Isekai Ojisan (Uncle from Another World)
Studio: Atelier Pontdarc
Genre: Fantasy, isekai
Hello my friends, Welcome to another entry of my blog.
First and foremost, I just want to apologise for being absent over a month, it has been a very crazy month of August, especially because I decided to take a short break from all my activities to calm myself a little bit, and then come back with more strength and ever. And I want to let you know that I have been preparing a lot of reviews, they will come soon.
But fro now, I want to let you know about some series that I was checking last week, and I found extremely hilarious. In case I was thinking that perhaps the isekai is getting boring (which I haven’t by the way), I just met with this series.
Now, let me introduce you.
But before I continue with my review, I want to ask you the typical question:
Are you guys ok? Feeling healthy?
If the answer is yes, then I am happy.
And… now let’;s go with my Uncle from Another World (Not mine)
PREMISE
Based on the manga written and illustrated by Hotondoshindeiru, Isekai Ojisan, or Uncle from Another World (異世界おじさん), tells us the story of Yosuke Shibazaki, voiced by Takehiro Koyasu, simply referred as Uncle for most of the episodes, who, in 2000, was hit by a truck and put in a coma.
Now, he awakes from his coma, seventeen years later, and it is precisely his own nephew, Takafumi Takaoka, voiced by Jun Fukuyama, who pays him a visit on the hospital; during his visit, Uncle (Yeah, I will call him like that) reveals to Takafumi that he was trapped in another world, where we learnt all types of magic. At first, Takafumi does not believe him, but when Uncle creates Wind and Fire from some spells, Takafumi convinces him to use his tricks to become an Internet celebrity. Shortly afterwards, Takafumi takes Yoshioka (On second thought, I will call him by his name), to his apartment, where both live together and Yoshioka shares with his nephew his memories from another world, with extremely hilarious results, because many girls were in love with Yoshioka, including a tsundere elf, a novice priestess, and a reclusive ice magician.
Oh, and Yoshioka is a fan of…
Haven’t seen so much presence of SEGA® since Ben-To.
As a manga, Isekai Ojisan has been published by Kadokawa Shoten, since June, 2018, for a total of eight volumes. Furthermore, the anime started broadcasting on July 6, 2022, for a total of seven episodes as of September 12. However, the anime recently suffered a setback – it suspended the broadcast due to an apparent COVID outbreak at Atelier Pontdarc, the studio in charge.
Here is the link for the article:
But the good news is that it recently confirmed that will continue the episodes on Novbember, so that comes as a relief.
Uncle from Another World is available in Netflix.
I must confess that I thought that Isekai Ojisan was a series of light novels, before realising that it was a manga. I do not know why I thought that, perhaps it is because I am used to think that all the isekai come in the format of light novels. But when I realised of my mistake, I thought…
«No wonder».
Sorry for the lackluster respond, but that is how it literally happened to me. And regarding the studio in charge, Atelier Pontdarc, this is the first time I heard of it in my life.
Anyway, Isekai Ojisan has a lot of voice talents, including Haruka Tomatsu, Mikako Tomatsu, Aoi Yuki and Aki Toyosaki.
STORY
Ok. I think I will start with the very element that called my attention about Isekai Ojisan, and that is its art. For the time I was watching the episodes, I couldn’t help but start to myself. What kind of art is this? It does look a bit rough and opaque, but I weirdly looks very appropriate, for a story about a guy who stayed in coma for seventeen years, and despite having his magic intact, he has to live with his nephew. In a sense, it is a really weird combination of art for an anime that mixes comedy and fantasy.
In that sense, that was good.
Furthermore, the animation is very fluid and solid for the most part, especially in the parts that Yoshioka summons the memories of his time in that other world. However, I feel really bad for him, because he only wanted to live a life, or accomplish his dream – living in a game… Possibly the closest he could get to a SEGA® game, however the people always confused him with an orc, and began to chase him. Nonetheless, I have to be honest when I say that the comedy really frustrated me, for two simple reasons – The first one is that it felt really repetitive, especially when Yoshioka talked about his love interests. It went to something like this.
- Yoshioka meets a girl.
- Takafumi gets excited, for thinking that his uncle… scored.
- Yoshioka walks away
- Takafumi gets disappointed.
For the most part, it felt like this. At the beginning it was funny, but then it went flat, for me at least. Nevertheless, there is a mixture of awkwardness and sweetness every time Yoshioka references SEGA, because despite being made for comedic purposes, we notice that he truly loved the brand, and his expressions are true evidence of that.
Also… I truly ended hating most of the inhabitants of the other world, because I thought…
«How could you confuse a person like that with an orc? You have to be incredibly stupid for that.»
I apologise. I do not tend to be this harsh, but the story forced me to be. If it wasn’t because the appearance of the tsundere elf, I would be full of cringe. And if that was the intention of the author, good for him. As a matter of fact, I would not be surprised of the author intended for us to hate the villagers of the other world.
I have to watch more episodes anyway, so I am still looking forward to how the story unfolds.
But, on the other hand, Isekai Ojisan takes its time to develop the relationship between Yoshioka and Takafumi, which I enjoyed a lot. These two have a bond that feels awkward, but heartwarming at times, and that is one of the best moments of Isekai Ojisan.
But, on episode three, there is a moment that really disappointed me, to the point that I considered it a wasted opportunity. Literally this was my face when I saw that.
Moreover, while some elements of the comedy were repetitive, others were extremely funny, like the references to Neon Genesis Evangelion and Asuka. Isekai Ojisan reminds you that the term tsundere became truly popular in the early 2000s, having this lovely lady as one of the best examples…
And it was hilarious because I felt exactly the same way that Yoshioka… Literally I thought…
«How was I supposed to know that Asuka was in love with Shinji?» Uh-Oh! I hope I didn’t reveal any spoilers.
In other words, despite enjoying the first three episodes of Isekai Ojisan, I felt that some elements are wasted, and I hope that the next episodes will bring some improvement regarding the comedy and the chemistry with the characters.
CHARACTERS
On the other hand, I ended enjoying the characters. If I feel that the comedy was kind of weak and wasted opportunities, I feel that the characters were likeable. I recognised that Yoshioka is an awkward, yet hilarious character, especially when he smiles.
And his chemistry between Yoshioka and Takafumi is hilarious. Also, the latter is pretty nice character, because it is the only one who takes his uncle when no one did. My only problem is that I believe he might need more development. I am sure we will see more in the next episodes.
Also… I want to see more of Sumika, and her relationship between Takafumi. These two, in my opinion, has the best potential to advance their friendship more, thanks to Yoshioka. I think that might happen.
However, at this point, I am more interested in what will happen with the human characters, including Yoshioka, rather than the isekai characters. I do not know guys, but I believe that I have an idea of what is going to happened between Yoshioka and his «isekai harem», so I have more expectations on Takafumi, Yoshioka and Sumika. I am not saying that the elf, Mabel, and the priestess are bad characters, but… I feel that the beginning of the story spoiled me a bit of the ending. I hope I am wrong, so I will watch more episodes later.
CONCLUSION
I admit that I got mixed feelings toward Isekai Ojisan, because it has good concepts and a hilarious premise, but I can’t stop wondering if the studio, or the author, were aware of the many possibilities for the insane plot of this story. Only time will tell. And again, these are simple my first impression, but it does not mean that the story will be bad. It is an impression for you, my beloved readers, and for me to continue watching the series and give it a chance.
Time will tell.
And me… I will tell where was I… Exploring this beautiful land, called Australia.
More specifically…. Mordialloc Beach. You can check my pictures.
I will put more picture soon. But now… Time for another adventure. Right Truck-kun?
See you soon.
Jainituos Presents 