I’ve talked about this anime and light novels before when I talk about my favorite anime. Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki is a fun anime, spoilers it’s on my Top 15, I really like it. I’m talking about it again because I want to talk about the light novels as I’ve finished reading the first 3. The first three basically run it through the first season of the anime, which has been confirmed to continue.

The Plot of Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki

Tomozaki is a high schooler who thinks that life sucks. It’s a lousy game where there’s nothing fun and eventually you die. But Atafami, a Smash Bros like video game, is amazing, in fact he’s the best person in Japan at the game. When the second best player in Japan wants to meet up with him, he agrees. Turns out that it is the most popular person in his class, and she’s not pleased that someone who would be so serious about the game would treat life like a trash game.

She convinces him, not that life isn’t a trash game, but that it’s maybe worth checking out to see if it is. And she also agrees to teach him how to get better at the game of life, level up and gain XP as it were. It’s not easy, but is it going to be worth it for Tomozaki, a bottom-tier character, to try and become a normie?

Anime vs Light Novel

I want to talk about this as an anime and as a light novel. Like I said, I just finished reading the light novel. I think one thing that the book doesn’t do that the show does, is a bit of the fan service. Now, there is fan service in the books with how some things are written. But obviously in a visual medium, they can show more of it whenever they want. Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki is not that heavy on fan service, really, but it is there. And in a book it’s easier to gloss over as well as compared to the anime.

The differences though, are minimal at best. Basically everything that happens in the light novels happens in the anime as well. And a lot of things are done word for word. Definitely means that you don’t need to both watch and read it, kind of. I do think, at least for myself, I process things differently when I’m reading versus when I’m watching something. Mainly, you can spend more time on a section while reading, which is one advantage. There are some scenes with Tomozaki and another character, Fuka Kichiku, that go fast in the show and slower in the books, for the better.

What Doesn’t Work?

This section is actually going to be blank. If I were to knock it for anything, it’s that it doesn’t need the fan service in it really. Some of it makes sense as there is a romance element to this story. But there are other times where it’s just weird, but most of the time it’s very simple to overlook.

What Works?

Firstly the characters are amazing in this. I’ve not talked about that many of them, but Tomozaki, Kichiku, Mimimi, Aoi, and the rest of the cast are well done. There are depth to the characters that you don’t see always in anime. But here, it doesn’t shy away from that. And I think the characters for the most part are really well done. You care about them and you see their motivations for what they do, and the motivations make sense. Yes, there are stereotypes but it all progresses the story and as you get to know them you realize that they do have depth.

I also think that the concept is really good. This idea that life is a game isn’t all that unique. But pulling it off where someone is helping a person try and level up is interesting. And just the ways that Aoi goes about getting Tomozaki to level up work. Like, not in a healthy way, but in a way that makes sense. If Aoi sees life as a great game, how does she take how she plays games and impose that on how life and the world works? And telling that story and how that different from how Tomozaki plays Atafami, it’s just well done.

Who Is This For?

I don’t think a lot of anime really transcend anime and go the public. And I don’t think that Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki is one of those, but it is close. I think it’s one that if you can get someone to sit down and watch it. Especially if they like high school shows that are live action, or the young romance type things, that is what Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki is in a lot of ways.

But if you are an anime and light novel fan, I highly recommend this one. I think that most fans will enjoy it.

Final Thoughts on Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki

I really like this anime and reading the light novel makes me want to watch it again. It’s an anime that I started then stopped to start and rewatch with my wife because I knew that she’d like it as well. It just tells such a compelling story and that’s not something that happens all the time with anime and light novels. A lot of them tell stories that we’ve already seen or lean into tropes. Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki doesn’t avoid that pitfall always, but it’s easy to overlook them.

And I am really excited for when season 2 comes out. There is a whole lot more story, I believe there are 10 light novels. I’ve read three. And while season 1 wraps up the story to a point where it wouldn’t need to continue, I want to continue. Which I think is the way to run a show like this. Wrap it up at a point where it can be done but leave me still wanting more.

Needless to say, I highly recommend this anime and light novel. I do think you can do both and get a different story experience which is great. And when I call it a romance, it’s not a sappy romance, but there is a good amount of romance in it. It also leans into video game culture, high school cliques and life, and more.

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