This episode continues Ojisan’s origin story and how he obtained his powers. It also covers Ojisan and Tsundere’s Elf’s first encounter.

Ojisan’s “Genesis” Continues

At the beginning of the episode, it starts us with Ojisan’s 3 captors that end up selling off Ojisan for only 3 bronze coins. The man that paid for Ojisan basically said “what am I going to do with a half-dead orc?” To those 3’s disgust, they sell the man some scouring pads, netting 120 bronze coins.

The hook of this episode leaned heavily on continuing this mysterious revelations of how Ojisan came to be. Sure, there was a funny reactionary moment of the difference in bronze coin value between Ojisan and the scouring pads; however, presenting a new ominous mood is a big switch compared to the previous episodes—adding some fresh flavor to the story telling.

Suddenly, Takafumi and Ojisan get a nosebleed after watching Ojisan be sold away. As a side effect to the recipient of the spell of “forgetting a memory,” when that person gets reminded of that particular erased memory, that person gets a nosebleed. Ojisan takes out his journal to have Sumika read what it says on the first page.

Like how this Ojisan origin story is weaving together what seemingly looks like random experiences in Granbahamal, this nosebleed takes us back to the very beginning of episode one where Ojisan erased Takafumi’s memory of reading Ojisan’s journal. Sumika not reading pass page 1, probably bears some significant moments that will likely come into future episodes.

Ojisan ends up being put into a jail cell with other interesting creatures and was forgotten about for about a week. As he was muttering and seemingly going crazy to Takafumi & Sumika, it was revealed that he was actually speaking to this “sentient light.” He walks up to this light and announces a spell—grabbing the light, which turns into a sword.

For the first time in the entire series, Uncle From Another World displays the darker and more ominous parts of Ojisan’s experiences in Granbahamal. At least that’s how the music and storyboarding made it look. Having a prolonged serious tone bode well for this portion of the episode as it actually portrayed Ojisan going through real trials and tribulations. Also, it’s clear that his wish from the previous episode has a broader meaning that can literally explain everything about Ojisan’s powers.

The power of translation. That is what was deduced from Ojisan’s wild muttering. He is able to understand the gods and/or spiritual entities that are trying to communicate with him, giving the audience a sufficient answer to how Ojisan’s powers came about. From all the stories we’ve heard so far, Takafumi relates back to all of those situations where Ojisan was able to speak to the spirits.

With a glowing sword in hand, Ojisan busts himself out of the jail cell, freeing the other creatures with him—only to find out that they were all violent monsters. All of the monsters end up attacking Ojisan and the man that held all of those captured monsters. In a call back to Ojisan’s vintage gaming experience, Ojisan looks deep within those video game tropes to strike all of those monsters down with a sword spell, saving the man and himself.

As fun as it is to have very funny hard hitting jokes like in the first handful of episodes, the collection of all of those stories suddenly feel a lot more impactful and meaningful. The lightheartedness and punchline of certain jokes of those earlier episodes take a backseat to contrast the (still funny) more serious aspects of Ojisan’s origin story. The use of Ojisan using a gaming reference wasn’t thrown to the face of the audience as just another Sega Genesis joke as it has been, but was used as part of a significantly profound moment in Ojisan’s willpower.

Again, there were still little “Ojisan” unexpectedly funny moments. Ojisan doesn’t get called “ogre face” for no reason. In his relish, Ojisan puts on a cynical, maniacal face that makes the man that felt grateful for Ojisan saving him, fear him. He then creates a teleport spell, shoving the man through it to save his life. Then, after slicing down all those monsters in a deranged manner, he then proceeds to eat them at a fire camp.

This sequence of scenes is what makes Uncle From Another World, Uncle From Another World. It’s take on the “genesis” of Ojisan being a typical origin story is slightly curtailed by some of the Ojisan-like moments like putting on his “orc face” and munching away at all of the monsters like it’s the typical protagonist way of doing things. You know you have some special characteristics when the best way of explaining what’s happening is using the characters as adjectives.

Origin Story Behind Tsundere Elf & Ojisan’s First Encounter

The story continues further in the 2nd half of the episode as Ojisan explains a story where he saved the Tsundere Elf by one-shotting a dragon. This story gives us some explanation behind Tsundere Elf’s infatuation with Ojisan since episode one.

Another gag ensues as Tsundere Elf puts a knife into another dimension in her chest and Ojisan assumes that she got stabbed, resulting in him in touching her nice “silky” elf skin. Lacking in any sense of awareness of what he’s doing, Ojisan’s power of translation doesn’t really help him make wise decisions when it comes to the elf, thus making this the beginning of the “Tsundere Elf lore” in Ojisan’s story.

In another major development that weaves in events from the previous episodes, we can finally make sense of why Ojisan has this “random” elf chasing him down. The knight in shining armor (Ojisan) saving the beautiful looking princess (Tsundere Elf) trope makes total sense for this to be their first encounter. It also makes even more sense that the Elf becomes “tsundere,” as Ojisan crosses the line with her.

Finishing the Story After Mabel Freezes Ojisan

Ojisan wakes up the next day surprisingly with Mabel and Tsundere Elf on top of him. Ojisan’s lack of translation for girl speak continues as Tsundere Elf drops hints that would make any typical man rock solid. As Mabel complains about having to work, she continues to fawn over Ojisan to Tsundere Elf’s dismay. Then, he tells Mabel to work under Tsundere Elf until she finds out what she wants to do with her life. With the introduction of Mabel, competition for Ojisan’s goodies are now at stake.

Like most attractive male protagonists, these characters typically have multiple female suitors jockeying for the main character’s sentient sword. Having Ojisan be the main character makes it all the more amusing. However, the main character being aloof to girls is actually pretty typical of male protagonists.

The episode pretty much ends with the 3: Ojisan, Mabel & Tsundere Elf going their separate ways. Back in the real world, Ojisan decides to take Sumika and Takafumi out to eat for some ramen, ending the episode on a rather lighthearted note.

Ending the episode the way it did actually left me a bit speechless because it makes you ask “so, what now?” It’s kind of an open ended ending with the same possibilities the show started with. At the very least, we got a better understanding of the characters with any future endeavors not needing much context behind their motivations.

Last Thoughts

These past 2 episodes were the missing link stories that strung all the other Granbahamal stories together from the previous episodes. It felt pretty good to make sense of everything from Ojisan’s powers to the funny relationships he established with Tsundere Elf and Mabel. If the ending was any indication, it felt like an ending to an arc, which means we might finally get a legitimate plot after this? This episode solidified all the important questions we had about Mabel and Tsundere Elf. While there are still many mysteries and secrets that we can come to find out about these characters, how they relate to Ojisan have been answered.

Again, these past 2 episodes accomplished a few things well in explaining to us about Ojisan, Mabel and Tsundere Elf. We get a better understanding of Ojisan’s powers as it’s basically “translation.” It’s broad enough that the writer can literally make anything up as to how Ojisan got as strong as he did as it can be answered by “translation.” Too bad it can’t translate what Tsundere Elf really wants or does Ojisan actually get the hints? There’s always the potential for the writer to toy with us with that angle. Or is he already doing it?

Nevertheless, from this point forward it’s going to be intriguing to see how Tsundere Elf and Mabel be used for future episodes and stories. Are they just visual eye candy that sells us viewers merch or will they be used as apart of a larger plot? Whatever the answer is this episode gave satisfying character development for Ojisan, Tsundere Elf and Mabel. As much as I would like to see a real plot with real antagonists, I still admire the way the stories from the previous episodes came together in episode 5 and 6.