Kenichi is a 40-year-old single man who suddenly gets teleported to another world. Immediately upon his arrival, he attempts to use magic abilities he remembers from the isekai anime he watches regularly. Surprisingly, it works exactly like in the show, which results in him testing out the full extent of his power. He finds out that he can immediately buy and sell any item in front of him, which gives him confidence to start a new life as a merchant. He can’t start right away though, because all merchants in this country need to have a license, which requires him to be able to read and write the language. He quickly finds a lady who’s willing to be his private tutor, and things are looking up for now. Will he find a way to establish a successful business in this fantasy world, or will competing merchants crush all his chances?

Now, this anime definitely tries something different, but the execution feels a bit clumsy. Instead of half an episode of his previous life, we skip through this formality in the form of a montage with a 2001: A Space Odyssey-style soundtrack playing. I like my classic movie references, but here it doesn’t make any sense. The rest of the episode added to my confusion in a different way. In a scene in the first half, the lady who teaches him to read wants to “repay” him for the candy and drawing he gives her, but she doesn’t want to do so with money. It’s heavily implied he doesn’t refuse her offer that night, but throughout all this there isn’t any visual fanservice, and neither is there any in the rest of the episode. Personally, I prefer it that way, but it’s a bit strange for an ecchi harem anime to hold back like that. I get the feeling this first episode’s approach is to appeal to a broader audience, while the more typical ecchi harem elements will increase over the next few episodes. I might be wrong about that, but since there isn’t anything else in this anime that has made me interested, I won’t stick around to find out!

The Daily Life of a Middle-Aged Online Shopper in Another World is streaming on Crunchyroll.