On one hand, Otherside Picnic brings up a new threat each episode. Going down the “monster of the week” route works well for serialization but it can easily downplay the fear factor. Also, imagining unspeakable horrors while reading the light novels is far scarier than seeing them in front of you, materialized with CGI animation that is often lacking.

On the other hand, Otherside Picnic brings up the super interesting concept that fear is the sole means of communication for all creatures of the Otherside. From the creatures of the Giant Village in episode 3 to the Space-Time Man and the Ninja Cats later in the story, they all use fear to get an intense reaction out of humans and get noticed. This was Toriko’s insight after she gets hypnotized by a creature that takes on the form of her lost friend, Satsuki Uruma. To top it all off, Otherside Picnic has an exceptional, eerie soundtrack. The dystonic and glitchy sounds of the Otherside maintain our immersion and win us over.

If one plotline is fear of the unknown and how humans deal with it, the other one has to do with Sorao and Toriko’s connection. The Station February adventure is the only one so far spanning two episodes and left us with lingering hopelessness. In a creepy turn of events, the girls barely escape an army camp forever lost in the Otherside. The duo encounters a U.S. Army troop but they cannot take any of the lost soldiers with them. Their near escape is possible thanks to the altered eye and hand they got in the first episode, while all “normal” humans are doomed to wander aimlessly in a supernatural otherworld...

The partners in crime face threat after threat, support each other, and even find time for flirting. However, it does strike us as odd that most of the encounters they have with other humans in the Otherside are not brought up again. We are clearly meant to focus on Sorao and Toriko’s relationship, how they build trust in each other, and not so much on resolving the torment of one-off characters.

In our First Impressions, we speculated on a possibility: can someone be forever altered and become part of the Otherside? Can that be the case for Uruma Satsuki, Toriko’s former partner in crime? In episode 8 we meet Akari who also knows of Satsuki and the plot thickens. There is not much to say here other than that we hope for a great reveal by the end of the season. This is Otherside Picnic’s chance to surprise us!