Life Lessons with Uramichi Oniisan
Life Lessons with Uramichi Oniisan is a Japanese comedy manga series written and illustrated by Gaku Kuze. It has been serialized online via Ichijinsha's Comic Pool digital manga magazine since May 2017. Chapters have been collected in eleven volumes. The manga series has been licensed in North America by Kodansha USA. An anime television series adaptation produced by Studio Blanc aired from July to September 2021.
Synopsis
Uramichi Omota, a 31-year-old former professional gymnast, works as the leader of the exercise segment of the children's show Together with Maman. Despite keeping an upbeat persona on the show, he cannot help but reveal his true, jaded, worn-out personality.Characters
;Uramichi Omota;Tobikichi Usahara
;Mitsuo Kumatani
;Iketeru Daga
;Utano Tadano
;Hanbee Kikaku
;Saito Uebu
;Matahiko Nekota
;Yusao Furode
;Tekito Derekida
;Eddy Edei
;Kayo Ennoshita
;Ikuko Heame
;Furitsuke Capellini
;Amon
;Mabui Daga
;Sayuri
;The Voice of God
Media
Manga
Life Lessons with Uramichi Oniisan is written and illustrated by Gaku Kuze. It has been serialized online in Ichijinsha's Comic Pool digital manga magazine since May 12, 2017. Chapters have been collected in eleven volumes. During their Anime NYC 2019 panel, Kodansha USA announced that they had licensed the series.Anime
An anime adaptation was announced in a promotional video of the fourth volume of the manga on October 25, 2019. The television series is animated by Studio Blanc and directed by Nobuyoshi Nagayama, with Touko Machida handling series composition, Mizuki Takahashi and Yusuke Shibata designing the characters, and Kei Haneoka composing the series' music. It was scheduled to premiere in 2020, but was delayed to 2021 due to "production issues". The series aired from July 6 to September 28, 2021, on TV Tokyo and other channels. Mamoru Miyano and Nana Mizuki performed the opening theme song, "ABC Taisō" as their respective characters, while Miyano also performed the ending theme song "Dream on". Funimation licensed the series. Following Sony's acquisition of Crunchyroll, the series was moved to Crunchyroll.Reception
In 2017, the manga won the Next Manga Award in the web manga category. It ranked sixth on AnimeJapan's "Most Wanted Anime Adaptation" poll in 2019. Rebecca Silverman of Anime News Network published a positive review of the two omnibus editions of the manga in 2021. She wrote that: "Simply put, Life Lessons with Uramichi Oniisan works because it melds absurdity with a dash of realism while reminding readers of their own experiences with children's programming. It does take a while to get going, but by the end of the second book, it has achieved just the right mix of humor and cynicism."The anime adaptation's first episode garnered mixed reviews from Anime News Networks staff during the Summer 2021 season previews. Richard Eisenbeis praised the portrayal of Uramichi being more "depressed and disillusioned than an asshole" and the treatment of the other characters' predicament being "equal parts funny and sad", saying that fans of Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei will enjoy this series. Caitlin Moore was critical of the inappropriate humor said towards young children and the comic timing being "a little bit off" and diminishing the impact of the jokes. James Beckett felt the show didn't "play up the absurdity of its central joke enough" to offset the lack of other jokes throughout the runtime, despite giving praise to the "understated" delivery and Mamoru Miyano giving a "naturalistic" performance as Iketeru. Lynzee Loveridge wrote that the series will appeal to people who enjoy its brand of dark humor, saying that: "If you find this funny, it also probably says something about you and your personal life experiences, your outlook on the world at large." Silverman found the early parts of the episode unfunny because of the focus on Uramichi's bleak outlook but was hopeful of his supporting cast balancing the humor, concluding that: "he contrasts between the colors of the show and Uramichi's dark moments are good, and I like the vocal cast's delivery, but I'm having a hard time getting behind this episode in general. It does get better, but getting there could be a schlep." Nicholas Dupree said that despite a few gags landing its spot, he felt the premiere was hampered by its structure of shorter segments undercutting Uramichi's comments and lacking in quality punchlines, concluding that: "It's a pity, because this past year has had me in the mood for darker humor more than ever, but so far Uramichi Oniisan just hasn't delivered."
Silverman reviewed the complete anime series in 2022 and gave it a B−grade. While finding fault in the "limited animation", the portrayals of Derekida and Capellini, and the limited appeal of its central premise, she praised Uramichi and Together with Mamans programming for making up "a winning combination" for one of the series' best jokes, the "solid vocal performances" from the cast and the subtle details in the characters' past and background jokes, concluding that: "I do think it may work a bit better in its original manga form, but no matter how you experience it, this is probably a love-it-or-hate-it kind of show." The series was nominated for Best Comedy at the 6th Crunchyroll Anime Awards, but lost to Komi Can't Communicate.