Uramichi Oniisan

In the studio of the morning childrens' show "Together with Mama," a crew of miserable adults prepares their facades of amicable smiles and cheerful exteriors to educate a group of innocent preschoolers. In the middle of it stands Uramichi Omota, a former gymnast who can't help but bring the kids down to earth by revealing the harsh and depressing reality of adulthood, even in front of the rolling cameras.

Behind the scenes, Uramichi's much-desired peace is disturbed by his two bothersome juniors who work as the show's rabbit and bear mascots and singers: Utano Tadano, a woman who only wishes to get married; and Iketeru Daga, a handsome man with a crass sense of humor. From smoking and exercising to nihilistic outbursts, everyone's big brother Uramichi always brings up the not-so-moral side to his life lessons.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Omota, Uramichi Main

Kamiya, Hiroshi Japanese

Daga, Iketeru Supporting

Miyano, Mamoru Japanese

Kumatani, Mitsuo Supporting

Nakamura, Yuuichi Japanese

Kikaku, Hanbee Supporting

Kimura, Ryouhei Japanese

Usahara, Tobikichi Supporting

Sugita, Tomokazu Japanese

Tadano, Utano Supporting

Mizuki, Nana Japanese

Sayuri Supporting

Sadaoka, Sayuri Japanese

Capellini, Furitsuke Supporting

Nakai, Kazuya Japanese

Furode, Yusao Supporting

Miki, Shinichiro Japanese

Nekota, Matahiko Supporting

Ono, Daisuke Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Eriguchi, Takeshi Producer

Jinguuji, Takashi Producer

Herek, Samantha Assistant Producer

Reviews

Sep 27, 2021

KANLen09

Recommended

"Hai Domo, kids! Let's all come together and do a charismatimgly cute children's show to the audience! A--B--C, A--B--C, A..to...Z!"
*switches off the TV* So that's your real shell of a dark personality huh?

Uramichi Oniisan can just be summed up in these one-word caricatures: (simply *chef's kiss*) amazing, comical, wholesome (if you understood the show's intents), magnifiquely magnificent (all-around). It's "Expectations vs. Reality" in the most dark, crude stance of a satirical parody, or as I like to call it in a better light: "Adulting/Adulthood" the Animation. It's OK because the "OK Boomers" young generation will absolutely not understand how #Relatable this show is to ... young adults in their late 20s or adults in their early 30s (of which I am one, hands up if you belong to the Millennial generation) who have gone through this stage of handling jobs and juggling life at the same time, and now passing this knowledge down to children. How depressing can your life be when you've reached the point of no return?

Uramichi Oniisan tells the story of 31-year old Uramichi Omota, a lively and bubbly adult imitating the parody of Okaasan to Issho, a children's television program on Japan's largest TV network NHK (that's the children's arm of NHK Educational TV for ya), dubbed "Together with Maman" on MHK, also a gymnastics show for children. In truth, he is the same 31-year-old guy who was a former gymnast with a really good smile and physique, but with a caveat: he is mentally unstable. He can get away with his upbeat personality on camera, but off-camera, his life is reduced to an old man's activity of some heavy smoking and drinking while doing his muscle training hobby at times. But if there's one thing that you do not want to do: point the facts out, or Uramichi Oniisan will bite the hell out of you with his culminating depression. That's a life lesson to be taught.

Uramichi Oniisan is not alone though, he has helpers performing alongside him, and display the same fervor of lifelessness that's simiarly identical or less worse than what Uramichi is going through: his juniors of Tobikichi Usahara and Mitsuo Kumatani, both 28-years old and are once Uramichi's juniors in college, and formerly music actors 27-year old Iketeru Daga and and 32-year old Utano Tadano. What I love about their names is that mangaka Gaku Kuze has a legit reason why he has given these very memorable and likable characters names as such. See the simiarlities: Uramichi full name implies a double-faced personality (inner and outer side), Tobikichi plays the rabbit mascot "Usao" while Mitsuo plays the bear mascot "Kumao", and get this: Iketeru's full name is a pun meaning "But I'm handsome" while Utano's means "Just a singer". There's more though: "Together with Maman"'s director Tekito Derekida meaning careless director, Furitsuke Capellini meaning a literate capellini (pasta)-haired choreographer, to name a few. What insane creativity is this!?

Uramichi Oniisan has a caveat that strikes the "Home Run" effect of being very likeable: the stacked VA character cast that accompanies the entire character cast in their conquest to become the most boring, unequivocal, yet realistic human beings that we've come to love. Hiroshi Kamiya for Uramichi, Tomokazu Sugita for Usahara, Yuuichi Nakamura for Kumatani, Miyano Mamoru for Iketeru, Nana Mizuki for Utano, the list goes on and on. It's just pure undulated, unfiltered, uncensored dark comedic vibes for the realism of knowing what's in the minds of adults, and how like Uramichi, can slowly burst his misery to the children who has to bear the heavy burdens from an adult teaching them mature life values while on-set. The on-set children under the Oniisans and Utano Oneesan though, I love the children who can just ask them hard questions taught from their parents, and to slowly see the creeps befall their faces, drooping down in quietness, trying their best to not be coercive to the children who still have a long life to go. Also, this show always defaults on its running gags, which can be tiresome on repeat, but IMO it's a blast to see such "atrocities" ensue. For example, Tobikichi always bad-mouths Uramichi to the point of sheer terror if exposed; Iketeru always shudders in laughter when he hears "dick jokes", always thinks of rice balls and is unable to read analog watches; and Utano's the saddest of all: she's an idol job hopper-cum-singer, and has a boyfriend of 6 years whom is unpopular. Yikes, talk about a hundred feet drop there.

Uramichi Oniisan's production values aren't really the best, but if all it does is to adapt Gaku Kuze's manga content to a T (which it did), then I'm more than happy enough. For reference, the manga's visuals are quite simple with not a lot of attention to detail (well, just a teeny bit), so getting a low budget studio such as Studio Blanc is of no difficult manner. A fun fact that this marks the first individual-produced show for the studio in over 10 years (while 2011's Ro-Kyu-Bu! and 2017's Shobitch are co-animated shows, plus some OVAs rounding up its miniscule works list). There's not a whole lot to say about the dull visuals because it's just that to translate the manga onto the small screen as decent as it could be, but it's viable enough. The music though I must say is an acquired taste, but a well-rounded set with the duet of the singer actors Iketeru Oniisan (Mamoru Miyano) and Utano Oneesan (Nana Mizuki) for the OP, and Mamoru Miyano for the ED. The clicking kids and adult contrast vibes are there, and I absolutely love it.

Uramichi Oniisan, it pains me to see that this show is not as popular in the mainstream, but that's OK because this show fits to a certain demographic of people who can vibe what the anime is all about, me included. This is just pure abject, hilarious parodied creativity of levels I've honestly never seen before in anime, and in such a low-key series as Uramichi Oniisan, I'm very dumbfounded as to how this series manages to lay low under the radar to become one of my guilty favourites of the Summer season. It's been long since I've had my share of pure, unadulterated laughter (after last season's "Dragon, Ie wo Kau."), and more people should give this a chance (especially to the Millennials), you're truly missing out on a modern cult-following show that is a comedic, heart and gut-wrenching suckerpunch to your eternalistic reality.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Nov 13, 2021

javitaxy

Mixed Feelings

I'm not one to watch seasonal or recent anime (call me a hipster), but boredom and free time led me to check this anime out after seeing a couple of scenes online.
I expected a mediocre comedy anime...
And I kinda got it? I don't watch many from this genre, but to be honest it was nothing unexpected.
Went into this trying to find something to fry my brain for a bit, forget about my troubles, you know? What I got was more worry for my future, of aging, and being able to do nothing to change stuff. Uramichi's ramblings when he's dejected are probably not ... meant to be taken seriously, but in a way, they are very #relatable in the sense that it's something we all go through, just never really talk about or realize. Besides nihilism, it also showed me that if this athletic, top-of-his-class thirty year old man managed to get a life like this (I won't say "failed" at doing so, but it certainly isn't a perfect or good-enough kind of life that one would normally expect), then what awaits me in a couple of years?

It made me feel like I should go out and enjoy stuff, even if I'm an adult. Which in turn, made me feel like I was wasting my time watching anime alone at home. What the hell did this anime made me feel? I did smile a couple of times, but I'm not sure if it's because I genuinely found it funny or if I tried to convice myself of feeling anything.

The comedy aspects is pretty plain and generic at times, so no wonder I ended up focusing on Uramichi's expression of his (and probably every young adult from this time's) mental distress.

Anyway, on to other factors of this anime:
Characters were pretty... one dimensional? They didn't fall into the MOST common tropes at least, and some had a bit of... interesting design. Their backgrounds were not developed at all, but what can I expect from 12 episodes long anime anyway?What stood out the most out of them (and the anime in total) was the voice acting.

The seiyuus, as you can probably tell, are all pretty well known and have worked in lots of other anime. As soon as you heard some of them, you could immediately recognize them. I think they fit the characters well.

The music was... eh? A bit forgettable. I tend to watch the opening completely in every single episode, but I ended up skipping this one more than half the time. The ending was a bit better, I guess.

Art was okay, nothing otherworldly, but not bad at all either.

And wow, I didn't think I had enough to say about this but it did end up being kinda long.

Overall, it was an "eh? I guess it's enjoyable. A better word would be... okay to pass the time when you're bored and have nothing else to do." So it's better than nothing, but I wouldn't say it's bad at all.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Sep 19, 2022

genowhirl9999

Not Recommended

Despite being a workplace comedy about young people this anime suffers from a writer that is either showing their age or relying on tired tropes and ideas. From rants against calling out harassment, the only female lead being obsessed with marriage, appalling LGBT misrepresentation, suggesting "some people won't understand unless you hit them", among many other tired tropes that feel like something your CEO would write and not your friends.

It's funny at times and I give it credit for otherwise good writing, if this was released in 1990 it'd probably be a big hit. 30 years later and it comes off as strongly out of ... touch and leaning heavily on tired stereotypes. Despite having lots of good scenes to clip and share online as a whole those moments can't shine through the majority of this otherwise depressing parade of tired tropes and old man ranting.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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