Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. In a market that’s oversaturated with isekai animes, production studios have had to get a little more selective with isekai novels they are willing to adapt. Some of these studios choose to be lazy and just adapt an isekai novel behind the times for a quick payday, but then you get some who take risks and try to present a new setup to the formula like today’s anime, Trapped in a Dating Sim The World of Otome Games Is Tough for Mobs. A long title to be sure, but one that gets your interest and doesn’t hide anything from you. The series got started as a web novel written Yomu Mishima from 2017-2019 before officially being adapted into a light novel in 2018 as well as a manga. In 2022, the relatively new studio ENGI (Uzaki-chan wants to Hang Out) decided to take the novel and turn it into an anime. Since the AI girls reviewed an anime about dating sims I figured I follow up with the formula told from a male perspective and this was the anime that came to mind. Let’s see how a man handles the world of dating sims. This is, Trapped in a Dating Sim The World of Otome Games Is Tough for Mobs.
Opening and Ending Theme
The anime’s opening is “Silent Minority” by Kashitaro Ito. At first, I wasn’t a big fan of this song but then I read the lyrics and listened to it and came around to liking it. The song gives off that old school shonen feel to it. It’s heavy on the rock and has inspiring lyrics that remind us of a simpler time.
For the ending we have “Selfish” by Riko Azuna. A very upbeat and enjoyable ending. I like the trumpets and the ending makes you want to get up and dance. This ending almost came close to being on my top 11 anime endings of 2022 list. Just consider it an honorable mention.
Episodes 1-4
The anime starts off with our protagonist Leon voiced by Takeo Ōtsuka being forced to play an otome game by his sister. The game features beautiful characters where women can get as many hot guys as they want, dungeon battling, and Gundam battles (did this game go through three directors or something? I mean going from dating sim to dungeon crawler to Gundam inspired fights is quite the leap. Even by 80s standards). As you would imagine Leon hates the game (if IGN gave it a 7/10 it must be bad) but manages to get 100% (scene here: https://youtu.be/bwk8pVH35-g). After beating the game and feeling hungry, he tries to go to the convenience store only to fall down some stairs and dies (I guess Truck-kun was on vacation this week). He wakes up reincarnated as a child in the game he was just playing and is the son of a baron from the countryside where he quickly figures out he’s in the game he hates (welcome to Hell). Ten years soon pass where Leon does his best to live the life of a mob character but that all changes when his mother sets up an arranged marriage for him with a woman in her fifties and has been married seven times (reportedly, the men died from crushed pelvises on their honeymoon night). Leon refuses the marriage and wants to attend the academy but with no money to his name the only other thing he could do would be to join the army where he’ll most likely die in battle. So, Leon leaves and using his knowledge from the game he heads out to find the Luxion the best ship in the game to find treasures and get rich. He manages to find the ancient ruins where Luxion is located, fight off the robots and claim Luxion for himself (robot companion acquired). Three months pass where everyone thinks he’s dead but he returns with Luxion (and he’s got treasures for everyone. Suck it bitch). With all this treasure Leon is able to pay for his tuition and heads off to the academy where the game takes place and the curtain rises for the main story.
In episode 2 we find out that Leon has earned the title of baron for not only clearing an unexplored dungeon but for finding a new unexplored floating island. He now owns the island and is now using the robots to make it livable for inhabitants, but this title does present a new problem. Now that Leon is a baron and attending the academy he must now find someone with a high status to marry. He sees the main characters from the game but decides to ignore them and just remain as a mob character (Baron: Yeah, we don’t want to turn this into some yaoi visual novel). There is this one girl named Marie who seems to be filling in the protagonist role from the game and Leon swears he’s seen her before. Marie quickly gains the affection of Julius the crown prince which angers Angelica a noble girl who was the main antagonist from the game and is the fiancée of Julius. She’s voiced by Fairouz Ai. Angelica tries to talk down to Marie but Julius somewhat defends her but not in the same way as it happened in the game which worries Leon (we might be looking at a double reincarnation). Later on, Leon hosts a tea party in the hopes of attracting potential brides but it doesn’t go as well as he would have hoped (the girls were rude and ugly). After his party he meets Olivia voiced by Kana Ichinose (Yuzuriha from Dr. Stone), the main protagonist of the game getting bullied by the other girls because she’s a commoner (and yet she’s prettier than the lot of you). Feeling sorry for her, he invites her to his tea party and helps her try to fit in (he fell prey to her dazzling personality). Olivia manages to earn an audience with Angelica who isn’t that bad of a person, befriends Olivia, and even seems interested in Leon. During exploration class, Leon and Olivia get surrounded by monsters but get saved by Julius (coming out at the right moment). We see Marie has totally earned the affection of Julius and his merrymen and is slowly turning the academy against Angelica who can tell Marie is playing them (I believe it) once again setting off flags in Leon’s head that something is wrong here.
Episode 3 sees Marie continue to worm her way into Julius’s good graces and Angelica becomes more distant from him. Finally having enough, Angelica challenges Marie to a duel (scene here: https://youtu.be/Alqpy4a9yQk) with Julius stepping in as her proxy (wow, she’s got you played like a fiddle). The merrymen step up to fight for Marie’s love as well putting Angelica in a tight spot. No longer being unable to stand watching from the sidelines and hating the guts of Julius and the others, Leon steps up as Angelica’s proxy because he now knows that Marie just like him is another person who was reincarnated into this world (stairs-aniki claimed yet another victim). If Leon wins Julius has to break off his engagement to Marie and if he loses Angelica has to stay away from Julius and Marie. It’ll be a five on one mech battle in the academy’s colosseum where everyone is expecting Leon to lose.
The duel begins in episode 4 where Leon’s first opponent is Brad a man full of pride and is never short to boast about how great he is (kick his ass Leon). Brad’s weapon of choice is a spear while Leon’s weapon is a shovel (good choice. Cause he’s about to bury them). Leon defeats Brad with one attack (he barely scraped him) shocking everyone and even making Angelica laugh (that’s a win in my book). Next up is Greg the tough guy of the group (he is less brains more brawn). Greg gets easily defeated as well (though give him credit he lasted longer than Brad) and Leon belittles him in front of everyone as he makes him see just how weak he is. The third round is against Chris (damn it Chris what did I tell you about simping for lousy girls?) a young swordsman who has a hard time expressing himself. Just like the last two bouts Leon easily defeats Chris (that’s what you get for foolish simping). We get a short intermission after the third bout where Jilk, Leon’s next opponent who was the kindest of the boys, gets desperate and pressures Leon’s bitch of a sister Jenna, to plant a bomb on his mech (wow, he had a bitch little sister in his former life and now has a bitch older sister. Leon has bad luck in the sibling department). Normally, the bomb would be dangerous, but Leon’s mech is so powerful that the bomb won’t cause any major damage according to Luxion. The fourth fight begins where as you would expect Leon defeats Jilk easily meaning it’s time for Julius to get the ass beating his papa never gave him as a child (scene here: https://youtu.be/yVA-PtCeO_A). We also find out (or at least it’s largely hinted) that Marie is Leon’s bitchy little sister from his former life. It’s jumping ahead and a major spoiler but after Leon’s death it set off a chain of bad events in her life. After it was discovered that she was indirectly responsible for Leon’s death, her parents kicked her out of the house and she took up a job in the night-time district where she had several boyfriends all of which were terrible and often stuck her with debt. She would eventually get married and have a child only for her husband to abandon them and the child fell into the custody of her parents. Just when her life couldn’t get any worse, her new abusive boyfriend killed her and she was reincarnated into the game as Marie. Things didn’t get much better when she reincarnated. Despite being born into the house of a viscount her family was in debt, her parents abusive and her siblings uncaring. Realizing she was stuck in the game, Marie plotted to take Olivia’s place in the game, become the saint, get her harem, pay off her debts and live the good life (the only problem is she played the game halfway through and doesn’t know the full story. And since she doesn’t know the full story or that her actions will have dire consequences, what’s going to happen, Chris? *Cut to Chris painting figurines for a board game* (Chris): Everyone is going to get screwed~).
Episodes 5-8
Episode 5 starts with the fight between Julius and Leon. During the fight we see Julius defend his love for Marie saying she was the only one who saw him for who he truly was (no, she doesn’t. She just wants you for your money. She’s a gold digger, quite literally in this scenario). He never wanted to be born in royalty and believes that Angelica is just another girl who only wants him for his title and royal status. Leon counters this by talking about his own experiences such as almost being sold off, forced to lower his head to a bunch of girls who won’t give him the time of day, and having his tea party ruined despite going all out and trying his best (you don’t want to be born in royalty because it’s suffering, you don’t know the first thing about suffering. Leon has suffered). He also revels in the fact that someone as inferior as him is winning over such privileged boys who think they’re better than him. Olivia speaks for Angelica saying she really does love Julius, but Julius says that’s just coercion and wants nothing to do with her. Leon decides to play the villain to remind Julius of what he’ll lose if he continues to be fooled by Marie, but he doesn’t care (it’s too late Leon. He’s been completely fooled. I’m sorry, but your sister is a class A bitch). He’s prepared to lose his crown, title, fame and everything if it means he can stay with Marie (then you are a fool and this kingdom will fall under your leadership). Leon finally hears enough and completely owns Julius to win the fight and become the most hated man in the academy for his attitude and behavior (and because he caused like 98% to lose their bet. Scene here: https://youtu.be/qGcYbIUOrfc). After the duel (if you can call it that) Angelica and Julius talk privately with each other where Julius says once again he loves Marie (you fool) and shows Angelica that she never truly knew him. Julius knows he’s causing trouble for her and her household but he won’t reject his feelings. Angelica understands and takes her leave wishing him happiness (he doesn’t deserve it). While that was going on, Leon goes to meet with Angelica’s dad and asks him to look out for him when the backlash from this duel begins as he knows he’s going to be in major trouble (for what, smacking some sense into the prince who was acting like an idiot? After the stunt he pulled I’d be concerned for the future of this kingdom). Angelica’s dad agrees to look out for Leon and asks him to look after his daughter who is still distraught with the engagement being broken off (if you ask me it’s a time for celebration). Leon leaves the academy and heads to his island along with Olivia and Angelica to get away from everything. On his island Olivia and Angelica officially become friends and Leon tells Angelica that if she really wants to get revenge on Julius then the best way to do it is to become happier than him (he’s right. Why spend your time trying to make the person you hate miserable? It’s only going to make you more miserable. Instead, be happy, live a life that would make them envious of you so much so that you don’t even care about what they’re doing anymore. Scene here: https://youtu.be/MfX7MDo2OpU). Back with Marie we see karma finally catch up to her. Julius and the others have been disinherited by their families meaning they have no titles and no money and are jobless pampered boys who are going to get eaten up in the real world. Back with Leon, his hope was to get in trouble for this incident, lose his title, and be expelled from the academy. Instead, we see that he’s not in trouble, has gone up a ranking in his title, and will be allowed to still attend the academy (the same academy that hates him). It’s not all bad as Angelica and Olivia stay by his side and obviously have feelings for him, but he knows he can’t lay a hand on them (he’s a mob character, he shouldn’t even be interacting with them. He has to steer them back on the path of the story otherwise there could be trouble down the line).
In episode 6 the academy is having a festival and Leon hopes to make money with a café which features Olivia and Angelica as maids (https://youtu.be/Tdf_19_FmxM). Unfortunately for him Marie has also set up a café in the form of a host club with Julius and the others (well I see Julius is failing to live up to his end of the deal. Petty asshole). We also see how some of the other girls are picking on Olivia because of her friendship with Leon and Angelica. The next day sees the festival begin where they receive a special visit from Mylene the queen and mother of Julius (your son’s an idiot. (Baron): And she is hot. Feel like having a royal affair?). She’s here to check up on Angelica, meet Leon, and give Julius a piece of her mind. She goes to Leon’s café where he’s dealing with a troublesome noble who is the daughter of an earl and bullying him. He gets smacked around by her servants but goes into demon mode once Mylene arrives (scene here: https://youtu.be/HmJKV6MGkvE, he can just say he was protecting her from some dangerous servants). After the fighting stops and Leon gets lectured by his teacher, he sits down to talk with Mylene who was not pleased with the duel saying it was too violent (oh please, not a single drop of blood was spilled. Plus, your son needed a good ass kicking). She warns Leon that he’s made enemies in the kingdom, but he’s not too worried about that. After the serious talk is over, Leon hits on Mylene before getting punched by Julius who takes his mom away (scene here: https://youtu.be/8qz17vU02G4). She then talks to Julius where she is not happy with his café and has a few words for Marie. She also defends Leon and calls out Julius for not agreeing to the terms of the duel and still hanging out with Marie (again, petty asshole). As we end the episode a new character named Carla enters the scene. Earlier in the episode she managed to befriend Olivia and wants Leon’s help in saving her household.
Episode 7 picks up where we left off with Leon agreeing to take on Carla’s quest (not because she asked but because Olivia asked and he can’t refuse her). We then shift our focus to the speed bike racing tournament happening at the festival. While Leon isn’t participating he is making a lot of money thanks to Luxion. However, tragedy strikes when Jilk gets injured in the qualifying race and won’t be able to participate in next race due to a fracture. This was an attack coordinated by Claire who was Jilk’s fiancée before the engagement was cancelled and she’s holding a grudge against Jilk for dumping her (can’t say I blame her. He dumped you for a gold digger and didn’t even have the guts to break up with you face to face). Leon gets picked as his substitute (oh sure, send the guy who all the students hate out there into a race where almost anything goes. I’m sure he’ll be fine) where his biggest competition is Dan a servant of Claire who obviously has a crush on her and shares her frustrations against Jilk (then we are comrades in arms). The race begins where the other racers attack him and even the commentator is cheering for Leon’s defeat (man the heat this guy has is enough to cook a steak). Leon does manage to win (scene here: https://youtu.be/53BT7-PWv2A) and he forces Jilk to face Claire in order to give her closure (if you really want to get revenge on this guy then become happier than him). After this, Leon goes to check on Olivia. While Leon was racing we see Angelica got into a fight with a noble who was bullying Olivia saying that they’re not truly friends. This in turn hurts Olivia and she starts to wonder if they’re really friends or if she’s just Angelica’s pet that she hangs out with. Leon tells her the truth, that their statuses will keep them apart and even starts to bad mouth Angelica a little before Olivia comes to her defense which is what Leon wanted her to do so that she can see that they truly are friends.
We start episode 8 on a dark note as Olivia is getting severely bullied by a noble who continues to berate her for her friendship with Angelica and Leon. Speaking of Leon, we find out that Carla needs his help in dealing with air pirates that have invaded her family’s territory. Normally, Leon would reject this request, however, the pirates are in possession of one of the key items Olivia will need to prove that she’s the Saint. Luxion worries that Leon is prioritizing the game’s story over everything else and halting Olivia’s growth as a character because of his overprotective nature. He even theorizes that Olivia will start to fall for Leon which he says is impossible because he’s a mob character (yes, a self-aware one who has taken on a life of his own, interacted with the main characters, and has defeated the potential love interests. You have become way too dangerous to go unnoticed). On the day of Leon’s departure, he sees that Carla also hired Brad and Greg to help subjugate the pirates. Also joining is Olivia who is in a distraught state. Back at the school, Angelica goes to Olivia’s room to see that it’s been trashed (well looks like Angelica has to choke a bitch). Back with Leon, he and the others get attacked by some pirates where Brad and Greg prove their uselessness by not knowing what to do and Leon goes to face the pirates himself where he easily beats them and makes those two realize they were just pretentious nobles who didn’t know the first thing about battle. They capture the pirates and arrive in the territory of Carla’s family where her dad says there’s been some kind of mistake. With Carla’s back against the wall, she confesses that Stephanie (the noble who’s been picking on Olivia this whole time) forced her to make the request to Leon. She was jealous of Olivia getting so much attention and was mad at Leon for causing her to lose money in the duel (you bet on the wrong horse). So, she created this situation in the hopes that the pirates would kill Leon as well as the others. In the end, the main pirate force is still out there so Leon will have to wait to get the key item from them. We then shift our focus to Olivia who has been broken by the bullying and lashes out against Leon believing that he never considered her a friend and instead just saw her as a pet for him to play with (see what happens when you halt a character’s growth Leon?).
Episodes 9-12
Episode 9 begins with Leon brooding about what happened with Olivia when all of a sudden Brad comes out to practice his swordmanship (despite being horrible at it). The two have a short sparring match with Leon winning and Brad taking his leave determined to get stronger so that he can beat Leon one day and prove his worth to Marie (you have fallen for a gold digger). The next day the main pirate force attacks Leon’s ship and he heads out to battle where he’s out of it psychologically (he likes Olivia but he knows he’s not meant to be with her). During the attack, we see Olivia feel bad about venting her anger onto Leon and when she’s about to get attacked by the pirate captain, Brad and Greg protect her long enough for Leon to make the save. Leon manages to get the necklace which is the first item of the Saint and starts putting distance between himself and Olivia. Leon passes the success of this mission to Brad and Greg and the noble responsible for this whole mess gets punished severely for her actions (the only downside is we don’t get to see it). Leon also puts some distance between Angelica and himself (the band has imploded). Later on, Brad and Greg go up to bat for Leon by speaking to Mylene about what he did and he gets promoted once again (he’s drowning in success while trying to fail). He’s also going to be promoted again once he graduates thanks to Claire’s dad who was grateful for helping his daughter get over Brad.
It’s school trip time in episode 10 and Leon heads to a southern island with a Japanese festival feel to it (again, I can’t help but feel this game went through multiple writers/directors). While visiting the shrine he bumps into Olivia and Angelica where things are still awkward between them (man, screw the game route, let’s make our own route). The next day the students get attacked by monsters from the Principality of Fanoss. In the game this was the enemy kingdom that appeared near the end of the game and when the students were third years (well it looks like that plot thread has been sped up). This monster armada is being led by Hertrude the princess of the principality who declares war on the kingdom and plans on taking the students hostage. Angelica gives herself up in order to save everyone, but it doesn’t matter as Hertrude plans on killing them for their cowardly actions in sacrificing her to save their own skins (snitches get stitches, cowards get bullets. I know that didn’t rhyme but you get the message). Leon gets locked up as he was the only one who tried to come to Angelica’s aid and once the students find out that they’re going to die in an hour, Chris begs Leon for help in fighting back which he says no (yeah screw them, they can die for all I care) but ultimately agrees to fight. However, if he’s fighting he’s going to make sure these lazy, spineless, spoiled, dumbass nobles contribute to the cause. After gathering all the students in the main lobby, Leon calls them all fake nobles and cowards who just ride off the coattails of their ancestors which riles them up and gets them ready to fight (scene here: https://youtu.be/2c6AEGcdIMU).
Episode 11 is a quick episode but a good one. Leon charges headfirst into danger to rescue Angelica while the students finally step up and protect their airship. Olivia helps in a big way by creating a powerful barrier that protects the airship from all attacks (scene here: https://youtu.be/QN7lVnKJdOc, and she doesn’t even have the relics yet. That girl is OP). Leon breaks into Hertrude’s airship where he rescues Angelica, captures Hertrude, and takes her magic flute as well (Corbin: That’s not the only instrument she knows how to play). As Leon flies back to the airship, we see that Angelica has developed feelings for him (took her long enough. The guy fought your former fiancé for you and stood by your side when no one else would. How did you not fall for him sooner?). The principality may have lost Hertrude but they have no intention of stopping their attack and are converting all their forces to attack the airship of the students. Leon heads back out to fight and when the airship gets a broadside hit, Angelica almost falls over but gets saved by Olivia. As Olivia falls to her doom she doesn’t panic as she knows Leon will save her and sure enough he does. The two finally talk to each other where Leon tries to get her to fall for someone else, but she says she loves Leon (a new route in the game has been opened) and he has no answer (scene here: https://youtu.be/uzU3HAgPGzY. You know you love her, say it back. This world encourages polygamy). They fly back up to the airship just as Leon’s personal airship arrives to deliver a counterattack and drop off his mech.
In the final episode, Leon begins cleaning house with his mech while everyone boards his ship to safety. Just when things are going well, Vandel, the black knight shows up to fight. In the game he was considered the strongest character and is easily the toughest opponent Leon has faced so far. Despite Leon having the stronger mech, Vandel is the stronger pilot and Leon’s unwillingness to kill puts him at a disadvantage (stop hesitating, finish him). Leon manages to get the upper hand by having Luxion pilot the mech, trap Vandel’s mech in a bear hug, and then Leon opens up the hatch to bring Vandel at gunpoint (they don’t see that coming). Vandel accepts defeat but refuses to be taken alive and wants Leon to kill him (it only takes one), but Leon refuses and just captures him (scene here: https://youtu.be/RcU1FboWKuA). Just when you think it’s over, the fleet commander of the principality shoots off a flare which makes all the monsters go into a frenzy. They will now attack and kill everyone in the vicinity including each other (man, the principality are sore losers). Luxion unleashes its full power and destroys all the monsters giving Leon the victory. The remaining troops and ships of the principality are captured and taken as prisoners back to the kingdom. That night, when Leon goes to his room he finds a sleeping Angelica and Olivia waiting for him on his bed in their underwear (Corbin: What are you waiting for, attack them). Leon decides to be a wimp (Corbin: You disappoint me) and goes to sleep in another room. After they return to the kingdom, Hertrude becomes their prisoner under the disguise of a foreign exchange student. Leon pushes the success of the battle onto Chris (you didn’t do shit). Speaking of Chris, we see him and the other dumbasses challenge Leon to another mech battle. Using up all of Marie’s funds, the group combines parts of their destroyed mechs to form a new mech (it looks like they destroyed a Transformer only to put it back together and destroy it a second time). Brad gets selected to fight for them and Leon’s plan is to lose on purpose as he’s decided that none of these guys are worthy of Olivia. Unfortunately for him, the mech Brad is in is a ticking time bomb and is about to explode leaving Leon with only two choices. He can either let the mech explode and kill Greg in the process or he can save Greg’s life and get even more heat from the students. Leon chooses the latter and wins the duel (scene here: https://youtu.be/KVtvovfO0Zo). His problems don’t end there as he gets promoted to viscount and his feelings for Olivia and Angelica are still on the fence. A part of him wants to go all in but is still hesitant. Luxion tells him to just do what he wants and that ends the anime for now.
Final Thoughts
This anime wound up being more enjoyable than I thought. While it’s not the best isekai story it does tell a rather refreshing setup that’s different and unique from the typical isekai story. Leon isn’t the main character in this new world and is instead a mob character. At his core, he’s a good person but he has a despicable personality that makes everyone hate him, but we the audience love it because he’s not your typical male lead in an isekai story. He can be rotten, be indecisive at times on what he wants, he won’t take crap from anyone, and can be a little shit because of his attitude and personality. This makes him relatable to some degree and side with him on his actions and decisions because we ourselves would possibly do the same thing in his situation. Rather than make Angelica the stereotypical mean antagonist, they do give her some amount of depth and make her a sympathetic character who is misunderstood and surrounded herself with the wrong people. However, when she starts hanging around Leon and Olivia she becomes a better person. Which is the exact opposite of Julius and the others who hang around Marie and show that behind their good looks is a bunch of spoiled brats who don’t know the value of a dollar and even though they have some level of skill don’t know how to make it out in the real world. I think Olivia might just be the weakest character in the show. She’s not bad, but nothing really major is done with her. I kind of like how Leon’s interference hindered her growth as a character and she took her frustrations out on him by accident. Showing the repercussions of his actions but leading to an ending we all saw coming.
The animation is decent. Nothing mind-blowing and the fight scenes are really nothing to write home about. The world we’re in is nothing we haven’t seen before and I think that’s part of the joke. This world combines elements from a mecha, fantasy, and dungeon-crawling series that are so out of place you’d swear the game had to have gone through three directors or writers. We get a few funny moments here and there but nothing really laugh out hilarious the music is alright for what it is.
Final Score
The final score for Trapped in a Dating Sim is a 6/10. Not the best but a breath of fresh air from the typical isekai story. It may not be for everyone, but you’ll get some level of enjoyment out of it. It you liked the anime definitely check out the novels and manga which are just as enjoyable as the anime. I really would like to see this anime get a second season and continue its story. This could be the male equivalent to My Next Life as Villainess. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.