The Dungeon of Black Company

YELP, an Isekai about the pangs of working at a Black Company!? Come save me Work Jesus, for the glory of capitalism! We've seen shows present this topic before, most particularly and recently with Akane Shimizu's Hataraku Saibou BLACK a.k.a Cells at Work: Code Black, and it's what it is: the etymology of the term "black company" where it's typical practice to hire a large number of employees, exploit them to work large amounts of overtime without overtime pay with poor conditions, verbal abuse and "power harassment" (bullying) by their superiors, threatening them with disrepute if they chose to quit. And you can take all thatand consummate into this series: Youhei Yasumura's Dungeon Black Company, which explains how to get your way through a Black Company and rise up the ranks. And the best part obout it, is that everything fits perfectly into the scenario played out. Yeah yeah, it's an Isekai first and foremost, but this is one of the few enjoyable Isekai of the Summer season that truly hits all the right spots of a "rags to riches" success story of a rollercoaster ride. And nowhere do we spot this than from the perspective of Kinji Ninomiya, voiced by Katsuyuki Konishi, the same person who brought you Jojo Part 5's Diavolo and Gurren Lagann's Kamiya (and man, his voice absolutely fits the cunning, manipulative of a confident scumbag himself). If you've watched last season's Sentouin, Hakenshimasu!, both MCs Combatant Agent No. 6 and Kinji are very similar to one another: they play dirty with their "bad guy" despicable mindset, deal with their own evil organization with ulterior motives and manifesting similar comedy vibes (though I feel that Black Company does it better), and to top it up, they have loli partners/supports as well. The "riches to rags to riches" story that sees the NEET Ninomiya being Isekai-ed into a fantasy world where he has to start his work dominance over from scratch, and that's a pain right there. Along with the relentless obfuscating lesson of hard work and fellow workers that toll with him, it's a pain in the butt to having be overworked again by word from negligent superiors, and that's where Kinji got the single-best idea of all: to create his own Dungeon Black Company from within and slowly create a coup d'etat as his calvary charge of retaliation. But in order to create his own organization, Kinji's first strategy is just as important as the series' core progression: its cast of characters whom are comrades also fighting for the same poverty rights. The first worker that Kinji recruits is this crocodilian demi-human named Wanibe, who was his co-worker at the start of the series. And boy, these 2 bore the entirety of the starting phase of revolt against the Raiza'ha Corporation, which are doing the same thing that Ninomiya once did in his old, accomplished NEET life. From there, the dungeon opens its doors, and slowly but surely, both him and Wanibe hit it off to encounter monsters and fellow workers whom are suffering the same overworked circumstances, fight and recruit them to their side (like a dungeon for easy proposition to start the topple rumbling from within. The 3rd character of Kinji's crusade is arguably one of the most important characters, and is what helps and gives him trouble at the same time: the dragon girl that is Rim. As you would expect, Rim does act like the usual titular dungeon boss character, but you know Kinji, his cunning manipulation got the best of her, and she shapeshifted into a teenage loli just so that she can have meat, regardless of Kinji's finanical status. Rim does act on accord because she was the former Demon Lord of the Dungeon, but she got too lazy and bored, and handed the reins over to someone else just so that she could wander free on her own whim. Couple in the dubbed failure of a hero that is Shia and the magic tomboy that is Ranga, and these 5 people form the basis of Kinji's unusual adventurer party of the Dungeon Black Company, pushing their way through to the top and achieve Nirvana on Kinji's ultimate goal: to rule over others without having to work his butt. If you ask me, this is a sweet deal of a package that I'm willing to buy, because while the characters aren't as unique, but they're at the very least entertaining and funny to see their antics spread across the many layers of numerous battles both physically and mentally. It never gets old and stale, and in an Isekai of this calibre where I can sympathize with their sufferings, truly does an equivocal effect of using your brain to work smart, and not work hard. It's a fun Isekai show for sure, and what better way to top it off with the VAs which complement the characters so darn freaking well. Rim is voiced by Misaki Kuno, who has been the face of Nanatsu no Taizai's favorite talking pig Hawk, and seen as such, Rim is such a comical character who just doesn't care and gets what she wants by hook or by crook. Hiro Shimono acting as Wanibe with his voice being a veteran mainstay, and it's of no surprise at all. Everyone's favourite VA M.A.O voicing Ranga, and I swear if that's not the same voice that I heard with Tensei Slime's Shion, then she must've got a vocal upgrade. Rounding up the rag-tag crew is Megumi Toda with Shia, and it's been awhile since New Game!'s Hajime's voice was featured in an anime (alongside this season's Peach Boy Riverside's Meki a.k.a Carrot). The manga may be nothing, but the anime helped elevate the manga by a notch with such stellar VA performances. Likewise, Silver Link's generic Isekai production substrates have remained the same for a few years now, but to do some experiments with this show is a nice touch that's coming from in-house director Mirai Minato. But it's just the same that I don't really expect much of it anymore, and if it is produced decently, then that's all we need. The music though, if I were to compare the OST as a whole in this season, it's the sleeper kind of "it's pure unadulterated goodness". I've come to love both the OP and ED overtime that fits the tone of the show, but more particularly with the ED, because Humbreaders came back strong with their 2nd featured Anisong that is an upgrade when compared to Shin! Chuuka Ichiban S2's ED, and both songs evoke the sense of youth overflowing with fun. For those tired with the usual Isekai genericness that we got over the past few years, please, PLEASE, try out Dungeon Black Company. IMO it's way lot grounded and better than Sentouin, Hakenshimasu!, and it's the same crazed idiocy with the likes of KonoSuba's Kazuma if he were ever to get stuck in jobs that would have him procrastinating and whining every second without end. It's a strange, yet fascinating Isekai world, and I would not have it in any other way for the time investment of interests well spent, from being lost in the red to profiting much in the green.

Kamina is the protagonist. If that isn't enough to get you to watch this then I don't know what is. After god knows how many Isekai shows with a spineless doormat loser, or a nice guy self-insert genius messiah who brings such great innovations like basic technology and irrigation to Isekailand, it is just so utterly refreshing to see someone this charismatic take the helm of an Isekai. And it's not just that it's an Isekai. Meikyuu Black Company deviates so much from the standard formula, setting, and even style that to call it a typical Isekai would be a great disservice. The show is acomedy, but it cycles through a gamut of different genres including corporate hell, business management, corporate training, post-apocalypse, that one TTGL dream sequence episode, and even a typical Isekai episode for exactly one episode. The whole show being set in a pre-smartphone post-industrial fantasy setting is certainly novel, and my God it is just so refreshing to see Isekai denizens just acting like normal people and not braindead idiots who can't figure out basic technology or are stuck in a medieval stasis. But really, the true star of the show is the MC, Ninomiya. He is basically Kamina in every aspect from his voice, his attitude, and even his hair. He is incredibly charismatic but not entirely infallible. Part of MBC's success is that it doles out moments of triumphs and failure to Ninomiya at a perfect pace so that he never truly succeeds in any given venture/scam but is always ready to bounce back with another crazy scheme that will once again invariably blow up in his face, sometimes for really mundane and realistic reasons (like getting busted by the company's Health Inspection for lacing lousy potions with confusion grass). He is a complete jackass with no redeeming factors, and I do love how the show sets up a bait-and-switch that almost makes you think they're gonna do the thing where he's not really a jerk and is really looking out for his friends or whatever. And that is just the best. You root for him to succeed AND fail in his mad schemes at the same time, and that really makes you bond with the character so much more. The rest of the cast also fare incredibly well too, being great foils to Ninomiya's personality in many different ways. I do think Sky and Rim (hah) are lacking in terms of character, especially in their spotlight episode, but for what it's worth they are cute and don't interfere too much with the overall show. The comedy is fantastic. A lot of it is very work-related humor with a good balance of fantasy humor, but taken to the extreme. It's largely based on what would happen if you have an exploitative conglomerate operating in Isekailand. The show has a really high rate of dishing out jokes, and there are plenty of moments that just caught me completely off guard that I had to pause the video just to get ahold of myself. It's a great thing this airs on Fridays. Making the show a perfect sendoff to the week (and a perfect show to counter the absolute depression of Uramichi Oniisan). MBC is what I watch to bring me back from the brink at the end of every week, and I will miss the show dearly as neverending work continues in the real world... 8/10

Do you think the concept of isekai isn't inherently bad but the cheap, mass produced, cardboard cut-out formula it became ruins it entirely? Well allow me to present something different™. Dungeon of Black Company is isekai done right. We follow Ninomiya Kinji, a shut-in NEET (wait, wait, don't click off) who got everything he could ever want and used the rules of our world to his advantage to become filthy rich. I don't need to do anything anymore kind of rich. Now let's take someone who got everything, and take it all from him, transporting him in a fantasy world at the beginning of the industrial era. Thisconcept isn't too far-fetched and yet stays fresh enough to get you interested. After all, the same old medieval fantasy world can only last so long before it gets stale. In this world in industrial expansion where human rights haven't been invented yet, the chances to get promoted are rather slim, and this is where our protagonist will show off his skill. After all, physical power, while flashy, is still an overused aspect of not only isekai, or anime, but entertainment as a whole. Instead, Ninomiya's main aspect is his lack of morals, matching that of the company itself, and his ability to find the good people and use them to the best of his abilities, which is a new kind of overpowered, making it feel rather nice. Enough praises about Ninomiya, even though he's a king beyond what the human mind can appreciate. What about the rest? Is it the same old dead and beaten harem with a bunch of hot girls head over heels for him for no apparent reason? No, Ninomiya is an asshole, remember? Well there is one who gets the uwu blushy wushy kinda thing, but it doesn't go any further. And to make up for it, there's a based ant waifu, and Wanibe, who's also really solid. And it is actually an isekai where the side characters can be summarized with more than a single sentence, to its credit, not many put that kind of effort. Furthermore, Ninomiya, despite being a main character, may not even be overpowered. After all, he spent a large portion of these 12 episodes struggling against the much superior Raiza'ha, and has been put in some bad situations, even failed a few time. How many isekai protagonists have failed in the runtime of their anime? That's what I thought. If there was one thing I'd bash this anime for, it would be Rim's... everything. No hate on her design, just like everyone else, she looks unique, but it's still palatable. The problem is that... well, she appears in episode 1, she's overpowered and she never openly opposes Ninomiya, which makes her the substitute for an overpowered main character, and makes Ninomiya's challenge a lot easier than what it could have been. All in all, she's more of a lazy plot device than a character, and it is a bit sad. But still, this anime isn't any less of a crazy ride, and is probably one of, if not my favorite anime of the season

Ah, capitalism. The main driving force that keeps the world’s engine running as society drives itself into the ground for the sake of making a quick buck at the cost of both its workers who make pitiful wages and the environment who suffers long-term damage as a result of our glorious industrial and globalization age. Too much? Well if this show wasn’t something of a meta-commentary itself, I wouldn’t be making an existential crisis opening paragraph now would I? Story: Kinji Ninomiya is a self-made man who at the ripe age of 25 has managed to create a small real estate empire powerful enough to be self-sustainingand give him the dream that many people who work want to achieve: to not have to work. But because this is an isekai series, a random hole opens up in the ground and he’s unfortunately sucked into a fantasy world where society has moved past medieval adventurers defeating the Dark Lord, and towards a form of modern industrialism where he works as the lowest rung on the ladder in a mining company meant to make quotas for an even larger corporation that fully intends to take over the world through the most effective means we have available: by monopolizing the market and enslaving the population through economic means. Ninomiya’s goal? To reclaim the kind of influence that he had before in this new world and do what the corporations are trying to do before them. And if that didn’t sell you on the idea that this series is actually a gag isekai that commentates on the social structure of our capitalist society and how it squeezes out every drop of both the lives and wallets of the consuming working class, then I don’t know what else will. Meikyuu Black Company practically only has one theme/joke that it’s going to talk about, and that’s jokes about how everything will always lead back to money and capitalism. And that corporations will exploit you through any means necessary. It’s a very heavy-handed theme and the amount of subtlety this show has about it is about as subtle as the wage disparity between a billionaire CEO and a white collar worker. Which is something you’d think the show gets kind of stale on because the existential dread of a capitalist society can only be told so many times, but surprisingly enough the worldbuilding carries it pretty well. Throughout the twelve episode run, you get to see many different ways corporations fuck people over, whether that be because of debt loans, damage costs, or corporate buyouts, while simultaneously watching Ninomiya attempt to build success up in a similarly cutthroat way with similar yet different tactics that create what we in the market like to call ‘competition’. Which honestly when it comes to this aspect of the story, is surprisingly well done despite the leaps of logic and numerous timeskips in order to both save time and skip over the boring parts of building infrastructure and connections with other groups or companies. As for the actual story though…that’s where things start to fall apart a little bit. Because the entire show is built on Ninomiya’s schemes, the show has a pretty cut and dry formula of storytelling where Ninomiya gets an idea, executes on it, and it can either succeed or fail before the next scheme is done. It’s not a very compelling story formula because it gets kind of samey with time, and watching the guy maniacally laugh at his new get rich quick scheme gets dull since it’s happened a multitude of times before. Not only that, but in spite of the worldbuilding being mostly solid on account of the show revealing how different parts of this corporate isekai world functions, it also has a problem with revealing or showing off things and then not really building up on them. Whenever the show skips over infrastructure building in a sometimes mystery amount of time passing, the show the does a coin flip on whether or not Ninomiya wins or loses. In either scenario, a lot of what was built prior just kind of disappears from the series, and it’s not great cause in a way it feels like nothing has consequences and expected consequences like being financially destitute don’t really occur. On top of that, the show kind of switches genre halfway through which, while making sense in context, still feels wonky and not really a great mesh with the rest of the vibe that the show went for. In the end, Meikyuu Black Company is a mostly repetitive story that’s held together by the societal concept that brings us all together: money. The show honestly doesn’t have that many redeeming qualities beyond just constantly making commentary at how corporations aren’t your friend and that worker exploitation is the norm. But for what it’s worth, the show does that part of the story really, really good. It’s a shame the story doesn’t have much else to offer beyond that, but I guess you gotta stick to your isekai gimmick, eh? Characters: Ruthless, cutthroat, narcissistic with just a hint of god/superiority complex. Yep, that’s Ninomiya. I mean that’s just him in a nutshell, and not much really changes in him as a character. Due to a combination of ego and the drive to excel in business, Ninomiya is one of the most active protagonists in an isekai story that I’ve ever seen, and he gets a lot of credit from me for being an active player in the story rather than being given the keys to destiny. His anti-hero like qualities certainly don’t detract from that either as everything he does is selfish to the core with only a few minor stints in compassion and empathy on the rare occasion he tries to help someone other than himself. Unfortunately this all means that he’s quite a shallow character as well. Oddly enough, Ninomiya relies on the rest of the main cast in order to bring him down from his lofty pedestal since he doesn’t have many character qualities aside from being a dickhead fueled by money, power, and spite. He’s interesting sure, but on his own, he’s a roof without any supporting columns. The two members of his party that I want to focus on are Rim and Wanibe, the two starting characters he gets in the first episode of the show who provide very contrasting parts for his character. Whereas Ninomiya has lofty and eccentric goals, Wanibe is more grounded, desiring only stability and often questions Ninomiya’s character as a result of watching Ninomiya practice his villain laugh on more than a few occasions. He’s a great contrast for his compatriot, and provides a key secondary perspective that the show desperately needs. Rim on the other hand is either a deus ex machina or a handicap depending on the scene context, as she’s not only the dungeon’s strongest monster, but is also gluttonous to the point of actively sabotaging Ninomiya in order to sustain her appetite. There’s a neat bit of character development for her later on in the series, but it’s neither enough to separate her from the ‘hungry child’ trope nor is it enough to develop her in a significantly meaningful way. Shia and Ranga are the last two additions to the party who really don’t have that much involvement in the series beyond being the token pair of tits and the token surprise that I guess every isekai needs to some extent. Yes there’s some character to them, but the wasted potential that they ended up having feels like the show just wanted to fill up the party but didn’t want to do anything beyond stock tropes in order to save costs and brainpower, so we’re stuck with these two. Shia honestly could’ve been more than she actually ended up being and that’s a shame cause the series ended up both not needing what she was offering as a character and forced the scraps of a romantic subplot on her that really didn’t need to be a thing; stop forcing romantic subplots onto characters that don’t need them. Side characters are an interesting group, as they consist of corporate overlords, a few dungeon monsters, a few adventurers, a few NPCs, a lot of corporate workers, and whatever the hell that gun is supposed to be. They’re mostly just parts of the worldbuilding, and while yes the antagonistic force is omniprevalent in the series, they’re mostly a passive part of the series until the very last part of the show where they also don’t do anything. Which I guess makes sense since those at the top would do anything to make sure that they don’t need to take an active part of the whole process, i.e. the entire story. Aesthetics: Silver Link certainly didn’t…pull their a-game this time, so there’s not really a lot I can really say about how Meikyuu Black Company looks. The action and effects aren’t really the best, and the overall look of the show is, while stylized, not all that impressive to look at. The few upsides I will give the show are in its closeups department because to a certain extent, it feels like you can see every one of Ninomiya’s pores with how often they do closeups of the guy’s face. It’s objectively ugly the way they frame him, and it’s something that helps sell that ‘he’s honestly more of a bad guy’ vibe that he has throughout the whole show. Aside from that, the show employs a few instances of 3D models, present especially in the dungeon ants, as well as a surprising amount of equal opportunity fanservice given how not are the female characters stripped down to their bare essentials (because I guess that’s a required thing for the plot), Ninomiya and the rest of the guys get the same treatment too. The only real qualm I have about the art is the way the mouths are drawn cause they’re drawn in this downward pointing triangle style that looks a bit awkward and too sharp for my liking. Definitely a stylistic choice (like how they do the hair shine on Shia), but is definitely not one of the more appealing aspects of the art I feel. HOWL BE QUIET’s “Shimi” is a song that while has a unique hook, isn’t particularly something that I’m too attached to as a song. It certainly has some memorability to it due to its guitar riffs and vocals, but aside from that doesn’t really stand out I feel. Certainly fits for the vibe of the series to a certain extent, and for that I feel like it’s a net positive. On the flipside, Humbreaders’s “World is Mine” isn’t really that interesting to me and just kind of sounds like a generic ending song. A point that’s not helped by the fact that the latter half of the series uses a 3D model of Rim and her sister as dancing models instead of the first half’s stylistic drawing of all of the main party members in a jeep. It’s a downgrade in visuals for sure, and while I don’t think the song is bad, I don’t think it’s memorable enough to get anything more than passing marks. Final Thoughts: Given how every isekai these days has to have a gimmick whether or not that be the protagonist being remade into an NPC, the protagonist being reborn as a baby, the protagonist being reborn as a hot spring, or the protagonist bringing his mom to his fantasy world, at some point we were going to reach a breaking point where the protagonist gets brought to a world where the economic system is scarily reminiscent of his own society with all of the practices, malpractices, and customs understood in the market system. Which I guess could be considered a natural evolution, but I feel like that’s more like digimon rules than pokemon rules if we’re arguing semantics. For what its worth, I found the capitalist side of things a lot funnier than it had any right to be, and the show does not pull any punches in that regard. Every episode partakes in some kind of company malpractice with unionization, competition, and pulling bullshit out of your ass as the main reasons why this plot seems to go somewhere. It’s fun seeing how much the show pokes at our obviously dystopian and economy-fueled society but that’s about as much as the show really offers. In the end, Ninomiya is just the mouthpiece that drives the show forward, and all of his schemes either end up being success stories that don’t really last all that long, or failures that he moves on from with very little consequence. The gimmick/joke of the show is pretty much the main reason to watch the show, and while I don’t see that as a bad thing, there’s not really anything else compelling about the show and I’m a little sad the show is so one-note. Still, it’s a recommendation if you want to laugh and then have an existential crisis over the state of our society and how it’s really run. I’d file this one as a fun watch/fun experience without expecting too much more out of it aside from that. A bit more than what was presented would be nice, but given the current isekai market and how isekai with gimmicks are a dime a dozen and have a turnover rate substantial enough to make a quick buck time and time again before discarding the old for the new, I think it’s safe to say that we weren’t really gonna be getting anything more than what was shown on the box. Aw well. I wonder if there were any Japanese salarymen who laughed while watching this show before crying in existential dread because of how close it hits to home given their life situation of endless work and labor for a wage. That’d be a nice statistic to see.