Okaa-san Online Episode 4

Okaa-san Online Episode 4

Kids Are Kids and Parents Are Parents (but Also Human Beings), and It Takes All Kinds, but They Get Through It Together, Right?

Is it just me, or are the episode titles actually getting longer? By the end of this series I think the episode title itself will be the entire review. And I refuse to believe that the author, or whoever else titles the anime episodes, isn’t doing this on purpose to make fun of the fact that light novels are infamous for long titles which serve as summaries.

Oh, by the way, I looked it up and this actually is the longest episode title we’ve had so far.

So in this episode we get the battle between our party of heroes and Wise’s mom, also known as the Empress of Night. However, the fight itself isn’t really anything special. While there are some pretty well-animated effects used later on, it’s still a J.C.Staff anime so don’t expect any crazy movement.

I’m not saying that great animation would necessarily make this series any better, I think I would still have it rated as 6/10 right now, but it wouldn’t hurt. And this brings us to my main takeaway from this series so far which is that the characters are great, but nothing else is.

Just imagine if we had this same cast of characters, but put into situations that actually exemplify their traits. I touched on this last week so I’m not going to go into it again in depth, but I think that point is still as relevant this week as it was last.

Genya and Kazuno

Unfortunately, this week it was revealed that Wise’s name is actually Genya. I say unfortunately because that’s a pretty gross name if I do say so myself. Sure, Wise isn’t exactly a great name either, but at least it’s not Genya. I’m sorry if your name is Genya.

We also find out that her mother’s name is Kazuno, though that’s not as important. What’s important about Kazuno is that she’s apparently a cheater who has been exploiting bugs in the game ever since she first entered it. Is this game live without an anti-cheat system or is this still the beta?

It turns out that, while Wise isn’t exactly the most charming young woman (unless you’re into being stepped on), she’s actually not the problem when it comes to her relationship with her mom. She explained this in the previous episode, but now it’s been confirmed that her mother is actually the one who causes all of their problems.

Kazuno claims not to care about her daughter and even goes so far as to say that she actively gets in the way of her having fun. Needless to say, Mamako doesn’t appreciate this sentiment and takes it upon herself to strike down Kazuno. But this is easier said than done.

Isekai Cheat Okaa-san

Remember how I said that Kazuno was exploiting bugs in the game? Well it turns out that she actually somehow acquired administrator permissions which grant her access to unreleased items, abilities, areas, and the game’s code itself. If there’s something she wants, she can make it happen.

This seems to explain how she has a group of shirtless men carrying her around and physically being her throne. These are NPCs whose coding she has overwritten to do her bidding. Who could have guessed that Wise’s mom was a CS major?

Kazuno, the Empress of Night, on her thrown of men from the anime series Do You Love Your Mom and Her Two-Hit Multi-Target Attacks?
Kazuno, the Empress of Night, on her thrown of men

But she doesn’t only user her administrator privileges to force NPCs to be her personal hunks. Like I said, she also has access to special items, abilities, and locations. In particular, we see her create a sort of pocket dimension in which she is the absolute ruler. This was reminiscent of Kaguya using alternate dimensions towards the end of Naruto Shippūden.

However, even this is no match for the power of Mamako. That said, Mamako was outside the pocket dimension and shattered it from that side. Who knows if she would have been able to do the same from within it where Kazuno reigns supreme.

Onward to more Adventures

After the battle against Kazuno concludes, Kazuno and Wise get into a verbal altercation in which they both throw personal insults at each other. It turns out that this is all that’s necessary to “beat” Okaa-san Online.

Although they haven’t exactly made up, I guess by showing that they know each other well enough to know which insults will sting the most counts as some form of bonding. And with that, Kazuno is able to log out of Okaa-san Online, never to be seen again (probably).

Porta and Wise cheering from the anime series Do You Love Your Mom and Her Two-Hit Multi-Target Attacks?
Porta and Wise cheering

Luckily for us, although she has now technically completed the game, Wise chooses to stay within Okaa-san Online as a permanent member of Mamako and Masato’s party. And in classic young, male protagonist fashion, Masato doesn’t seem to realize that she’s doing so because she has a crush on him.

While I’m glad that Wise isn’t going anywhere because she’s my favorite character of the series, this also opens up the question of what happened to Porta’s mom. I assume we’re going to get a Porta arc at some point, but based on how she acts I can’t understand why she would have had a falling out with her mother.

With Wise it was easy to see how she could be a rebellious teenager (though that turned out not to really be the case), but the same isn’t true for Porta. However, I think we’ll have to wait a bit longer to get Porta’s arc.

In the next episode we’ll be introduced to another new party member, the blue-haired girl seen in the OP/ED, and it looks like her mother is introduced as well. Will they be getting an arc before Porta does? If so, there must be some twist involving Porta which is being saved for later.

Conclusion

What did you think about the conclusion to Wise’s arc? Personally, I didn’t find Kazuno to be a very compelling antagonist, and like I’ve said before, I don’t really think this series needs antagonists. Also, what do you think happened between Porta and her mother to cause them to split? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button ❤ down below. And follow me on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. I tweet out every time a new post goes live, so it’s the best way to stay up to date.

I also have a Discord server where you can discuss past and present anime with myself and other members of the community. We even have community anime nights during which we watch anime together. This season we’re watching both Okaa-san Online and How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift?

Finally I’d like to thank HeavyROMAN for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog and the benefits you’ll receive for doing so, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of the next episode is available here.

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