Uramichi Oniisan

Story 5/10: No actual story but that's not bad in any way.

Art 7/10: Nothing exceptional standard, it does what it should.

Sound 4/10: Opening has a child music theme generally not bad and i get why they choose something like that for the opening, but not really my thing. The ending has a good retheme and many people will like it and vibe with it, but again, not quite my thing. About the voice acting, 1 voice actor sounds like he is 40+ and has a very deep voice while he is playing a 20-30 year old and it comes out VERY badly and takes you ... out of the "experience" and to top in off that character, is 1 of the 4 main side characters. Also in episode 2, 2 animals appear 1 cat and 1 dog and both sounded awful, to say the least. Do you remember when you were a kid and for some reason you were trying to imitate how a cat or dog sounded like? That's exactly how the cat and the dog sounded in episode 2, extremely unnatural and gives the vibe that the show is a badly made and it also feels unprofessional.

Characters 6/10: They are kind of funny but not funny funny, for some people it may be funny, but not so much for me. Someone that may like the humor may go as far as 8/10 in characters but that's it. In other aspects the characters are likeable and i don't dislike any of them but i wouldn't say i particularly like any of them either.

Enjoyment 5/10: I didn't laugh too much and the few times i laughed it wasn't a burst of laughter, it was more like a chuckle. Also i find the humor kind of childish, not too much, but it still gives off that vibe. The humor isn't all bad but the parts that were actually funny weren't that many and for a show that capitalizes on it's comedy it's a big setback. If it weren't for the terrible voice acting in it, that takes you COMPLETELY out of the "experience" enjoyment might have been a solid 6/10.

Overall 5/10: I think it has some good points and it's humor may be liked more by someone else, the characters are fine and again the humor factor about them, terrible voice acting from that 1 character and the animal noises.
I think that my opinion might have had a stronger influence on my scorings a little more than i would have liked it to, thus making it less objective and more personal, so i would like to say that someone that likes the humor more than i did may overall rate this show as 6/10 or even a 7/10 but to rate more than that he would have to absolutely love the comedy, so much as to ignore all the other bad factors of it.

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.

This is a hard one to write but definitely give this a watch if youre a seiota (seiyuu otaku) like me lol. In the anime we got hella loads of famous seiyuus (check above), but ofc the plot is not all that impressive. I did get a few good laugh or two but that's it. Nothing special about this but if you're bored and have nothing else to watch like me, yeah you can watch it to waste your time but if you're looking for something meaningful, there's not much to find in this anime tbh. I wouldn't really classify it as SoL tbh cause ... there's not much character depth and development, the plot doesnt really go anywhere and the humor is sometimes there, sometimes not really.

Note: I dropped this anime. This review explains why I do not recommend this anime.

Story - 3
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This anime is a comedy/slice of life type anime that focuses on the life of Uramichi, who is always depressed with his work.

The comedy did not hit at all for me. As a result, I watched to see what Uramichi would do each episode. This anime has an interesting concept, but after watching 6 episodes of this show, I did not see Uramichi have any significant developments, which I guess is completely fair, as the structure is not built to show any growth out of Uramichi.

I understand ... it might be a slice of life, but there was zero progression on Uramichi's part, which thoroughly irritated me. Even though he doesn't like his work, there is no explanation of how he got to where he is and why he continues to work where he's at. Uramichi explains that he has to work so he can "eat the next day," but that's also just not true.

All in all, due to the zero progression, I stopped watching.

Art - 7
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The Art was pretty solid. There was nice graphics for the show, and the idea of presenting another graphic to show the "TV version" was quite nice.

Sound - 8
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The VA for Uramichi does pretty well, especially in his expression of Uramichi's discontent while he's smiling. The other voice actors do great as well, especially through their contributions in the singing parts. I have no complaints with the sound, as it was well done.

Enjoyment - 4
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The plot threw my enjoyment down the hill pretty much.

Overall - 5
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I do not recommend this anime. The comedy does not really hit and across 6 episodes of the same thing of Uramichi and zero progression, it grows boring.

The reason I'm writing this review that I actually did not intend to write is because of how shocked I was to see no reviews criticizing the show and it's many flaws.

First quickly let's talk about the good aspects.
The main idea of the show, the story, is interesting.
But like a lot of shows, it was so wasted to the point where I might argue that it's one of the most wasted stories I've ever seen.
Another good thing about this anime is some of it's characters which we'll be talking about later.

Starting with the story and why I think it's wasted, ... let's retell the story first.
The anime follows the daily life of a group of adults (mainly Uramichi) whom all work in a kid's show drawing smiles on their faces, but are actually individuals with a lot of stress in life.

The story is like so interesting!
You can make like thousands of funny scenarios of this!
Not to mention also at the same time tackling the issues that the MCs struggle with.
Is it broken dreams? Is it the expectations of society? Is it personal failings?

But the show ditches all that and focuses only on the comedy, a not funny comedy by the way.

Now some might say that I should not criticize the way the anime goes with, as it presents itself from the start as a comedy show.
And for that I say no.

It's not me who came with these ideas, it's the anime itself.
If a show wants to be comedy only, it tells it's fans directly.

It does not offer characters (especially Uramichi) that have a somewhat seemingly sad past.

Again, I'm not the one who came up with this.
It's those particular scenes in the anime, when Uramichi is smoking or a character is being serious, and it's that ED.

And talking about the ED which was on of the best EDs I've listened to and one of the biggest lies I was told.

It has such a serious aura that screams at you telling you something's gonna happen.
And what was it for? Nothing.


Alright alright, maybe the anime failed this side but what about the comedy?
Well I'd like to say it was so mediocre, like the most mediocre thing you can imagine.

I do not deny that it managed to make me laugh at times, but it was a 13 episodes anime that maybe managed to make me laugh 10 times.

The reason for that which I don't understand, is how much a lot of jokes are repeated.
Imagine if you went to a comedy show where the comedian just keeps telling the same jokes, it'd be like Hella boring!

Not to mention that some of the jokes made the characters feel so unlikable.
Like that joke about Uramichi venting his anger on Usahara, it can be funny for the first or second time but then it becomes downright bullying!

Uramichi who's a character that we're supposed to feel for, feels so mean to another character for being a little stupid but clearly kind hearted and not ill-intentioned.
I'm pretty sure the author or whoever it was noticed how this joke was that bad that it was almost never used in the second half of the anime.

Some other examples of such jokes that were repeated to the point of being mood-killing at times are Ikiteru thinking of rice balls or having a crass sense of humor and Usahara trying to pursue the girls yet only getting Capellini (I swear to god I'm not going to describe this character because I'm not American and I don't know what dear Americans might do if they thought I was being offensive to someone).

And you know what's the worst?
It's the fact that the anime was able to do all of what I mentioned in a certain episode, episode 10.

It offered such nice and funny comedy but also ending the episode with a serious scene where Komatani talks about the incident where he punched his superior.

And I was like the f***!
You can do it if you try!
You can offer a nice story!

And this was the only episode that made wanna click the next episode button.

Another reason for this episode being the best is that it focused on the best character in this show which was Komatani.

And talking about the characters, oh boy, what a disaster.

Uramichi seems like an intersting character, but he was never fleshed out in the anime enough.
He has these moments where he feels genuine, and he also has moments where he feels unlikable.

Komatani is by far the best character in the show.
While seeming a little mean at times he actually may be the kindest of the crew.
It's clearly shown, as though he might show uninterest in Usahara he still is seen with him in every scene.
He clearly does not hate him.
He is smart to an extent and also a person who acts quickly when required, not to mention his caring for Ikiteru (?). Not sure.

And talking about Ikiteru, he is a really an unfunny and bland character, having the only characteristic of his be his silliness.
Yet there is a character that managed to be more bland that him which is Utano with the only thing making her memorable was being the only female in the cast.

The last character would be Usahara, which is the biggest disaster.
He is made only to be an idiot.
He has nothing going on with him, not even a single trait to make the audience engage with him.
He was fleshed out a little in ep 11 which where he really shines, but then he went back to being the same idiot.
Some might argue that he was intended to be written like this, and if so I congratulate the author for successfully making me not care ever about this character.

Whoo!
I think we almost finished.

I don't really have anything to say about the sound or art other than nothing special.

Now the last thing I wanna add is my theory for why the comedy in this show was that bad.
I've always had a problem with comedy anime and I thought they worked better as a manga.
That is because comedy is written not to tell you a story like other genres, but to give you a reaction (in this situation the reaction being you laughing) which goes the same for horror anime.

An action manga or romance manga being adapted to an anime is nothing much, it's just a story that is being told in different mediums.

Yet a comedy manga is different, when the author writes a certain joke they write in a way where you'd laugh while reading a manga, not thinking a lot about the anime.

Now of course that does not excuse much, there're plenty of elements that're bad in this show either way, but this is just my theory.

And that's it!
Thanks for reading, didn't intended for this to be that much but what can I say.