Isekai Ojisan – 2 [“Guardian Heroes” Shoulda Been Number One!]

Hello everyone, and welcome to what is technically the 2nd show I’m covering of the season. RWBY preaired 3 episodes though, and that’s cheating. Anyways, this week Isekai Ojisan continues to riff on the Isekai genre while also introducing a new character! Is it good? Sorta. Will it last? Let’s jump in and talk about that.

The core thrust of Isekai Ojisan is riffing on Isekai as a genre. Taking shots at every character and story trope it can. And for episode 1, this was pretty funny! I had a good time. But it has already, by the 2nd episode, started go stale. It feels like Isekai Ojisan only really has 2 jokes: Old things that the Uncle remembers that are no longer around, and screwups within the fantasy world. Now I want to be clear, this is fine if all you want is a few chuckles. Even telling the same joke for 12 episodes will probably get one every now and then even when I know it’s coming. But if you want to truly succeed as a comedy? Then you have to widen your repertoire. Luckily however, it does seem like Isekai Ojisan recognizes that and is trying to fix it. On both counts!

On the first bit, old things no longer being in print, this is already a decent joke. It’s gotten me a few times with SEGA, the manga, even technology. And Isekai Ojisan has already started trying to flip the formula to moderate success with the Uncle’s surprise at what is still in print. It’s a humorous reversal, I will admit! I chuckled at his surprise about how long the TV show lasted. But I don’t think this reversal, this joke at large, has much staying power. Unless Isekai Ojisan can find a new angle to come it from, they are going to have to get some new material to fill that gap.

Luckily, this is where the new character, Sumika, comes in. Sumika is Takafumi’s friend from grade school, a romantic interest. And she seems set to become the new “straight man” for this comedy trio. Originally that was Takafumi’s role, and he still kind of plays it to some extent when hearing about the fantasy world, though he’s largely become a sidekick now. But Sumika doesn’t believe a word that the Uncle is saying. In fact, she thinks that the Uncle is a negative influence on Takafumi, a drain on his resources, and also a roadblock to her clear romantic interest. I think she has a lot of potential in this role! She has no reason to roll over or put up with the Uncle’s bullshit, and seems more than willing to call him out or call the cops, etc. She can show us the Uncle through a normal person’s eyes.

As for the isekai side of things, this really just comes down to how creative Isekai Ojisan is able to get with the scenarios. If it can think up more and more interesting twists or absurd scenarios for Uncle to involve himself in, things far removed from your regular Isekai fare that normally goes ignored, then I think it has a lot of promise. As an example, we saw a bit of this in todays episode with Mabel. The way Uncle not only completely ignored an obvious quest hook but drove her down a darker, eviler, NEET-dom path of never leaving her house. And it was funny! It was unexpected! My only concern with it is that there is only so many times you can subvert an audiences expectations before the subversion becomes the expectation. At some point, they will have to play it straight.

But of course, that way lies another pitfall: If Isekai Ojisan starts to play the Isekai part straight, starts to rely to much on the flashbacks, then it risks becoming exactly what it’s parodying. Now I get that this may sound all doom and gloom, so I want to make one thing clear: I’ve enjoyed the series. This isn’t a problem. Yet. It’s just that I’ve seen to many parody series fall off that tightrope and become the very thing they are mocking. I want Isekai Ojisan to succeed and for the rest of the episodes to be hilarious. I’m just going to be keeping a very careful eye out to make sure it doesn’t lose that spark and start wasting my time.

Anyways, doom, gloom and prophesy aside, how would I say this episode of Isekai Ojisan was? Personally? Fun. The first half was a tad slow and repetitive for me, relying on all of the jokes I listed above. But once Sumika got introduced it spiked back up. I really like what she brings to their back and forth. How Uncle says some stupid fantasy shit, Takafumi just accepts it or tries to cover for him knowing its real, all the while Sumika is acting like the only normal person in the room. I think it will be a lot of fun to watch her slowly figure out its real, deny it, then start the process again until the dam breaks. At the very least, if done well, I expect she can cover content for the rest of the season. I hope so at least.

P.S. I realized I forgot to mention it, but I also really liked the more heartwarming stuff introduced this episode as well. Seeing Takafumi buy his Uncle that Sega Saturn, knowing how much he loves and cares for that system, was heart warming. It took the joke of the Uncle’s obsession, the last thing he cared about and his connection to his old life before being whisked away, and turned it into a legitimately heartfelt scene. That’s another thing that, if Isekai Ojisan can continue to do it well, will put it over the top for me into an actually good series.