I just watched the first episode of “Urasekai Picnic”, aka “Otherside Picnic” and I enjoyed it a lot! I was expecting just another Isekai story, but there was no Truck-kun or the other staples of regular Isekai stories. Instead we got imagination
and mystery.

The premise is simple: urban legends about mysterious doors that lead into another strange and dangerous world next door are true and a few people are exploring that world in search of adventure and treasure. Two college-aged girls, heavily introverted
Sorao and manically extroverted Toriko, meet under very dangerous circumstances in the other world. They end up saving each other’s lives, find a treasure, and escape back to the regular world. Toriko convinces the very reluctant Sorao to return to the
other world with her in search of more treasure. There are no trustworthy guides to where they are going or what they will find. Each time they go they are taking chances with their lives.

The first episode pushed a lot of the right buttons for me – they science fictional feeling of the Other World and its denizens, the ways by which the girls go from the mundane world to the other world, and most of all, the pure imagination of setting
and premise. I liked it a lot and my initial rating is A.

Dave Baranyi

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