Let's start off with the very beginning. The protagonist, Sorawo Kamikoshi is in a deplorable state of mind. She's paralyzed, on the brink of death from the mysterious entity that appears to have a will to consume her mental state ~~and convert her into an extremist preacher of the insane~~. Several negative thoughts pile through her brain, consisting of what would happen to those around her if she suddenly disappeared - all the worries of her life simply fading away with the remnants of her soul. Then, the deuteragonist, Toriko Nishina, comes to save the day! What a coincidence, right?

If you immediately thought either of the following..

• "Oh dear, it's going to be one of these animes."
• "Sword Art Online, anyone?"

..then you're in the right mindset. Being an episodic anime with no real rhyme or reason to the majority of this episodes, it's driven by a whole lot of PLOT. And no, I don't mean the "plot" that's in your eighteen terabyte "homework" folder, I mean that there's many coincidences and factors that.. realistically speaking if you were in that situation, you'd be screwed and then some. However, don't fret; this comes in full send near the end of the anime, so no worries.

Sorawo is one of those human beings that know too much information of which has no real use in the real world - one of those gargantuan gigabrain gigachads that knows that several adult humans could fit laterally within a female whale's ~~cough~~, or that larger animals are so chad-ulous that they can just brute-force cancer and live with it. Don't let this sway your judgement, however - she's not truly a fan of the supernatural. Later in the anime she'll explain to Toriko why that isn't the case. Anywho, just know that this seemingly useless information comes to save their life.

Despite this being seemingly tiring from the sheer exasperation that is being transmitted to your eyesockets, if anything, I believe that this is a case where it helped the anime more than not. Understanding the primary method of transportation to the Otherside - a revision of the famous Elevator Ritual, and understanding that walking in at just the right angle at the right time of day could transport you into a completely different world is simply knowledge that those who firmly believe or have taken interest in the supernatural should know. This isn't some kind of anime where the main character knows really out-of-the-loop things like "solving crimes based on a tempature gradient at what happens to be 04:00 AM but was actually hotter since there was a time difference established within the clock"-type anime. When you line your perspective in what the anime is trying to be, things become much clearer rather than how it is when bluntly thinking of this as simply "just another anime."

However, and this is a very strong however, I do very well admit that this anime sometimes does take a mile instead of the inch. Later in the anime, Toriko's transparent hand is revealed to be a method to escape from the Otherside by grabbing and manipulating areas that overlap between the real world and the Otherside, therefore revealing its true form as a gate between the two. This holds true throughout the entire anime, and becomes a pretty large crutch throughout, which of course is expected due to it being.. realistically, the only means of exit. In a very specific scene nearing around the seventh or eighth episode of the anime, the characters use a very specific object and manipulate it in the very right way.. the very first time, allowing them to escape the Otherside in a pinch, gracefully escaping death. This, as far as I can remember, is the only real instance where they do some things that seemingly make no sense and have a saving outcome, but it hampers the quality of the anime as it incorrectly leads the viewer to thinking that "from now on, the characters will only be saved via coincidence," which couldn't be farther from the truth, where in reality they survive through ways that even you, the reader / potential watcher, could think of in a flash. Despite this contradiction, this ""coincidence"" really stuck with me from when it occured to the end of the anime.

If you can sit through logical thinking backed with plot in times where it does fail, then this is for you. Overall, Urasekai Picnic is a "cute girls doing cute things"-type episodic anime with hints of mutual romance between both of the characters, slapped on top with a mystery of "someone is missing and we have to find them;" and the anime does it well - one could reckon that it's not right, but it's done well enough for what's out there. If I were to walk up to you and say "Hey, I just watched this crazy anime about two girls finding someone and developing an underlying romance as they journey through the mysterious unknown in an urban fantasy Isekai story," would you respond with "Wow, that sounds great!" or "Wow, that sounds absolutely horrid and I regret my friendship with you?" Exactly, I would say the latter! However, this anime made the prospect not-so-bad. Seriously, when I read the synopsis, I thought "This sounds absolutely putrid, but I'll watch it because there's seemingly yuri content according to the manga." and boy, I was so, so pleased - and it pressed in the fact that one really, really should not push it until they try it. Even if the fruit of the romance wasn't displayed in the end.

Despite me rating this anime as a 75 and the surprisingly negative reviews of a 63% average as of 07/01/21, I did indeed rate this anime much higher (an 8.8), specifically because the relationship between Toriko and Sorawo progressed so, so, so well - and you bet it tickled my fancy with a feather and gave my bosom a good ol' rub. I seriously would've rated it higher, but some small plot holes were present and some things really didn't.. really.. mix. These, however, leave the scope of what I believe reviews should contain, so I'll drop it a 75 - a pleasant experience for those who wish to casually vibe on a Saturday night, but maybe not-so-much for those that believe that Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood is the king of all animes.

anywho.. ..season two, maybe? :3c