Well, my second impressions of Isekai Ojisan are pretty much in-line with my first.  That is to say, a reasonably entertaining satire that strikes a nice balance between snark and sincerity.  There’s no question that Ojisan is a loser in any world, but there’s an undercurrent of genuine regard between he and Takafumi that keeps the dynamic from getting too depressing and dark.  I don’t know enough about gaming to get all the references on that front, but the anime and nichijou gags are connecting at a pretty good rate.

One of those recurring gags is Uncle’s utter ineptitude when it comes to human relations.  Which obviously includes females, a matter of some consternation to his nephew.  It’s hard to know if Takafumi is really any better in RL terms or just has a broader fictional dossier to draw from (I suspect the latter).  It’s also interesting to muse on how Isekai Ojisan wants us to take this joke.  Take the matter of the (literal) ice princess Mabel (Aoi Yuuki), for example.  Takafumi recognizes that Uncle completely misread her intentions – but these are the intentions of a fictional character.  Is Takafumi any better at “reading” real girls, or just more well-versed in otaku tropes?

This interlude ends (for now) rather amusingly – with Ojisan validating Mabel’s NEET lifestyle and her going on her way, much to Takafumi’s irritation.  In the real world it’s New Year’s Eve, which is fertile ground for some more fish out of water gags, like Uncle missing the end of Kochikame (which ran in WSJ for 40 years and 1957 chapters) by a single year.  Takafumi is fascinated by Uncle’s stories of life in the other world, though continually vexed by his lack of social mobility.  For distraction, he’s bought his uncle an antique Sega Saturn (one of the biggest flops in console history) and 20 games to play with.

Comedically speaking things take an upturn with the arrival of Fujmiya (Komatsu Mikako), who we first see observing Uncle seemingly talking to himself (it’s actually spirits) at the park.  She and Takafumi are childhood friends and seemingly haven’t seen each other for a good while, as she’s surprised by how tall he is and assumes he still lives at home.  Takafumi (rather casually in Chad-like fashion, it must be said) invites Fujimiya over to his apartment, and she agrees – but not before going home to “drop off the groceries” (showering and changing outfits).

I liked Fujimiya immediately as a foil for both Uncle and Takafumi here.  She’s strait-laced and neurotic, and things don’t get off to a great start when Ojisan flies onto the balcony and enters the apartment to find Fujimiya waiting inside.  Takafumi intervenes before he can erase her memories, but the upshot of that is she’s now totally convinced he’s a nut job – and that she has to protect Takafumi from him.  In her defense I think almost anyone in her position would think the same…

What’s interesting here is that it’s Ojisan who recognizes that Fujimiya is obviously into Takafumi, while the latter seems totally oblivious to it (perhaps in RL their blind spots are reversed?).  Hilariously he goes into Gendo-mode and references Evangelion to justify his opinion, citing as evidence a total misread of Asuka’s character.  The whole Eva exchange was pitch-perfect – and indeed, if not the proto-tsundere Asuka was certainly among the first generation of them (and probably did more to popularize the trope than anyone).  I see a lot of comic potential in this trio, and I expect we’ll see a lot of it. But – what single dude orders a 15 KG bag of rice??