Another Isekai anime?! How original.. Except there’s something special about this one.

The Gist of What We Are Getting Ourselves Into

Takafumi Takaoka’s uncle (Shibazaki Yousuke) voiced by Takahito Koyasu (Zeke Yeager from AoT) is a perfect example of what most of us anime enthusiasts will turn into, except the fact we’re alive and not in a coma. This anime is a satirical and humorous take on the “isekai” anime world. Takafumi, the protagonist and his uncle who lived in a magical world while in a coma for 17 years, finally wakes up in reality. That reality doesn’t have any magical abilities, elves or any other adventurous quests. That reality is sadly the one we all cosplay in our own little make-believe magical world, shooting fake magical beams except.. that reality does turn mystical! Or at least, for Ojisan that is.

Make it or Break it Humor

Shibazaki Yousuke or let’s just call him “Ojisan” brings back some old nostalgia with a joke like bringing up the Sega game consoles being discontinued. This whole comedy bit surrounding erasing the memories of the Sega game console is pretty much the kind of comedy and reactions you’ll get from the rest of the episode. If you like these kind of jokes and how the characters play the parts within the jokes, then you’ll probably enjoy this episode. If the joke and characters does not land, then I don’t think this episode and anime will jive with you.

Where I stand, is somewhere in-between.

At first, Takafumi gets ready to drop his uncle into the loony bin as he tries conjuring up spells he developed in the other world, only to get his jaw dropped as Ojisan actually performs some wind and fire spells. After finishing off this Sega comedy bit, we learn that Takafumi and Ojisan decide to make money off of Ojisan’s abilities by making YouTube videos. The episode continues as Ojisan figures out modern life with bits on dealing with “haters” online and online auctions.

Ojisan’s Life in Isekai

As you couldn’t tell by the handsomely amazing design of Ojisan himself, he isn’t your normal hero.

Is he even a hero?

Ojisan brings up a female character, who ends up being his “tsundere” love interest. Ojisan continues his tale in spurts throughout the episode as we find out he’s not actually all that heroic and honorable. He’s your obliviously, cowardly and disgustingly unattractive non-protagonist that gets himself into major binds that he sometimes doesn’t know he creates. This isn’t your knight and shining armor. This is your insensible “pump and dump” weasel kind of character; which sets us up for quite a fantastical bludgeoning of gut wrenching humor or one of those cringe-filled vomit flavored jellybeans.

Which one will we get?

As Ojisan continues further about his adventures in this other world, he shows Takafumi another memory of him saving a family of siblings from monsters. This scene further implies Ojisan’s handsomely features gets mistaken for those of ogres. I think we can all say this story was a universally humorous one as Takafumi points out some of Ojisan’s ignorance of the situation.

Maybe the coward that ran off before, “redeeming-ly” has some honor?

Is it Worth the Squeeze?

As it should be for the first episode, this episode is all about the exposition and world building of this anime. Out of everything in the first half of the episode, we get a sense of the quality of the humor and flow of the show before making any conclusions as to what we’re getting out of these characters. As Ojisan continues his tales about his time in the other world, the viewer will quickly find out what kind of character Ojisan is.

The ragged looking animation doesn’t really help make this anime look the part of your typical smooth looking shonen anime. This show’s animation style leans me more towards Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure and The Way of the Househusband kind of animation.

Takafumi and Ojisan aren’t exactly characters that will draw in a big female audience. There isn’t any “waifu bait” or “fan service-y” characters that are going to grab your attention right off the bat. Although, it does come eventually. There is a good enough recipe here for something pretty amusing. Unfortunately, the kind of audience this show will probably attract are guys that are into shows like One Punch Man, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure and other satirical kinds of anime.

Judgment After the First Episode

Ultimately, I like to give shows a chance to grow to become what the creators meant for it to be. Sometimes animes take time to gel and become something worthy of our time. Since the voice actor is the voice of Zeke Yeager, I was immediately drawn to the character because it sounds exactly like Zeke. Attack on Titan was an anime that took 3 seasons before I actually could say, “I enjoy the anime” as the story took its sweet time unveiling itself.

This series seems to be nothing quite like that. It’s humor and over-the-top reactions seems to be more like a Jojo’s Bizarre’s Adventure and The Way of the Househusband vibe. Honestly, those animes are a “you like it or you don’t” kind of anime. The humor is such a big part and draw to the series that it will make you decide very quickly whether you’re into it or not. Personally, I like fantasy, adventure and I do enjoy the humor enough to keep me going. I’m sure Ojisan’s story and how the show will incorporate Takafumi and other characters will be a hysterical one. Ending the episode on the funniest bit is one lasting impression that wants me to see another. I hope this anime turns out to be a good one, but I’m quite weary because it looks like it can sour really quickly.

If you guys watch this anime series, let me know what you think! If you read the manga, how good does it get?