REVIEW: ‘Uncle from Another World,’ Episode 1 – “I’m Finally Back from the Fantasy World…”

Uncle from Another World is a fantasy isekai anime produced by AtelierPontdarc. 17 years ago, Takafumi’s uncle was hit by a truck and went into a coma. Now, after all these years he has awakened. But while he seemed to be trapped in a hospital bed all that time, it turns out he was living another life in a fantasy world. Now, Takafumi must help his uncle adapt to the modern world, as well as figure out how best to utilize his magical powers in Uncle from Another World Episode 1.

Usually, the isekai genre sees someone taken from their everyday life and plunged into harrowing adventures in a strange new world. Rather than follow this tried and true formula, this series’ choice to pick up seemingly after the adventures are over is a twist I’ve never heard of. While I’ve never been big on isekai, Uncle from Another World Episode 1 has me intrigued with its original premise.

The strongest aspect of this episode is how well most of the comedic elements land. Catching his uncle up on the last 17 years of technology has a few pitfalls. Plus, Takafumi’s uncle was apparently the biggest fan of SEGA consoles on earth. Some rough news there for him as well.

While Takafumi catches his uncle up on the modern world, his uncle introduces him to the world of magic. How his uncle’s magic works aren’t unexplained but it seems to be incredibly powerful. While the uses the duo find for magic are currently fairly small scale, I’m sure the continuing exploration of how to utilize magic will be a recurring theme of the show.

While the entirety of Uncle from Another World Episode 1 takes place in our world, we are given glimpses of the fantasy world. Life is hard there, and the dangers seem to be never-ending. This is especially true for Takafumi’s uncle, who draws the ire of most of the world’s inhabitants.

The reason for Takafumi’s uncle’s struggles with nearly everyone he met in the other world stems from the fact that everyone there is described as being gorgeous, while he is just average. Because of this, even when he did good things, people would believe him to be a hideous orc and attack him. I can’t tell if this aspect of the story is supposed to be some sort of comedic running gag or not, but it’s definitely not funny.

The animation that delivers Uncle from Another World Episode 1 is a bit of a mixed bag. While the animation itself is fluid enough, there is an inconsistency with the linework that I sometimes found offputting. This is particularly true when the camera is focused on someone’s mouth.

When all is said and done, Uncle from Another World Episode 1 gets its narrative off to a solid start. While it has a few hiccups, it delivers enough uniqueness that I am curious to see where the story will go from here.

Uncle from Another World Episode 1 is streaming now on Netflix.