Anime Review: Uncle from Another World (Japanese title: “Isekai Ojisan”)
The year is 2017. Yosuke Shibazaki has just woken from a seventeen year coma he entered when hit by a truck when he himself was seventeen. The shock of all those missing years–his toddler nephew Takafumi Takaoka is now in his early twenties–is compounded by the fact that during that time period, his mind was in another world entirely, the fantasy realm of Granbahamal. At first Takafumi thinks his uncle is insane, but Yosuke quickly proves that he’s kept his otherworldly powers and items.
Takafumi hasn’t had the best life either. His family didn’t get along with each other; his parents divorced when he was in high school, and Takafumi no longer communicates with them. He chose not to go to college without family support and was working temp jobs. The day he came to see his comatose uncle would have been his last visit. But since Uncle Yosuke is awake now, Takafumi invites him to share an apartment. They soon discover that Uncle’s magic is more of a hit than his retro Sega ™ video game playthroughs on Youtube ™, so long as it’s presented as clever special effects rather than actual magic.
In addition, Uncle begins to share stories of his time in the other world, alternately sad, interesting and horrifying. The two are soon joined by Takafumi’s childhood friend Sumika Fujimiya, who has a thing for Takafumi which he is kind of oblivious to.
This anime adaptation of the manga by Hotondo Shindeiru plays with the usual cliches of isekai (“other world”) fantasy stories in two ways. First, the absentee having to deal with the progress of the “normal” world and the loss of things he previously enjoyed, His favorite game company is obsolete, prices have gone way up, and he has no job history or educational credentials, so Youtubing is about it for decent income opportunities. His magic is convenient in some ways, but draws the wrong kind of attention.
Second, the usual isekai thing of “ugly gamer with no social skills goes to fantasy world, gets awesome power, is treated like a hero, and hooks up with hot babes” never quite works out for Uncle. He was bad at memorizing long names or lists of tasks to do in sequence, so didn’t play RPGs and thus doesn’t connect with the expected behavior of a role-playing game-based world. (But give him an attack pattern, and that he can learn.)
The other world’s humans are on average better looking than Earthlings, and the already ugly by Japanese standards Uncle is assumed to be some kind of superintelligent (by the standards of that species) orc. The first people Uncle meets attack and capture him, selling him not even into slavery, but as a possible zoo exhibit! Once he learns some magic, Uncle is able to hold his own for minimal social interaction, but is never really accepted by the local societies.
Because Uncle never really got the hang of social interactions back home, either, and left before the tsundere (girl who acts angry most of the time but is actually into you) trend went into full swing, he doesn’t get that the beautiful elf princess who keeps calling him “orc face” wants to be friends…and maybe a bit more. Similar misunderstandings also sabotage his ability to realize that other women are likewise able to look past his appearance.
His unpleasant early experiences leave Uncle with the primary goal of returning to Earth by any means possible. This causes him to break things just to learn if doing so will create a way home, regardless of the impact on those around him or the terrain. He does mean well, when he thinks about it, but is bad at explaining his feelings and often backs out when it seems people are getting too close.
The Earth characters watch Uncle’s memories on a magical screen, much as we are watching them at home, pausing for biology breaks or because the story’s got too intense and they need time to process.
This comedy is built on a deeply sad undercurrent. Time and again, opportunities to live a happier life are missed. Uncle uses memory erasure and emotion-killing techniques to keep his experiences from drowning him in grief, but this has left him damaged in other ways.
The art is decent, and there’s a slight difference between how the “normal world” and “other world” sequences are animated to give them different feels.
Content note: fantasy violence. Male-oriented fanservice from time to time. Fantastic racism. Elf is verbally abusive towards Uncle to hide her true feelings, or because she’s angry at him, which happens a lot. It’s implied that a teacher was physically abusive towards Uncle in his youth, and a flashback by Takafumi shows him being bullied as a child.
The interesting spin on the isekai formula makes this a worthwhile series, but familiarity with the stereotypical tropes is needed to fully appreciate some of the jokes, so I do not think it would work as the first isekai series you watch. Recommended to experienced isekai fans.
