Around 40 Otoko no Isekai Tsuuhan

From nowhere, middle-aged illustrator Kenichi Hamada finds himself summoned to another world. Despite arriving in an unfamiliar land, he realizes he can still connect to an online shop named Shangri-La, which he frequented back in Japan, to order almost anything. Not long after, Kenichi comes across a town and, using Shangri-La, decides to become a merchant in the settlement.

By selling products from Earth, he is quickly able to make a living for himself while gaining acquaintances and the attention of local companies. However, the man just wants to live a quiet life without nuisances and leaves the town to build a cabin in a nearby forest. Though interrupted from time to time, there is nothing that can stop Kenichi from having his peaceful days.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Hamada, Kenichi Main

Suwabe, Junichi Japanese

Myaley Supporting

Tomita, Miyu Japanese

Mallow, Primula Supporting

Hondo, Kaede Japanese

Mailen Supporting

Asaka Japanese

Anemone Supporting

Kuno, Misaki Japanese

Amaranthus Supporting

Koshimizu, Ami Japanese

Azalea Supporting

Kubo, Yurika Japanese

Nyamena Supporting

Kobayashi, Yuu Japanese

L'Eupatorium, Canaan Supporting

Hikasa, Youko Japanese

Lilith Supporting

Youmiya, Hina Japanese

Iizuka, Aya Producer

Ochiai, Tsuyoshi Producer

Takahashi, Katsunori Producer

Inoue, Shuuya Producer

Reviews

Apr 5, 2025

DynaBlaster

Recommended

Funny

I thought for a moment about making a proper analysis and a serious review, since it's not a preliminary review anymore, but I mean, come on. The show doesn't treat itself seriously, so why should I? Also, it's not like it's unenjoyable despite being bad, so eh. I'll leave most of it as is.

Dear reader. I don't care how high or low do you think the level of my intelligence is. I think that this show did not respect it, no matter its quantity. If you've ever seen another trashy isekai, especially one that has some sort of trans-dimensional trading system in it, then you've ... seen all the gimmicks that this anime will have going for it. The plot of "Arafo Otoko" is as one-dimensional of a Campfire Cooking knock-off, as one can make. And generally it's a happy mishmash of isekai slop tropes in random order. Which to be fair, I'm used to at this point;
This is neither the first dumb power fantasy trash I watched, nor will it be the last. But I must stress, that this workaround around the general issue of dumb shows came from me, not from the show. They are still on the hook for being moronic, appealing to the base emotions and relying on the stupidest tropes one can think of. Me being "fine with that" is not a merit of these shows, but a dull reality I've grown to accept. The idea in the first place was always, is that if you're gonna be swimming through the trash anyway, at least choose a decent kind. Sometimes it's the barely trashy Eminence in Shadows. And sometimes, it's a stinker like Arafo Otoko no Isekai Tsuuhan. And I'll probably gobble it up, anyway. Self-respect is through the roof here, bois.

HOWEVER!

While there are many, many faults I can see in it, like some sound glitches, many reused frames, bad CGI, music that becomes mismatched to the general scene's vibe, because they let it play for a bit too long, stiff and cheap animation and lazy editing included, there is one part that I absolutely love. While this title doesn't respect any intelligence, it does respect the heck out of my time. Like, despite this clearly being a dogwater of an isekai show, this I feel like it's trying to speedrun the story. It's relying on the preconceived notion, that since you LITERALLY CAN NOT GET LOST in a brain-dead stupid plot like this, you therefore can go at a breakneck pace and tick off the classic isekai tropes one by one and get home for dinner with no overtime. It makes the show so much better for it. At least compared to other slow life-adjacent fantasy shows, which often take FOREVER to get to the point, even in the case of a much better Campfire Cooking which this show borrows A LOT. Yet, this dumpster fire of a show, flexes on many competitors in the trash genre, simply by saying that:
"When creating a story, its STRUCTURE matters almost as much as the plot itself."
And in this story's case, structure is king. (Even though the plot and the characters are still sh**)

While all the alleged plot takes place, I feel the author was forced by an editor to add romantic subplots and sexual innuendos, but wasn't really comfortable with them, so they are an afterthought. He probably didn't want to waste any more time on romance than necessary. It's so bad, that it loops around to being decent again, just because it brings nothing to the story and is short, sweet and already over with, before you can remember the current female romantic interest's name.

Summarizing, I like trashy isekai slop. You like trashy isekai slop. We all like slop every now and then. This one will not remain in your head for longer than an hour after the credits of the last episode roll. It's definitely one of them. It's cr*p and I recommend it regardless, because it's dumb fun you can lose yourself in, as with any slop. Have fun and probably stop reading if you are considering watching this.

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One thing that changed my final score from the initial 4 to the current 2, is that it dared to hint at "Usagi Dropping" the adopted daughter character, Anemone. If you know what that means, I'm sorry. If you don't, I'm also sorry.
It doesn't go further than implying it might just happen one day, but it's disgusting enough that I felt it should be shamed for it.
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The super cool excavator mech that appears in the opening DOES NOT APPEAR in the show. Nor do most of the stuff from the opening. There will indeed be some heavy machinery, but not the big robot, that I was waiting for. The opening is like a banner with pictures of food at a fast food joint. Next to none of it will be there.

Reviewer’s Rating: 2

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Apr 3, 2025

mrfried

Mixed Feelings

Overall I like this series, but its not for everyone
Take the gimmick of Campfire Cooking's 'online shopper' combine it with Saving 80,000 Gold's premise of selling those goods in an isekai world, and combine it with the slow life elements of Farming Life, and this is what you get - kind of.

Personally I prefer this to Campfire Cooking, for one thing it's a slightly more believable approach, which is something Saving 80,000 gold got right, if you have access to such products you sell them for a considerable profit to fund the goal of a slow life.
That is the premise of this series and where ... it is at is strongest Our MC dies of overwork, is isekaied, finds he has the online shopper skill and item box, and decides to use both to fund his slow life.

So lets get into the issues

The 'rules' to the various mechanics seem to be made up as the writer goes along, there is a 'size limit' on the item box, and he said it was only small in what it could contain... yet it's later said to be large, as he seems to store absolutely everything in there and there is a vast amount of items in it, and I'm sure he's gone past the 'size limit' for individual items.
Then there are the restrictions on what he can and can't buy using his online shopper, this is just beyond incredulity, this is just bad writing, he can buy certain items which you certainly wouldn't expect to buy from such an online shopping place, because the story demands it, yet he can't buy other things because the story demands it and it would just make things too easy, but lets allow him to buy all that other stuff because that doesn't make his life too easy? It's nonsensical

Slow Life - If you are going to do a 'Slow Life' then commit to it, too many series fail on this point, it doesn't have to be 100% slow life, but if you are going to add other elements you have to get the balance right otherwise it is no longer a 'slow life' as someone who loves the 'Slow Life' concept this alone has caused me to drop my score down further from what it was

Talking of committing to a concept, if the MC is going to jump in everyones bed, at least be consistent with it, we have person A and person B, both are his type, yet he'll constantly resist the advances of person A and instantly jump in bed with person B, why? Because... I don't mind harems, I don't mind that all these women are throwing themselves at him, we're told the reason fairly early on, he is amassing wealth, he has access to luxury items that they can only dream of, he has power, and it will only be a matter of time before he obtains status, but harems are consistent, this isn't.
Also I wish we didn't have an Usagi-Drop situation

I should also note that the OP should be sued for false advertising, most of what is shown in the OP doesn't resemble the series and doesn't happen, I never once saw an excavator turn into a mecha

These are my complaints, I really enjoyed the first 3/4's of the series if it had been just the first 10 episodes I would have given it an extra point and maybe even a recommend, but there is a scene where they all climb a cliff and at that point the anime fell off one. It frustrates me as it had been good, it had been enjoyable, but with episode 11 onwards my enjoyment dropped.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Apr 5, 2025

syl__via

Not Recommended

i actually thought the anime started out okay, feels pretty interesting though it kind of reminds me of "tondemo sukiru de isekai hōrō meshi". like the concept is pretty similar where both mc got transferred to another world and able to bought things online from their world.

however halfway through the anime, it just kind of get really sleazy or something. like every woman just started throwing themselves at the mc and the mc seems okay with it, to the point of bathing or sleeping with them. i honestly thought it weird out the anime and makes the plot very confusing.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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