The Daily Life of a Middle-Aged Online Shopper in Another World Volume 1 Review

At the beginning of the year, The Daily Life of a Middle-Aged Online Shopper in Another World’s anime adaptation was on our screens as part of the Winter season. Then, over the Summer, Panini Manga brought the UK market the manga adaptation of the series. But does the first volume delight? Let’s take a closer look.

Our story follows 38-year-old Kenichi Hamada, who describes himself as an average guy working as a freelance illustrator in Japan. He’d been enjoying a slow life in his countryside hometown until one day he suddenly finds himself standing in the middle of a forest that’s nothing like his home. Thanks to having worked on video games and other fantasy media in the past, Kenichi soon wonders if he has been transported to a fantasy world. His question is soon answered when he manages to bring up a status screen showing his stats and a list of special skills.

One of those skills is called ‘Shangri-la’, which just so happens to be the name of Kenichi’s favourite online shopping website. When he activates the skill, he’s surprised to find that he’s presented with the homepage of the website! It seems he can exchange items and currency to order whatever he wants from Japan. Satisfied that he won’t starve or lack daily necessities thanks to his skill, Kenichi decides to build himself a new, relaxing lifestyle here in another world.

This is a manga based on a light novel series (currently unlicensed) by Hifumi Asakura, and like many light novels adapted into manga, the first volume is relatively slow-paced. We see Kenichi make it to a nearby town where he sets up a stall selling items from Shangri-la, which soon catches the attention of the nobility, thanks to the unusual things he’s stocking. Kenichi wants to live a relatively peaceful life, which also contributes to this first volume feeling quite slow as it’s largely establishing the side cast and setting up.

Having watched the anime earlier in the year, I know there’s more action to come in the future, so I wasn’t too bothered by the pacing of this first outing. However, if this is your first experience with the series, I do think you’d find it rather generic. After all, there are plenty of other popular series involving a main character being able to order items from Japan (such as Campfire Cooking in Another World with my Absurd Skill!) and some of those generally have more charming protagonists.

Kenichi doesn’t really give you a lot of reasons to grow attached to him. He’s a fairly average guy with simple desires in life. There’s no real reason for the reader to want to root for him, which instead means simply watching over his life. And that’s fine, but not particularly fulfilling in this first volume. I’m sure it will get better as they introduce more side characters for us to root for.

If you are already familiar with the story, then you’ll likely enjoy revisiting it in this format. The artwork by mangaka Umiharu (After School!) is clean and easy to follow with attractive character designs. Umiharu has also done a good job of keeping the work visually interesting when, in truth, there’s not a great deal happening in the story, especially for the first couple of chapters.

As mentioned, The Daily Life of a Middle-Aged Online Shopper in Another World comes to the UK thanks to Panini Manga, with translation credited to CCC International LLC. The release reads well and comes in an attractive paperback release, complete with colour pages and French flaps. There is no eBook release of this, but the series is also available on MANGA UP! (with a different translation). Please note that all images are from the MANGA UP! version and not reflective of Panini’s translation.

This series is complete in Japan with 8 Volumes. Here in English, Panini have just released Volume 2 with #3 set to follow in December.

Overall, The Daily Life of a Middle-Aged Online Shopper in Another World’s first volume isn’t particularly world-changing. However, if you’re broadly a fan of the genre or have watched the anime, it will likely appeal to you more. And as someone who has watched the anime, I’m looking forward to reading further now that it’s done establishing Kenichi and the setting.

Our review copy from Panini was supplied by Turnaround Comics (Turnaround Publisher Services).
© Hifumi Asakura / Yamakawa / Umiharu / SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD