Season 1 episode 1 of anime series Uncle from Another World revolves around Takafumi Takaoka and his uncle, who wakes up after a 17-year-long coma but with a supernatural twist. The episode is streaming on Netflix worldwide.
Recap
In 2017, Takafumi’s uncle, Yosuke Shibazaki, has finally woken up from his 17-year-long coma after a truck accident. Takafumi was only 17 when this happened.
Immediately after waking up, uncle asks about his sister, Tafumi’s mother, as well as the rest of the family. He responds that after he fell into a coma, the family fought about what to do with him until it ruined all their relationships.
Uncle claims that he was actually in another world named Granbahamal all this time. Takafumi thinks he went insane because of the coma until uncle shows him his powers by creating wind and fire out of nothing.
Takafumi takes him to his home and uses his powers to make money off videos on the internet through ads.
When talking to him, Takafumi figures out his obsession with video games and consoles, especially SEGA. The mere thought of the console’s decline hits uncle so hard that he chooses to make himself forget.
Uncle is fascinated by inventions like the internet and new designs of smartphones that his nephew teaches him about.
When Takafumi brings up his adventures in the other world, uncle conjures up visual representations of his time in the dimension.
Everybody in Ganbahamal is extremely good looking and all of them found uncle quite ugly and considered him an orc.
Even when he attempted to help a draught-stricken village with an irrigation invention, he was captured as it was against their religion.
When uncle realises he can buy anything online, he shows Takafumi a new way of buying. Instead of paying shipping costs, uncle just travels to the place using his powers to pick the order directly.
When asked about his relationship with women, Takafumi figures out that uncle actually accidentally proposed to a girl in the other world by giving her a ring, only to sell it in the next town as he did not realise what it meant. She kept following him after that.
When Takafumi returns a knife to uncle through his pocket storage dimension, he realises that it looks like he is stabbing him.
He and uncle have an epiphany at the same moment and use this to stage a video where he stabs uncle but he survives, which becomes popular.
Takafumi then declares that his uncle woke up in 2017 fall but this was only the start of his new life with him.
Review
- The show is hilarious at many moments and feels quite novel because of its unique premise, which it wastes no time in setting up.
- Because of the narrative, the creative liberty that the makers can take has no limits. Even in the first episode, uncle shows some ridiculous feats.
- The concept of a man out of his time period and with supernatural powers is handled excellently. The thought of him using his powers to avoid shipping costs is hysterically genius.
- With such an eventful first episode, Uncle from Another World could turn out to be one of the best new anime shows of the season if it keeps up the pace.
Rating: 4/5
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