Why Uncle From Another World Is Unlike Any Isekai You’ve Seen Before

What is an “Isekai” and why are there so many of them overtaking the anime world? For those who might not be familiar, an Isekai series will follow a protagonist as they are transported into a fantasy world, typically from a much more mundane setting. Some of the biggest examples of this premise include Sword Art Online, The Rising of the Shield Hero, Overlord, and Jobless Reincarnation to name a few. However, there’s a new challenger on the horizon that demands your attention in Uncle From Another World, which flips the script on the typical Isekai story.

Nearly every Isekai takes the opportunity to divert from the original world of the protagonist, instead focusing on their adventures wherein, more often than not, the hero of the story is given powers that far outweigh everyone else around them. Where Uncle From Another World differs is that the adventures of the hero are finished. The titular “Uncle From Another World” wakes up in the real world after being in a coma for decades, revealing that he still has the magical powers that had made him something of a god in this other world. Where this series is able to excel is not just in its deconstruction of the Isekai genre, but its ability to consistently deliver some top-notch humor along the way thanks to our hero’s mind being stuck as something of a teenage boy in the 1990s. 

“Uncle” is a character that handles every situation in his magical adventures in what might be the worst ways possible, and in doing so, creates a level of unpredictability in the series that will often deliver hilarious punchlines that take shots at how many other Isekai universes operate. Aside from his terrible decision-making, Uncle is a die-hard Sega fan, to the point where the first thing he is dying to know when he returns to the real world is whether or not the video game company is still a part of the “console-making business”. Unfortunately for him, he begins to discover that the world is a very different place. Hilariously, his nephew figures that the best way to use the powers of a god is to transform him into a Youtube star. 

The way that we are able to see how Uncle’s adventures took place is at the behest of the titular character, whose abilities allow him to show his nephew, and his kind-of, sort-of girlfriend, his past exploits based on whatever they’re talking about at the time. While Isekai series like Overlord and The Rising of the Shield Hero feature protagonists that aren’t quite beloved in the human world, Uncle From Another World hilariously comments on what a normal person might look like if they were dragged into an anime series. What this means for Uncle is that everyone is constantly mistaking him for an ogre to hilarious effect. For added effect, the past magical quests are shown to both the hero’s nephew and female friend, hammering home just how terrible Uncle’s decisions were thanks to their often bewildered commentary. Perhaps most hilarious is when our titular hero encounters heroines of this strange new world and will often lead them on or mistakenly propose to them, only to either do everything he can to quickly escape or hawk their wares to a nearby pawn shop. 

In a world where anime fans are about to experience an Isekai series starring a vending machine, Uncle From Another World is able to create one of the best examples of its genre with a few tweaks and an overall storytelling structure that both honors and ridicules the genre that spawned it. The series currently has four episodes available to stream on Netflix, with the fifth being delayed as a result of the animators dealing with a bout of COVID-19, so now is the perfect time to dip your toes into what might be the best example of an Isekai series whose strength is mocking its very genre. 

If you can watch the OP for the series and not burst out laughing at the sheer ridiculousness of a thirty-something busting out Sega Saturn dance moves, then we don’t know what to tell you.