Getting Summoned to the Premiere of Headhunted to Another World: From Salaryman to Big Four!

There's a place for everyone in the demon lord's army—including, apparently, an ordinary salaryman. Dennosuke Uchimura is living a pretty standard salaryman life until the demon lord summons him to another world, and tells him that he wants Dennosuke to join his army as one of his Heavenly Kings—a member of the titular Big Four. Specifically, what the demon lord wants from Dennosuke is his negotiation skills. And Dennosuke likes feeling needed for a change.

The concept of Headhunted to Another World: From Salaryman to Big Four! (henceforth Headhunted) is silly and straightforward enough, and its execution is sort of able to match it—well, maybe it's more accurate to say, it matches it at times. There were funny moments sprinkled around the first two episodes of Headhunted, and it's hard not to feel charmed by Dennosuke as he takes his weird new life one day at a time. I just wish this series was willing to embrace its goofiness more, whether by way of its plot, or by way of its protagonist. Don't get me wrong: Headhunted has its fair share of fun moments. But for a comedy anime about a salaryman who suddenly gets isekai'd because there's a demon lord who's that impressed by his negotiation skills, these first two episodes just don't feel like they're playing into that as much as they could be; instead, they seem to be more interested in showing the negotiations themselves, and some light worldbuilding. But in a world that seems thus far to be a pretty cut-and-paste RPG world, I can't find it in myself to care all that much about that world all that much.

I guess what I'm getting at here is that while they're not completely unenjoyable, these premiere episodes just lacked a certain oomph. There's potential here, and plenty of it—there's a fun premise, and a likable protagonist. But these first two episodes feel like they're just not taking advantage of that as much as they could be. Worse, it seems to be mixed up about where its key strengths lie. After all, I just can't imagine anyone is going to be watching this show for its standard issue RPG world since there's just been such a glut of them in anime lately. Maybe as the series continues (once it starts actually airing, I mean) I'll eat my words, but for the time being, I'm not exactly going to start getting a bottle of ketchup at the ready.