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「 運命の出会い」 (Unmei no Deai)
“Fateful Encounter”
This week’s Uramichi Oniisan is heavier on comedic skits as we see Uramichi deal with a number of troubling situations in the workplace. Whether it be having to re-shoot a laborious traffic safety skit, deal with action figures of his characters, or spend time with Kikaku, he’s got his work cut out for him in this episode.
But it’s also another one of the many instances where Uramichi gets somewhat of a fair break. Even when he has to contend with so much crap at work, he’s given plenty of reasons to want to return. In this episode especially, he’s far more charitable and gives Kumatani’s niece a nice present.
In addition, we see that it does spark joy in Uramichi to come across so many kids that not only look up to him but also love his characters. For as gloomy as he is, the spark that keeps him motivated shines through for a lot of the kids on the show and they’re quick to overlook his faults because he brings enough energy and enthusiasm in the show to inspire others and give Uramichi more reasons to want to keep on keeping on.
This episode gave us more screen time for Kikaku as well. Honestly, of all the people that work at this show, he’s the closest it gets to a depiction of a real-life employee from hell. With his messy social life, long-standing grudges against old friends and an ex, gleeful hostility towards his co-workers, and creeping out everyone around him, I’m all too familiar with walking on eggshells around problematic coworkers like Kikaku.