It shows how relationships can’t be forged as fast as we want and people that we appreciate sometimes won’t reciprocate the feelings back.

The most intimate part from this anime is when Yamada’s confession highlighted the whole anime series. We expected Yamada to fall in love with Akane, but we thought that it wouldn’t be this heart-dropping. It shows how Akane changes Yamada into a better person and appreciates every moment they experienced in their journey together.

Overall, My Love Story With Yamada-kun at Lv999 succeeds in capturing our hearts and the urge to rush the studio in animating Season 2 is surreal. The guild members in the game also support one another and have a tight bond within each other too. Furthermore, Yamada and Akane also have a two years age gap–Akane is a college student and Yamada is a high schooler–that are rare in shoujo anime.

What sets apart this anime is its ability to create a lovely and comforting story that keeps viewers feeling cherished and optimistic. It is an intriguing read that strikes a mix between character development and beautiful romance moments, making it a must-watch for anybody looking for a charming and engaging anime experience.

Score – 9/10

Title: My Love Story With Yamada-kun at Lv999
Studio: Madhouse
Director: Morio Asaka
Voice Actors: Uchiyama Kouki, Minase Inori, Hanae Natsuki, Kakuma Ai