Outbreak Company

Stroy
The story is about bringing Japanese culture, name it VN games, anime, manga and other things to a fantasy world that the goverment discovered, so that's why our protagonist is sent to this place, because he has the knowdlege of all these things, Shinichi will learn how different this fantasy world is. The thing is that everything was well paced until the last 3 episodes where they throw a lot of content too fast and too much for 3 episodes, so it was ok but a little disappointing.

Art & Animation
The art style was good, the characters were a little simple but still well made.

Sound
The sound ... was good, the OP and ED song were good and it matched the theme of the anime, the songs in the comedy parts made it even funnier, overall it was good.

Character
The characters were ok, nothing special.
-Shinichi was funny and he was likeable and his facial expression were hilarious, specially his poker face.
-Petrarka was annoying at first but a little likeable later, maybe.
-Myucel the elf was sweet and light hearted, in this world shes seen as a low class.
Overall the characters were mostly ok with good moments.

Enjoyment
Mostly enjoyable, funny from time to time, helped by the songs to make them funnier, enjoyable charachters to some extent, an average anime but still enjoyable.

(This has been adapted from my reddit thread)

Anime is a medium that is normally looked down upon. Filled with sexualized women, crazy plots, and enough cute little girls to open up a daycare, the culture it has created is definitely unique. It is with this in mind that Outbreak Company aims to look at with a more satirical view in mind.

STORY

Our story begins with Shinichi, a young guy who, upon scoring a perfect on the "otaku test", has been accepted as the new GM of AmuTec. This company's main directive? Apply otaku culture to the newly discovered kingdom of Eldant.

Sounds pretty crazy, right? To be ... honest, it is. Most shows and society look down upon otaku culture (mostly meaning obsession with anime/manga/games). But Outbreak Company takes a positive twist on this idea. The majority of the show actually focuses and explains the different lifestyles, phrases, and mannerisms of otaku. Do you want to know how to be an hikikomori? It has you covered. Don't know certain BL terms? Done. Need definitions for what it means to be "moe" and "tsundere"? Easy as pie. The show is rife with the culture it intends to parody, and for all intents and purposes (read here as "as far as I know"), it does this quite nicely.

The show's main focus is depicting a world that has never been exposed to something of this magnitude before. Essentially, the people of Eldant are like us before we were ever introduced to anime. They learn about popular shows, what to look out for in manga, and which games are rare to find. But this show is a comedy, and more specifically a parody. It doesn't take itself too seriously (most of the time). I found the comedy itself to be good. By playing off the idea that otaku culture is actually something to strive for, it gives us these situations that wouldn't normally be possible. And because of that, you are laughing a lot at what these people are doing.

More comedy also stems from the characters. They themselves are also pretty generic, but that's the point. By representing a role from anime, you understand what that character is attempting to portray or at the very least poke fun at.

Because the comedy works so well, when the show does get into more dramatic territory, it feels rather shallow. In other words, weak. OC is at its best when it is making fun of the otaku culture and the comedy in general. A lot of the dire moments only last for an episode (or even half of one), so they don't feel particularly influential in the long run.

Another problem with the show is the kingdom of Eldant. I felt a distinct lack of development on its world-building. I never really felt as if I was experiencing this new world. Instead, it felt like any other countryside. I feel as if the show should have done some more exploration into its people and original culture before attempting to instantiate a new one. Perhaps this is due to the pacing of the show, which seems a tad bit too quick for its own good.

ANIMATION

Outbreak Company's art style is actually rather pretty, if not a little bit strange. All of the characters have this "shine" to them that makes it look as if they took a bath in some oil beforehand. It isn't really a turn-off, just that they seemed to always be glowing.

The animation itself is a slight problem. To be honest, it was never too stellar, and when it had the chance to be, such as during the soccer match or during certain dire moments, they usually opted for off-screen happenings or repeated use of the same animated sequence.

As for the character designs, I actually quite liked them. In particular, Myucel's and Petralka's designs were quite nice. The same can be said for Romilda. I would have liked to have seen more racial variety besides just the dwarves and the elves, but perhaps that is just wishful thinking.

CHARACTERS

It is best to keep in mind that the characters for OC are meant to parody the common tropes of otaku culture. That being said, I still liked the majority of them.

My favorite by far was Myucel. She has a small bit of back-story to her, but she personifies cuteness, and her actions are without a doubt too adorable to not put a smile on your face constantly. Seriously, she is so "moe" that it is impossible not to like her.

Petralka somewhat represents the "tsundere" type. She acts authoritatively and loudly around Shinichi, but it becomes clear early on that her affection towards him is more than just royalty and ambassador. One of her funniest moments is definitely at attempting to be the character arch-type she is parodying, but she always provided good laughs because she could read Shinichi oh so well.

Speaking of the MC, Shinichi himself is the final character of note. Unlike other main protagonists, he is not dense. He understands the situations he gets put in, how the people around him act, and what the outcome of certain situations would be. He is smart, kind, and honest. He isn't afraid to speak his mind, and because of his otaku nature, he also provided some of the best laughs in the series.

Besides these three, I found the other characters to be rather boring or at least under-utilized. Specifically in regards to Elbia and Brooke. These characters are introduced and slightly looked at, but are then for the most part forgotten. I wish we would have seen more connections between them and the world, since this would tie into the world-building itself, but this never happened.

SOUND

The OP at first wasn't too good, but became at least slightly enjoyable the more I heard it. It has a fantastical feel to it that fits nicely with the fantasy landscaping of the show. Plus, the twinkling part with Elbia and her eyes I particularly liked because it coincided so well together. The ED features Petralka alone in many different areas around Eldant, and the song itself gives us a feeling of wonderment, the same that she feels as she walks along the barren world.

When it comes to a soundtrack, it is sometimes hard to leave a memorable mark. However, it is quite easy to do if you have a piece that is quirky and has simpe lyrics. This piece, probably known by everyone who has seen the show, is the "DA DA DA" song that gets played a handful of times. You owe it to yourself to check it out, since it is strangely weird yet extremely fun to listen to.

The voice acting was fine throughout the show. There are no standout performances to be had, but I enjoyed Myucel's, Petralka's, and Shinichi's voice acting.

ENJOYMENT

Outbreak Company is a pretty funny show. And its also very sweet. I love to ship couples if they show any signs that they want to be together. So whenever Shinichi and Myucel were alone together, I always had a doofy grin on my face. Romance wasn't really the focus of the show, but I did like the subtle hints and inclusion of it, for it provided tender moments and nice comedy.

Even though the show is rated PG-13, there is actually a heavy amount of fan-service, both of the tame and sexual variety. But this should be expected; after all, the show is attempting to demonstrate the different sides to otaku culture, and you can't talk about that without some naked women. I personally don't mind fan-service, so its inclusion was merely a bonus.

One of my favorite moments in OC is the "Swimsuit Council." Taking the show into context, it is a masterfully crafted joke and one that I will probably remember for a long time.

The series ends on a touching moment, leaving us with wanting to have a fulfilling conclusion. Will we get that? I'm not sure. But if the time comes, I will be more than happy to return to the land of Eldant to get my fix of Myucel, Petralka, and Shinichi.

SUMMARY

Story: Fine, interesting premise but lacking development

Animation: Good, shiny and modern with average actual animation

Characters: Fine, main cast is good but supporting is bad

Sound: Fine, okay OP, lacking ED, but good "DA DA DA"

Enjoyment: Good, funny, cute, and fan-service to boot

Final Score: 6/10

Comedy? Harem? Romance? Uh.. Action? What was this anime again? Highschool maybe? Kinda.

Outbreak Company. Basically it's an Isekai anime, where our MC is a total shut in, but was recruited for some kind of a mission to spread the Otaku culture in a new world that was revealed.

There, he meets tons of girls and yep, you guessed right- It becomes your generic Isekai harem anime.

Story: 4/10

The story was really bad, Let's start and say it didn't have any linear plot line, nothing that led to another thing, no twists. Nothing. When the series was about to get a bit serious, it ends in a minute, ... somehow. It fails to be serious, and therefore I thought "Well it doesn't matter, at least the comedy should be good".

Well I was right, for the first few episodes. The jokes were pretty funny at first, but afterwards it just became the "embarrassing situations with a Harem MC". Walking into a girl stripping/dressing up, touching a pair of boobs, etc. etc.

So, I thought maybe I'll see some amazing romantic development. Uhhh I can't say there wasn't. But it was definitely not more than your usual Harems. Well maybe a bit more. Still not satisfying, even a bit frustrating. I won't spoil, though.

Art: 8/10

The art was pretty good, nothing more, nothing less. Pleasing to the eye.

Sound: 4/10

Okay, that was a bit annoying. The OP and the ED songs are forgettable and skippable. I skipped both of them every episode since hearing them once.

Now to the soundtrack- When there's a climax brewing, you should have some intense track right? Well not here. The "intense" soundtrack is a person saying "da dadadada, da, dadada" with some kind of rhythm.

Character: 6/10

Harem show, what can I say. You have the kind person in love with MC, you have the tsundere, you have the girl with the big boobs who slaps MC and the girl with big boobs who doesn't care about MC touching her boobs and such.

I've liked Miyucel(the maid), and she was the only reason I've kept watching this anime. The rest of the cast (Including Shinichi the MC) weren't likable.

Enjoyment/Overall: 6/10.

Outbreak company tried many things, it failed in most of them (if not all). I do not recommend this show, really. There are many other and better shows out there.

It peaked episode 7, lets be real.

The show had a really interesting premise, and hit really hard at the start, but after the 7th episode, it kind of dwindled down into the same formulaic thing.

The animation, for a show made in 2013, is absolutely excellent. The character design is pretty stellar with pretty line art and great shading, and some of the scenes were quite beautiful as well.

The soundtrack really complemented the scenes, and some tracks will be absolutely legendary, such as the duh's of the laugh track being a specific highlight. The opening and ending were pretty standard however.

The characters were pretty ... one dimensional, with them based on tropes, but did actually show some growth over the episodes. The princess girl had her episode of growth, the maid girl shows progression through the whole series, but the rest of the cast, aside from the MC, was pretty stagnant aside from their initial quirk.

The story wasn't amazing, but it wasnt Dog Day's level though. They had alot of good threads introduced, but the show tried to do too much with too little time, and left a lot of threads open. Considering that the later episodes were complete filler, with 11 & 12 having some semblance of a final plot, but you know, it could have been better.

Overall, this isn't the type of show that will rock your socks off, but it is a good view to just hang out and enjoy some good old anime. The references are also a fun addition that makes it feel more realistic.

Pretty decent stuff, tbh.

Outbreak Company had an iffy start, it started somewhat light-hearted while being extremely generic, but despite that, it managed to have some funny scenes here and there. The comedy of this series is one of the few good points about it, if not the only one.

The iffy start wasn't only because that the show is generic, but also the fact that it executes drama extremely poorly, or at least something that was meant to be drama.
The first time that we see this is in episode 3, where some drama happened and the results were the following. Character A was stabbed defending character B, ... leading to character B changing the way that she perceived character A. This was all done with the light-hearted theme presented at the beginning of the series and some comedy scenes here and there. Yes, someone got injured but all while having comedy. Which I honestly couldn't care less about either the drama or comedy since it isn’t funny when someone is getting stabbed and isn’t sad when you have a character pushing his face against a woman breasts while being kidnapped and on a life of death situation, all while the woman is moaning. Which is really bad since the comedy is the strong point of this series.

The second time and last one that we see this is on the last 2 episodes of the series, where after multiples episodes of extremely absurd comedy we get a drama arc. But again, all while being light-hearted and trying to be funny. I won’t go into details about what happened but it was the same exact thing that happened in the beginning drama arc of the series. Drama and comedy altogether. Why wouldn’t work?

Think about this. You are with some people in a life or death situation and from nowhere someone goes and tells a joke. Would you find it funny? I at least wouldn’t. But that’s me, when it exists actual consequences I can’t find it funny. And this series goes and tell us that it indeed it exists consequences, but continues with the comedy and give us absurd situations while something is at stake and that’s why in my opinion it doesn’t work.

While I do think that the drama of Outbreak Company is horrible, on the other hand, I do think that the comedy is great. I mean, a 10 years old dwarf with beard attending school and learning hardcore Otaku terms like “Haitenai” is something that I will never forget for the rest of my life. (Which btw is when a female character might not be wearing anything underneath her skirt, but keep in mind that whether she’s actually wearing any or not doesn’t matter).
The show also makes a lot of references to another anime, which in my opinion is quite funny if you know what they are making references to.

That’s the type of comedy that this series uses most of the time. Absurd situations, that are only available because of the medieval/magic world that they are. And I do think that it made good use of that for the comedy.

And that’s it. It actually had more good episodes than bad ones, but the bad ones were awful. Making this a series that I would never recommend and one when I look back at it will only think of how good it could have been. That said, overall I did enjoy the anime and that’s why I gave it a 6 out of 10 (Fine).

With that, I conclude my review. If you are looking for an anime that it never takes itself seriously, even when it does, I recommend this series since the comedy is pretty good and despite the plot being complete nonsense, it is an enjoyable anime.

Review #2: Outbreak Company

Story 6/10 -- This is one of those animes storylines while unique, I disagree with. The Japanese government finds a new realm in an abyss, and decides to kidnap an Otaku to sell them their own merchandise. Ignoring finding a new world, I'm not really sold on this plot at all. While it explores major topics today such as social class, and racial discrimination, the show expresses them, but doesn't address or build anything on it afterwards. it focuses more on selling anime and manga, and the lack of hero qualities by the MC is underwhelming in this fantasy series. It's more ... of a lighthearted comedy then an engaging series.

Art 8/10 -- The Art was really good, one thing for certain is the high amount of anime/manga references hidden on the walls in the background. I found that to be pretty cool by Studio feel, along with the vibrant color and scenery they put effort into. The majestic castle was pretty nice as well.

Sound 8/10 -- Overall the op/ed songs were pretty good, and the background music was better then most series during this season.

Character 7/10 -- The character art is average to good, and so are the personalities. Myucel is every man's dream when it comes to maids, she learns everything Shinichi teaches her quickly, and her personality is very cute and enjoyable. Petralka is a demanding majestic loli, 3 words together that can give any anime watcher multiple different reactions, while Shinichi is a rather plain MC, dense and somewhat gullible/follows blindly when being spoken too.

Enjoyment 7/10 -- The story isn't anything special, but this anime is enjoyable to SOL/Fantasy fans, as it doesn't care too much on story, but rather the daily, fun events with doing the job Shinichi does. He's bringing everything he loves into a new world that's deprived, and he's thankful for meeting all these people I'm sure he could never have dreamed of. He becomes more outgoing as the series progresses, and I think this blends well with the atmosphere of the series.

Overall 6/10 -- This anime is a solid 6-7 series, but the art and sound were the best subjects from my review. The characters aren't as special as others I've seen compared to other similar fantasy animes. The story doesn't dig deeper, and that's a disconnect for me. This is a solid mid tier anime, but not of a high priority to watch, you can find better shows, even in the SOL/Fantasy genre mashup.

~Castawayz

Okay so, I watched the whole thing because a friend of mine reccomeded it to me.
I didn't know what to expect really, all along with reading what it's about.
----
It sounded interesting at first, it kind of was.
But when watching more and more of it- it just loses its meaning and it became pointless in the end and you just didn't understand. Sure, Shinshi spreading Otaku Culture all over another country with some magical "powers", gnomes, elf's etc.
I can't say I DISLIKE it, I don't. It's funny in its own way, I respect the comedy and parodies in it, made me laugh a couple of ... times- but I just think they could make the story like... They kind of ruined it with the whole "otaku school" thing and made it to complete nonsense.
Overall, I rate this anime a decent 5,5/10, gives a full 6/10.

This is an interesting anime. Definitely had a lot of potential, but unfortunately just wasn't very enjoyable until the last two episodes. The comedy was good, but the story itself has no goal in mind (until very ending of the season). It feels like there isn't much progress happening towards something, albeit the characters do grow and change (which is great). Well yes, there is progress, but it isn't very gripping for me (until last 2 episodes). If this show was purely comedy, this would be rated around a 7.5 or so out of 10. The lack of enjoyment brings it down to about a ... 5.5 out of 10 experience. To give some understanding of what I mean by a 5.5 feeling I mean that I am not excited to finish the show (and don't really care too much about watching it in the first 10 episodes). Last two episodes are very gripping and well paced. The first ten episodes are much slower paced and are the main reason the starting isn't too enjoyable. Normally, I look forward to watching a show, and it is just not the case for this show (until last 2 episodes). For me, it wasn't too enjoyable (until last 2 episodes), but the show itself gets very interesting at the end. The last two episodes would be like a 9 out of ten. No spoilers, but this kind of ending is something I really like. Do not quit this show right before the end. Either quit after the first 3 episodes or try to finish it, if you can get to the end while not being too bored. If I had to "fix" this anime, I would make it 10 episodes to make the pacing of the entire show closer to the pacing of the last two episodes.

Lot's of potential, no commitment.

Now as I analyse the story after I've watched the whole series in a day, the story almost starts to fall off.

Shinichi is a "typical" NEET, plays video games all day, watches anime and reads manga, while being shut in his apartment.
But when he, for some odd reason, sees a job offer with the salary of 300,000 ¥, (~$2,800) he decides to get a job.
Don't get me wrong, it's acceptable to get a job in an anime, but Shinichi is, at least in my opinion, supposed to be a total shut-in, and is referred to that in the anime.

The different characters? ... Outstanding! Lots of different personalities, conflicts between the different races. This isn't your typical harem/ecchi anime, which will be just like the other 100,000 of them.

To be honest, I enjoyed watching this anime, but in the end, I feel like something was missing. I would've loved to see a romance between Shinichi and Myucel. The potential was there! Instead I got some awkward moments and Shinichi's thought process when seeing Myucel and kind of a rushed ending...

If they would've made something between Shinichi and Myucel, I feel like this anime would've gotten another season, or multiple. (Or maybe it will get one, since now the manga is finished.)

Conclusion: Like I said, a lot of potential, no commitment. Characters were outstanding, but were handicapped by the story. Room for more

~Coffee