Overrated

Good start, but then it gets ruined

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Tomoya Aki is an otaku, one obsessed with anime, manga, visual novels and such like, and he plans to create a dating sim of his own. He is inspired to do this by a chance meeting with a beautiful girl as he walked down the street. He has no idea who she is but that doesn't stop starting to create his game. He knows he can't make it on his own so sets about recruiting those with the talents he needs; Eriri, to do the illustrations and Utaha, who will right the game scenarios. At around this time he bumps into the mystery girl again; she is Megumi Kato, a girl who actually goes to his school but who is ignored by just about everybody else. Over the course of the series they will struggle to come up with a good story line, rush to meet deadlines and set about recruiting somebody to provide the game's music.This is a fun little series with fairly likable characters… it is also a harem show with all that entails; so expect misunderstandings between Tomoya and the girls and a few suggestive moments. The story is decent but definitely played for laughs… this does not do for dating sim creators what Shirobako does for anime creators and the fact that both series aired at the same time will lead to some inevitable comparisons. There is some fan service, especially in 'episode zero' which is almost a spoof of the series that follows, it isn't excessive though. The characters are distinctive from each other but are otherwise fairly standard in appearance and the animation is pretty good although some scenes which should be full of movement are reduced to a series of stills; a common way to save money but a little disappointing when it happens in what should be a memorable scene in the final episode. Overall I'd say this was a fun series that passes the time nicely without being too demanding.These comments are based on watching the series in Japanese with English subtitles.