During the serious opening song, after a close up of a determined Sunraku at the end of the chorus, Emul shows up out of nowhere with a plain yellow-orange background for a couple of seconds while the song goes says something like 'Duh?' or 'Huh?'. You read that right, even the song is confused over her appearance.
The Establishing Character Moment for the protagonist Rakurou/Sunraku (and the tone of the story as a whole). We see that a Big Bad has just been defeated... by a guy wearing some kind of Luchador mask and little else. Then, as the credits roll and a woman starts to thank the hero, said hero turns around and lands a kick straight to her face! He would later explain that this woman and the mechanics around her in the game are the sole bane to anyone playing it, but the ending cutscene lets him beat her up without repercussions. Also, the Luchador costume was required to fight the final boss for some in-game reason.
During the Boss Rush that Sunraku fights in Rabituza, most fights are summarized as notes Sunraku made for each opponent, including their various strengths, his strategy for taking them down, and how many attempts it took down. Two stand out; one being for the Toxic Eagle (which mostly consists of him cursing it out for pooping on him, inflicting status ailments in the process, then flying away, resulting in him needing 112 attempts to beat it) and the other for a boss with a complicated mechanic that Sunraku goes into a lot of detail into... before it turns into a Super-Detailed Fight Narration, boring Sunraku enough to skip and just say he won.
The first time Emul demonstrates her human transformation, Sunraku begins mentally raging at the possibility that some dev snuck in a mechanic for collecting an anthro girl harem.
Sunraku: (Assumes stereotypical prayer gesture) Fs in the chat.
When Bilac gets annoyed with him for not respecting her hard work crafting his new weapons, Sunraku begins to worry he'll need to manage affection scores with multiple bunnies. He then collapses as he suffers flashbacks of a trash dating game where he had to balance relationships with twelve girls perfectly or have them all dump him to go study at an Italian pizzeria.
Sunraku: Sunraku Picklefish's adolescence, crushed beneath a pizza stone.
Sunraku's epic Freak Out when he realizes that by skipping the tutorial town, he's been playing without using several core game mechanics.
Sunraku and Oicazzo start teasing Pencilgon for getting emotionally involved with an NPC's storyline as she usually treats them like props. Embarrassed, Pencilgon nearly kills the two until they and Emul assume a submission pose on the ground and become too pathetic for her to kill.
The first cour recap episode:
Sunraku's attempt to hype up his introduction to the series is derailed when Katzo starts mocking him for acting like he's the protagonist of a story. The two end up arguing about this for the entire OP.
Katzo takes over the traditional Opening Narration of the episode discussing trash game enthusiasts
Katzo: We call these elite trash hunters "freaks". Sunraku: Who are you calling freaks!?
Psyger-0 shows up to join the recap, but only arrives as the credits are already rolling.
Rei spends two whole weeks drafting an invitation to hang out for Rakurou, and the final product still comes off so awkwardly formal that it gets mistaken for a challenge to a duel. This proves to be All for Nothing as she's then called off to lead the assault on Ashura Kai the next moment.
Pencilgon: Please don't use my face without permission.
When Pencilgon speaks of Oicazzo's experience with Cavalry Crisis and suggests he use his rodeo skills from that game on Kirin, Sunraku excitedly asks about that game, having not heard of it. Oicazzo retorts that Cavalry Crisis is a god-tier game rather than a trash game, of course Sunraku hasn't heard of it!
Oicazzo's attempt to bronco bust Kirin aren't working, so he comes up with a "great idea": Tying himself, upside down, to Kirin's head. Pencilgon snarks she had no idea he was into that sort of thing, later referring to Oicazzo as "Mr. Bondage Rodeo".
Pencilgon and Oicazzo are faced with Kirin entering its berserk mode in Episode 18 and decide they have to take it out no matter what before a stray beam hits Sunraku. Not because it would ruin the fight, but because if it did he would never let them hear the end of it for six months. Something they admit they'd do themselves if the shoe were on the other foot.
Following the defeat of Wezaemon, we see the developers' reactions: one of the staff steels himself as if he's going into a warzone... because he has to deal with the other two developers who are bickering like preschoolers over each others' decisions in balancing Wezaemon.
In exchange for Oicazzo's Non-Standard Ether Reactor that he obtained from the fight with Wezaemon, Sunraku decides to divulge how he unlocked the Rabituza unique scenario. Oicazzo and Pencilgon are at first surprised, but then become increasingly angry that they cannot feasibly replicate his conditions.
Pencilgon: It's like he asked you how to fly and you just told him to work out his pecs!
Sunraku ventures into Crystal Scorpion territory, but he gets ganged up on and dies. So he tries again, stealthily navigating to a crystal formation he wants to harvest. He raises his pickaxe... and it bumps a crystal behind him with a resounding clang, drawing the attention of all the Crystal Scorpions around him.
Sunraku successfully baits several Crystals Scorpions into breaking off another's stringer, the last bit of loot he needs for a complete set. As he dives through the air to grab it, he sings the praises of the Goddess of RNG only to trail off as he realizes his grab is going to just barely miss the item. Tragic music plays as he falls short and into a swarm of waiting scorpions, all the while pleading that this can't be right. After reviving and pouting for a bit, Sunraku starts raging at the Goddess, who is now pictured sticking her tongue out and flipping him off with both hands.
Aramiys joining Sunarku's party means he has to go back to wearing his ghost cloak while Emul gets to put on her human form. Unfortunately this leaves both Aramiys and Bilac stuck together inside the cloak, resulting in the cloak bulging erratically around Sunarku's body. When Emul tries to get Sunarku to buy her a carrot, he warns her that if she uses up all the mana potions window shopping, she'll have to join everyone else in the "hell cloak".
