Akiba'S Trip The Animation

Episode 5

A day at the arcade goes wrong in a hurry when Tamotsu's sister Niwaka is kidnapped by a giant crane game claw. A ransom note arrives with an unusual demand: in order to secure Niwaka's release, Tamotsu must win a Street Fighter tournament. He embarks on a grueling training montage with some questionable help from the Professor, but even that may not be enough to defeat a bracket full of pro gamers. The biggest challenge is the tournaments' final round, where Tamotsu faces off against a fighting game legend who may or may not be relying on the powers of the Bugged Ones.

Compared to some of Tamotsu's other temporary obsessions, fighting games aren't as much of a niche hobby. This doesn't sound like much of a problem on paper, but it ends up taking away some of Akiba's Trip's dorky charm. We never get one of the show's trademark “this is why this hobby is awesome” monologues, nor are there any detailed insights into the players' strategies or fighting styles. The closest we get is the revelation that Matsuko always throws the first round of a match in order to study her opponent's tactics, and even this feels more like a wacky character trait than a unique piece of trivia about fighting game strategy. For a series that specializes in taking deep dives into otaku culture, this episode spends far too much time skimming the surface.

I'll admit that using actual Street Fighter games instead of inventing a fictional lookalike is kind of neat, but this approach creates some problems of its own. Instead of a climactic fistfight in the show's exuberant visual style, the showdown between Tamotsu and Matsuko plays out through the in-game graphics. It feels underwhelming somehow, as if an important scene was dropped out and replaced with a gameplay video from YouTube. There's still some signature Akiba's Trip craziness to be found in the goofy strip battle that the characters get into on stage, but the scene still feels low on energy.

This isn't to say that this episode is completely devoid of entertainment value; there's some decent humor to be found here and there. The previously mentioned strip fight is presented with some delightfully absurd historical connections, making it ridiculous enough to be funny. The training montage is also entertaining, especially once the Professor gives up on trying to think of game-related reasons for inflicting superfluous amounts of pain on Tamotsu. Even the costumed commentator at the tournament is kind of fun to watch as he constantly spews meaningless platitudes and proverbs.

Ultimately, the problem here is that Akiba's Trip gets a little too carried away by the novelty of being able to include a real video game. By trying too hard to put the Street Fighter games front and center, it ends up sacrificing the qualities that made previous episodes fun to watch. At best, it's competent but forgettable. At worst, it feels like an overlong commercial. It's a shame too, since this premise did have some potential. If we'd spent less time on the fake training montage and more on learning about how a professional gamer might actually prepare for a tournament, it would've been more in line with the show's habit of delivering interesting bits of otaku trivia. Heck, I would've settled for more of Tamotsu geeking out over retro arcade cabinets. Instead, we got a safe, generic, and rather dull take on the “protagonist plays video games” premise. Hopefully things will pick back up next week.

Rating: C+

Akiba'S Trip The Animation is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.