Uramichi Oniisan: Adult Anime
While anime is often seen as a form of children's media to the uninitiated, anybody who has watched series like Attack on Titan, Death Note or Monster will know that anime is a medium that can be enjoyed by all ages. With a wide range of genres to choose from, anime is a form of entertainment that explores themes ranging from love and loss to displacement (looking at you, Sword Art Online). Most M, MA and R rated series cover darker themes intended for mature audiences, but how about the theme of the monotonous, adult human experience?
Uramichi Oniisan is a series that dives head-first into this theme through the utilization of dark humor and the slice-of-life genre.
Uramichi Oniisan is a thirteen-episode series that premiered in Summer 2021, and is adapted from the web manga of the same name. The series is centered around 31 year old Uramichi Omota - a gymnast-turned-children's show presenter who works alongside his four younger coworkers; rabbit and bear mascots Usahara and Kumatani, and the two singers, Iketeru and Utano. The five of them work on the children's show "Together with Maman", which is filmed from the TV studio with a live audience of children ranging from 1-5 years old. "Together with Maman" sounds innocent enough until Uramichi Oniisan and co. begin telling the children about the harsh realities of adulthood while the show is being recorded. To add to this, the children themselves give Uramichi a depressing dose of reality by constantly reminding him that he needs to make friends and be less selfish, while also humbling him by telling him he's annoying and creepy. Despite this, the series keeps its positive tone through underlying themes of perseverance and finding the good in the little things in life.
The characters in the series are fleshed out enough to be relatable, but not so much that we get too emotionally attached as viewers. Let's have a dive into how the characters and themes turn the series into a philosophical masterpiece.
Omota Uramichi:
The main character of Uramichi Oniisan is a depressed man in his thirties. He smokes, drinks and wallows in existential dread, all the while working as a children's entertainer. Out of all of the cast members of "Together with Maman", Uramichi is the most experienced in the disappointment of life, and uses the children on the TV set as a coping mechanism for his nihilistic tendencies.
Usahara Tobikichi & Kumatani Mitsuo:
Uramichi's younger coworkers who play the roles of a bunny mascot and a bear mascot respectively. Usahara is a constant thorn in Uramichi's side due to his childish behaviour. while Kumatani is a little more mature. If we look at these characters in relation to Uramichi though, we can see the two as being representative of the early twenties. Usahara is playful and naive, while Kumatani is more serious and thinking about the future. If we consider that Uramichi is the representation of the early thirties age group, then we can see that Uramichi's frustration with Usahara comes from jealously, but also the fact that he knows that Usahara may fall to the same kind of nihilistic tendencies as Uramichi.
Tadano Utano & Daga Iketeru:
Utano and Iketeru are the in-between for age groups. They are both in their late twenties and are starting to feel the pressures of societal expectations - Utano especially. Utano has an immature boyfriend who she's waiting on to propose to her, while Iketeru still lives with his parents. These two characters were probably the most relatable to me personally, as I'm in my late twenties and am trying to figure out what I "should" have done by now (bought a house, gotten married, had children), but I also feel as though my 'true' youthfulness is coming to an end, and therefore should make the most of it by playing around as much as I can before I turn 30.
It was only through the characters and their representation of the themes that I was able to really consider my own lens through which I was consuming this particular piece of media. As a woman in my mid to late twenties, Uramichi was amusing in the fact that it was 'too real'. A true reflection of what being an adult was, and the journey from early twenties through to early thirties - and even beyond with characters such as the director. I tried to change my lens as much as I could to think about what a teenage Courtney would think of this series - probably not much. An even younger Courtney might be interested to watch the scenes with the children, but not understand the series as a whole to be enjoyable.
I thoroughly enjoyed the humour in this off-beat slice-of-life series and would recommend it to anybody who is feeling the pressure of adulthood in one way or another.