Isekai Ojisan is too good and its how you write an isekai Even though its an unconventional one... Its the story of Ojisan a past NEET who got isekaid into another magical world and actually got back. He got back for a good reason : he did not enjoy it one bit. I HATE ISEKAI huge bait on this section title its to keep you hooked I have a problem with isekai. To explain it I must first ask and answer two questions : What is the point of an isekai ? Escapism of course Forget about your trash boring life and embark on an amazing journey where youll have everything you ever dreamed of : powers em looks and even an harem Everything Now who is it aimed at ? Otakus NEET and hikikomori of course all of them in their objective pejorative initial sense. Its for people who close themsleves off from real world and live in their own delusions. They blame everything around them but themselves they have to how could they accept their conditions otherwise ? From there you might see my problem with the genre. It helps justifying delusions and the trope setting is similar to the aimed viewers lives putting them even more under the illusion creating a nasty self insertion where the viewer gets all the things hed like to have in real life without actively working fo it. Its very much like porn. It also creates a dangerous mindset think about it why would you have to change if the world changes for you Isnt it better to assume that its the worlds fault and that youre just misunderstood ? Obviously society isnt perfect but it doesnt mean that you should cut any ties with the outside world. Im not even saying isekai animanga are bad or absolute trash. Tensura is one of the anime I enjoyed the most watching despite it not contradicting anything I said and theres great isekai like Mushoku Tensei that completely defies what I said about the genre. Plus its not an isekaionly prolem slice of life animanga also share the same problem as I disscussed in my Yuugamikun doesnt have any friends review. And to relativize ANY piece of fiction can provide bad escapism depending on whos reading it. If I target isekai in particular its because practically every single one of them PURPOSELY use their viewers loneliness against them just to sell. Isekai Ojisan does not do that and excels at subversing it. 600https://media.tenor.com/DmvwjpDW5kIAAAAC/isekaiojisan.gif One misconception that people have about a second chance in life involving time travel isekai etc is that they think they would suddenly be complete different persons and by result their whole life would become far better. We live our WHOLE lives trying to be better struggling hard with our flaws and bad habbits and sometimes they never even fade yet we have the audacity to think wed just completly change just like that. If youve been a procrastinator your whole life how would that change if you went back in time? If you went in another world? You cant change yourself in the present so how the fck are you gonna do that elsewhere? Its so easy to blame the circumstances but ultimately they always change and that dont necessarily make you become a better individual. Ojisans ugliness is metaphor for his game addiction and rotted mindset. He gets despised and hes being outcasted just like in his original world. His ugliness follows him and its that ugliness that cause people to react. He didnt enjoy the magical world for two things : The perceptions others have on him didnt change. As said previously they see him as ugly. It disgusts them and he becomes once again an outcast. Society wasnt softer on him. He isnt excused for being an outsider and this in itself makes it an antiisekai. His worldview hasnt changed : Ojisan never was that interested in real world he always prefered video games. What happend when he gets into another world ? He only thinks about video games and tries to get back to Earth only to play them. He never socialized what happend when he gets into another world ? He has trouble understanding the feelings of his friends and he cant believe someone genuinely likes him. He is human he isnt a selfinsert mc who never talked to someone but suddenly becomes a great nation leader overnight. His internal issues dont magically disappear along with the world hes into they follow him everywhere and HE has to fix them CONCLUSION Ojisan doesnt care about societal cases or superficial things he treats everyone the same. He knows who he is and embrace it. He lives in his own world yes but that doesnt restrain him to be nice and caring and he doesnt hurt others. Hes happy and it shows despite what anyone thinks. His ugliness is only how others perceive him at first when they get to know him it becomes irrevelant. I initially thought the overall message was Fck isekai This is real life even if the world changes you dont. You can escape your responsibilities your family your life but the one thing youll never be able to escape is yourself. But along the episodes I think this message would be more appropriate Fck isekai I dont need a perfect utopian world to be happy. Just because I dont fit in your standards doesnt means Im a degenerate. Wherever I am Ill alaways be me and thats not a cage but an opportunity. In either cases... Fck Isekai if you want to discuss this review you can leave a message on my profile I always appreciate feedback