After numerous delays, all thirteen Uncle From Another World episodes are now available in the West. And since the back half of the series was released in one chunk instead of weekly, combining them into one big review makes sense.

The first half of the series ended with a proper introduction to the story's third heroine: Alicia. And while she doesn't have an over-the-top personality like Elf and Mabel, as the straight man, she allows us to focus on the more serious consequences of the comedic aspects of the series, namely Uncle's mindwiping shenanigans.

Uncle's reliance on mindwiping magic is his most glaring weakness. There is an argument to be made that, at first, it was needed for his mental well-being—after all, when Takafumi simply reads what happened to Uncle, the shock is so great that he breaks down, begging for his memories to be erased. However, mindwiping soon became (and continues to be) a crutch for Uncle, with him erasing far more than he should. Worse yet, he pushes mindwipes onto others without their consent—both for selfish reasons and (what he believes are) selfless ones. Enter Alicia.

Alicia is a girl who can't remember the first few years of her life. This has caused her to treasure her remaining memories deeply—after all, she is one of the few to understand what it's like to have none. Upon seeing her reaction upon discovering that Uncle has mindwiped her several times, he is forced to see the harm he's been doing. While his mindwipe magic was initially used to protect his fragile psyche, he's been using it to avoid responsibility more and more lately. Yet for Alicia, it's far worse than just that—it's the most hurtful thing he could do to her. Just as Alicia doesn't want to forget a single moment of her life, she doesn't want to be forgotten either.

To his credit, Uncle handles this as well as possible. He gives Alicia back the memories he took and promises not to take any from her in the future—nor erase any with her in them from his mind. However, while he sees it's wrong to use it on Alicia, he views her as the exception, not the rule. And this is a problem that continues into the modern-day story. While it is not fully resolved this season, it looks to be the first step for Uncle in learning to accept his past—both the remembered and the forgotten. Hopefully, by doing so, he will be able to see his adventures in the fantasy world as they truly were rather than how he perceived them to be at the time.

The other big focus of the back half of the season is dealing with an obligatory rampaging boss monster—which is, of course, 100% there due to Uncle's irresponsible actions. On a surface level, this allows our big three heroines to meet for the first time. We see them playing off the other while trying to stake their claim on the romantically oblivious Uncle. These scenes make for some fantastic comedic bits—especially with Takafumi and Fujimiya's comments and reactions to the whole thing.

However, the most important thing to come from this battle is what we learn about Uncle. So much of the series is based around him being an immature Sega fanboy. It's clear that not only did he love games more than anything else, but they were his whole world. So when Alicia tells everyone about the "darkness" in Uncle's soul, he gets truly angry—angry to the point where it allows him to fight off literal mind control. What they see as his horrible existence alone, staring at a cold box, he sees as his goal and ultimate happiness—his reason to keep on living.

This is undoubtedly the kind of prejudice Uncle faced from friends and family in the years leading up to his car accident—people pitying him based on a hobby they didn't even try to understand. (After all, gaming was far less accepted as an adult hobby when he was sent to the other world.) However, this sad situation is why he is generally so happy in the modern world with Takafumi and Fujimiya. Neither judges him for his hobby (even if they don't fully understand it) and have helped him turn it (along with his fantasy world skills) into a source of income he can live on.

Subconsciously, what Uncle has wanted more than anything in this whole anime is acceptance for who he is. He now has this with Takafumi and Fujimiya. But the tragically ironic thing is that he found the same acceptance in the fantasy world but never realized it. Perhaps through watching his memories with his new family, he'll understand what he had and truly mourn what he has lost. But, for now, at least he's happy in the world he's returned to... even if Sega isn't doing as well as he had hoped.

All in all, Uncle From Another World is one heck of a ride, and it is the humor that ties everything together. On one hand, the anime is a deconstruction of all the usual isekai tropes, with Uncle being the opposite of genre-savvy—meaning he has no idea about the normal tropes associated with both isekai and classic fantasy tales. He treats his life in the fantasy world as if it were a classic Sega game he had to beat in the most direct way possible—regardless of whether that's the best or easiest way to do so. Because of this, the story never goes "as it's supposed to," and his total obliviousness in the face of romance (and social interactions in general) is an endless source of comedy.

Then, on the other side of the story, we have your classic fish-out-of-water tale with Uncle's return to our world after 17 years. So much has changed since the early 00s. Uncle comes from a world without YouTube, smartphones, and high-speed internet. Everyday life is a new adventure for him, and his constant misunderstandings about how the world now works are always worth a laugh.

If all that weren't enough, the characters and their interactions across both worlds are a non-stop comedic riot. Put any two characters in a room together, and you're guaranteed to have a hilarious conversation. And let's not forget about all the game jokes. For game fans, it's amazing, but even if you know nothing about Sega in the golden age of gaming, there will be more than enough humor to keep you constantly giggling, at the very least.

When it comes down to it, the worst thing about the series is the delays that plagued its release. Now that it can be binge-watched, that problem has largely been alleviated, but watching it as it aired, skipping a few weeks here and there between episodes, disrupted the flow of the story.

And even with all the delays, there are still a few instances when the animation quality drops—although you are unlikely to notice it unless you specifically look for it. Uncle From Another World's unique art style naturally hides most of the blemishes, and in key moments and scenes where the animation needs to look its best, the quality always reaches the level it should.

In the end, Uncle From Another World is a great isekai comedy from start to finish. It has amazing characters, a fun story, and jokes that always hit the mark. And while it's clear the story is primed to continue indefinitely, this anime delivers a solid arc introducing all the important characters across both worlds and showing the first time his fantasy world party comes together to save the world. This is an anime every game or fantasy fan should watch. You'll be glad you did.