Gamers!

Gamers!
First light novel volume cover
ゲーマーズ! (Gēmāzu!)
Genre	Romantic comedy[1]
Light novel
Written by	Sekina Aoi
Illustrated by	Saboten
Published by	Fujimi Shobo
Imprint	Fujimi Fantasia Bunko
Demographic	Male
Original run	March 20, 2015 – October 19, 2019
Volumes	12 (List of volumes)
Manga
Written by	Sekina Aoi
Illustrated by	Tsubasa Takahashi
Published by	Fujimi Shobo
Magazine	Shōnen Ace
Demographic	Shōnen
Original run	2016 – 2019
Volumes	7 (List of volumes)
Anime television series
Directed by	Manabu Okamoto
Produced by	Mitsutoshi Ogura Tatsuya Suguri Tsuyoshi Sōda Takema Okamura Hirotaka Kaneko Tomoyuki Ohwada Katsumi Kikumasa Kazuhiro Kanemitsu
Written by	Hiroki Uchida
Music by	Yoshiaki Dewa
Studio	Pine Jam
Licensed by	NA Funimation
Original network	AT-X, Tokyo MX, Sun TV, BS11
Original run	July 13, 2017 – September 28, 2017
Episodes	12 (List of episodes)
Anime and manga portal

Gamers! (Japanese: ゲーマーズ!, Hepburn: Gēmāzu!) is a Japanese light novel series written by Sekina Aoi and illustrated by Saboten. Fujimi Shobo published twelve volumes from March 20, 2015 to October 19, 2019 under the imprint of Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. An anime television series adaptation by Pine Jam aired from July to September 2017.

Plot[]

Keita Amano, a high school boy and video game player, meets the beautiful school idol Karen Tendō, who joins the school's Gaming Club. Keita tries it out, but finds it is about competitive gaming, so he declines her offer. This rejection sets off a chain of events in the lives of Keita and his friends in matters of both video games and romance with a large amount of misunderstandings along the way.

Characters[]

In the light novels, the characters take turns narrating the chapters, with most of them done by Keita.

Main characters[]

Keita Amano (雨野 景太, Amano Keita)

Voiced by: Megumi Han^[2] (Japanese); Brandon McInnis (English)^[3]

A plain second-year high school student often playing video games. He initially does not have any school friends, preferring to just play on his handheld console or on his phone. He considers Karen Tendo to be the perfect girl, but turns down her invitations to join the Game Club because he prefers to play games for fun and not as something competitive. He often thinks of himself as unworthy of her affections, but is encouraged by Tasuku to be friends with Karen^{LN 1} and eventually ask her out. In later episodes, he reveals that sometimes, he does like to compete to win. He uses two online usernames, Tsucchi and Yama, both of which are based on his mother's maiden name Tsuchiyama. He is a big fan of independent game designer "Nobe", and teams up with online player Mono.^{Ep. 3} He is very stubborn when it comes to his opinions on games, clashing with Chiaki Hoshinomori regularly over the use of moe characters and other things, even though the two are very much alike.^{Ep. 3, 5} In the light novel, Keita notes that he has a brother two years younger.^{LN 1}

Karen Tendo (天道 花憐, Tendō Karen)

Voiced by: Hisako Kanemoto^[2][a] (Japanese); Brittney Karbowski (English)^[3]

The most beautiful girl at school and the president of the school's Game Club. She has long naturally blond hair and green eyes.^[b] She excels in everything at school from looks and popularity to sports to academics.^{LN 1Ep. 1} She had enrolled in the school because of the club's prestige, but its senior members had left, so she took it upon herself to revive the club, and she privately recruits members as she does not want it to be filled with guys who are only interested in asking her out.^{LN 1} She invites Keita to join her club, but when she is rejected, she becomes noticeably upset. While watching Keita from a distance, she develops a crush on him because he stands up to Tasuku in defending her and the club,^{LN 1} She becomes flustered whenever she thinks of him or interacts with him to the point that it interferes with her focus on her daily routines of going for a morning jog, helping teachers, rejecting love confessions from suitors, and hanging out with the Game Club.^{Ep. 4} She mistakenly believes that Keita and Aguri are a couple, having seen them together.^{Ep. 3–5} In the anime series, she spontaneously accepts Keita's asking her to be a couple, but is willing to stay in the relationship.^{Ep. 6-7}

Chiaki Hoshinomori (星ノ守 千秋, Hoshinomori Chiaki)

Voiced by: Manaka Iwami^[2] (Japanese); Marissa Lenti (English)^[5]

A shy and quiet girl in Karen's class. She has messy "seaweed" dark blue hair and purple eyes. She enjoys playing handheld and phone games like Keita, and had declined Karen's invitation to join the Game Club. At school, she and Keita initially get along because they agree on many things about games, until they clash over their opinions on putting moe characters in video games. She takes Tasuku's advice on improving her appearance, and cuts her hair, but her increased interactions with Tasuku make Aguri jealous.^{Ep. 3} She is Keita's online friend "Mono" and his favorite indie game developer "Nobe", although both Chiaki and Keita are unaware of each other's online personas.^{Ep. 5} She is shocked when Keita reveals his gaming personalities to the group, and begins to develop feelings towards him.^{Ep. 8}

Tasuku Uehara (上原 祐, Uehara Tasuku)

Voiced by: Toshiyuki Toyonaga^[2] (Japanese); Clifford Chapin (English)^[3]

Keita's classmate and is a good-looking and outgoing guy. He is an occasional gamer and is skilled at arcade games. A former gamer nerd in middle school, he changed his appearance and attitude when he entered high school to shun gamer nerds, yet feels drawn to be involved in Keita's life and his situation with Karen that he is willing to help Keita progress in his social life.^{LN 1} He is quite proud that he landed a cute girlfriend Aguri, but later learns that Aguri had liked him back when he was a nerd.^{Ep. 2} He is the first to make the connection between Keita and Chiaki's gaming personas, and then tries to pair the two together as friends, while also supporting Keita and Karen's relationship. He creates a Gamers Meet-Up Club with all parties involved, however, his efforts, as well as his increasing interactions with Chiaki and Karen, lead to more misunderstandings.^{Ep. 5}

Aguri Sakurano (桜野 亜玖璃, Sakurano Aguri)

Voiced by: Rumi Okubo^[2] (Japanese); Tia Ballard (English)^[3]

Tasuku's girlfriend. In the anime, she is a petite girl with pink hair and purple eyes. She does not play video games nor has an interest in them. She fell in love with Tasuku after he gave her a plushie doll in middle school, and she changed her appearance as well in order to get closer to him.^{Ep. 2} She becomes jealous that Tasuku is being friendly with Chiaki, but allies with Keita to help him relate better with Karen.

Supporting characters[]

Eiichi Misumi (三角 瑛一, Misumi Eiichi)

Voiced by: Natsuki Hanae (Japanese); Howard Wang (English)^[3]

Karen's classmate. He joins the Game Club at the beginning of the series. He has short black hair. His specialty is in arcade puzzle games, but he also is able to adapt to learning new games and growing skills based on observing how others play. He says that he got into gaming because he had lost his memory when he was younger and playing block puzzles gives him a link to his past.^{Ep. 1} The last episode in the anime series shows his secretive past in which he had escaped some underground organizations, and then encounters his estranged sister Riki in the finals of a game tournament.^{Ep. 12}

Gakuto Kase (加瀬 岳人, Kase Gakuto)

Voiced by: Yasuaki Takumi (Japanese); Alejandro Saab (English)^[3]

A third-year student and a member of the Game Club. He has red hair and wears glasses. He gets serious when it comes to FPS games. He took up gaming because his father was a mercenary who trained him in the family business when he was a kid.^{Ep. 1}

Niina Oiso (大磯 新那, Ōiso Niina)

Voiced by: Yuna Yoshino (Japanese); Dawn M. Bennett (English)^[5]

A third-year member of the Game Club who specializes in fighting games. Karen considers her the sexy big sister type. She has long brown hair and brown eyes. She doesn't talk with people while she is playing. Karen said she got into gaming in order to win her friend back by trying to defeat her in a fighting game.^{Ep. 1}

Konoha Hoshinomori (星ノ守 心春, Hoshinomori Konoha)

Voiced by: Yūki Kuwahara (Japanese); Jad Saxton (English)^[5]

Chiaki's younger sister. She is envious of Karen Tendo's popularity and is somewhat happy that she didn't have to compete with her by going to a different school where she could become student council president. She secretly enjoys adult games and revels in being in the company of cute girls.^{Ep. 8} When Keita visits Chiaki's home and accidentally sees the "Mono" and "Nobe" information, Chiaki tells Keita that Konoha is the person behind those accounts.^{Ep. 9} She tries to support her sister in relating closer to Keita.

Media[]

Light novel[]

Sekina Aoi first published the series in 2015 through Fujimi Shobo's Fujimi Fantasia Bunko with illustrations by Saboten. Twelve volumes were released between March 20, 2015 to October 19, 2019.^[6]

No.	Title	Japanese release date	Japanese ISBN
1	Keita Amano and Youth Continue Amano Keita to Seishun Kontinyū (雨野景太と青春コンティニュー)	March 20, 2015[7]	978-4-04-070533-0
2	Karen Tendou and Surprise Happy End Tendō Karen to Fuiuchi Happī Endo (天道花憐と不意打ちハッピーエンド)	July 18, 2015[8]	978-4-04-070534-7
3	Chiaki Hoshinomori and New Game of First Love Hoshinomori Chiaki to Hatsukoi Nyū Gēmu (星ノ守千秋と初恋ニューゲーム)	November 20, 2015[9]	978-4-04-070753-2
4	Aguri and Unconscious Critical Aguri to Mujikaku Kuritikaru (亜玖璃と無自覚クリティカル)	March 19, 2016[10]	978-4-04-070754-9
5	Gamers and Annihilated Game Over Gēmāzu to Zenmetsu Gēmu Ōbā (ゲーマーズと全滅ゲームオーバー)	July 20, 2016[11]	978-4-04-070969-7
6	The Lonely Gamer and Love Confession Chain Combo Bocchi Gēmā to Kokuhaku Chein Konbo (ぼっちゲーマーと告白チェインコンボ)	November 19, 2016[12]	978-4-04-070970-3
7	Gamers and Kiss of Dead End Gēmāzu to Kuchizuke Deddo Endo (ゲーマーズと口づけデッドエンド)	March 18, 2017[13]	978-4-04-070971-0
8	Konoha Hoshinomori and Reversal Back Attack Hoshinomori Konoha to Gyakuten Bakku Atakku (星ノ守心春と逆転バックアタック)	July 20, 2017[14]	978-4-04-072369-3
9	Keita Amano and Youth Skills Reset Amano Keita to Seishun Sukiru Risetto (雨野景太と青春スキルリセット)	January 20, 2018[15]	978-4-04-072370-9
10	Karen Tendou and Surprise Update Tendō Karen to Fuiuchi Appudēto (天道花憐と不意打ちアップデート)	May 19, 2018[16]	978-4-04-072371-6
11	Gamers and First Love Multi End Gēmāzu to Hatsukoi Maruchi Endo (ゲーマーズと初恋マルチエンド)	October 20, 2018[17]	978-4-04-072900-8
12	Gamers and Youth Continue Gēmāzu to Seishun Kontinyū (ゲーマーズと青春コンティニュー)	October 19, 2019[18]	978-4-04-072901-5

Manga[]

A manga adaptation with art by Tsubasa Takahashi has been serialized in Fujimi Shobo's Shōnen Ace from October 2016 until September 2019.^[19] The last seventh manga volume has been released on October 26, 2019.

No.	Release date	ISBN
1	March 23, 2017[20]	978-4-04-105446-8
2	June 26, 2017[21]	978-4-04-105771-1
3	November 25, 2017[22]	978-4-04-106308-8
4	March 26, 2018[23]	978-4-04-106717-8
5	September 25, 2018[24]	978-4-04-107363-6
6	February 25, 2019[25]	978-4-04-107816-7
7	October 26, 2019[26]	978-4-04-107817-4

Anime[]

An anime television series adaptation directed by Manabu Okamoto and produced by Pine Jam was announced.^[27][28] The 12-episode series aired in Japan between July 13, 2017^[29] and September 28, 2017.^[1] The opening theme is "GAMERS!" by Hisako Kanemoto, Manaka Iwami and Rumi Ōkubo.^[30] The ending themes are "Fight on!" for all episodes except for episode nine and ten which is "Koi no Prologue*" (恋のprologue*, Prologue to Love), both performed by Luce Twinkle Wink☆.^[2] Crunchyroll streamed the series^[31] while Funimation has licensed the series in North America and streamed an English dub.^[32][3]

No.	Title[c]	Original air date[33]
1	"Keita Amano and Chapters of the Chosen" Transcription: "Amano Keita to Michibi Kareshisha-tachi" (Japanese: 雨野景太と導かれし者達)	July 13, 2017 (2017-07-13)
Karen asks Keita to join the club. Though being upset he is not the only one, he plays first-person shooter games with other players. However, Keita decides against joining the Game Club as he prefers to play games for enjoyment instead of competition. This rejection forces Karen to leave Keita.
2	"Tasuku Uehara and New Game +" Transcription: "Uehara Tasuku to Tsuyokute Nyū Gēmu" (Japanese: 上原祐と強くてニューゲーム)	July 20, 2017 (2017-07-20)
As Keita's public rejection of Karen's offer causes a stir among his classmates, Tasuku sees Keita at the arcade and ends up playing various games with him. Keita runs off when Tasuku's friends appear, feeling he should not interfere with his hobby, but Tasuku pursues him, revealing he had only been putting on a front as he was bullied for being a geek in middle school. After the two come to a mutual understanding and part ways, Tasuku notices Karen seems to have fallen in love with Keita before returning to his own girlfriend, Aguri. Having only been dating her without any particular reason, Tasuku believes Aguri falls in love with him when he was a geek, changing his entire perspective of her.
3	"Chiaki Hoshinomori and StreetPass Communication" Transcription: "Hoshinomori Chiaki to Surechigai Tsūshin" (Japanese: 星ノ守千秋とすれ違い通信)	July 27, 2017 (2017-07-27)
Wanting Keita to talk properly with Karen, Tasuku encourages him to strike up a conversation with Chiaki. The two manage to quickly strike up a friendship over their similar tastes in games but soon get into a fight over trivial gaming matters. As Tasuku tries to mediate between the two, he unknowingly causes Aguri to worry that he is making moves on Chiaki, particularly when he compliments her after she cuts her hair. Keita chases after Aguri in the hopes of clearing up any confusion, but things only get worse when Aguri sees Tasuku and Chiaki outside.
4	"Karen Tendo and Slump Days" Transcription: "Tendō Karen to Suranpu Deizu" (Japanese: 天道花憐とスランプ・デイズ)	August 3, 2017 (2017-08-03)
Karen's increasing obsession over Keita starts to have a serious effect on both her life and her gaming ability. On the weekend, Karen invites Keita to the arcade and challenges him to a battle of coin games. Surprised to find that Keita cares about winning sometimes, Karen finds comfort in Keita's belief that playing to win and having fun need not be separate things. Despite becoming motivated by Keita's words, Karen finds herself only becoming even worse at video games.
5	"Aguri and Communication Error" Transcription: "Aguri to Tsūshin Erā" (Japanese: 亜玖璃と通信エラー)	August 10, 2017 (2017-08-10)
While Keita is with Aguri, Tasuku discovers that Chiaki is both Mono, Keita's online friend from his social game, and Nobe, the developer behind some of his favorite freeware games, leading to the moment where Aguri makes her misunderstanding. Feeling that Keita and Chiaki should make up with each other, Tasuku decides to create a Gamers' Meet Up Club, inviting Karen to join in. Despite a healthy discussion about the games Chiaki is developing, the misunderstandings involving them and Aguri only seem to increase. The next day, Tasuku tries to convince Keita that he is made more progress with Karen than he thinks he has, only to wind up giving Chiaki yet another misunderstanding.
6	"Gamers and Wipeout "Game Over"" Transcription: "Gēmāzu to Zenmetsu Gēmu Ōbā" (Japanese: ゲーマーズと全滅ゲームオーバー)	August 17, 2017 (2017-08-17)
Keita and Aguri spy on a conversation between Tasuku and Chiaki, missing the first part of their conversation and assuming Tasuku is cheating with her. Both Aguri and Tasuku encourage Keita to ask Karen to be her friend, with Tasuku setting things up so that many students will bear witness to his request. In the run-up to the event, Tasuku, Aguri and Chiaki start to have wild assumptions of what the reactions of each other will entail in terms of relationships while Karen assumes that Keita prepares to reject her. As the moment of truth arrives, Keita, having completed a dating sim the previous night, inadvertently blurts out a love confession taken from the game, which Karen immediately accepts to their shock.
7	"Keita Amano and Karen's Best Entertainment" Transcription: "Amano Keita to Tendō Karen no Saikō no Goraku" (Japanese: 雨野景太と天道花憐の最高の娯楽)	August 24, 2017 (2017-08-24)
After an accidental confession to Karen, Keita contemplates if he should rescind it due to assuming she and Tasuku had a problem. Keita invites Karen on a date at the entertainment center, where they play an arcade kart game with Chiaki. Although Keita loses the round, Karen is happy that he made things more enjoyable and they had some cheerful game discussion.
8	"Erogamer and Watching Mode" Transcription: "Erogēmā to Kansen Mōdo" (Japanese: エロゲーマーと観戦モード) "Gamers and Half their Life Game" Transcription: "Gēmāzu to Hansei Gēmu" (Japanese: ゲーマーズと半生ゲーム)	August 31, 2017 (2017-08-31)
Konoha overhears Keita and Misumi at the game shop, taking comfort in Keita recommending an old game she has a fondness for. Later, they play a Love Love Game of Half-Life board game together, becoming even more awkward as a result of the oddly specific spaces they land on. Before Tasuku and Aguri clear up some of the misunderstandings between each other, Chiaki believes Keita was her online friend and the one supporting her freeware games this entire time.
9	"Chiaki Hoshinomori and Account Hack" Transcription: "Hoshinomori Chiaki to Akaunto Hakku" (Japanese: 星ノ守千秋とアカウントハック)	September 7, 2017 (2017-09-07)
Feeling conflicted about her recent revelation, Chiaki goes to the convenience store and comes across Keita, who left his train pass behind the previous night. Upon returning to her apartment, Chiaki accidentally shows Keita her computer and phone linking her to Nobe and Mono and, in her panic, claims that Konoha is the one behind both of those aliases. While feeling something amiss about this reveal, Keita comes across Konoha as she goes to meet up with Chiaki, who receives a strange call from Tasuku that the others interpret as a confession.
10	"Gamers and Next Stage" Transcription: "Gēmāzu to Nekusuto Sutēji" (Japanese: ゲーマーズとネクストステージ)	September 14, 2017 (2017-09-14)
As Chiaki feels conflicted over Tasuku's "confession", Keita invites Aguri to join their Gamers' Meet Up Club to discuss the matter but finds himself unable to bring it up, instead stating his determination to buy a new game from his favorite series. Later that night, Konoha encourages Chiaki to sort out her feelings for Keita. The next day, Aguri gets dragged to an awkward meeting with a middle school friend, Sarina, taking offense when she starts mocking her gamer friends. Meanwhile, Karen asks Chiaki and Tasuku to accompany her as she talks about Keita seemingly liking games more than her, leading to yet another complication when Aguri sees them together. As the others manage to clear up the misunderstanding, they are surprised to find Keita prioritize coming to help Aguri over buying the game.
11	"Gamers and Youth Continue" Transcription: "Gēmāzu to Seishun Kontinyū" (Japanese: ゲーマーズと青春コンティニュー)	September 21, 2017 (2017-09-21)
Concerned about the relationship between Keita and Aguri, Tasuku suggests to Karen that they prove their respective relationships by inviting them on a double date to an amusement park. While Keita and Aguri assume Karen and Tasuku are trying to cover up their alleged cheating, Konoha brings Chiaki to the same theme park to intrude on their date. While the others explore a haunted house, Konoha sets things up for Chiaki to spend some time alone with Keita. As Chiaki ultimately decides to withhold expressing her feelings, the date proves to be a success for the other couples.
12	"Gamers and Billing System Talk" Transcription: "Gēmāzu to Kakin Tōku" (Japanese: ゲーマーズと課金トーク)	September 28, 2017 (2017-09-28)
While at a training camp with the other Gamers, Aguri questions whether expensive games are fun for, particularly in regards to downloadable content. While the argument apparently confuses her further, Keita's fondness for a bad game his parents bought for him helps her understand it a little.

Reception[]

The light novel ranked seventh in 2017 in Takarajimasha's annual light novel guide book Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi!, in the bunkobon category.^[34] It ranked eighth in 2018.^[35]

Works cited[]

• ^ "LN" is shortened form for light novel and refers to a volume in the Gamers! light novels.
• ^ "Ch." is shortened form for chapter and refers to a chapter number of the collected Gamers! manga
• ^ "Ep." is shortened form for episode and refers to an episode number of the Gamers! anime

Notes[]

References[]

External links[]

• Gamers! at Fujimi Shobo (in Japanese)
• Anime official website (in Japanese)
• Gamers! (light novel) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia