This one is quite something. It runs the line between a completely original anime and an adaptation.

So the new MC, Konoha got fed up on her work as an illustrator of a small game studio. She got some old VNs from an old lady, but those games have the capability to time travel to the release date of that game. With the first one being 1992.

The first 2/3 is this is pretty much fine. It's a look on 90s VN development. It shows what was back then without advanced tools and processing power of today. At this point, those episodes base their scenarios on the manga but with the new MC in the mix.

After that, the show went on an insanity streak. Leading up to the finale, there's a lot of WTF moments in the series. So much so that I can't definitely say how it went in the production of this anime. I can't say much about it without spoiling that part so a good chunk of this is under a spoiler tag. A lot of it was written before the finale aired so READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

[Episode 8]

Spoiler, click to view

The first huge sign of this insanity was when 1999 Mamoru gets sent back to 1985. Yes, anyone can get sent back in time. The only requirements seem to be you're not already sent back in time, and you open a game that the old lady gave to Konoha. He met some aliens that don't have an idea of imagination. This is where I thought, "Wow, these have to be some people that want to logically understand what imagination is". I swear this has a connection to the ending. So, he teaches them that and got sent back to where he's supposed to be.

Looking back, their earliest appearance of one of the aliens is episode 1. The dog gets his first appearance there.

[Episode 9 & 10]

Spoiler, click to view

After Konoha & Alcohol Soft make their own Fate/Stay Night. She gets sent back to 2023 but whoops her game was so good that the Japanese studios can't beat her game and went under or moved to the West Coast. I refuse to believe that a game like this would have all of that in a floppy disc or even 3 of them.

To fix Otaku culture in Akihabara & still let Alcohol soft exist, she has to make another game that can match that then go back in time to release it in another studio (I guess Toya's game company).

[Episode 11 & 12]

Spoiler, click to view

Then, oh no, she gets kidnapped when she was in a break then what? An evil CEO wants her because she made that game. I don't know man, but there's bigger & easier fish to catch than her. Also, where did this come from? This feels like it came from nowhere. 1 episode isn't enough to set up a bad guy. Also, it wasn't set up to this point anyways.

If this weird 2023 has to happen. Maybe remove every game from Konoha's bag after 1999. Remove the CEO from the picture even if the AI commentary gets cut too. Maybe, acceptance of what she changed and perhaps going to California to look for Alcohol Soft then perhaps some modern game development stuff and end.

Below are my thoughts after Episode 13 aired

[Episode 13]

Spoiler, click to view

I somewhat got what I said in episode 12. They came back from the US. While the timing is pretty tight, I think it's doable since going from LA to Tokyo is around 12 hours assuming Mamoru called Alcohol Soft to work with Konoha around the events of Episode 10 or 11. I was also right about the Echoes having a connection in the finale.

Spoiler, click to view

How they resolved the Episode 12 cliffhanger is pretty much a Deus Ex Machina. It'll be controversial for some people. The Echoes knocked out the CEO and his lackeys then explained their reason for being there.

Spoiler, click to view

The ending was fairly rushed though it could have been worse (Wonder Egg Priority). She used the last game to go back to 1999 then next scene, finished. I don't who did she send this game to though there's a good chance that it did not matter anyways. Alcohol Soft is still in the US but Akihabara is fixed (mostly). The ending is very Makoto Shinkai-like. That's all that I have to say here

[End of spoilers]

The story is pretty good. It showed signs of derailing in the latter third then somehow resolved most of the stuff in one episode. Not everything is resolved though. There are a few things that are left hanging mostly for the sake of time though I'd wish for an extra episode as an epilogue after the events of the series. The best thing in the latter part is the commentary. It's surprisingly recent. Despite the setting at that point, it's not something that's farfetched in modern times. You can type some prompt and your computer (or someone's computer in some city) will generate something be it music, literary work, code or even art. There are limitations for sure which the anime kind of touches. Not everything is discussed (particularly the legal side of the issues). While I was holding my breath in the buildup to the ending, I was glad to see them nail it which is a worthy accomplishment.

In this series, there are 2 main characters.

Konoha is an illustrator that wants to create her dream game which is superbly ambitious. Because she's voiced by the same person that voiced Paimon from Genshin Impact (Aoi Koga), she has a very annoying voice. You'll probably get used to it. Aside from the ambition, she's literally a hot mess and childish. She tries hard to be cute, maybe too hard at points but in the end, she's fine.

Mamoru is literally the know it all also has an obsession of the PC-98. He's pretty much the only smart guy in the cast. So much so he literally is the backbone in the resolution of the anime. At first, I hated his character (Pls, PC-98 over Windows 95 & Tsundere) then the writers seemed to tone it down on subsequent episodes. He's within the line of the love/hate to me.

The supporting cast is serviceable to the plot with the biggest L going to the former main character Meiko. Interestingly, they opted to use mostly veteran voice actors in their 40s and over for the original cast then you have a few in their 20s or 30s.

While there is a villain in this series. It's about as memorable as an atypical MCU villain. It's just an excuse to have some bad guy and a thing for their commentary in contemporary times.

This anime is a semi-interesting take on the time travel plot. While it does have some issues story-wise and WTF moments, it's a good-enough anime that I'd say you should watch it at some point. I'm glad to see another "original" anime have a good story arc in a constrained time frame. While I like it on its own terms, some will lament that it isn't a straight adaptation.