There’s no question about it, I find Isekai Ojisan to be pretty funny.  I wouldn’t say I’m a bullseye (not being Japanese or a hardcore gamer) as far the target audience for the humor goes, but I am probably a double-20.  The writing is pretty sharp, the satire is pretty pointed, and the cast is excellent.  It’s obvious that some thought has gone into this series – the humor is built around clever ideas and pretty consistently adheres to them.  I love a good dumb comedy as much as anybody, but this style has to be smart in order to work.  And I think Isekai Ojisan probably is.

I’m all too aware (you guys could help a brother out, seriously) of those 2018 rule changes at YouTube.  For small creators they were indeed a cruel blow, though Ojisan is mercifully close to that magical 1000 subscriber threshold.  Of course, his arch manner in his replies isn’t exactly winning friends and influencing people (“are you today year’s old?”).  Takafumi is horrified, naturally – especially given that this is Ojisan’s only source of income.  I won’t lie, I’m not a huge Fukuyama Jun fan (Kimura Ryouhei would have been phenomenal here) but this is the sort of unhinged regular guy role he’s rather good at.

I continue to be amused by uncle and nephew’s complementary blind spots.  Takafumi speaks gamer fluently where relationships are concerned, but is utterly clueless in his real life.  Uncle sees this and even tries to help, but he’s even worse when it comes to picking up signals in the other world.  The funny thing of course is in this context, Ojisan’s gamer world – with Elf – is every bit as “real-life” as Takafumi’s with Fujimiya.  What a shame, though – I mean, that’s Tomatsu Haruka in there.  But then, Ojisan didn’t pick up on Asuka being into Shinji so at least it’s consistent.

That bit with the barrier was very amusing, as horrifyingly (for Takafumi) as it ended.  Back in Tokyo Fujimiya has come by for a visit, and Takafumi bails almost as soon as she does (he gets an alert for a sale on jam), and Ojisan tries to have a heart-to-heart.  Of course she’s having none of it, so he reaches into his bag of tricks and pulls out transformation – into tsundere elf, to be precise.  Now “she” tells Fujimiya she’s Takafumi’s aunt (which I guess would mean Ojisan’s husband) but – the ears don’t give it away or anything?  If Fujimiya is suspicious because of them she betrays none of it, but Ojisan doesn’t have time to grill her before Takafumi comes home to the scene from the cold open.

One thing is clear, Fujimiya works very hard at denial.  Takfumi seems disinterested in playing along with the ruse but she’s not having any of this woman being Ojisan.  That gets even harder when he taps into Takafumi’s memories and shows everyone their first meeting – as he remembers it – but Takafumi throws her a life preserver and she gratefully grasps it.  Takafumi’s recollections of those days are hilariously unkind to Fujimiya, who remembers them rather differently.  But he remains as blissfully disconnected from her feelings as ever.

Finally, Takafumi has the brainstorm of having Uncle cut a gaming video in elf mode, which proves to be a viral sensation.  What this says about his followers sufficiently unhinges Ojisan that, like a tanuki in a cage, he loses his transformation, reverting to his true for right before Fujimiya’s eyes.  We don’t get to see it (yet) but I’d love to know how Takafumi talked Fujimiya down that that ledge – chalking it up to a new Sony device certainly ain’t gonna cut it there…