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EP. REVIEW: Handyman Saitō in Another World

It's weird that they don't do anything all that interesting with the handyman aspect. He has some useful skills but nothing all that special or unique.

I get that he's described as an average guy with nothing special about him but this is the first story I've seen actually follow through on that promise.

He opens chests, something that episode 4 shows its not even a rare skill.

I must agree with the series doing nothing interesting with Saito.

I mean, even freaking Konosuba had the savviness of using Kasuma's rudimentary knowledge of modern stuff to replicate some of them and get him money.

Saito should know about mechanic, plumbing and electricity, he obviously knows how to work leather to the point of replicating a quite complicated backpack and has knowledge of modern hand tools like saws and screwdrivers.

What does he does with all of that?

He opens chests, something that episode 4 shows its not even a rare skill, I dont get it.

Up to now everything I like about the show it's actually everything that has nothing to do with him.

But Saito's better at it than your average lockpick, what with his modern tools, and experience with probably much more advanced locks than they have in this medieval setting.

Also shown in this episode is the modification to Raelza's armor that lets her pop it off in a pinch, and the silver flasks he crafted to carry holy water. He's not a god, but he's using his (very mundane) skills for more than lockpicking. I don't know what more you're expecting.

Consider also that this world doesn't have most of the manufactured parts that a professional in his world would expect to have. It's a lot harder to utilize your skills without those.

The flask are not special and the armor popping trick is exactly what I am asking, more of that please.

For example, the electricity trap, lets change it to the floor being charged, then Saito devises insulative shoes to pass it, simple and justifies this being an isekai.

Gina Szanboti wrote:

But Saito's better at it than your average lockpick, what with his modern tools, and experience with probably much more advanced locks than they have in this medieval setting.

We actually know nothing of the guy, he could be bellow average, if he is better then he could stablish a lock piking school and find a good craftsman who could replicate the instruments to sell them.

I don't agree that it needs to do more to "justify" being an isekai, and I'd rather it didn't shoehorn more power into Saito solely to that end. You might not find the utilization of his skills to be anything special, but it's been made clear several times over that characters in the world do. I think the show has taken a refreshingly grounded approach to this format.

Well now you're just dumping on him because he's not doing what you think you'd do.

Sure, he could be below average in our world, but as absent noted, his skillz seem to be above average in this world. And why would he open a school unless he has a dream of being a teacher instead of an adventurer? Not that that was his dream either, but he's enjoying himself anyway. If he established a school for extra income or something, he'd be shooting his own party in the foot if adventuring was still his main gig once he trained people to run his school. Do they need the competition? Could he trust this hypothetical craftsman to share the income? Is there a legal framework here to protect his trade secrets?

He wants to be an adventurer with a group that he likes and that apparently values him as well as his usefulness, and there's nothing wrong with that.

I'll be honest. I didn't like Christopher Farris' review of episode 5.

It seems to me like he sees Handyman Saitō as being mostly comedy with a dash of drama.

But he's wrong. It's been very clear that the series is a weightier comedy drama. Everything from Saitō's borderline depression from how unappreciated he was in our world and how much he fears being abandoned by the friends in his party, to Lanfan's racial curse that forces her to give money to the moon or she shrinks.

Then you have episode 4. Yes, Raelza's fight with the warrior elf ended in a wardrobe malfunction but, aside from that, there was no comedy during that scene or the ones following it. When Raelza states her name for the duel oath, she hesitates before stating her surname and then decides to use Morlock as her surname. So, either she doesn't have a family name or, more likely, she's ashamed of her family's reputation. Hell, she could actually be related to Morlock. Especially because episode 5 states that Morlock used to be quite a ladies man.

But then you have the aftermath of the fight. The cleric who's partnered with the elf warrior begs her, "Don't die. I don't care how badly you get injured. But don't die. I haven't learned resurrection magic so you cannot die." Hell, it was never outright stated, but the elf warrior probably suffered from major discrimination because she can't use magic like other elves.

Basically, if you're paying attention even the slightest you'll see that there's actually a lot of drama going on. You'd almost think that Christopher Farris wasn't paying much attention to the series based on his review of episode 5 if he thought the drama didn't work. Yes, some of it didn't work, like the whole "Twilight Fairy about to get raped by a tentacle creature" bit, but the rest of it did. She chose to gain weight because she thought adventurers chased her because of her beauty instead of chasing her as an exotic creature.

I think it's a little unfair to say that he "wasn't paying much attention." Yes, there's been a mix of drama and comedy throughout the show thus far, but I think this episode leaned way more into the drama than any prior episode. The tone was much darker as well. I was a little put off by it, to be honest. Plus, it's not like he panned it --- 3.5 stars is hardly a negative review in my opinion.

Hopefully it doesn't get too grim for everybody. Saito seemed to believe in a peaceful resolution to the conflict between the adventuring parties, and I think it could still happen. (Despite the pinch that he ended up in.)