Ojisan has another encounter where his translation ability activates. Sumika and Takafumi’s relationship takes another step forward.

Recap & Reaction

Opening Hook of Episode

After Ojisan and Tsundere Elf’s first encounter, Ojisan tracks her down to get back his jacket. Playing deeper into this Ojisan and Tsundere Elf romance that’s not really a romance, Ojisan teases the audience by putting her in chains in order to get back his jacket. On a simple request, she asks Ojisan to “remove the chains,” since it’s in the way. He does and she clocks him.

The scene shifts back to Ojisan explaining to Takafumi that she ran away with his jacket, but left her dress. He pulls it out and they had Sumika try it on. When Sumika has it on, Ojisan hints that he actually kind of misses the other world with Tsundere Elf on his mind.

• Looking back at the entirety of the episode, this opening scene seemed a bit random as a collective. Coming off the previous episode where it ended where Mabel, Tsundere Elf and Ojisan parted ways, it gets kind of jumbled when they are now portraying 2 separate timelines in Ojisan’s story.

• Not only that, this scene continues where Tsundere Elf and Ojisan had their first encounter. I’m sure this part of the story has a purpose in weaving together something for the story later on, but it can be kind of confusing.

• As a standalone scene, it continues the gag of the “explicit” nature between Tsundere Elf and Ojisan. This anime can continue to go back to this well and I think the majority of the audience would be happy to continue having these kind of scenes.

• However, it looks like what’s conveyed in the beginning of this episode is that Ojisan might finally start getting Tsundere Elf’s hint. This is the first time Ojisan somewhat acknowledges that maybe he could like Tsundere Elf. As the episode continues, this shift in romantic acknowledgement gets even more deliberate for Takafumi.

A Story About Using “Wild Talker”

For Ojisan’s entire existence on Granbahamal, he never knew that he had this translation ability. After deliberation with Takafumi, he now calls this ability “Wild Talker(万能(ワイルド)話(トー)手(カー).” In the middle of conversation, Sumika gets up to run an errand in a “foreshadow-ey” kind of way as it panels from bottom up as Sumika looks back as she’s opening the door to leave.

• This scene did it’s job in building some kind of anticipation for a later event. Ominous isn’t quite the word, but it’s definitely is conveying something that the viewer should be worried about as Sumika suddenly leaves, speaking ambiguously about an “errand.”

Yet, another story from Ojisan’s past regarding a Sega Genesis reference. Instead of people mistaking him for an orc, he’s now a “mutated goblin.” He comes across a few new characters (Edgar, Alicia & Raiga), fighting an army of goblins.

In the Sega Genesis game, he manipulates the goblins to fall into a hole, but in the fight against the goblins in Granbahamal, they just walk around it. He then attempts to use a move from the Golden Axe game that involves jump and stabbing a sword straight down. It’s a difficult move that never lands. Eventually, he slices a part of the cliff from afar and all the rubble came down to squash the goblins. In Takafumi’s frustration, he berates Ojisan over his move not actually being useful at all and putting the characters in danger. Ojisan continues telling him that “Sega Genesis games are useful!”

• This story ends up just being a setup for later scenes of Ojisan explaining how his Wild Talkers ability works. I didn’t quite get the purpose of Ojisan explaining how Sega Genesis games were useful as that whole Golden Axe reference felt like just another Sega Genesis gag and nothing more.

Takafumi, happy that Ojisan looked like he found some new friends, suddenly erases Edgar, Alicia and Raiga’s memories when Alicia brought up the fact that he put up the barrier in the Luvaldram incident. Ojisan fast forwards the story to their next encounter, having the same introductory conversation they had when the goblin army attacked them. Although this time, he calls himself “Kuroki Tenma.”

Alicia explains that “they are in a quest” to basically kill a Hedgehog. In Ojisan’s head, he thinks she is explaining a giant Sonic the Hedgehog, only to find out it’s literally just a giant hedgehog. In Ojisan’s deep childhood affection for Sonic, Ojisan still tries to level with the hedgehog beast and his Wild Talker power activates. In a total misdirection, Ojisan gets disgusted with what the level of evil he hears from the hedgehog and ends up blowing it up to smithereens after he understands the horror of what the hedgehog was saying.

• Thus far in the episode, there were some amusing parts, but having the hedgehog with the little cute sounds translated was one by far the funniest moments of the episode. It’s back to the formula prior to the last 2 episodes the writer uses for these epic punchlines.

Premise: Edgar, Alicia & Raiga are on a quest to take down a violent hedgehog that’s not Sonic.

Setup: Ojisan somehow activates Wild Talker and communicates with the hedgehog.

Punchline: The hedgehog speaks in a squeaky and cute voice that needs translations on the screen. It’s actually pure evil what it says and Ojisan just obliterates it.

• Having Ojisan just completely annihilate the hedgehog was the perfect punchline for this setup. However, this was one of the more predictable outcomes than what the previous episodes had. Nonetheless, it ignited some genuine laughter out of me.

Finally! Sumika & Takafumi Development!

Once Ojisan’s story ends, Sumika’s phone goes off in the apartment. Ojisan and Takafumi realizing that she forgot her phone, they end up flying off to drop off her phone. When they arrived at Sumika’s location and in shocking amazement, they find Sumika walking with another guy! Ojisan “asks the spirits” for some help and then relays to Takafumi that he’s able to use Ojisan’s powers for the next hour.

As Takafumi gets closer to Sumika with this mysterious guy to return the phone, he notices something familiar about the red-headed guy. It turns out his name is Chiaki and he is Sumika’s younger brother. Ojisan appears and Sumika introduced him as a YouTuber to Chiaki and they end up having a back and forth, while Takafumi and Sumika go off to the side. Takafumi uses his borrowed spells and they end up teleporting up into the building alone.

• Besides the earlier episode of Sumika attempting to drop hints and make her seductive moves on Takafumi, this is the first time Takafumi almost blatantly reveals his romantic interest in Sumika by showing his jealousy. It’s the first dynamic shift in their relationship that’s shown to the audience that wasn’t played off as a joke like in an earlier episode, when he requested Ojisan erase his memory of seeing Sumika outside the shower.

As the two continue conversing, Takafumi bring up the time he came to her rescue from some bullies. In reality, it was Sumika who was doing the bullying (a jokes that’s obvious at this point), Sumika stands up and gets really close to Takafumi, revealing that “he still made her smile.” Then out of nowhere, Sumika’s friend from high school, Sawa, pops in to interject. They greet each other with Sawa mentioning “how many guys want to date her.

• By Takafumi being able to use Ojisan’s powers for a bit, the audience was able to see another side to Takafumi. At first, it comes across as playful. The scene is pretty much set for the typical romantic scene where the characters that are into each other become more forthcoming, which actually works out that way.

• It starts to get kind of interesting as Sawa mentions that Sumika has “tons of males suitors.” Takafumi jokingly says that “he would like all of their numbers.” He just “wants to erase their memories.” Furthermore, he mentions that “male college students are less like people and should be crushed like insects.” These are the kind of statements that can be taken as just a joke because of his jealousy, but it can come across as something a bit darker.

Chiaki ends up calling Sumika and she quickly pulls Takafumi away as it looks like he’s engulfed in sadistic revenge-like jealousy. Sawa mentions that she “hopes that Sumika will be okay with a guy like Takafumi.”

• Have we finally found ourselves with a real plot?! Whether the story takes us down a path where Takafumi goes anti-hero on us, it sure sets up many different paths and that is something within the writing that I actually like about the story.

• Takafumi being jealous of Sumika brings an intriguing new wrinkle to their dynamic. Jealous can be light-hearted and fun or it can take us down darker paths—that path can lead to very interesting plots surrounding Takafumi’s actions. With this scene ending the way it did, it leaves many things to wonder and speculate about how this relationship can go side-ways.

Ending Credits Reveal?

The trio meet back up at Takafumi’s apartment and Takafumi tells Sumika that Ojisan’s powers works when “it’s direct communication and under immense pressure.” Then, Ojisan continues his story with Edgar, Alicia and Raiga. In the previous episode, Ojisan mentions wanting to help this hero who is called the “Shining Crusader.”

• By how the previous episode ended, the mention of that hero felt more like a throwaway moment rather than something significant.

Nevertheless, here we are with the reveal of the hero called the “Shining Crusader.” It’s of course non-spectacular Alicia Edelcia!

Some Criticisms..

What Isekai Ojisan Lacks

How that last scene was portrayed and for it to be revealed at the very end of the episode, it was clearly supposed to be of some higher significance. In reality, it comes across as “so what?” As much as I like the humor and how most of these episodes are constructed, Ojisan lacks an overall motivational purpose. Even in One Punch Man, Saitama wants to fight the strongest guy in the world, so he can feel something (that’s the joke). Humor works best when it contrasts with something more serious—like a meaningful plot..

At this point, a lot of the humor comes across as “recycled.” As a viewer, I am well prepared for what to expect for certain punchlines and references. This episode felt like a giant setup for the potential of a later payoff down the road. Episodes 5 & 6 was that payoff for those earlier episodes, so I won’t be too harsh here.

Why Do We Care About Knowing About Ojisan’s “Wild Talker?”

There’s also this mystery behind Ojisan’s “Wild Talker” power. As significant as it is, the weight and mystery of finding out about how it works isn’t really displayed with the same level of intensity as it should. There’s been multiple episodes in this short season that displayed that they can really elicit a multitude of emotions out of the viewer. Having a little bit of that mysterious ominous flavor the previous episode had, brought a refreshing new outlook to this series. However, the lack of the characters taking anything seriously downplays some parts where it feels like it should be taken more seriously.

Dramatic Preference

This episode just felt like too many different things that were jumbled within one episode. Tsundere Elf was used as the hook of the episode, but was never seen again in the episode. I would have preferred something a bit more dramatic like Sumika being with another mysterious red head guy or even teasing the “Shining Crusader.”

Last Thoughts

Overall, there were some refreshing parts of this episode like Ojisan making new friends, taking down a hedgehog and actual character development for Sumika & Takafumi. However, most of the episodes have been following a certain pattern makes it all kind of feel the same. This kind of puts me at a fork in the road. I do like the comedic satire and characters. Even so, the lack of connecting to a real plot and not being engulfed into a story is really weighing on me. Dare I say, “I am getting bored?”