Some people think there’s a saturation of isekai Japanime on the market at the moment. In case anyone was wondering, that’s a word that means ‘other world’, and it’s about people who go to…another world. Obviously! Or mochiron, as they’d say in the near-perfect land of Japan.
Anyway, I always say that nothing is truly ‘saturated’ until the bandwagon products come along. You know the ones…they’re just monstrous creations made up of pieces of the rest of the genre, lazily slapped together. And as much faith as I have in Dinky-Dai-Animation, I do believe they’ve finally made their first misstep with Splash! Moshi-Moshi, Ocean Boy!
Just take all of the tropes, squeeze them until they’re even more tired than usual and that’s what this is. It’s about an ordinary young boy working as an apprentice in a place in Melbourne that does outboard motor servicing and repairs, but he’s fed up with life and wants adventure. That wouldn’t be so bad, except the animation is pretty lazy and the main character just doesn’t look that distinct.
So of course he gets his wish and is magically transported to another world by a talking fish, specifically a world where there’s no dry land and everything is based around the ocean. However, since the guy has no relevant skills, and even his short education in boat repair and outboard motor servicing is outclassed by children, he has to get a job in a call centre for a boat mechanic firm, the largest in the Ocean World. And of course there’s a beautiful girl who treats him like dirt from the get-go but always hangs around with him anyway, and a quirky mentor who agrees to teach protagonist-san about the best outboard motor repair Melbourne has ever seen. That is, Ocean Melbourne, where everything floats and people get around via boats.
THAT bit is alright, I guess. Everything else? Ultra-generic.
-Dylan-kun