©Kazutomo Ichitomo, KADOKAWA/HANDYMAN SAITOU IN ANOTHER WORLD PARTNERS

The sketch-based presentation of Handyman Saitō in Another World has been distinguishing enough as a funny feature, but in this week’s episode, another aspect of its deployment becomes apparent. Flipping between all these characters before bringing them together into this current united labyrinth plot has culminated in a crystalized idea: Everyone here has their own story. And now, with the revelation that Morlock’s spotty memory was in fact dramatically plot-relevant and an explanation of what antagonistic ninja Kisurugi has really been after, we come away understanding that those cutaway sketches can’t always be funny little skits, and that Handyman Saitō isn’t always going to be a comedy.

It’s a bold move for a series five episodes in, one whose appeal was previously predicated on the sheer density of comic material afforded by its format. In contrast, this episode is pretty well devoid of jokes, which doesn’t even become clear until we’re partway through the first flashback. Handyman Saitō’s dry delivery thus far had primed me to assume that the long leadup to Kisurugi seeking out his witchy paramour in her basement bed area was going to culminate in some sort of anticlimactic punchline. So the revelation of a sob story involving anti-aging curses and ironic true-love age inductions turned out to be even more of a subversive swerve than any cheap capstone gag could have been.

It’s an important turn, anyway, when you remember that this group of characters—Kisurugi, his demon pals, the witch, and her fairy friend—were all previously set up through a single skit about shadow-magic smooch-stealing. And those few minutes of irreverent establishing character content feeds into the more serious serialized motivations we follow for the party as they act as the ‘bad guys’ to the assembled efforts of Saitō and everyone else. Kisurugi and the demons’ loyalty to each other is genuine, as is the fairy Primasse’s devotion to the witch. They, like everyone else who’s come down into this labyrinth, have their own stories that led them here, and getting to see that, initially in goofy skit form and now here in more conventionally dramatic flashback, sell these comic characters as more three-dimensional beings filling out this story.

Kisurugi and crew getting the majority of that kind of focus for this episode is indicative of how well the show thinks this approach might work, as well as the potential audience response to it. Yes, the possibility of such elements for the ‘main’ characters is teased in things like that earlier invocation of Morlock’s secret backstory (to be followed up on later, no doubt). Yet, suddenly trying to impart more concrete character context for the lovestruck shadow assassin can come off like Handyman Saitō testing the waters more than anything else. It’s a fair thing to try, and goes along with those ambitions I noted the show had previously. And it does give this episode a more distinct flavor that helps it feel like it’s not in danger of undercutting the ultimate climax of this big battle with some sort of cheap gag, which I might have expected from it a couple weeks earlier.

But then the question has to be: Does this drama, in this instance specifically, work? To me, the answer is: kinda. I like the genuine sentiment of the connections between all these people and creatures. There’s a knowing novelty to the way Kisurugi’s summoned Greater Demon assistants prove to be proper pals that he’d gladly take bullets for. But when the show is piling on details, seemingly just to fill out the runtime of the episode, things can trip a little too far into potential tragedy porn. Primasse indulging in weight gain to try to make herself less desirable to fairy captors? That’s an amusing backstory detail. Primasse begging Kisurugi to forcefully rip her wings off so she can unleash a spell to save her dying friend while she also remembers the time she was nearly subjected to traumatic inter-species rape? Maybe a bit much coming from the funny handyman isekai show.

I can appreciate Handyman Saitō’s interest in always trying things. For earnest ambition, this episode gets an A for effort. And it even looks pretty good for this series, particularly in the bit where Morlock’s massive, colorful magic effects contrast nicely with the show’s usual more drab palette. But as interesting an experiment as it is, I don’t know that I’d want the show to fully tilt into this type of storytelling for the rest of its run. You can sell that “Everyone has a story” idea off the back of the interconnected sketches without trying too hard to get us to take it seriously. With this arc and that handling of it looking to continue directly into next week’s episode, I hope the series takes that search for a middle ground To Heart.

Rating:

Handyman Saitō in Another World is currently streaming on
Crunchyroll.

Chris is a freewheeling Fresno-based freelancer with a love for anime and a shelf full of too many Transformers. He can be found spending way too much time on his Twitter, and irregularly updating his blog.

Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more of the companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa Group of Companies.

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©Kazutomo Ichitomo, KADOKAWA/HANDYMAN SAITOU IN ANOTHER WORLD PARTNERS

Last week I compared this current story arc for Handyman Saitou to a silly escalating Dungeons & Dragons tabletop session, and I’m sticking with it here. I think every one of us who’s been into this hobby has been here before: what starts as a throwaway gag about a dog biting off a group member’s magic member somehow escalates into one of the most intense and thrilling encounters the crew has ever experienced in role-playing. Absurd throws are made for million-to-one rescue shots. Anxious characterization is built as each fights to save the other. Chips are flying everywhere. People scream.

This provides an escalation that still fits the tone that has always worked for Craftsman Saitou. It’s gotten “serious” again, but in a more “fun” way than the earlier twists. That’s especially evident when things really get going in the second half of this episode, after the tail-driven demon dog is mostly dealt with and the Saitou squad has to deal with another of those sick hand demons. Turns out there were actually two of them, one right-handed and one left-handed, which I think is just brilliant. Much of the layered backstory that confrontations like this in the previous arc attempted to shape has been dispensed with here, and instead is merely a series of intricate obstacles that leave us wondering if our heroes will be able to do Morlock’s magical man thing to recover it, and how many of them might perish in the process.

Instead of trying to elicit any pathos from the procession of larger demon bosses our main characters have to contend with, Craftsman Saitou instead lays out the runway in the first part of the episode by detailing the feelings of the main characters themselves. All indications are that they are indeed preparing to move forward with Raelza and Saitou’s relationship, with Morlock pretty much insisting that he give the craftsman his blessing. Saitou protests that Raelza should probably be the first party to make that decision, and while we know she’s definitely into him, I basically agree with his point here. It feels odd that the biggest jump in the direction of where the series comes closest to a romantic approach isn’t due to something Raelza does himself, but because Morlock is the one telling Saitou to do it marry his adopted daughter. Anyway, to her credit, Raelza struggles almost all of this episode to prove her own devotion to Saitou (and the rest of the group), setting the stage for another potential catharsis in pursuing the relationship, if that’s all done over.

Also, the real reason this came about because of Morlock’s characterization is so Craftsman Saitou can push the “family” aspect of this arc as fast and furiously as possible. The parallels are certainly not subtle, as the demon dog’s adopted wolf pup turns into a selfless bargaining chip for Morlock as well, as the wizard muses several times throughout this episode about the efforts he will go to for his “children”. So the tacit intention of becoming Saitou’s son-in-law serves to cement this bond. I mean, I always went along with the team’s found family perspective, but I can tell the lyrics at that point wanted to make things even clearer for everyone else in the audience. There’s a serious simplicity in it that I can’t blame the craftsman Saitou for.

Plus, Raelza gets to show how much she cares about her, and she’s doing it with what is probably the coolest combat phase the series has given her in a long time. It’s basically everything I wanted out of a fight in Handyman Saitou: a stretch of concentrated combat, centered on our main heroes, in an open, brightly lit area where we can see everything, especially my awesome armor Woman concerned and her huge sword. It is perhaps appropriate that Morlock advances Saitou and Raelza’s relationship through conversation, while the lady herself expresses her love primarily through monster hacking. It’s also an amicable arrangement, with the moment Saitou coming to the rescue with his super-powerful wire cutters, or using the magical knowledge he’s acquired to help Morlock know how to cast an Ice Magick on Raelza. can take a hit. As I said before, you can just hear the players making these saves and throws cheering when they make moves like this.

It’s all Handyman Saitou at its most pristine, and I think I prefer it to be serious rather than trying to dig up pathos or melodrama. Gift me the simple pleasures of a band of adventurers who magically mess up a few demons every day. Being outside and openly visible really lets us see how beautiful things continue to look during this fight. Special credit goes to the impressively gnarly animations of healing magic, whether it’s Lafanpan restoring Raelza’s burned arm or the larger demon’s halves of his head reassembling with the help of a series of tiny grasping hands. Resourceful and impressive, Handyman Saitou drew me completely into the doings of this newfound family and their quest to help Grandpa get his groin back.

Evaluation:

Handyman Saitō in Another World is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Chris is a Freelance Freelancer from Fresno with a penchant for anime and a shelf full of Transformers. He spends far too much time on Twitter and updates his blog infrequently.

Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more of the companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa group of companies.

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The first episode of anime is also previewed in a new video

Kadokawa began streaming a new party promotional video for the television anime of Kazutomo Ichitomo’s manga Benriya Saitō-san, Isekai ni Iku (Craftsman Saitō in Another World) on Friday.

In addition, Kadokawa is streaming a preview of the anime’s first episode.

Kadokawa also revealed the second key visual for the anime.

The anime will premiere in Japan on January 8th. Crunchyroll will stream the anime as it airs.

The Anime Stars: (Note: Romanizations of character names are not official.)

Toshiyuki Kubooka (Berserk: The Golden Age Arc) is directing the anime at C2C. Kenta Ihara (Tomodachi Game) is in charge of the series’ composition and script. Yōko Tanabe is designing the characters. Tomotaka Ohsumi (Dagashi Kashi) is composing the music. Yuichi Imaizumi (So I’m a Spider, So What?) is the sound director.

Teary Planet sings the opening song of the anime “Kaleidoscope” and Konoco sings the closing song “Hidamari no Saido” (Sunny Spot’s Saturation).

Ichitomo released the manga on Kadokawa’s ComicWalker service in 2018, and Kadokawa released the eighth volume on Friday. The manga has a circulation of 450,000 copies including digital copies.

The “heartwarming manga from another world” revolves around Saitō, an ordinary craftsman who is reincarnated in another world. He forms a dungeon exploration party with Raelza, a beautiful and strong warrior; Morok, a powerful magician who keeps forgetting to cast spells due to his senility; and Lafanpan, a cute but stingy fairy. His crafting experience comes in handy when they need to open a locked chest or repair their armor.

Images © Kazutomo Ichichi published by KADOKAWA / Handyman Saito-san Goes to Another World Production Committee.

Source: press release

Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more of the companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa group of companies.

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©Kazutomo Ichitomo, KADOKAWA/HANDYMAN SAITOU IN ANOTHER WORLD PARTNERS

Handyman Saitō in Another World is an odd show. Comedy-based Isekai is nothing new. But Handyman Saitō’s approach takes a very different direction from the insane weirdness of something like KONOSUBA or Cautious Hero, seriously embodying the structure of his comic source material through isolated sketches with restrained punch lines. It gives the whole thing an atmosphere, unlike other animes about world-spanning heroes and a lot of comedy anime overall.

Part of what makes Handyman Saitō unique is that while the nominal gimmick is someone with a specific job being summoned into the fantasy world, rather than some simple cipher, Saitō’s handyman character isn’t the source of much of the humor of the series. It’s not about how weird it would be to have a handyman in this world; The point of the show is that the fantasy world itself is pretty weird on its own. Entire scenes can play out in episodes that don’t even involve Saitō and his friends, such as an entry in the second episode where a king defeats his demonic enemy but keeps him with him as a living, severed head because he has his actually enjoys company. Much of what is written here is built on top of this Subversion, introducing us to a standard fantasy class, character or situation before we retreat to reveal the punch line at the end and hopefully elicit a laugh.

Of course, this unconventional approach means Handyman Saitō is as hit-or-miss a game as can be. Many parts are funny or cute entertaining, such as the eccentricities of Saitō’s party members, such as the greedy fairy healer or the senility-stricken wizard. But other parts don’t work so well and are on the verge of exhausting their effectiveness. In particular, the series has a penchant for wicked humor that you might not expect. Some of it helps evoke this appealing weirdness, like the delicacy of tail-shaped mushrooms, or the debut of a warrior-healer combo composed only of a few oddball perverts. However, the last part is an example that lags a little too long and awkwardly. Other sketches along these lines didn’t pan out either, like Raelza taking off her armor in the second episode, or a lengthy build-up in the third episode about a team of streaming adventurers who keep their fantasy webcams on while the action heats up , which is ultimately only justified comes across as mean.

Handyman Saitō is at its best when it feels like it builds on those parts through the characters and the world it gradually introduced in the first three episodes. So the part about Raelza’s armor wasn’t great, and when in the third episode an electric trap that requires removing the armor appears, I braced myself for a repeat of that kind of forbearance. But then the show turns things around by having Saitō lend her his clothes so she can cover up. Instead, we catch a glimpse of a Saitō service and see Raelza rocking his jumpsuit. This is a win-win situation!

This uplifting approach applies even when the show isn’t about humor. Just because Handyman Saitō is short and understated doesn’t mean it isn’t ambitious, too. A common thread running through these first three episodes is that Saitō feels he needs to prove he is capable of helping the group, stemming from feeling undervalued in his world. This plays out in storylines spanning several scattered sketches, showing Saitō’s struggles in a few instances of dungeon battles and how he connects his feelings with people in the pause between those adventures. This is cool because it makes the group feel like a real group of comrades and not like a story-structured JRPG team. Additionally, the sketchy structure allows Saitō’s handling of his emotions to be more realistic, chaotic, and cyclical, causing the show to move toward more consistent jokes. As chilled as it often feels, it never comes across as lazy, which I think befits a series about a working man.

Handyman Saitō’s ambitions also seem to extend to an ongoing story, despite its structure. This culminates in episode three when Saitō discovers a dungeon and revitalizes the local adventure business by uniting many of the faces seen in these disparate sketches. Of course, only such an irreverently weird series would attribute this development, and the promise of more, to the mystery of a Roomba in the fantasy world, but it’s compelling nonetheless. I’m excited to see how these connections and advancements will play out in the upcoming episodes. But I also feel like I’m going to have a lot of fun hanging out with Saitō and all these other weirdos every weekend.

Evaluation:

Handyman Saitō in Another World is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Chris is a Freelance Freelancer from Fresno with a penchant for anime and a shelf full of Transformers. He spends far too much time on Twitter and updates his blog infrequently.

Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more of the companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa group of companies.

Episodes 1-3 Episode 4 Episode 5 Episode 6 Episode 7 Episode 8 Episode 9 Episode 10 Episode 11 Episode 12next>

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What is this?

Saitō is an ordinary handyman who is reincarnated into another world. He forms a dungeon exploring party with Raelza, a beautiful and strong warrior; Morok, a powerful magician who, due to his senility, keeps forgetting spells; and Lafanpan, a cute but miserly fairy. His handyman experience is helpful when they need to open a locked chest or fix their armor.

Handyman Saitō in Another World is based on Kazutomo Ichitomo’s manga and streams on Crunchyroll on Mondays.

How was the first episode?

Caitlin Moore

Rating:

I swear, y’all, I’m gonna go rogue and write a long and detailed article about how these isekai where burned-out adults get pulled into another world and continue to do their jobs to a much more appreciative clientele are a reflection of Marx’s theory of alienation. According to Marx, in capitalist society, workers become alienated from their labor through a variety of forces. Saitō’s client throwing a fit over 30 seconds of work represents alienation because she fails to consider the training and skill required for him to open her door and… hey, where is everyone going? This is interesting stuff and a key element to critically examining a widespread trend in popular anime!

But then again, it’s really only interesting when considered as a larger trend. Most of the “doing my job, but in a fantasy world” leave me snoring in this world, but Handyman Saitō in Another World at the very least kept my attention for most of 20 minutes. The pacing is brisk and then some, moving swiftly through three-minute sketches that rarely connect to each other. The main thrust is that while Saitō rarely found satisfaction in his work in Japan, his party of Dungeons & Dragons-style misfits in the new world appreciate his knowledge base of practical skills that are much rarer there. He does a lot of lockpicking in dungeons and little odd jobs like making a backpack for the party fairy to carry her hoard of gold. There is a simple pleasure to not just the fantasy of living in a world where your skills are acknowledged as valuable, but watching Saitō work with tools to create something. It’s wonderfully tactile.

It is, however, only moderately funny. There aren’t jokes so much as bits and character beats. The party consists of Saitō, an elderly wizard suffering from dementia, a miserly fairy with healing magic, and an awkward lady knight who spends most of her time in full plate. A few gags made me chuckle, but the focus was more on displaying Saitou’s competency and creating a warm fuzzy feeling about his bond with his party. I only laughed out loud a couple times in the whole episode. The color palette is also oddly somber for a comedy, muted and washed out even when the animation is fluid and detailed.

Handyman Saitō in Another World is a second-monitor anime. It’s pleasant and mildly funny and pretty well animated, but it’s not especially engaging and the sketch format means you can kind of zone in and out. Too bad I only have one monitor.

Rebecca Silverman

Rating:

Of all the jobs that could easily make the transition between our world and the fantasy world of your choice, one I must vote for to star in an isekai show is a psychologist. But barring that, a handyman is a pretty great one to use. In the case of this show, “handyman” appears to be shorthand for “Jack of all trades;” Saitou can do just about anything, from leatherworking to lock picking to basic armor smithing. While his skill set seems a bit broader than I might have expected, there is no denying that it helps him fit in in this fantasy world he has somehow managed to land in. After all, adventurers have new things fixed and unlocked just as much as anyone else does. The bonus is that the life-or-death situations they might find themselves in make them more grateful than cheap housewives.

The bite-sized storylines within this first episode suggest that it may have worked better as a short; it goes through many mini plots within a short space of time. It doesn’t really drag, but there were moments when I wondered how much longer the episode had to run. This is partly because things seem to be skipping around through time; we have yet to learn exactly how Saitou ended up in the fantasy world, nor how he fell in with his present party of adventurers. We know that somehow he is now going on adventures with a lady tank, a geriatric mage, and the healer fairy with a thirst for gold. He fits in with them great, but the entire episode could be more cohesive.

On the plus side, the episode does a nice job with some little details. The way that the swordswoman is uncomfortable with the scar on her cheek is never overtly stated, but we can piece it together from the way that she does not want to take her helmet off in front of Saitou, and when she does, she keeps her scarred cheek turned away from him or in the shadows. Towards the end of the episode, when Saitou falls down a hole in a cave to several levels below, we immediately get a sense of how badly he is injured by the fact that we can see blood slowly coloring the water from his submerged leg; long before he says that the leg is broken, we have the visual cues to pick up on. There are also a lot of quite funny moments, from the dwarf to Morlock’s tenuous grasp on his present; there are some very entertaining little jabs at fantasy norms. I would have liked this to feel a little more linear, but overall, there’s something very nearly wholesome about the episode, and it makes a good case for more professionals to take up adventuring in another world.

Richard Eisenbeis

Rating:

Handyman Saitō in Another World is a different kind of isekai story—and I mean that in the best possible way. There’s no power fantasy here—no overpowered skill that makes Saitou invincible. The world and its dangers are played entirely straight. He’s just a guy who worked as a locksmith/handyman for a home improvement store—and luckily had his work jumpsuit and tools on him when he arrived in the fantasy world. Speaking of which, it’s funny, but we don’t know how or why Saitou came to the fantasy world in the first place. But here’s what’s even more amusing: that information is in no way needed or even vaguely important to the story being told. While this episode comprises a series of vignettes—some that don’t even feature our titular hero—there is one single theme that connects them all: the human desire to feel needed and appreciated. In our world, Saitou was good at his job—perhaps too good. He was that kind of competent that makes even hard things look easy. Thus even his boss saw him as a dime a dozen. This has given him an inferiority complex. He feels the need to work harder and be more beneficial to his party.

But here’s the thing: his party knows how amazing he is, unlike the random lady who was locked out of her house. They can’t pick a locked door or chest—they have neither the tools nor the talent—but the fact that he can makes him invaluable in their kind of work. They’d be happy with him even if he did nothing but come forward and pick locks when asked. The fact that he wants to do more makes him a treasure more important than the gold in any chest—and by the end, they’re finally able to make him see that.

Of course, the episode isn’t solely about Saitou. Morlock has come out of retirement because he wants to feel useful—even in a party far below his level. To Lafanpan, money is proof that her healing skills are valuable. For the magic warrior dwarf, having a small dog rely on him gives him the meaning he needs to continue his solitary adventuring life. Even the seemingly mismatched pair of the burly mage and the tiny great axe-wielding girl have found affirmation in the fact that they’ve found someone else who knows not to judge a book by its cover.

All in all, this episode is simply fantastic. It manages to hit just the right balance of light comedy—like the origin of the fantasy world’s measurement system—and everyday life tragedy—like the scenes that show that Morlock is suffering from rapidly progressing dementia. It even has a solid theme that is explored subtly yet thoroughly—and in a way that teaches us more about the human condition. Or, to put it another way, if the rest of the episodes in the series are even half as good as this one, this series will be on more than a few best of season lists when the winter season comes to a close.

Nicholas Dupree

Rating:

It took me a while to get a read on this one. This premiere may have a basic-ass isekai premise, but it isn’t a traditional narrative. Instead, it’s a collection of disconnected comedic skits primarily based on the premise of a regular handyman winding up in the world of tabletop fantasy RPGs. That’s a mildly amusing idea and is utilized to mildly amusing comedy in what’s less a show, and more a series of very nerdy Family Circus comic strips.

Granted, that format can be pretty jarring going in. This episode never even explains how Saitou was isekai’d in the first place, nor how he fell in with his quirky party of adventurers. We join them in the middle of a dungeon crawl and then slingshot between random skits, some of which don’t even involve our central cast and seem to only exist for a single visual gag. That makes the episode pretty disjointed – especially when it dips its toes into drama towards the end – but there’s a certain charm to it all too. Gags like the senile wizard selling off his dead companions’ equipment to resurrect them, or the Dwarf magician who acts as both Tank and DPS, are the kind of goofy stories and build ideas you come up with when playing D&D with your friends. It’s nothing extraordinary, and I doubt it’ll resonate with many people. Still, I got some sensible chuckles out of the deal – mainly, to my shame, when they revealed this world’s measuring system is based on a king’s enormous schlong.

The art style is also likely to put people off, and that I can absolutely agree with. Everything looks so washed out and brown, seemingly as a deliberate stylistic choice, but it’s distracting even at the best of times. That’s a shame since some excellent animation cuts work well to punctuate or escalate various jokes throughout the episode. Designs are plain but work well enough, and I appreciate that Raelza wears an actual, practical suit of armor when she’s fighting monsters. It all leads to a distinct look, if not always an appealing one, that’s carried by solid comedic timing.

That said, I can’t kick the feeling this would all work better as shorts rather than a semi-random compilation of semi-related jokes. At full-length, the comedy started to get repetitive and lose steam by the end, and all of these characters needed to be more complex to carry an actual narrative. That doesn’t make this premiere bad, but it also means I’m not hankering for more anytime soon.

James Beckett

Rating:

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: isekai anime can be good! All it needs to do is not suck. And friends, let me tell you, Handyman Saitō in Another World doesn’t suck. It is good! It is, in fact, better than a show about an isekai’d handyman has any right to be. The best parts of Preview Guide are always the premieres that take you completely by surprise with how much you end up liking them, and that’s exactly what Handyman Saitou did for me.

This show checks every box of what the platonic ideal of an isekai comedy anime would be for me, specifically, a person who does not generally enjoy these kinds of shows. Does Handyman Saitou have a likable cast of characters who are more than just cardboard cutout clichés? Despite working within a fairly standard sitcom mold, Handyman Saitou still makes its cast charming and loveable with their funny and sweet interactions. Does Handyman Saitou actually use its fantasy setting in an interesting way? Absolutely! With its specific jokes and creative allusions to familiar video game tropes, it’s proof that a show can still carve out its own identity within the tried-and-true confines of the typical fantasy RPG setting; it just has to, you know, be written well. Does the show look good? Once again, Handyman Saitou delivers, providing some shockingly lush and pleasing animation for a show that honestly didn’t have to try nearly as hard.

Here’s the most critical question, though: Is Handyman Saitou funny? It is a comedy, after all, and all of the production values and heartwarming character writing won’t account for much if the show doesn’t make you laugh. I’m happy to report that Handyman Saitou is probably the funniest thing I’ve seen all week. I’ll leave you to judge whether that is a sign of Handyman Saitou’s quality or an indictment of this season’s slate of comedies; all I know is that when the senile old wizard Morlock dragged his dead party members to the nearest church and sold everything by Raelza’s bikini armor to revive them, I laughed my ass off. I laughed even harder when he excitedly educated Saitou on the phallic origins of their universe’s unit (heheh) of measurement. When the gruff dwarf tank slaughtered his enemies as a solo warrior, only to reveal the cute little puppy that lives in his helmet, I laughed again, and then I said “Awwwwwwww” out loud for a minute or two straight.

I did not expect a show called Handyman Saitou to be one of my favorite premieres of the season, but that’s what makes this time of year so fun (and exhausting). When you’re covering literally dozens of new shows over the span of just a few days, it can be difficult to slog through all of the mediocre pablum that comes your way, but that’s also what makes such pleasant surprises as this one so much more enjoyable to experience.

Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more of the companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa Group of Companies.

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©Kazutomo Ichitomo, KADOKAWA/HANDYMAN SAITOU IN ANOTHER WORLD PARTNERS This episode of Handyman Saitō in Another World definitely feels like “The Dawn of a New Era”. That said, it feels like this is where the real show begins after the character-building, world-building punch lines that were spun in over and over again in the first three episodes. Things are still based entirely on sketches — it’s not like the show fundamentally pulled the rug out from under the audience in terms of presentation. But now it’s more like one of those daily newspaper comic strips running a storyline through the daily entry. There’s a connecting arc that brings it all together in the expanded maze that Saitō discovered at the end of last week’s episode, with most of the action and antics centered in that setting.

The big, expansive gimmick now is that all of these unique sketch characters can interact with Saitō and the others, which in turn provides new vectors for comedy. On a basic level, that means our main group can observe these other people and say what most of the sketches have already told us about them: they’re very weird. But the script also uses this to advance the main story (illustrated by a handy pop-up graphic), which crew are the last to work their way to the end of this maze. For example, we see the disembodied demon lord and his sidekick, the king’s minister, being knocked out by the shadow-walking ninja Kisirugi, who then pursues Saitō and the others at the end of the episode, only to be stopped at the end of the minute by Gibungle, this one dwarven mage armor with the pup in the helmet. Gibungle then asserts that Morlock is in fact his long-lost master, who of course has completely forgotten about him. It’s a bit like The Avengers if Iron Man and all the other established films were goofy 4-coma films with the occasional joke.

Keeping this sketchy structure and offbeat, often offbeat humor helps Handyman Saitō still feel like handyman Saitō despite this slight increase in narrative claim. So there’s still time for one-off gags like the Power Wizard not participating in dungeon crawling just because his staff doesn’t fit. But there’s a more surprising change that struck me in terms of the show’s tone. That so many of the new jokes are based on the characters’ interactions with each other gives things a slightly more good-natured element compared to the more malevolent efforts I felt in some parts of the previous episode. A good example is Saitō’s meeting with Monpui, the Nepo Baby healer from the hero’s party, when both are lost in the maze. We see Monpui learning to maybe trust others more and he’s surprised his leader Cainz really cares about him and I always expected the show to undermine that at the last minute. But instead it just plays out and ends on that genuine note, with the “punchline” being simply the revelation that this world’s designated “hero” might actually be good enough to play that role, and that Saitō’s good natureds impress people can .

Similarly, an interaction about stealing a treasure chest simply ends with the revelation of Guivre, the burly thief, who sees Saitou as just his type. It’s not played in a predatory or over-the-top gay stereotype, but instead simply comes across as an adorably serious attraction to exactly the sort of desirable guy we already know Saitō is. It’s cute and amusing in the same laughable way Artisan Saitō has always aspired to. The show still has some more dubious impulses, mainly regarding Raelza. The reveal of her awesome activated light armor would have been a great follow-up to the previous joke about taking off her armor involuntarily, but of course she has to suffer a wardrobe malfunction moments later, which waters that execution down and what was a surprisingly cool one up to this point animated fight scene for the series.

There’s more cool action at the end, and coupled with the frankly surprising revelation of an entire cache of Isekai items in the maze, it just keeps saying that Handyman Saitō is ramping up his ambitions here. And it’s nice that the series’ commitment to Subversion can extend to both story considerations and style of humor. Saitō’s pursuit of the fantasy Roomba has Raelza wondering if he’s looking for a way to eventually return to his homeworld, which surprised me given how seldom such an idea is espoused in modern Isekai. And I like the idea of ​​where this could lead, as Saito seems to genuinely enjoy how valued and fulfilled he is in this weird fantasy world, but we can imagine a lot of us might get homesick after a while. That’s several hooks that are about to be thrown out in the fourth installment of this funky little series, which makes it interesting that I now feel like watching to follow along and maybe see some cool fight scenes as well as just get in on the action the next batch of dick jokes.

Evaluation:

Handyman Saitō in Another World is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Chris is a Freelance Freelancer from Fresno with a penchant for anime and a shelf full of Transformers. He spends far too much time on Twitter and updates his blog infrequently.

Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more of the companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa group of companies.

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