English Dub Season Review: Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill Season One

Based on the Japanese light novel/Manga series written by Ren Eguchi, and illustrated by Momo Futaba, the story follows the adventures of a 27-year-old Salaryman named Mukouda Tsuyoshi (a.k.a. “Mukohda”) who is accidentally summoned from Japan to an alternate fantasy world with three others to become heroes of the Reijseger Kingdom. Unlike the others who have skills in swordsmanship and magic, Mukohda only possesses the “Online Grocery” skill which lets him spend coins through a magical screen to buy food and other products online from Japan, which are deemed useless in a fight. Uninterested in becoming a hero and sensing that the Reijseger royals are untrustworthy, Mukohda convinces them his skill is useless and accepts money to quietly disappear.

However, this power proves to be anything but useless. With this ability, Mukouda can cheaply purchase food products and utensils from Japan—most of which are considered luxuries in this world and can be paid with gold coins. As Mukouda cooks up a storm using his ability, he catches the eye of the fearsome mythical Fenirir wolf named “Fel”. The legendary beast swiftly negotiates a contract to become Mukouda’s familiar, unable to resist the delicious dishes. With Fel by his side, Mukouda travels the world, earning his keep as an adventurer/merchant all the while enjoying delectable meals.

On the technical side, this anime adaptation was produced by MAPPA and directed by Kiyoshi Matsuda, with scripts written by Michiko Yokote, character designs handled by Nao Ōtsu, and music composed by Masato Kōda, Kana Utatane, and Kuricorder Quartet. The opening theme song is “Exquisite Spoon” by Van de Shop, while the ending theme song is “Happy-go-Journey” by Yuma Uchida.

For the first time, MAPPA an animation studio with an extensive track record of quality mainstream bangers such as Jujutsu Kaisen, Attack on Titan, and Chainsaw Man has finally dipped their toes into the Isekai genre. And surprisingly, it’s not as bad as I thought it would be. In a nutshell, the plot is basically about a dude named Mukohda with an unusual magical power which involves accessing online shopping in another world and paying with gold coins through a magical screen and then said items magically teleport to his exact location in a matter of seconds. It sort of functions like Amazon, Doordash, or Hello Fresh but with extra magical steps.

Because the other people who also got zapped along with him don’t believe this internet skill can be useful, Mukohda starts his journey and is later revealed to be a proficiently skilled chef, so he proceeds to buy a lot of other world foods, utensils, ingredients, etc. carries them in a largely invisible item-box like he’s in a JRPG that not only holds excessive amounts of items but also properly preserves food that helps him make excellent meals. However One night, Mukohda’s cooking attracts a Fenrir, a talking and towering majestic wolf monster who demands to taste the food. The Fenrir is so impressed he insists on becoming Mukohda’s contracted familiar in exchange for three meals a day and even hunts monsters. Evaluating the cost of feeding his new furry friend, Mukohda realizes he needs employment immediately leading him to new adventures and discoveries of the new world he’s currently in.

Surprisingly this show is quite simplistic and despite MAPPA’s past works which were gory or unapologetically violent in their content and storytelling, this was surprisingly comedic and lighthearted. The violence is mostly toned down unless the situation calls for it as Mukohda and Fel do encounter monsters to kill in self-defense or for leveling up, for meat, or poaching monster skin/horns to sell with almost no unnecessary drama/conflict for the sake of it. Though much of the drama sometimes comes from Mudokoha’s apprehension and unwillingness to fight head-on due to his inexperience in physical combat, Fel would sometimes either put a magical barrier on him for protection or throw Mukohda into life or death situations to level up some certain elemental magic skills which end up becoming useful in other creative ways as the story further progresses. Later on, we meet other supporting characters that in different ways become essential to the plot even if they aren’t immediately introduced, and occasionally certain episodes do have a comedic post-credits segment, akin to shows like “Shangri-La Frontier” called “Another World Theatre: Second Serving” showing comedy bits that occasionally fill in gaps of the plot with other characters within the show.

The Animation is top-tier giving not just the colorful scenery and monster designs a boost, but also the cooking scenes are easily the highlight for how well-animated they also are, and often feel like they were drawn by people with first-hand experience in cooking which works well for an anime that’s partially about cooking at its core and sometimes provide “Stat-buffs”. There are usually two cooking scenes per episode, where the main characters have delicious meals prepared by Mukohda, and looking beyond the fluidity of how they’re animated, they almost feel like product placement commercials in certain scenes since many of these ingredients used in his cooking look like something you’d see in a Japanese grocery store or website (Except for a soda bottle that has a Pepsi-like logo in one episode). And aside from having me turn on the subtitles in certain scenes where reading is required such as when Mukohda checks his rpg-like status or the online shopping/cooking scenes, there are censored mosaic scenes when monsters are killed or dismembered which I felt was unwarranted since there are no scenes involving nudity, romance, or sex jokes of any kind even within the dub, but those are my only minor grievances with this show…

Overall, MAPPA did a decent job with their first Isekai And it’s certainly better than any anime with a long-ass title like this has the right to be. But in an oversaturated market of Isekai fantasy/adventure stories, having a premise with the concept of “Online Grocery Shopping in Another World” may sound just as derivative as In Another World With My Smartphone“, or that Vending Machine Isekai I previously covered, but much like that aforementioned Vending Machine anime, this one left me equally surprised many times by the actual direction of its creative plot choices and animations. If you’re looking for a lighthearted Isekai with some adventures and fun likable characters, you’ve come to the right place! And with the recent announcement of a Season 2, I’m curious enough to see where this leads to next!