REVIEW: ‘Isekai Office Worker: The Other World’s Books Depend On The Bean Counter’ Season 1 Struggles To Portray Love

Isekai Office Worker Season 1, produced by Studio DEEN, follows Seiichirou Kondou (Kent Itou, Oshi No Ko) as he is accidentally isekaid to another world when he tries to help Yua Shiraishi (Yuna Kamakura, The Grimm Variations) from being pulled into a mysterious portal.

Discovering that Yua is the prophesied Holy Maiden, she is needed to save the kingdom from a deadly miasma. Kondou, on the other hand, with nothing particular to do and a workaholic personality, gets a job at the royal accounting department, balancing the kingdom’s books. And they severely need it. As he overworks, he meets someone who will take an intense interest in him. 

The primary focus of Isekai Office Worker Season 1 rests squarely on the burgeoning romance between Kondou and the head of a holy order of knights, Aresh Indolark (Tomoaki Maeno, Cells at Work!). It turns out that this world is infused with an element called magiculs. Something that Kondou’s body has no resistance to. When Idolark sees Kondou collapse due to extreme magic sickness, the man rushes to save him. Through the process of nursing him back to health, Indolark grows more concerned about Kondou’s work-first lifestyle. 

Indolark goes from being a concerned friend to an over-controlling parasite in Isekai Office Worker Season 1.

As the groundwork for this show is laid, it looks like it’ll be a nice story about one man helping another realize the importance of prioritizing himself over his work and falling in love. And while this concept is a central element of the show, Isekai Office Worker Season 1 takes Indolark’s forcefulness where Kondou’s health, and eventually his physical person as a whole, is concerned. 

Within just a handful of episodes, Indolark goes from being a concerned friend to an over-controlling parasite. This transformation bears many of the hallmarks of an extremely unhealthy relationship. He insists that no one but he helps Kondou and even frequently shows jealousy over the slightest social interaction Kondou has. This possessiveness reaches its zenith when he has a colleague take Kondou out so he can retrieve the man’s belongings from his apartment and move him into his mansion without his consent. 

The only thing that makes Indolark’s unhealthy need to control Kondou’s life less bearable is how positively the series frames it. Since Indolark “only wants to help,” Isekai Office Worker Season 1 treats his actions as good. Like, Kondou should simply be grateful that someone like Indolark is willing to go to such lengths to help him, even though it’s Indolark himself who insists that nobody else do so. It’s infuriating. 

Beyond the central love plot, Isekai Office Worker Season 1 also features a few minor mystery elements.

Beyond the central love plot, Isekai Office Worker Season 1 also features a few minor mystery elements. As Kondou dives into the kingdom’s finances, he notices discrepancies and begins asking questions about how things are done. This leads to some revelations as his outsider’s perspective reveals flaws in things that those raised in the established system never think about. 

This side of the series offers a moment of clarity as it explores how easy it can be to accept what has always been. When Kondou first starts asking questions, some aimed at the summoning of the Holy Maiden ceremony, the people of the kingdom are outraged that he would question such an important institution. However, as more evidence emerges, it turns out the kingdom’s problems may have simpler, more cost-effective solutions. Ones that don’t involve kidnapping someone from another world.

The backlash Kondou receives feels ridiculous at a glance, but also very real. It can be incredibly hard to accept that something you’ve devoted your life to could be wrong, and the people to whom Kondou presents his findings often react harshly, angered that he would slander such time-honored traditions. 

Isekai Office Worker Season 1 fails to deliver on any of its main focuses.

While this side of the story works much better than Isekai Office Worker Season 1‘s toxic yaoi core, it still struggles due to a severe lack of personality. No matter what interesting questions Kondou may ask, his presence and personality are so lacking that he makes any discovery less interesting. And few supporting characters do much more, leaving the plot to languish without a memorable personality to elevate it. 

Falling into the same category of forgettable as the cast is Isekai Office Worker Season 1’s visual design. The animation is functional, but never dazzles. A handful of magical effects create some visual appeal, but these are few and far between. The world’s design and its characters also fail to make a lasting impression. 

Isekai Office Worker Season 1 fails to deliver on any of its main focuses. The love story it crafts is horribly toxic. While its other plots have some merit, the series does so little to make its cast and world memorable that, even when it could be interesting, the characters lack enough presence to make it engaging. Leaving little to praise and much to forget. 

Isekai Office Worker: The Other World’s Books Depend On The Bean Counter is streaming now on Crunchyroll.