Benriya Saitou-san, Isekai ni Iku

Despite being a handyman with a wide range of skills, Saitou is severely undervalued and underpaid. When he complains, his boss fires him, claiming that he is easily replaceable. As if his luck was not bad enough, Saitou soon finds himself about to be run over by a truck on his way home.

Surprisingly enough, Saitou does not die; instead, he is transported to another world. There, he meets a party composed of the female knight Raelza, the moonlight fairy Lafanpan, and the mage Morlock, who are all coincidentally looking to recruit a new member with a skill set like Saitou's.

Throughout their time together, Saitou uses his expertise to assist his fellow party members and soon comes to receive the recognition he never thought was possible. However, Saitou's presence may just be the catalyst that will connect a diverse cast of people from different places, slowly uncovering the fate that could bring a great change to this world.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Raelza Main

Fairouz Ai Japanese

Morlock Main

Cho Japanese

Lafanpan Main

Touyama, Nao Japanese

Saitou Main

Kimura, Ryouhei Japanese

Kisurugi Supporting

Kasama, Jun Japanese

Rahvella Supporting

Saitou, Chiwa Japanese

Liliza Supporting

Hanamori, Yumiri Japanese

Power Wizard Supporting

Morita, Ryousuke Japanese

Primasse Supporting

Izawa, Shiori Japanese

Lil Alil, Franlil Supporting

Aoki, Ruriko Japanese

Kikushima, Kazufumi Producer

Iizuka, Aya Producer

Maruyama, Hajime Producer

Hayasaka, Kazumasa Producer

Reviews

Mar 26, 2023

Mcsuper

Recommended

This was truly an unexpected gem of the Winter season. It was a surprisingly funny, yet emotional and epic anime for sure. It takes a while to really pick up, but once it does, it never looks back. Studio C2C have been quietly doing a great job with some of their recent works, such as Majo no Tabitabi, Tensei shitara Ken Deshita, and now this anime, which showcased some very impressive and sharpened animation and fight scenes that could make some of the elite studios quiver in their boots just a little bit. I think this show nails tonal shifts very well, and it kind ... of reminds me of Golden Kamuy, where one scene they could be making the lewdest of lewd jokes, but the next scene, people are being murdered. It’s really quite something.

The story isn’t very special, as it’s about a Handyman called Saitou, reincarnated into another world where unlike in his original world, the people treat him with much more respect, and he feels more needed. He uses his handyman skills to help out his party with lock-picking, opening treasure chests, a lot of practical things.

The first few episodes are very comedy-based, with somewhat disconnected skits to introduce the characters, and while some of the jokes hit real good, it was definitely the weakest part of the series. It shifts into a more plot-based story after that, and boy, it really got good after that. It went through a full 180, but it worked out in the end with some very meaningful and emotional backstories, along with some solid character writing in the process. It doesn’t hold back in any way, whether it’s the jokes, the action, or even the gore.

The cast is quite the goofy bunch, but they’re a very solid cast of characters. Apart from Saitou, we have an old magician who forgets his spells every so often called Morlock, a healing fairy called Lafanpan, and a strong Knight in Raelza. Their interactions can be comedy gold, but can also be very emotional. They’re a very tight knit party who clearly care about each other, and form great friendships and relationships that made for great dynamics. The side characters and antagonists also were decent, as each character had a certain degree of depth, some more than others, and it’s always a breath of fresh air when the villains have a backstory of their own instead of just being evil for the sake of being evil.

The animation is good overall, but when the plot gets serious, the animation goes up to another level. Some of the fight scenes were very well animated, and got me on the edge of my seat with how epic they were. The OST also accompanies the atmospheres very nicely, although the OP and ED weren’t all that great.

Overall, this show encompasses goofy and epic all in one package, and if there was one isekai besides MagiRevo that I would recommend people to check out, it would be this one. Genuinely, one of the better shows of the season, and it came as a very pleasant surprise. Do give this one a chance.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Mar 26, 2023

HetakuSoda

Mixed Feelings

Handyman Saitou feels a lot like the author wanted to write an isekai that was different and went from there. The result is, in my opinion, something that feels unique but not special. A lot of people were able to see it as a goofy fantasy that fixed the problems they had with other isekai, and good for them, but for me it was a pretty mediocre collection of skits that eventually became an even more mediocre couple of story arcs. Sometimes the formula is what it is for a reason, and you should have a better idea of what you're doing before trying to ... deviate from it, because in trying so hard to do its own thing it forgets to do any more than the bare minimum of character development and backstory while it hammers you with Saitou talking about how nice it is to be wanted. It all feels very surface-level, which should be fine for a 4-koma gag manga, but Handyman Saitou clearly wants to be more than that, and it ends up just feeling boring and shallow. I couldn't really get invested in anyone, especially not the perverted old man who is basically the focus of both story arcs. The girls in Saitou's party are cute, yes, and it's nice to see one wear proper armor for a change, but they don't have much more going for them, as they don't actually play major roles in the story and mostly serve to make lucky pervert gags with Saitou and give him someone to romance. Overall, while it was occasionally funny or cute, to me Handyman Saitou really doesn't provide the substance it seems to think it does, and its unique presentation does it no favors.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Mar 29, 2023

jus7aguy

Not Recommended

I think this is getting such high scores based on the last 4 episodes.

This series starts off disjointed, with horrible pacing, bad character introductions, no setup, and essentially a hot mess.
It continues this way for the first 6 episodes. Then you get 2 "not quite as bad" episodes, by this point you sort of know who everyone-everywhere is but a lot of them you just don't give a damn about. Then the last 4 episodes are actually decent. Probably worth a 7.5 rating. But it isn't worth sitting through 8 episodes of hot mess to get there.

The ... animation itself is fine, there's no problem there, and the opening and ending music is generic but there's no problem with it, nothing that would detract from the show. (Not that I really note the credit sequences and music as part of the rating for a show, more as a side-note if they're really good and worth paying attention too).

I get the feeling that whoever was adapting this for animation story was dropped in at the deep end, or else they just slavishly copied a manga that allowed more exposition or a different style. Whatever they did it doesn't work as episodic anime.

For me I advise a hard pass, if you're a mature person watching this. Your 12-13 year olds might like it if they're just looking for some occasional cheap laughs and 2-dimensional characters with bright colours.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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