Go for Broke: Outbreak Company

The story of Outbreak Company is the typical kind of story to appeal to us, Japanese culture enthusiasts. It indeed follows Shinichi as he is appointed as the director of a company sponsored by the Japanese government and which goal is to spread otaku culture.

In another dimension.

As I said before this is the typical kind of shows aimed at otaku. This is the fantasy we all want to live: Shinichi is blessed with an unlimited amount of anime, he gets an awesome and busty live-in maid, who also happens to be an elf, his body-guard is also busty and wears a uniform, we even have a princess who is head over heels for him to fill in for the loli type. All of that under the single condition that he is to spread the love for otaku culture throughout this civilization.

As you can guess, the road to otaku culture is not an easy one. There is obviously the language barrier, seeing the kids trying to learn Japanese was just adorable. Then there is also obviously the cultural barrier, how can people who cannot even read appreciate the culture?

In the end, it almost turned like a huge metaphor. The foreign fandom is faced with the same problems they had to face in this anime. You see, in this world there are different races and they definitely cannot get along at all, they went to war against each others several times in the past. In the end, the one thing they agree on is that they love Japanese culture, in the end, the only thing they fight about is about who is their favorite character or what is their favorite show. Isn’t it kinda like us?

At least that’s what I feel.

All of this to say that the plot is simple; it shows how otaku culture spreads and what hurdles Shinichi faces. That’s pretty much it.

Shinichi himself wasn’t quite a bad character himself. He was an hikkikomori and it was interesting to see him evolve from that to someone who doesn’t fear the outside world anymore and who can stands his ground against some strong opponent. It’s like he became a real zashiki warashi! (If you caught the reference, I like you!)

As for his harem, well, Miusel does not have a lot of personality, she is just adorable when she discovers she can stand on equal ground with other people and that she shouldn’t feel so inferior all the time, all thanks to otaku culture.

The princess too is changed from so much manga and anime, she now understands that there is something to gain from every encounter.

In short, this anime is an ode to otaku culture and it doesn’t even feel forced. Same goes for the harem, some harem anime are enjoyable, I am even ready to call this one good.

What wasn’t so good, pretty average actually, were the seiyuu. Except for Keiji Fujiwaraand Miki Shinichiro no one really stood out.

I recommend it, obviously. How could I not recommend something that portrays the good sides of being an otaku?

Oh and before I leave, I ship Shinichi and Miusel!