Urasekai Picnic – Episode 1 [First Impressions]

I’ll be honest right out of the gate and say that this episode could have been more impressive. But I’ve seen my fair share of lackluster first episodes that have gone on to become a pretty solid series. So, I still have high hopes for this series going forward. Quite frankly, what I disliked about this episode can be summed up by the fact that I was just so confused and was confused often. But other than that, I enjoyed the characters and got chills down my spine quite frequently! I think this anime can turn into quite a treat!

This episode really felt like they wanted to lay everything out on the table from the get-go. Here’s the wiggle-waggle, our characters, the concept of another world, and some various other tidbits of information. But none of it had the chance to be fleshed out so it felt really fast paced. My hope is that since this was the first episode, they wanted to get some of the smaller bits out of the way in order to have enough room for the bulk of the story. Overall, I had a hard time trying to figure out what the Otherworld was and when we were actually in it, especially in the beginning when they hid in the room. But how did Sorao make her way to the Otherworld? We eventually learned how Toriko used the elevator to get there, but how and why were we there in the first place? Of course, it’s only the first episode so I don’t want to judge it too harshly. But if it does keep up, I could see myself dropping in the next few episodes. Another wonky part of the episode was the switches to CGI? It’s a little bit startling when it happens, but as the episode progressed, I didn’t mind that too much. They mostly used it for zoomed out shots of the girls walking. I wouldn’t say it would make or break the series, but it definitely caught me off guard a few times.

As for what I enjoyed? Well, the characters seem like a lot of fun. Even from this first episode there seems to be a bit of depth for both characters which rubs hands together we’ll probably get good development for the two of them. I want to know why Toriko goes to the Otherworld so often and what her goal is. She’s cheery and optimistic, but I love that she (hopefully) won’t be turned into the “everything will be okay as long as we smile!” type character. She’s just brave enough to try something and the goal is just not to die. Then we have Sorao who brought us into this episode by acknowledging that no one would miss her if she died, except for the people who would notice that she didn’t pay. It’s depressing, but that’s a thought that’s not to uncommon among some people. Though the immediate mood shift when Toriko showed up was kind of a nice touch that showed that Sorao didn’t necessarily want to die. And it was a nice way of starting off their connection to each other. I’m also going to give huge props to the designers of the various creatures that showed up! From the Wiggle-Waggle to the one running towards the elevator, they gave me chills and definitely amped up the stress, fear, and intensity.

So, all in all, for a first episode, I think there’s a lot of potential, but it definitely could have been more! I’ll keep up with it for a few more episodes to see if the wrinkles I saw iron themselves out. But as of right now, I’m definitely looking forward to more!

Possibility of Watching: High

Possibility of Blogging: Moderate