Ilycied's Anime Blog: Outbreak Company 02

Outbreak Company is shaping up to be a strong contender for the best harem series of 2013.

To be honest, I thought this episode was absolutely fantastic. Once again, I don't think Outbreak Company will ever become an age-old classic spoken in the same breath as famous titles like Totoro or the like, but it's damn entertaining to watch.

Firstly, it's clear that this anime is not targeted at the casual anime viewer who's only watched a handful of long-running shounen titles like Naruto, Bleach and One Piece. With references to shows like Little Busters, Nyaruko, Railgun, Minami-ke, and Strike Witches (just to name a few) it's clear that a fairly comprehensive knowledge of anime is necessary in order to fully enjoy this episode. This shouldn't be a surprise though. Just look at the premise - it's about a guy being put in charge of exporting anime/manga to a fantasy world.

But that wasn't the best part of the episode. The real surprise was how much screen time they dedicated to class discrimination and social inequality. Whether it's child soldiers or the casual acceptance of servant abuse, the social inequality present in Petrarca's kingdom is visually evident and easy to see. Yet JSDF member Koganuma brings the chilling reminder that our world is not so different, even in the supposed developed, "first-world" nations where we find ourselves so proud of our freedom and rights safeguarded in our progressive modern society. Yes, we've gotten rid of all the visually evident social inequality such as slavery or landed nobility, now dismissed as archaic relics of the past, but the fact remains that social inequality is structurally embedded into our laws and society. I could use vague, fancy words with hyphens like socio-economic and write a lot while saying nothing, but I won't. A simple look at real life events reveals that our world, no matter which nation or society you pick.

Take the United States, for example. Just a few days ago, American political news was dominated by a bunch of politicians making headlines by screwing around with the US debt ceiling and the threat of an American default. I won't point fingers or take sides and throw around derogatory terms at whichever party because all of that is pointless. The simply fact of the situation is that the vast majority of these politicians are out of touch of reality and lack empathy, uncaring of the unemployment and uncertainty borne from their little political games. This lack of empathy is precisely the same uncaring, arrogant attitude Pertrarca possesses towards our beloved, cute and moé maid Myuseru. It's easy to dismiss Pertrarca's behavior as a sheltered princess nurtured in an environment of casual discrimination and class distinctions, but our society (and I mean this globally) is not so different.

Of course, all of the morose, depressing helplessness generated by structural is tempered with moé Myuseru, who once again shines brightly in this episode with her gentle, persevering attitude despite her difficult past. I can't blame Shinichi for falling hard, who wouldn't?