First Impression: Do You Love Your Mom and Her Two-Hit Multi-Target Attacks?

We have a new contender in the Summer 2019 Isekai Battle Royale! This time our protagonist is Masato, who has an overly doting mother. After filling out a survey on his relationship with his mom, a mysterious informant arrives and allows him to fulfill one of his dreams: get sent to the world of a video game. Unfortunately, his mom also ends up there with him. The two of them find out that…

…wait, this “other world” is just a closed beta for some online game? Does that even still count as “isekai”? Isn’t that more like a VRMMO without headsets? Are they even eligible for this battle royale? …The judges say let the audience decide if it’s an isekai or not? Well, whatever you say, but I’m just gonna drop the whole announcer schtick then…

…anyway, it’s the closed beta for some online game the government is planning, and Masato and his mom Mamako have been chosen as participants. They get some powerful starting equipment to kick things off, but to Masato’s dismay, while he has a fairly bog standard single-target ranged attack, his mom’s “standard attack” is a two-hit multi-target attack capable of wiping out mobs with ease! His embarrassment at getting one-upped by his mom causes him to lash out at her, but eventually, the two make up and agree to go adventuring together as mother and son.

Do You Love Your Mom and Her Two-Hit Multi-Target Attacks? (Japanese title: Tsuujou Kougeki ga Zentai Kougeki de Nikai Kougeki no Okaasan ga Suki Desuka?, probably the most ridiculous title ever for an anime/light novel) offers a fun play on the usual light novel shenanigans by saddling the hapless male protagonist with his doting mother. This does offer some amusing comedy, with the mother’s only gaming knowledge coming from the NES days so she’s woefully behind the times, to say nothing of how she wants to meddle with her son’s adventures. However, the episode does also offer a nice glimpse at a deeper them of motherhood and managing the bond between a mother and a teenage child who’s starting to want some independence. Having read the first volume of the original light novel, that’s a theme that will definitely continue to be explored, not just with Masato but with other characters so far only shown in the OP and ED. That said, the biggest issue I had with the light novel is also here in the anime: the use of fanservice and sexualization of the mother. While it’s more to amp up the awkwardness between mother and son, it’s completely unnecessary and mars what could be a nice story about family, just to appeal to an audience that likes their older women. The show also does what so many anime like to do with “close” family members in portraying them pseudo-romantically, which may be distasteful to some and may worry others that the show will go the incest route. (As of vol. 1 of the light novel, it doesn’t seem to be going that way, but I’ve seen other novels take questionable turns after the first volume, so…) It’s too bad, because otherwise this could be quite an interesting anime, both as a twist on light novel tropes and an exploration of the mother-child relationship, but those issues are definitely a tall hurdle to overcome.

Do You Love Your Mom and Her Two-Hit Multi-Target Attacks? is streaming on Crunchyroll and FunimationNow.

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