The isekai genre has long been saturated ever since it was first introduced in the industry. Nowadays, the isekai genre has been getting more creative by creating unique concepts, ideas, or themes. One such isekai is one that we enjoy this winter anime season: Campfire Cooking In Another World With My Absurd Skill.
Campfire Cooking In Another World With My Absurd Skill was based on a light novel by the same name. It follows a regular salaryman named Tsuyoshi Mukouda, who got accidentally transported into another world alongside three high schoolers. Unlike the high schoolers who gained valuable and powerful skills, Mukouda's skill was called Online Supermarket and was seen as a useless skill. While other people see this skill as worthless, it is helpful to Mukouda, since he can buy any modern items from his old world. Thanks to his talent, he can cook many delicious foods that even attract and allow him to make a contract with the legendary wolf Fenrir. Alongside with his familiars combined with his unique skills, Mukouda travels the world as both an adventurer and a merchant while eating delicious foods every day.
A Weak MC With Powerful Familiars and A Unique Cheat Skill Makes A Good Story
Campfire Cooking In Another World With My Absurd Skill has caught our eye for three reasons: the main character, his familiars, and his cheat skill.
The creators did an excellent job of combining a weak, average main character but have this useful cheat skill. After watching the series, Online Supermarket is a useful skill for someone who is transported from the modern, real-world to the medieval, fantasy world. We never thought having something like online shopping as a skill could be a possibility. It brought in an unexpected but fresh take on the isekai genre. Added to his powerful familiars and the consequences of getting those familiars, they were able to make a story that is both light-hearted and comedic.
Unfortunately, there needs to be more character development for the main character, at least for now. If you are looking for character development, action, or a main character with more useful or powerful skills, you won't be able to find it in this series.
Main Focus: It's Not The Cheat Skill. It's The Food And Characters (But Mostly Food)
Even though Mukouda has this unique skill, the series didn't really focus on his skills, even though it shows him using it very often. The main focus is the food that Mukouda makes or buys using his online supermarket skill. In every episode, you will see Mukouda cooking some dish or buying some kind of food or drink from his online supermarket skill. What makes it more interesting is that one of his ingredients is monster meat, and it is not just any monster meat, but the rare kinds of meat they find from a rare monster.
If it's not about the food, then it's the characters, specifically Mukouda, Fen, and Sui, and the shenanigans they went through or Fen and Sui's shenanigans that Mukouda has to go through. Each episode always has something entertaining to see, whether it is Fen hunting rare monsters that surprised everyone all for the sake of just getting more meat to eat, Sui somehow talking and gaining more powerful skills than other regular slimes, or even Mukouda selling items he bought using his online supermarket skill. Each episode brought in something unbelievable that you wouldn't think would happen in the usual isekai anime.
We do want to see more of what his skills can do. The anime mostly showed us what ingredients and food he bought, sometimes buying essential items such as shampoo or a futon. We would like to see what things he can buy besides the food items or items related to cooking. At the same time, we understand that this skill, although unique, might be challenging to show how Mukouda can use his skill or what type of items he can buy since, in the end, he is just really shopping online.
Final Thoughts
Campfire Cooking In Another World with My Absurd Skill is an isekai anime that is both creative and unique in its own right. The creators did a good job creating a unique concept and entertaining characters and created a comedic and enjoyable series to watch. We would like to see more items he can buy from Mukouda's Online Supermarket skill, but we might have to wait for a second season to see if they decide to make one.
What did you think about Campfire Cooking In Another World with My Absurd Skill? Did the food that Mukouda made make you hungry? Are there any items you were hoping to see Mukouda would buy? Let us know your thoughts on this series in the comments below!
