Life Lessons with Uramichi-Oniisan

If I could share my home screen picture widgets and keyboard wallpaper, that itself would have summed up on how I feel about Uramichi Oniisan. Uramichi-san, Marry Me. Basically an anime about the daily life of a working class adult, but with a touch of realism (instead of the goofy comedy trope). You wake up, got to work, eat, go home. 5 times a week excluding weekends except the typical involuntary UNPAID overtime when the boss calls you up asking, which the answer will always be Yes, that he needs help. "Ah for the company, it is our duty as a hard working employee to makesure the company prosper in good will!" as we exclaimed with our coworkers knowing the boss is listening in the background, while inside we are screaming wishing death to reap our souls. (is this a review or am I just complaining about life?) Well if you are a working civilian with similar habits as the characters, you will definitely enjoy the anime. Like hey, we all need a comfort show that can represent our frustrations towards work-life, this is it. All-while the struggles to mask a smile while lying to our feelings. In order to not only please those we are working with but also the kids we are responsible to work with for the day. Dealing with stubborn co-workers or those who gossip behind our backs. The characters are amazing to put up such a front in the workplace. Amazing? "We're just being professional, there's nothing to gloat about. It's all for survival in order to live in this society that cares more about representation rather than our feelings." is what Uramichi taught me :D And more about the true harsh reality of life is what he teaches the kids he works with. Although Uramichi is depressing most of the time, he admits the kids can be a shinning star in his mist. The rest of the characters he works with are as interesting, although sometimes they can be a bother, Uramichi is as caring as can be when dealing with them. That's all from me. By the way the guy is RIPPED kyaaaaaaaa XD "this guy is nothing more than a boring man that has nothing going on in his life except his obsession with working out 24/7" -Uramichi's coworkers last words

I just rewatched it. I like this show a lot. It really embodies the experience of "hating yourself but you work with kids so you need to create a fake persona to deal with them, but at the same time you want them to not get their hopes up in life so you try to teach them about the real life". I hate being an adult. I really do. And I yearn for the childhood I undermined. This show encapsulates the feeling perfectly, and I treasure it for it. Apart from that, I also adore this show because the seiyuu cast is insanely talented (and allof them are very well-known??) (and I think that they all had a blast recording). I feel like mamoru miyano was born for the role of ikiteru. Also I've never felt greater need of fixing a man than after seeing Usahara. He is so pathetic... I need him... Anyways, I am going to go to AO3 to read some Ikiteru/Kumatani fanfiction bc Uramichi Onisan should be a bl but the mangaka was a coward.

Where do you see yourself in your early adulthood? Whether that’s 5, 10, or maybe even 20 years from now, it’s always hard to predict what you’ll be like in the future. Do you envision success? Have you accomplished all your dreams? Are you living a fulfilling life? Or are you someone like me, who sees an uncertain future. Sure I have my goals, and I’d like to think I’m pretty motivated and driven. But after doing a year of online school in university and interning in the summer, I’ve begun to question whether or not I’d actually enjoy an 80 hour workweek under one ofthe MBB firms despite the great pay it’d offer. What will I be doing for the next 10, 20, 30+ years after finishing university? I think until you’ve started having these existential thoughts and worked through the toils of university/internships/part-time jobs, you won’t be able to fully appreciate the beauty behind the tragic dark-comedy of Uramichi Oniisan. I think this is one of the best anime this season. Not just for its comedy, but also the context behind it: the struggles of early adulthood. A time where you’d expect one to be burning with passion in a job you love, pursuing and accomplishing your goals. Instead, for you, me, and the majority of others who read this, we will be sorely disappointed. What makes Uramichi Oniisan so incredible is its cast of tragic characters. Stuck in jobs they don’t (entirely) love, working to meet the ridiculous demands of their superiors for little rewards, and constantly left wondering what went wrong with their life. While we see time and time again that Uramichi and his co-stars would prefer any other job, they continue coming back day after day to appease the little bundles of joy and hope before them. This foil between depressed adults and energetic children is refreshing every time it’s brought up because it’s so true. While I only briefly worked as a camp leader in high school, it’s exhausting putting in your all to make young kids happy. A sentiment shared by all the lead performers. Yet, I’ve found that there’s catharsis in this kind of work, no matter how tiring it gets. This is why Uramichi shows up every day because even though he’s lost hope in himself, these young innocent kids still blindly believe in him. So as to not disappoint them and ensure they don’t turn out like him, he drags his ass outta bed every day at 6 am. It’s a stark reminder that life won’t always work out how you’d like, but you have no option other than to continue to push onwards and face whatever challenges head your way. It’s up to you to decide if you’ll become an Uramichi who’s depressed and lost all hope, or if you’ll continue chasing your dreams with the same passion you had while you were younger. Uramichi is a great show for the comedy. But once you’ve gathered enough life experience or reached a certain age, the intent behind the dark-comedy and gags hits different and makes you appreciate the series in a different light. You’d be hard-pressed to find another comedy series out there that can also be appreciated for its deeper themes and central message, and this rare perceptiveness is what sets Uramichi Oniisan apart from so many other similar shows. “You may not be able to live for someone else, but it’d be nice if you chose to live in a way in which you don’t blame others.” - one of many gems dropped throughout the show by our beloved gymnast oniisan.

I'm not one to watch seasonal or recent anime (call me a hipster), but boredom and free time led me to check this anime out after seeing a couple of scenes online. I expected a mediocre comedy anime... And I kinda got it? I don't watch many from this genre, but to be honest it was nothing unexpected. Went into this trying to find something to fry my brain for a bit, forget about my troubles, you know? What I got was more worry for my future, of aging, and being able to do nothing to change stuff. Uramichi's ramblings when he's dejected are probably notmeant to be taken seriously, but in a way, they are very #relatable in the sense that it's something we all go through, just never really talk about or realize. Besides nihilism, it also showed me that if this athletic, top-of-his-class thirty year old man managed to get a life like this (I won't say "failed" at doing so, but it certainly isn't a perfect or good-enough kind of life that one would normally expect), then what awaits me in a couple of years? It made me feel like I should go out and enjoy stuff, even if I'm an adult. Which in turn, made me feel like I was wasting my time watching anime alone at home. What the hell did this anime made me feel? I did smile a couple of times, but I'm not sure if it's because I genuinely found it funny or if I tried to convice myself of feeling anything. The comedy aspects is pretty plain and generic at times, so no wonder I ended up focusing on Uramichi's expression of his (and probably every young adult from this time's) mental distress. Anyway, on to other factors of this anime: Characters were pretty... one dimensional? They didn't fall into the MOST common tropes at least, and some had a bit of... interesting design. Their backgrounds were not developed at all, but what can I expect from 12 episodes long anime anyway?What stood out the most out of them (and the anime in total) was the voice acting. The seiyuus, as you can probably tell, are all pretty well known and have worked in lots of other anime. As soon as you heard some of them, you could immediately recognize them. I think they fit the characters well. The music was... eh? A bit forgettable. I tend to watch the opening completely in every single episode, but I ended up skipping this one more than half the time. The ending was a bit better, I guess. Art was okay, nothing otherworldly, but not bad at all either. And wow, I didn't think I had enough to say about this but it did end up being kinda long. Overall, it was an "eh? I guess it's enjoyable. A better word would be... okay to pass the time when you're bored and have nothing else to do." So it's better than nothing, but I wouldn't say it's bad at all.