Isekai Ojisan: Delayed but not forgotten

We all like to imagine what it’s like to travel to a strange fantastical world and live out our fantasies there. This could be living the hero life or living on a farm without anyone bothering you and just vibing in the countryside. But what we don’t often think about is the possibility that this life in a strange world isn’t forever. Or more specifically, not everyone who gets sent to a strange world wants to stay there. The same can be said for Uncle. I am aware that he goes by several names but for the sake of this review we’ll stick to just calling him the role he fulfills. Uncle was sent to a strange world and then spent his time there adventuring and searching for a way back. He eventually found his way back to earth, where he was released from the hospital almost two decades later. The world has changed since he was whisked away and it is now up to his nephew, Takafumi and his old friend he just rekindled with, Fujimiya, to help him get used to life on earth again. Of course, they’re also extremely curious about his stories about this foreign world. So let’s talk about this show, its problems and what it brings to the table in today’s review of: Isekai Ojisan – Uncle from another world.

Let’s start with the problems, get those out of the way. This show doesn’t look particularly good. Part of that is the style, which I think is fitting to the kind of story it’s trying to tell, but not particularly appealing to me personally. A lot of the characters are kind of ugly – by design – but it does turn me off at times. Other times it’s used for comedy and works pretty well. I’m trying to not sound harsh because it’s something I did notice, but it’s not an issue. Having said that, the animation quality is definitely unimpressive. It’s not an action heavy show and even when there is action, the action isn’t the point of the show, so it’s not a high budget fluid motion spectacle. And the big issue it has, and the reason why this review didn’t happen half a year ago, is its delays. Isekai Ojisan started airing in summer of 2022 and only finished its run in March of 2023. For a series with 13 episodes, that’s a very long hiatus inbetween. To be more specific, there were a handful episodes, then it went on break, then it had another handful episodes and then after a long break the final episode aired in March. I remember really enjoying most of this show, but with how much time passed I wasn’t as invested in the finale as I would have liked. Production issues happen and it sucks much more for the people involved in this project than it does for me, but it is a shame. 

Now, with that out of the way, let’s talk about the reasons why I’m talking about this show, because despite its production issues, I still think it’s a good show. Considering anyone who hasn’t seen this show yet can watch it in one go, that becomes all the more true. Isekai Ojisan looks at the Isekai genre through a unique lens. It treats the arguably weird guy that spent all this time in a foreign world and became even weirder as an actual weird guy. It’s not the first anime where the main character isn’t popular, but it does execute it well. Uncle isn’t unpopular due to his actions per se, but it mainly comes from his lack of social awareness. He meets all these interesting women and he just couldn’t be more unaware of his own social etiquette. The characters back in the normal world who watch his memories back with him have more character progression and debt than you’d expect from a show like this and it does wonders for the story. You actually come to like them and that’s a big boon.

All in all, this show is too good to sleep on due to its production issues. I doubt it’s going to be in anyone’s top 10 for the year, but I feel like it deserves better than the bad luck it got. It’s funny, it’s got heart and it does the things it wants to do well. If you do check this show out after my recommendation, please let me know in the comments what you thought. And as always, thanks for reading.