Well, it was bound to happen that Mio and Aya would be caught. It’s interesting to see Tamaki Ichinose and Yuu Inui end up joining their group. Right now we have a variety in the group.
- Aya being a seasoned fighting game player her whole life. Her losing touch just came from loneliness in the hobby of playing alone.
- Mio is the gamer that, given her status, was only capable of playing online. But the ability to play offline with friends is something she dreamed of.
- Yuu is the arcade gamer. A similar case to Aya, but her losing touch was more so the arcade version not being updated.
- Tamaki having an interest in playing makes him the true noob of the four of them. How they tackle the importance of drilling fighting game fundamentals is well done.
In the case of Tamaki she desires to be noticed as her main motivation. Which transitions to the element of offline tournaments, which are a key element in any notable fighting game.
The most curious thing is we get a full backstory for why Mio is at a rich girl’s academy. Essentially, fighting games is the one thing she came to love after trying different hobbies and quitting them. To win over her mom, she had to go to a school of her choosing. Despite her mom exaggerating, she has every right to be worried for Mio because video games in general are a hobby that you can grow addicted to and be obsessed with. Mio’s lack of desire to study is definitely something that will bite her eventually with the Academy.