Outbreak Company

I'm going to be honest, and confess that I've thought a thousand times about how to start this review. Not because Outbreak Company is terrible (if it were bad, it would have been easier), but because it's another one of the many isekai anime out there, lacking something that sets it apart from the rest. Still, I have to say that it's a plus (sort of) that it doesn't take itself seriously. Is it worth watching as a series to get you out of boredom? Without further ado, let's start with the review!

Shinichi Kano is a young otaku recluse who is offered a job thanks to his excellent knowledge of anime, manga, and video games. After meeting his boss, he is kidnapped and wakes up in a fantasy-themed parallel world. Shinichi is informed that the Japanese government has selected him to help improve Japan's relations with this new world by establishing a company to introduce the unique products of Japanese culture to this new market.

The story doesn't have much more than what is stated in the synopsis. Simple but effective, quite an exciting concept. I think the main problem was that the writers were tempted to oversaturate the original plot with more and more new plot ideas (which were not bad in the beginning). Gradually this caused the story to turn into one with no definite direction. It's not that the series turns into a Riverdale and ends up in some crazy nonsense. But it's clear that each new adventure is just another one of the author's occurrences.

That's how the story feels random. Above all, many of the things that one would expect are not developed. It's no surprise that of the many things that are presented to us, many are forgotten in the course of the plot. So even the end of the series feels like a problem explicitly created in a couple of episodes to end with some kind of climax, not one that was organically formed and built up as the series unfolded.

But if there's one thing that redeems the aforementioned, it's that the show doesn't pretend to take itself seriously. They may have been going for this sense of nonsense at certain moments, making fun of themselves. You know what clichéd situations the characters end up in that they are trying to make fun of.

With the latter, I think you can justify the high fan-service content, which is expected in a series that has at its core to show all sides of otaku culture. That includes some ecchi fanservice. Surprisingly, despite how constant it is, it doesn't get in the way of the plot at any point.

The romance, on the other hand, was, to my surprise, something subtly developed in a lovely way. I didn't get stressed out with the main character being dense with his feelings. They don't rub the romance in your face; even then, one can tell who has feelings for whom.

Our protagonist Shinichi is quite the hikikomori; his isolation from society prior to the isekai justifies his clumsy communication (the poor guy always ends up saying the wrong thing). As a character, he's not that good, but the story is light enough that it doesn't need an excellent lead character to carry the plot and at least shows some character development.

Then we have Myusei, Shinichi's maid, a half-elf victim of racial marginalization. She goes from being a shy maid to a teacher at the otaku school and a friend of the princess regent. Perhaps the best-worked character (by the standards of this series) in the anime.

So even if she is not THAT great as a character, we cannot deny she is an excellent supporting character and the most developed of the cast.

Petralka is the one with whom I conclude the line-up of characters I consider protagonists. She looks like a loli, but she is a teenager who has to act as a princess regent with the help of her advisors (funny older men) and her cousin Garius. As a character, she is a disappointment; she has all the potential to be an excellent character but unfortunately, not only was she not developed, but her appearances were limited. Her backstory was never explored, nor was her loneliness in having power (she's a teenager who carries an entire empire on her back); not even her crush on Shinichi was developed.

And so many other characters had potential and were simply wasted.

Outbreak Company is not bad in this aspect, but you can tell that they could have done better, that they had more than enough money to work with but still chose to go with a cheap production route to produce the anime.

The character designs are impeccable, of course, and together with the background art, it makes you feel how appealing the world the anime settles us in is. But the animation is still limited. The series is full of closeups of the face of the character who is talking, avoiding having to animate two characters simultaneously. Animation tricks include avoiding background characters most of the time or even main characters being put together in an identical shot. This decision ends up giving us animation sequences that just look ODD or give this cringy feeling.

There is no excellent voice acting in the series, but the actors fit right into their roles. We cannot complain about that. And for the soundtrack, as generic and forgettable as it is, it wasn’t disruptive at any moment of the series.

I'm not entirely convinced this is a series I could recommend watching. It is not impressive, but at the same time, at least it does its work entertaining you along its twelve episodes. Outbreak Company is a very light series that doesn’t leave you with that feeling of needing more.