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Life Lessons with Uramichi-Oniisan (TV).


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Stark700



Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Posts: 11762
Location: Earth
PostPosted: Mon Jul 05, 2021 10:08 am Reply with quote


Life Lessons with Uramichi-Oniisan (TV)

Genres: comedy, slice of life

Plot Summary: 31-year-old Uramichi Omota has two sides to his personality. He appears as the young man in charge of physical exercises on the educational program "Maman to Together." Although he has a fresh and upbeat demeanor on the show, he is actually a bit emotionally unstable.
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Anime adaptation based on the manga.
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15573
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Tue Jul 13, 2021 4:10 am Reply with quote
Episode 2

This show is really connecting with me, such as kind of totally relatable, and actually managing to make me laugh. Like when the female presenter was being asked which of the male presenters she would prefer to marry.

Or the song about why it only rains when you don't take an umbrella. Logically I would put forward more the idea that people just kind of remember bad experiences like being caught without an umbrella, or it being dead weight, rather than it being used. But was just a hilarious addition to the cynicism.

And then also pairing the jokes with kids who just say what pops into their heads and is just a death blow to these poor adults. And the bit of a kid suddenly laugh, which had Uramichi saying that wasn't a part to laugh. Laughing
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 24137
PostPosted: Tue Jul 13, 2021 7:03 am Reply with quote
I'm hoping an actual story begins because a string of short episodic jokes (most of which are the same theme) ain't gonna cut it for me.
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bonbonsrus



Joined: 15 Oct 2003
Posts: 1537
Location: Michigan, USA
PostPosted: Tue Jul 13, 2021 10:29 pm Reply with quote
I'm glad I'm not the only one finding any enjoyment out of this...
Maybe it's because I am a daycare provider, I can SO relate to this show...
I am awesome with kids, don't get me wrong, (seriously) but occasionally I have absolutely said things to kids they can't relate to and it goes over their heads and it probably isn't the most helpful learning conversation, and then when they are either confused or change the subject I go right back to cheerful...seeing this portrayed is funny to me...and those songs as Dusky pointed out are more of those sort of weird things you can lament to children that isn't probably the most helpful or understood by them...and that they are getting away with on TV for kids that makes this subversive humor so funny to me. How this is getting greenlit by producers and not complained about my parents I have no idea, but I'm having fun watching.
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15573
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Tue Jul 13, 2021 10:54 pm Reply with quote
Yeah, a good deal of the humour to me is that his director/producer actually lets them get away with doing things that really shouldn't fly being said to kids. Like how could they let someone go on a rant about don't be fooled by men with good looking faces because they will just disappoint in a relationship?
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Animegomaniac



Joined: 16 Feb 2012
Posts: 4157
PostPosted: Wed Jul 14, 2021 10:46 am Reply with quote
Yeah, it's funny enough but I think the show needs a straight performer who's earnestly earnest, someone who wants to be there; Even Nozaki Kun didn't have everyone be eccentric.

The show needs an anchor, a bright eyed idealist whose lifelong dream of being a children's entertainer can slowly but surely be crushed under a bitter reality. Or at the very least, a baseline for acceptable behavior.
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all-tsun-and-no-dere
ANN Reviewer


Joined: 06 Jul 2015
Posts: 650
PostPosted: Fri Jul 16, 2021 1:31 am Reply with quote
bonbonsrus wrote:
I'm glad I'm not the only one finding any enjoyment out of this...
Maybe it's because I am a daycare provider, I can SO relate to this show...
I am awesome with kids, don't get me wrong, (seriously) but occasionally I have absolutely said things to kids they can't relate to and it goes over their heads and it probably isn't the most helpful learning conversation, and then when they are either confused or change the subject I go right back to cheerful...seeing this portrayed is funny to me...and those songs as Dusky pointed out are more of those sort of weird things you can lament to children that isn't probably the most helpful or understood by them...and that they are getting away with on TV for kids that makes this subversive humor so funny to me. How this is getting greenlit by producers and not complained about my parents I have no idea, but I'm having fun watching.


I also work in early childhood (currently a substitute due to leaving and returning post-vaccination, will have a classroom of one-year-olds in the fall) and that's part of why I just couldn't find Uramichi funny. Kids understand a lot more than adults give them credit for, and the kind of nihilistic stuff that Uramichi says about how terrible adulthood and life is, is exactly the kind of thing that they could internalize without fully understanding it. I get it as a kind of cathartic fantasy but I hope you're thinking about how you talk to the kids and not engaging in the same kind of cynicism.
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bonbonsrus



Joined: 15 Oct 2003
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 17, 2021 12:22 am Reply with quote
I can assure you I absolutely wouldn't say anything damaging to children in any way, (and I don't ever drink or swear), I have studied child behavior as well and fully know they can understand so much more than most think and especially before they are capable of being able to verbalize it, I really don't want to give the wrong impression here as I am fiercely protective of children in general and especially the ones in my care. When I say I've said things that go over their head its more along the lines of me grousing about how I don't want to answer the phone for a robo-tell-marketer, or visit my mother under my breath or how one of my grown children is making stupid life choices...
I tried to word it in a way that would reflect that as well...("not the most helpful learning conversation") vrs saying something awful or painfully cynical or modeling poor life choices...

I can appreciate that you don't appreciate this show or humor, and honestly if they showed more of these children being disturbed it wouldn't be as humorous to me, but I still find parts of this show amusing, more so in the second ep than the first. And since it's anime, it can be taken light-heartedly (by me) where it wouldn't be watchable in another medium.

Anyway, that was an aside, but I promise children and their parents all love me...and I love them! Also 1 yr olds are the best, enjoy your class!!! (actually, anything under 5 is the best age)
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all-tsun-and-no-dere
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Joined: 06 Jul 2015
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 17, 2021 12:43 am Reply with quote
Agreed that anything under five is the best, although I gotta say, get a big group of three-year-olds together and chances are they'll try my patience.

I totally get what you're saying, and I'm glad to hear you know where the line is. It's just that a lot of adults, teachers included, don't know the line and don't think about what they say in front of kids. That thinness between that reality and the comedy of Uramichi is what makes me uneasy. But if you can enjoy it without feeling uncomfortable, more the power to you!
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DuskyPredator



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Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Tue Jul 20, 2021 5:15 am Reply with quote
Episode 3

They did kind of set up that the costumes would be silly, but still seeing them in action caused me to laugh, as something that kills bacteria and bacteria incarnate. The kids also kept noticing that they were getting their names wrong.

I also continue to lose it when the rabbit has evidently done something to mess with Uramichi, such as making up that he is good at drawing, which would lead to them being disappointed in him. The looks are just fantastic.
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bonbonsrus



Joined: 15 Oct 2003
Posts: 1537
Location: Michigan, USA
PostPosted: Tue Jul 20, 2021 10:17 pm Reply with quote
This gets better and better every episode so far, I loved the germ balls being thrown straight into the head...multiple times...the whole skit was funny, and when the germs won the second time and then it said they had to reshoot the whole scene...it was so funny! This show made me laugh, I appreciate that.
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11586
PostPosted: Wed Jul 21, 2021 3:18 am Reply with quote
I'm not sure I'd say I was enjoying this exactly, but I do find it kind of compelling, in a traffic-accident sort of way. On one hand, I do see the humor, but to me it's just amusing and not hilarious. So far the bacteria sketches and costuming has been the best on that front. But on the other hand, Uramichi is a dead-on representation of clinical depression and existential crisis, and that's more interesting to me. Like, he lives alone, but still takes refuge in the smaller space of the balcony (with a nice view!) to decompress, like a cat in a box. And despite being distant and aloof with his coworkers, he's got everyone's number and I don't mean their phones, though I guess he has those too.

Also enjoying his Punpun and Pop Team Epic drawings. At least I could tell Uramichi drew a dog - it just had really long Afghan fur.

I just want to know who Maman is. They don't seem to be together with anyone.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



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PostPosted: Wed Jul 21, 2021 9:19 am Reply with quote
Gina Szanboti wrote:
But on the other hand, Uramichi is a dead-on representation of clinical depression and existential crisis...


That's exactly what makes this show an uncomfortable watch for me. I'm enjoying the humour but the show is so good at representing Uramichi's despair that I'm usually half-chuckling/half-grimacing. I happen to love my job but my imagination is good enough that I can feel on a cellular level Uramichi's desire not to go into work to a career he hates.
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 21, 2021 3:45 pm Reply with quote
Blood- wrote:
That's exactly what makes this show an uncomfortable watch for me.

I guess I find it more relatable than uncomfortable. Having been there, done that, I'm usually interested in shows that tackle this kind of screaming in the wasteland angst just to see how they perceive it. Hell, that's why I liked Evangelion. Smile

What this series gets right (for me) is how it's all boiling under the surface. His particular job means there's a much larger discrepancy between the public/work face and the private/internal one, so when the wall between them occasionally thins to a flimsy curtain shifting in the breeze, the consequences are more obvious or immediate (or would be if not for his weird director). But it's actually a pretty good metaphor for how exhausting it is for people with depression to always be "on stage" (literally, in Uramichi's case), to hide the fact that you're barely hanging on by your fingernails.

The other thing I like is how the series pokes a stick in the eye of all those people who insist that exercise is the sure cure for depression. Yes, it can help, some people, some times, for awhile, and it's an intrinsic good, depressed or not, but it's not a miracle remedy. So making Uramichi the exercise sensei was a stroke of genius. Smile
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



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PostPosted: Wed Jul 21, 2021 3:56 pm Reply with quote
The thought of exercising depresses me... Wink
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