The Daily Life of a Middle-Aged Online Shopper in Another World: A Review
Is the ultimate isekai fantasy one of ease, comfort, and endless resources? Meet Kenichi, a 38-year-old man who finds himself whisked into a fantasy world where he still has access to his favorite online shopping portal, Shangri-La. In this adaptation from a novel-turned-light-novel, Hifumi Asakura brings us a male fantasy complete with near-infinite money, a growing stable of fawning women, and a quiet plot of land to call his own.
The series begins with Kenichi discovering the infinite item hack that allows him to purchase anything he desires. With this power, he sets out to live the simple life in the countryside, surrounded by nature and away from the hustle and bustle of city life. However, as we soon realize, this is not a peaceful existence.
The problem lies not with Kenichi's ability to buy anything he wants, but with the lack of purpose or meaning behind his actions. He spends most of his time blessing his harem with baths, causing a ruckus over who gets to share his tub. The fight scenes are comical and unengaging, and even the harem members themselves are underwhelming.
The animation is also a major letdown. Everything feels lifeless and static, with an over-reliance on tediously long still frames. When one character is talking, everyone else is frozen around them. The textures are flat and out of place, seemingly generated from a preset pack. It's as if the artists took all the excitement and energy of the world outside their window and replaced it with a dull, monotonous gray.
The series could have been saved by leaning into its themes of simplicity and self-sufficiency. Showing Kenichi farming, learning how to set up a greywater system, or any number of other mundane-but-necessary processes would have provided a refreshing contrast to the infinite shopping platform. Instead, we get a hollow existence where on-demand goods occupy every square inch of our needs and desires.
The Daily Life is like an influencer unboxing video - vapid and filled with junk. It's a capitalist fever dream that fails to deliver on its promises. If you're looking for a show that truly explores the joys of simplicity and self-sufficiency, look elsewhere. But if you're in the mood for something hollow and uninspired, then this might be the show for you.