Graphic Novel Reviews: Do You Love Your Mom and Her Two-Hit Multi-Target Attacks? Volume 1

Masato Oosuki is a typical teenage boy. He’s obsessed with video games, full of angst, and is easily embarrassed by his mom. One day in class his teacher unexpectedly has students fill out an anonymous survey about the parent-child mind-set in each household. All the questions are the average type. However, one sticks out. “If you went on an adventure with your mom, would you become closer?” Masato responds, “Like, probably, I guess.” While going through the surveys his teacher realizes someone actually wrote down their name, guess who? Masato’s mistake prompts an after school follow-up visit from a Department of Policy on Cohesive Society worker. She interviews Ms. Mamako Oosuki as well as Masato, and offers them a trip into a new MMMMMORPG game. However, she doesn’t tell Masato what the abbreviation stands for. They both accept, and are launched into the game.

Once in the game, Masato and Mamako are designated characters, and get to choose their weapons. Masato picks his sword, and in a surprise twist, his mom is able to wield two swords at once! The two of them go through the battle tutorial, and much to Masato’s displeasure he finds that his mom is able to use two-hit multi-target attacks, which out shine his abilities by a long shot. At first he’s unhappy about it, but after talking it out he agrees to allow her in his party. They set off to find other players to join their party, and end up at the adventurer’s guild. There they are given a list to choose players from. The two of them go through and select potential party members to interview, and pass the “mom test” in order to see which ones would be the best fit for the team. 

After interviewing and rejecting a handful of players, they luck out and come across two who seem to be good fits for the party. One of them reveals to Masato just what MMMMMORPG stands for, which is Mom’s Massively Maternal Multi-Player Making-Up with Offspring Role-Playing Game. It turns out, the purpose of the game is to build better relationships between children and their mother’s. It’s also shared that players must meet a victory condition before they can return to the real world, which is becoming closer with their moms. 

The premise is one that has been done many times before, but the addition of the mother going into the game with her son in order to create a stronger relationship makes it different. The dynamic between mother and son is cute and playful. Perfect for readers of “Konosuba: God’s Blessing on the Wonderful World” and “No Game, No Life.”