Anime Review: Let’s Play: Quest Darake no My Life

Romances centered around gaming will always have a special place in my heart, so when I saw the premise for Let’s Play: Quest Darake no My Life, I knew that I had to jump into it. I’ve been very critical about gaming romance series before because they only have a hint of gaming and refuse to truly absorb itself in the culture. Does Let’s Play break that mold and deliver something memorable?

Let’s Jam!

The Story

A girl named Samara (or Sam for short) seems to have had a rough life, health-wise. She has numerous medicines and an inhaler by her side; however, you wouldn’t know that at first because we open with a fantasy battle scene inside of an MMORPG. After the party fells a dragon, their group (named Rare Spawn) moves up into the third overall rank.

When Sam isn’t gaming, she’s taking care of her dog Bowser, sometimes handing him off at a small café where it appears her guildmates work and congregate, and then it’s off to be a paper pusher at her father’s company, to which she is the heir and the next CEO. Talk about your cushy job! Despite her high status, it appears she is treated equally by her direct supervisor, Mr. Jones, who comes off as a strict, by-the-rules type of manager.

In the meantime, we also learn that Sam is an independent game developer who has published her first game on an indie site called Indigineer. Her game is called Ruminate. It achieves an 8.4 / 10 rating from a lot of users, but suddenly, she can’t log in to check and see if her score went up any further. That’s when she is alerted that a ViewTuber named Marshall Law played and absolutely trashed her game on one of his streams.

Feeling completely defeated and as if her game development journey came to an abrupt end, her attention is grabbed by her dog wanting to go for a walk. When she steps outside, she notices that someone is moving in. She soon realizes her new neighbor is Marshall Law himself! From here, an awkward friendship between them begins where her anxiety doesn’t allow her to tell him that her game (and possibly budding career) is ruined because of his comments… until one day, when she does work up the courage. This slowly eats away at Marshall, but will it be enough to spark a change in him and bring them together?

The Characters

Samara Young

Let’s start with one of the most complex characters in anime I have come across in quite some time. First, she doesn’t have any current medical issues that are dire to the point where they interfere with her life, but she was born weak and almost died several times. This causes her to see the world in a different light, and she tries to convey that message through her game Ruminate… an adventure game where violence doesn’t solve anything. The player needs to find creative and passive ways to overcome challenges and complete quests. In addition to this, because of her earlier conditions, she was never outgoing, outspoken, and kind of a recluse. This degenerated into a form of social anxiety to the point where she is afraid of confrontation… whether it’s pointing the finger of blame at Marshall or simply talking to clients at a meeting.

For the latter, she’s also the daughter of a CEO of a technology company, and the heir to the throne, so to speak. She is managed by Charles Jones, who often fuels her anxiety with his direct way of speaking, even though he doesn’t mean any harm. In a way. So, she has the pressure of living up to her father’s expectations weighing on her shoulders.

Then, on top of all of that, she’s a member of the guild known as Rare Spawns, who are climbing the ranks in World of Warquest. At the start of the show, they are the #3-ranked guild in the game and are aiming to take the top spot. They certainly have the skill to do it, and it doesn’t hurt that every member of the guild is a childhood friend who all hang out at a café that is cleverly named The Daily Grind. It is also here that we meet the majority of our characters. When you throw all of that into a pot and mix it all together, you get Sam… an anxious girl who is working for her father, but actually wants to be a game developer, and has so many personal obstacles to overcome before she can truly make it.

There is a TON of depth to this character that you can’t help but feel attached to her. And if you can believe it, in the middle of all this depth, she’s also trying to figure out how love works, if she can be loved, and what that will mean to her overall. Easily my favorite character in the show because she is so relatable!

Marshall Law

Marshall Law is a Viewtuber who plays games for a living, although, like Sam, he doesn’t exactly have the cleanest past. He comes from a complicated family with a crazy father who made his life a living hell. His dream was to become an artist, but because of his crazy father, he was forced to abandon that dream. He enjoyed fencing as a sport, but when life crushed him, he ran away from that and became a recluse Viewtuber.

Despite all of that, he did find love with a girl named Monica who is into fashion and make-up. She runs a successful channel and advocates for a makeup and beauty company. Their relationship is a little on the complicated side because Marshall absorbed himself into his Viewtuber life to the point where Monica became the third most important thing to him. On top of that, he doesn’t want to make their relationship public for a myriad of reasons.

While Sam suffers from anxiety, Marshall’s weight is that of depression. There are so many regrets he has with his life that he doesn’t know if he can ever overcome them. This is evident in the last few episodes of the show, where a major life-changing event forces him to decide what is most important in his life. Sometimes, a wake-up call is exactly what’s needed, and boy, did he ever get one in the most serious way possible. Marshall is another complex character with a lot of layers, but despite that, I felt he was a bit more straightforward than Sam. While he was painted to be a despicable and hated character at first, you don’t actually come to hate him. Instead, you understand where he’s coming from, and he does have a genuine side to him. The fact that you can often see the human side behind the streaming personality is a nice touch!

Link Hudson

One of the minor supporting characters, he’s a childhood friend of Sam’s and a member of the Rare Spawns guild. He works part-time at The Daily Grind and full-time as an EMT. He’s proud of his muscles, and he is one of the most down-to-Earth, genuine, caring, and sensitive people you will ever meet. He has a crush on Sam, but he isn’t quite sure if the love he feels for her is romantic or platonic. All the while, he tries to be there to support his friends in any way he can. I don’t think I’ve found a character as warm or as caring as Link in an anime to date… and I’ve seen well over 600 series in my life. That’s quite a statement for me to make.

Angela O’Niell

Another minor character who frequents The Daily Grind and is a member of the Rare Spawns. I’m pointing her out because while her role in the show is very minor, she is also one of the most profound characters of the supporting cast. Angela has a huge distaste for men for a very dark and somber reason. She is always defensive, angry, and aggressive towards men… especially if a man threatens any of her friends. You can’t blame her after the things that she went through, but to cover her after Link was by design, because to accentuate just how genuine Link is, if there is one man on the planet that Angela CAN trust, it’s him, and she even said that to his face. There are, unfortunately, a lot of women out there who can relate to Angela and the things that she went through. I think she represents hope to those women as a character… to show people that while it is never easy, that it can, one day, be okay to trust again.

Monica McKenzie

She’s Marshall’s girlfriend, and as I mentioned, she’s into beauty and fashion. She likes to live a lavish lifestyle, and she’s the type who won’t take no for an answer. She drives fast and expensive cars, and has that Hollywood look to her; however, beneath all of that beats the heart of a genuinely nice person. Sure, she can be a bit pushy when it comes to Marshall, but she only wants the best for him because she actually loves him. When she meets Sam, she befriends her almost immediately and even gets her into a few situations that break her out of her shell, albeit briefly. While the way she talks and acts makes her seem rather stuck-up, she’s anything but. It’s just the fast-paced life that she lives that she has adapted herself to. When you peel back all of those glitzy layers, there is a relatable and caring person there. If anything, I would say Monica is the type of person you’d get along with, but you’d have to do a bit of work to understand them first.

Charles Jones

The last of the characters I will touch upon is Charles, who is Sam’s boss at work. As I mentioned before in Sam’s rundown, he can be a bit sharp-tongued and direct with his words, but that’s because within the world he lives in, he is expected to maintain a high-level professional demeanor. When you’re meeting face-to-face with CEOs of multi-billion-dollar companies, and trying to convince them to invest in your technology solutions, that territory comes with a certain expectation of decorum. Despite how he appears on the surface, Charles deeply cares about Sam’s growth in the company and eventually softens to her when she stands up for herself. He realizes that his methods are the wrong path, and his character archetype switches to that of a mentor for Sam. He truly wants to see her grow, but he also knows that she needs confidence before she can do so. He does his best to instill that in her, even if it forces her out of her comfort zone. Charles ends up being a hell of a supporting character for Sam. From strict boss to male cheerleader (in a professional sense) What a transformation!

Art, Animation, and Sound

OLM did a pretty good job with the artwork. I would have to say that the character designs are well-done and rather unique, but what truly gives the show its charm is its art style. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but the scratchy, gritty line work takes some getting used to, but once you get past that, it gives the show the identity that makes it stand out.

The animation, on the other hand, could have used some work. While some of the animations looked great, you could tell that there were some moments where they said “screw it” and slid a PNG across the background. While it’s nowhere even remotely close to the atrocity that was One-Punch Man Season 3 or The Beginning After the End, those moments are scattered and not very abundant, so it’s forgivable… albeit… quite noticeable when it does happen. I would say that 90% of the time, the animation is pretty decent.

One of the minor complaints I have is that sometimes the characters look out of proportion from scene to scene. Not sure if this is mainly an artwork issue or an animation issue, but there could have been a little more attention to detail put there. I think out of all of the characters, it was mostly noticeable with Marshall. I know that he’s kind of jacked as a character, but there were some scenes where he looked a little more jacked than others. Consistency is key to helping people not break their suspension of disbelief.

As for the soundtrack… There was a nice mix here between your typical slice-of-life atmosphere and the sounds of a fantasy world whenever they jumped inside of World of Warquest or Ruminate. The variety was quite nice, and the sound effects used helped drive home the fantasy aspects of the show. The opening theme is rather catchy, and the ending theme makes you want to close your eyes and get lost on a nighttime urban adventure. All around, great ambiance from the OST, but sadly, nothing so impactful that it would make me want to go out and buy it.

Overall Thoughts

Just wow… I expected something mediocre from this show, and my expectations were demolished in a good way. While I didn’t quite get the full embrace of gaming culture that I would have liked, the show went in a direction that made me forget that I ever wanted that, to begin with.

The insane depth of the main characters, and even a couple of the side characters, took the driver’s seat for this show, but unlike most shows that had to rely on character development to make up for a lackluster story, Let’s Play didn’t have that problem whatsoever. Sam’s quest to become an independent game developer while navigating her way through life was told exceptionally well. I have never come across a show that can flip a switch and make you laugh with some of the corniest, yet cringiest humor you’ll see in one scene, then flip the switch and almost make you want to cry from the deep levels of drama you get in the next scene. In some cases, there was no easing into it. You’re laughing one second and having a good time, then the show sucker punches you in the gut and drives all the air out of your lungs.

What works even more is that the show’s pacing kept you invested. A lot of times, shows like these will hit the ground running for the first couple of episodes, then drop off immediately after, making you feel like the entire middle of the show is one big slog, then it finally picks up in the end. Let’s Play doesn’t do that at all. Every episode feels like it has an intention behind it, and it continues to build and build upon the main premise. While some parts were rather slow and made me look to my second monitor for something to do, those moments were very few. For the most part, I was engaged… especially in the final five episodes where things reached their climax.

Overall, Let’s Play offers up something different, and without spoiling the after-credits scene in the final episode, I will say that if there is anyone out there who reads my manga reviews, you know how I feel about the third wheel in romance stories. Let’s just say… Let’s Play blew my mind. Nothing was confirmed… yet something was implied, and if the implication was true… then I think we just had one of the rarest moments in romance storytelling history.

That, in and of itself, is worthy of a 5-star rating; however, Let’s Play was not perfect enough to get 5 stars, but it was one hell of a great ride and came close.

Overall Score: 4/5