At first, this show looked like standard cute girls doing cute things show that come dime a dozen these days. However, after two episodes I realized this show struck a powerful chord.. as New World Online reminded me of the fun days I played in the real game Ragnarok Online. Reminded me all of the item gatherings, meeting friends, forming a guild. It's all here.

NONE = Also none of the excess baggage that other shows try to shove into my face. Trying to save the world from evil? trapped in another world? trapped in a game? people dying if they lose? generic harem plot? None of those shits!! This is just pure fun, we are playing a friendly game. More easy to relate to for people like me who played and enjoyed RO years ago.

Art - colorful backgrounds, lush grasslands, forests. Makes you want to explore and do adventure. Rest in the town when you get tired. The enemies, the non-playable characters (npc's), the buildings in the town, and even players chatting in the distance are decently animated, adding a sweet feel to the world of NWO.

Characters - Maple and her friend Sally are the most developed being main the pair. However, the others feel "real enough" in the sense that they feel like the friendly people I've met in Ragnarok Online years ago.

Sound - from the pleasant singing by Rico Sasaki in the background, to the action music during boss fights. It's helps flesh out the world of Bofuri into a wonderland that is both immersive and fun.

Enjoyment - I don't want to over hype. My review is very biased since I enjoyed this show, because I was a Ragnarok Online addict for years. However, one thing this show did is it is consistent on doing things it was meant to do, which is give me the feeling of playing game, explore, adventure, meet friends. It did not pretend to be something deep. Come on people, we're playing game here for fun, not because our lives depended on it or world peace is in danger!! XD Another reason I liked this is no overpowered male main cast gathering a harem either, which is a mercy, as I'm sick of shows like that Smartphone shit.

Overall - I recommend this show for people who want to remove stress and just have some clean fun watching people play a friendly game in a virtual world. If you're looking for something deeper, then look somewhere else.

“Now to distribute status points? Everything I've got goes into defense!” - Maple

Art and Animation: 9.1/10

Storyline and Character Progression: 8.5/10

Soundtrack and Audio: 8.8/10

VISUALS: 90/100

They did a fairly great job in the animation for this. There's CGI used here and there, but I think they handled it well enough and transitioned from it to traditional and vice versa pretty smoothly. There are also really great scenes visually, like during the times when Maple gets some of her new skills. Of course, there are some parts that I think would've been better if done in traditional animation, especially during some close-ups in some fight scenes. I've also noticed that they used slideshow montages a bit too much but that isn't that bad. Overall the visuals are done well.

AUDIO: 70/100

A bit forgettable, imo. Both the OP and the ED I skipped from the first episode because they're a bit too standard for my taste. Nothing new. The BGM is meh too. Not bad, but not memorable either. It's only been 2 days and I can't remember any of the BGMs they used. (This is coming from the guy who can still remember the ones used in Himouto and Gabdrop even after only watching those twice)

VOICE ACTING: 90/100

Pretty good voice acting. The only one I thought was a bit out of place was Yui's VA. Not bad, just out of place, like she isn't used to or she shouldn't be voicing lolis. It felt forced. Other than that, most of them are good and fit the character fairly well.

As an AL player, Ai Kakuma was recognizable from the moment I first heard her.

STORY: 80/100

The story is where I'm most.. iffy.. at. The story felt like it was all over the place and honestly, it didn't really feel like there was a story at all. That isn't bad by itself, but it felt like they didn't know if they should be going the slice of life route or the action comedy route. There are also tropes in here that I absolutely despise (I'm looking at you, number 1 player) but their lack of screentime makes up for it.

The slice of life/gamey parts I really liked. As an avid MMO player seeing a noob play and learn the ropes of a genre I love will never get old. Seeing Maple get these ridiculous powers without actually tryharding was hilarious AF.

The parts I didn't really like were the ones where they suddenly shifted into super serious, almost chuuni-like action sequences. Sally's serious mode, for example. The shifts into these scenes were really jarring. One moment, we were fishing but a few moments later we're fighting a boss that honestly should've been relegated into one of those short clips or maybe even those montage they liked to use. The use of CGI in those parts only made it worse. Honestly, now that I think about it, most of the meh stuff are the scenes where Maple wasn't present. She was seriously carrying this show on her back with her adorableness.

Overall, If I were to change something about the story, it would be to turn it into a purely slice of life anime. The action scenes (that didn't have Maple) really didn't work imo and should've been changed in some way (Something like Kuma kuma kuma bear, in how it blends slice of life and action would be perfect). If I were to rate the two parts/genres separately, I'd rate the Maple parts 95/100 while the rest, somewhere around 65/100.