The Nintendo Switch Is Starting to be Prominently Featured in Japanese Anime

Giuseppe Nelva April 17, 2018 5:52 PM EST

Another sign of the Switch's popularity in Japan is the fact that it appears in increasingly prominent roles in anime series.

Anime are often a mirror of Japanese society, so it’s pretty normal for consoles to be featured in those set in the real world. As a matter of fact, a console’s popularity in Japan can often be seen from its appearances in the most popular anime series.

The Switch is getting more and more widespread in Japan, even more so thanks to the renewed availability following its first holiday season, and its popularity is starting to be noticed and acknowledged by anime studios.

In past months we have seen the console making sporadic appearances in a few series like Eromanga Sensei and Yo-Kai Watch, but the first episode of the recently-aired first episode of Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii (Love is difficult for Otaku) puts the console front and center, as you can see in the gallery below.

The Switch appears during multiple moments during the episode and is probably going to continue being featured due to the anime’s theme.

Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii is the adaptation of a josei manga by Fujita, telling the story of a fujoshi (a female otaku, and yes, I know, I’m oversimplifying) and a game otaku exploring love among the quirks generated by sharing similar hobbies.

During the first episode, the two are seen playing on their Switch on the go several times, culminating in a scene at an isakaya (a Japanese pub, and I know, I’m still oversimplifying) in which the male protagonist Hirotaka helps the female heroine Narumi farm materials in a game that closely resembles Monster Hunter.

The funny thing is that the Switch actually replaced a Sony console in the transition from manga to anime. The manga originally started in 2014, way before the Switch’s reveal, so the original scene portrayed the protagonists playing the game on their PSP consoles.

The transition features another twist: the pink Switch used by Narumi does not exist, but it reproduces pretty precisely the hue of the Blossom Pink PSP model, which used to be very popular among ladies in Japan.

The choice of the Switch as the new console for the anime is actually rather interesting due to Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii’s nature as a josei story targeted to adult women. The PSP, and its successor, the PS Vita, have always been very popular among ladies in Japan due to the large lineup of otome games in their library, which has always been much more extensive than on portable Nintendo platforms. We’ll have to see if the Switch will change this trend.

It’ll probably depend on whether Otome Game publishers will take notice of the console’s growing popularity in Japan, that brought it to pass four million units sold in the country last week.

If you still don’t have a Switch and want one, you can purchase your unit on Amazon.

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