Perhaps this book is aimed at gamers — it did hold my attention and was reasonably entertaining, but when it came to the real world aspects, it somehow alternated between predictable and confounding. There were hints at philosophy, a sort of examination of what gaming and/or online personalities say about us, but Sakurazaka only touches briefly on the really interesting aspects of that. To top it off, they weren't well integrated into the story, but kind of smashed into it as monologues by characters.

The romantic "real world" plot was seriously underdeveloped to the point where it actually confused me — (view spoiler)[ for instance, at what point does the main character and Fumiko's relationship become "that kind" of relationship, and why on earth does she take him back? (hide spoiler)].

Overall, a quick and somewhat entertaining read that thankfully only occasionally gets too detailed in game mechanics, but doesn't do any of the Gibson-esque stuff you might expect from a title of this nature.