Meikyuu Black Company

Ah, capitalism. The main driving force that keeps the world’s engine running as society drives itself into the ground for the sake of making a quick buck at the cost of both its workers who make pitiful wages and the environment who suffers long-term damage as a result of our glorious industrial and globalization age. Too much? Well if this show wasn’t something of a meta-commentary itself, I wouldn’t be making an existential crisis opening paragraph now would I?

Story:

Kinji Ninomiya is a self-made man who at the ripe age of 25 has managed to create a small real estate empire powerful enough to be self-sustaining ... and give him the dream that many people who work want to achieve: to not have to work. But because this is an isekai series, a random hole opens up in the ground and he’s unfortunately sucked into a fantasy world where society has moved past medieval adventurers defeating the Dark Lord, and towards a form of modern industrialism where he works as the lowest rung on the ladder in a mining company meant to make quotas for an even larger corporation that fully intends to take over the world through the most effective means we have available: by monopolizing the market and enslaving the population through economic means. Ninomiya’s goal? To reclaim the kind of influence that he had before in this new world and do what the corporations are trying to do before them.

And if that didn’t sell you on the idea that this series is actually a gag isekai that commentates on the social structure of our capitalist society and how it squeezes out every drop of both the lives and wallets of the consuming working class, then I don’t know what else will. Meikyuu Black Company practically only has one theme/joke that it’s going to talk about, and that’s jokes about how everything will always lead back to money and capitalism. And that corporations will exploit you through any means necessary. It’s a very heavy-handed theme and the amount of subtlety this show has about it is about as subtle as the wage disparity between a billionaire CEO and a white collar worker. Which is something you’d think the show gets kind of stale on because the existential dread of a capitalist society can only be told so many times, but surprisingly enough the worldbuilding carries it pretty well. Throughout the twelve episode run, you get to see many different ways corporations fuck people over, whether that be because of debt loans, damage costs, or corporate buyouts, while simultaneously watching Ninomiya attempt to build success up in a similarly cutthroat way with similar yet different tactics that create what we in the market like to call ‘competition’.

Which honestly when it comes to this aspect of the story, is surprisingly well done despite the leaps of logic and numerous timeskips in order to both save time and skip over the boring parts of building infrastructure and connections with other groups or companies. As for the actual story though…that’s where things start to fall apart a little bit.

Because the entire show is built on Ninomiya’s schemes, the show has a pretty cut and dry formula of storytelling where Ninomiya gets an idea, executes on it, and it can either succeed or fail before the next scheme is done. It’s not a very compelling story formula because it gets kind of samey with time, and watching the guy maniacally laugh at his new get rich quick scheme gets dull since it’s happened a multitude of times before. Not only that, but in spite of the worldbuilding being mostly solid on account of the show revealing how different parts of this corporate isekai world functions, it also has a problem with revealing or showing off things and then not really building up on them. Whenever the show skips over infrastructure building in a sometimes mystery amount of time passing, the show the does a coin flip on whether or not Ninomiya wins or loses. In either scenario, a lot of what was built prior just kind of disappears from the series, and it’s not great cause in a way it feels like nothing has consequences and expected consequences like being financially destitute don’t really occur. On top of that, the show kind of switches genre halfway through which, while making sense in context, still feels wonky and not really a great mesh with the rest of the vibe that the show went for.

In the end, Meikyuu Black Company is a mostly repetitive story that’s held together by the societal concept that brings us all together: money. The show honestly doesn’t have that many redeeming qualities beyond just constantly making commentary at how corporations aren’t your friend and that worker exploitation is the norm. But for what it’s worth, the show does that part of the story really, really good. It’s a shame the story doesn’t have much else to offer beyond that, but I guess you gotta stick to your isekai gimmick, eh?

Characters:

Ruthless, cutthroat, narcissistic with just a hint of god/superiority complex. Yep, that’s Ninomiya. I mean that’s just him in a nutshell, and not much really changes in him as a character. Due to a combination of ego and the drive to excel in business, Ninomiya is one of the most active protagonists in an isekai story that I’ve ever seen, and he gets a lot of credit from me for being an active player in the story rather than being given the keys to destiny. His anti-hero like qualities certainly don’t detract from that either as everything he does is selfish to the core with only a few minor stints in compassion and empathy on the rare occasion he tries to help someone other than himself. Unfortunately this all means that he’s quite a shallow character as well. Oddly enough, Ninomiya relies on the rest of the main cast in order to bring him down from his lofty pedestal since he doesn’t have many character qualities aside from being a dickhead fueled by money, power, and spite. He’s interesting sure, but on his own, he’s a roof without any supporting columns.

The two members of his party that I want to focus on are Rim and Wanibe, the two starting characters he gets in the first episode of the show who provide very contrasting parts for his character. Whereas Ninomiya has lofty and eccentric goals, Wanibe is more grounded, desiring only stability and often questions Ninomiya’s character as a result of watching Ninomiya practice his villain laugh on more than a few occasions. He’s a great contrast for his compatriot, and provides a key secondary perspective that the show desperately needs. Rim on the other hand is either a deus ex machina or a handicap depending on the scene context, as she’s not only the dungeon’s strongest monster, but is also gluttonous to the point of actively sabotaging Ninomiya in order to sustain her appetite. There’s a neat bit of character development for her later on in the series, but it’s neither enough to separate her from the ‘hungry child’ trope nor is it enough to develop her in a significantly meaningful way.

Shia and Ranga are the last two additions to the party who really don’t have that much involvement in the series beyond being the token pair of tits and the token surprise that I guess every isekai needs to some extent. Yes there’s some character to them, but the wasted potential that they ended up having feels like the show just wanted to fill up the party but didn’t want to do anything beyond stock tropes in order to save costs and brainpower, so we’re stuck with these two. Shia honestly could’ve been more than she actually ended up being and that’s a shame cause the series ended up both not needing what she was offering as a character and forced the scraps of a romantic subplot on her that really didn’t need to be a thing; stop forcing romantic subplots onto characters that don’t need them.

Side characters are an interesting group, as they consist of corporate overlords, a few dungeon monsters, a few adventurers, a few NPCs, a lot of corporate workers, and whatever the hell that gun is supposed to be. They’re mostly just parts of the worldbuilding, and while yes the antagonistic force is omniprevalent in the series, they’re mostly a passive part of the series until the very last part of the show where they also don’t do anything. Which I guess makes sense since those at the top would do anything to make sure that they don’t need to take an active part of the whole process, i.e. the entire story.

Aesthetics:

Silver Link certainly didn’t…pull their a-game this time, so there’s not really a lot I can really say about how Meikyuu Black Company looks. The action and effects aren’t really the best, and the overall look of the show is, while stylized, not all that impressive to look at. The few upsides I will give the show are in its closeups department because to a certain extent, it feels like you can see every one of Ninomiya’s pores with how often they do closeups of the guy’s face. It’s objectively ugly the way they frame him, and it’s something that helps sell that ‘he’s honestly more of a bad guy’ vibe that he has throughout the whole show.

Aside from that, the show employs a few instances of 3D models, present especially in the dungeon ants, as well as a surprising amount of equal opportunity fanservice given how not are the female characters stripped down to their bare essentials (because I guess that’s a required thing for the plot), Ninomiya and the rest of the guys get the same treatment too. The only real qualm I have about the art is the way the mouths are drawn cause they’re drawn in this downward pointing triangle style that looks a bit awkward and too sharp for my liking. Definitely a stylistic choice (like how they do the hair shine on Shia), but is definitely not one of the more appealing aspects of the art I feel.

HOWL BE QUIET’s “Shimi” is a song that while has a unique hook, isn’t particularly something that I’m too attached to as a song. It certainly has some memorability to it due to its guitar riffs and vocals, but aside from that doesn’t really stand out I feel. Certainly fits for the vibe of the series to a certain extent, and for that I feel like it’s a net positive. On the flipside, Humbreaders’s “World is Mine” isn’t really that interesting to me and just kind of sounds like a generic ending song. A point that’s not helped by the fact that the latter half of the series uses a 3D model of Rim and her sister as dancing models instead of the first half’s stylistic drawing of all of the main party members in a jeep. It’s a downgrade in visuals for sure, and while I don’t think the song is bad, I don’t think it’s memorable enough to get anything more than passing marks.

Final Thoughts:

Given how every isekai these days has to have a gimmick whether or not that be the protagonist being remade into an NPC, the protagonist being reborn as a baby, the protagonist being reborn as a hot spring, or the protagonist bringing his mom to his fantasy world, at some point we were going to reach a breaking point where the protagonist gets brought to a world where the economic system is scarily reminiscent of his own society with all of the practices, malpractices, and customs understood in the market system. Which I guess could be considered a natural evolution, but I feel like that’s more like digimon rules than pokemon rules if we’re arguing semantics.

For what its worth, I found the capitalist side of things a lot funnier than it had any right to be, and the show does not pull any punches in that regard. Every episode partakes in some kind of company malpractice with unionization, competition, and pulling bullshit out of your ass as the main reasons why this plot seems to go somewhere. It’s fun seeing how much the show pokes at our obviously dystopian and economy-fueled society but that’s about as much as the show really offers. In the end, Ninomiya is just the mouthpiece that drives the show forward, and all of his schemes either end up being success stories that don’t really last all that long, or failures that he moves on from with very little consequence. The gimmick/joke of the show is pretty much the main reason to watch the show, and while I don’t see that as a bad thing, there’s not really anything else compelling about the show and I’m a little sad the show is so one-note.

Still, it’s a recommendation if you want to laugh and then have an existential crisis over the state of our society and how it’s really run. I’d file this one as a fun watch/fun experience without expecting too much more out of it aside from that. A bit more than what was presented would be nice, but given the current isekai market and how isekai with gimmicks are a dime a dozen and have a turnover rate substantial enough to make a quick buck time and time again before discarding the old for the new, I think it’s safe to say that we weren’t really gonna be getting anything more than what was shown on the box. Aw well. I wonder if there were any Japanese salarymen who laughed while watching this show before crying in existential dread because of how close it hits to home given their life situation of endless work and labor for a wage. That’d be a nice statistic to see.

If I were to evaluate this anime in few words then it would be "an anime with a lot of ups and downs".
I think that encapsulates my thoughts perfectly.

The story is decent. It's an isekai which parodies the current state of black companies in Japan. And I think that it works quite well as a show. Although there's a lot of ridiculous and unnecessary plot twists and threads being introduced, it doesn't really break the audience immersion unless they think about it.

The characters have their own charm which makes up for the lack of development. Even though most of the cast are one-dimensional characters, they ... aren't uninteresting by any means. That doesn't mean they are good characters though as they are incredibly forgettable.

The animation is acceptable. It does have a lot of jarring movements and lots of off-models, but it does have some good art sprinkled here and there as still images.

The music is good. It does have some catchy opening and ending. The ost is pretty lacking, but it doesn't really break any scenes whatsoever.

Overall, it's a really good anime and I recommend it.

This is a nice hidden gem to the Isekai genre. It's not about fighting or having the MC be some overpowered hero type. Honestly, you can learn a little about how economics work and be entertained by the theatrics of this show. The MC seems like some selfish prick but it's totally called for and with good reason. The business world translates well since it's not something we usually see in connection with a fantasy world. On top of that, this show is hilarious at times. It's a good hit, however I can see a certain amount of viewers being bored with the exposition of ... the MC and his theatrics of monologuing about business practices. It's definitely something worth watching but with a grain of salt since this isn't your typical Isekai anime. The MC isn't a hero and he doesn't desire to be, and that's fine. We need more shows that similarly portray this realistic side.

I really enjoyed it at the start. It was different from anything I've seen. But my interest gradually dropped. It took me a month to finish 12 eps. And even the last 3 eps I barely managed to finish.

It started so good. With the whole isekai. Character establishment. The working environment in other world. Magic. Beasts etc. But then time travel...boom. You lost me. The gag just got too much for me.

The concept and idea was very interesting and unique. The whole plot would be better off without gag. Humor yes. But not gag.

Overall somewhat enjoyable. If you don't mind gag then ... you should definitely give it a try!

Amazon's targeted suggestions got the best of me on this one. I purchased the blu-ray for this without ever having heard of it previously because its Limited Edition was available at a steep discount. Now having actually watched it, it really wasn't too bad at all. Reviewing comedy anime in particular is challenging because humor is so personal and subjective and what might have one person rolling on the floor choking on their laughter may not even amuse another, or hell it may even outright annoy them. My subjective reaction to the humor in this particular anime is that it was inoffensive and occasionally worthy ... of a chuckle or a snicker but the vast majority of the jokes didn't land for me or draw any kind of reaction from me. They're likely targeted at an audience younger than I am.

That said, while the humor was forgettable for me, I feel there were several other aspects of the show worthy of praise. As a whole this show felt fairly unique and different, which was an ultra welcome and breath of fresh air in a time where everything reminds me to varying degrees of something else that I've already seen, and that uniqueness is perfects the strongest aspect of the program. For starters our main character is not the generically nice, bland looking, high school aged guy with very little personality beyond being nice that we've all seen ad nauseum. Instead, our main character here is a full grown adult, is noticeably very fit, has considerably longer hair than most male leads and a distinctive ponytail and, most importantly, he's a full on self-serving jerk with no redeeming qualities. The show has plenty of opportunities for him to show a soft side or a heart in there somewhere and do something for someone else's sake, but he never does. ALL his actions are for his own benefit and I believe the show is better and more exciting for it.

Another aspect of the show I found to be different from the norm in a positive way is the soundtrack. It had a much more rock and roll/metal sound going on with lots of volume and attitude and a predominantly heard electric guitar, which again is unlike most other anime and stands out. The music absolutely got me playing air guitar and using my wife's legs as drums as we watched from our couch.

The plot itself, while not absolutely 100% original, which is almost impossible to do these days, again felt more different than same. It's got isekai elements and comedy elements but it's different enough from the norms in either of these genres to really stand out on its own. Ultimately the big baddy in this anime isn't the badass monster at the bottom of the dungeon nor is it the rival character you encounter early on that is unfathomably stronger than you are. There is an "evil" corporation, yes, but ultimately the bad guy in the show is capitalism itself. It should be noted that this show does not take itself seriously at all and is very self-aware of its tone, which it needs to be because this plot wouldn't work if they asked us to take it at face value.

Objectively this show is probably a bit better than the final score I ultimately landed on, but subjective things took away a couple points for me. Like I said previously, the humor largely missed for me and was forgettable. Additionally, while this show was never BAD or BORING per say, it also wasn't ever exciting or overly engaging. There aren't any dramatic moments or meaningful twists and it certainly never makes you think. You can watch this with your mind 100% turned off and you won't miss anything. 12 episodes was likely the correct runtime for this. If we'd started pushing 16, 20, 24 I think I would have started to get bored. I largely felt along for the ride rather than actively engaged.

The other negative I'd point out, which is inherent with a large cast and short runtime, is the clear lack of character development. They simply don't have the time to do this within the confines of the episode count, but there's no arguing that the characters here are flat and one-dimensional. One character that's met early on could be almost entirely summed up as "Overpowered, obsessed with food" and there really truly isn't much more to her than that. Almost every other character could be summed up in a similar way.

Ultimately I liked The Dungeon of Black Company a lot more than I disliked it and I'd surely watch a second season if that ever becomes a thing. It's not amazing by any means and beyond being fairly unique it won't be overly memorable to me, but it's a ride I don't regret taking. I won't go so far as to actively recommend it because comedy is so hit or miss person to person, but I don't think most people would be miserable watching this even if the humor doesn't land for them and if the humor DOES land for that person you might enjoy this a lot.

OBJECTIVE RATING- 7.5~
PERSONAL ENJOYMENT RATING- 7

Recommendation: It's very hit or miss. It flips between being funny and being boring, so whether you like it or not will depend on your level of tolerance for that kind of inconsistency.

Story: Meikyuu Black Company is a story about a rich asshole by the name of Ninomiya getting zapped into a fantasy world, where he immediately goes deep into debt in their society of predatory ultra-capitalism and is forced to work as something like an indentured servant. This sounds like the setup for an excellent satire of Japanese work culture and capitalism more broadly, but it never quite gets there. As ... a story, it seems unfocused and unsure of what it's trying to be. Ninomiya himself is the biggest issue here, as the show seems unsure of whether he's good or bad, and if his actions are worthy of praise or condemnation. He treats his friends like shit, but they all seem to like him. He does some pretty indefensible things, like mind controlling his coworkers to work extra hard so he can relax, but he's often treated like a hero in spite of his narcissistic sociopathy. The message of the series is very muddled as a result. Is Ninomiya's "the strong should dominate the weak" ethos the message of the series, or a satire of it? The show doesn't seem to know, and that thematic inconsistency really takes the wind out of its sails.

Audio/Visual: A strong performance by Konishi Katsuyuki in the lead role of Ninomiya here, his comically over the top voicing of the character fits like a glove. Most of the other VAs are just there, but I also want to call attention to the collection of sound effects that I've termed "Rim noises", usually involving her eating or doing something distracting in the background of a scene. They're a small thing, but always entertaining and used well. Visually, well, this show just looks bad. The character designs are poor, faces are too pointy and too samey, often just looking like they swapped hair colors and styles on the same body and face for a new character. The animation is unimpressive as well. They undoubtedly did the best they could with the budget, but the result is not very good.

Characters: Without repeating everything I said about Ninomiya above, he's both the biggest strength and biggest weakness of the series. Those issues aside, he's usually the funniest character in the series, and you alternate between wanting to see him win and wanting to see him get owned by his own selfish behavior. This is not a strength from a storytelling perspective, but it means there are plenty of opportunities for comedy, and he can play both the straight man and the butt of the joke when the situation calls for it. Most of the other characters are just okay, the later addition of Ranga is notably cringeworthy however. That said, the food-obsessed dragon girl Rim often makes this series worth watching singlehandedly. She's cute and funny and almost always steals whatever scene she's in. The problem is that she's often in the background and not the focus of that particular scene, so her background antics prove distracting for whatever you're supposed to be paying attention to. In the end though, that probably says more about the lack of appeal that the other characters have by comparison.

Watching this anime is like going to a very expensive high-end restaurant, ordering super delicious meals, only to wait for 2 hours while watching every other table next to you get delivered the same meals. You see the waiter approach, hoping for 'This time, it's mine!' only to watch the meal go to a table that ordered after you.

After 2 hours, the meal finally arrives, but it consists of small portions, leaving you hungry. The whole anime, except maybe the last arc, revolves around the protagonist taking 2 steps forward and 3 steps back, or sometimes 5 steps forward and 6 steps back, constantly. While ... the comedic value is nice, the narrative progression feels painfully slow.

Was it bad? No.
Was it good? Sometimes.
Would I recommend? Do you like something serious; No. You want to watch a mixed soup isekai while laughing and not caring about story and characters; Sure.
I kinda love isekai's, would I watch a second season? Surprisingly for someone like me; No.

Meikyuu Black Company is one of the weirder series I have watched. I wouldn’t call it bad, but I can’t exactly call it good, either. It’s definitely memorable for having exploitative “black companies” as its theme since stressful work environments and long working hours are quite the issue in Japan.

The series starts off with the main character, Ninomiya Kinji, getting transported to another world. As such, it’s technically an isekai series. That said, the events that unfold over the course of the series don’t make it feel like a typical isekai.

Kinji has a lot more personality than many generic, faceless, ambitionless isekai main characters – ... not that this makes him likeable, mind you. And while he isn’t particularly powerful by himself, he does become “overpowered” over time because of the people he gathers around him.

The side characters are pretty diverse and can be charming. I was especially fond of the lizardman character Wanibe because he is a voice of reason. Unfortunately, most of the characters including Wanibe follow Kinji and more or less become his resources to be used as he pleases. I’m not against a character having followers, but there is no good reason for any of them to follow him. He practically bullies, lies and cheats his way into their hearts more than anything else. And that’s a shame, because it takes away from their agency and turns them into cardboard cutouts for the most part.

The plot itself is winding, nonsensical and over-the-top. I see this as both a good and a bad thing. At the very least Meikyuu Black Company was somewhat unpredictable, and I was constantly left wondering where the story would go next. Unfortunately, things always go Kinji’s way through sheer luck, his companions doing all the hard work, or other plot reasons. So while the happenings in Meikyuu Black Company combined with its theme are novel enough, the anime lacked a certain depth.

The sound effects are passable and the background music is not particularly noteworthy. The OP and ED, however, are quite catchy.

The character designs are fine for the most part, and there were a few good background art shots. But the overall quality of the animation is very basic. It does what it needs to do and nothing more.

Voice acting was quite good in general, both for main and side characters.

Overall, I would say I enjoyed Meikyuu Black Company. I can’t quite recommend it unless you do your best to go with the flow. If you start questioning things, this series would be pretty miserable to watch.

This is a slice of life corporate satire coated in "fantasy". I hate slice of life, the jokes aren't funny, and for the most part, whether intentionally or not, MC is promoting the office worker philosophy.

What else... Well, the pacing was amazing. Few series manage to make you think "Wait, this was only the first half of the episode ?!?!"

But then there's the obvious 3D, and the horrible animation (sometimes you could spot characters moving with C-shaped hands, if you get what I mean). Models themselves were bad too - multiple secondary characters share COPY PASTED faces from the main cast. I mean... Come on.

But ... at the end of the day I'm still impressed with the pacing.