Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Make no mistake about it Japan is a great and beautiful country, but like every country out there it has its faults and one of them is its office work environment. The office work environment in Japan has been depicted as very intense, brutal, and downright stressful most of the time. It’s said that about 23% or more of Japan’s workers work over 80 hours of overtime a month creating a string of deaths in Japan from mental and physical health. It’s gotten so bad that they had to create their own word for it, karoshi, which loosely means death by overwork. Now to the government and businesses’ credit, they have been taking steps to stop this such as providing health service programs, limiting overtime work hours, and even letting their workers leave early on certain days of the month. Sadly, most companies opt not to run these programs. One of the major types of companies contributing to karoshi has been black companies. If you don’t know what that is, then just think of sweatshops except on a corporate level. Where young workers are hired in drones and forced to work in poor conditions, work overtime without any pay, and bullying by their superiors is actually encouraged. Unfortunately, these young workers are too afraid to quit or complain about these horrible working conditions due to Japan’s societal standards. In Japan being an adult isn’t about achieving financial independence but rather integrating yourself into a system and cooperating with others to keep that system working. If you disrupt the system then you’ll come across as uncooperative and a troublemaker who can’t be trusted in the workforce that nobody wants to deal with. For a lot of isekai animes the main character is always someone who is either working for a black company or seen as a company worker exhausted by their office job. This makes it all the more special when they enter another world and escape their abyssal lifestyle for something better, but what happens when the world they entered is one big black company? You get Meikyuu Black Company or The Dungeon of Black Company when translated. A manga series written by Yōhei Yasumura in 2016 and continuing to this day. A dark comedy isekai that changes up the setting we’re used to seeing in this genre and presents something new and a little terrifying. In 2021 Silver Link a studio that gave us some of the worst isekais out there (Death March, The Ones Within and Kenja no Mago) would shockingly go on to start producing decent and unique isekai (My Next Life as a Villainess and the World’s Finest Assassin) with this being one of them. It was seen as an underrated anime during its run by those who watched it and we’re here to see if that’s true. Was this a decent isekai or just another craping one? Let’s take a look at Meikyuu Black Company.
Opening and Ending Theme
The opening is Shimi by Howl Be Quiet. One of from favorite openings from 2021. The song is catchy, upbeat, and sung well. It really didn’t get the attention it deserved, but it’s a really great song that I still listen to.
For the ending we have World is Mine by Humbreaders. Not a bad song but didn’t really care for it all that much. The song honestly gives me those All American Rejects vibes. The beat sounds like their songs and everything.
Episodes 1-4
The anime starts with our main character Kinji voiced by Katsuyuki Konishi (Kamina from Gurren Lagann) who is a NEET, but not just any NEET (look at this guy, he looks like he was chiseled from a stone. In fact, he even looks like Kamina), a smart NEET. After playing the stock game he wound up rich beyond his wildest dreams, used that money to build 3 apartment complexes (that was smart of him) and now lives in the lap of luxury on the top floor of one of them raking in money from rent. He plans to spend his life as slothfully as possible (I’m sure this lifestyle speaks to you Gen X kids spiritually), but fate has other plans in store for him. Through some unknown portal, Kinji gets transported into another world filled with monsters and demihumans (the smart kind). He tried to make money selling them our technology, but it didn’t work out for him and he quickly found himself in debt. Kinji was then forced to join a black company where the workers journey into dungeons to find this fuel source known as demonite. In the past dungeons were hotspots for adventurers and treasurers, but thanks to modernization they’ve become mining operations owned and operated by the governments of the world. The employees work 16-hour workdays, have barely any rest, living areas have no privacy, and they can only bathe once a month (as for the pay. . .laughable). As you would imagine Kinji hates it here, but luck comes his way when he finds a portal that leads him to the third floor of the dungeon. Normally, workers only mine in the first floor where it’s safe. However, the deeper you go into the dungeon the more demonite you find, but the more dangerous the monsters become (it’s a high-risk high return scenario). Teaming up with a lizardman named Wanibe voiced by Hiro Shimono (Zenitsu from Kimestu no Yaiba), they use the portal to mine the third floor where they get attacked by a monster named Rim voiced by Misaki Kuno (Hawk from Nanatsu no Taizai). Using his quick thinking, Kinji manages to get the monster to work with him in exchange for food. The monster likes this deal and transforms into a dragon girl who doesn’t work out the way Kinji planned as he’s spending more money feeding her than he is profiting. Thankfully (I think), luck comes his way again when he finds a brainwashing staff and uses that to take control of the other workers to increase productivity and work them like slaves (I like how the corporate environment is bad yet they somehow manage to make Kinji just as bad if not worse than their system). Eventually, the staff breaks and everyone returns to their senses where they beat the crap out of Kinji for abusing them (like you guys wouldn’t have done the same).
In episode 2 Kinji becomes the most hated person in his group, but luck (or bad luck) comes his way as he and Wanibe get transferred to a new group. This new group works as support for adventurers who journey deeper into the dungeon to expand the mining area. Kinji and Wanibe’s main job is just be errand boys who go around performing tasks whenever asked. Things go bad when Wanibe gets injured and Kinji gets forced to do his work along with Wanibe’s work (and no extra pay). The next day while in the dungeon, Kinji and another adventurer get attacked by a horde of dungeon ants who follow them back to the floor’s safehouse and trap them inside (death by ants. Never thought I’d see that in an anime). In a desperate move to save his life, Kinji finds a transformation potion and uses that on him and the others to turn themselves into dungeon ants. This manages to save their lives, but the floor has been closed off meaning they’re stuck and once the potion wears off they’ll be sitting ducks for the ants. Kinji gets to work quickly and starts unionizing the overworked ants one by one. When they finally go to confront the queen, we see she takes exception to this and threatens to kill everyone but gets stopped with the arrival of Rim who tries to eat them. Kinji stops her and this wins over the queen as well as the other ants who become his loyal followers. As the episode winds down, Wanibe returns to work and we find that Kinji and the others just received a sheet of paper after returning alive (wow, this company is run by assholes). Kinji finally has enough and decides he’s going to take over the company and invites Wanibe to join his gang.
In the first half of episode 3, Kinji, Wanibe and a few other workers are sent to this brainwashing camp to turn them into mindless workers. Using dark magic to brainwash the workers (kill your family. Kill your family. Kill your family) everyone soon becomes obedient slave dogs including Kinji. Luckily, on the day they leave, someone bumps into Kinji and he wakes up along with Wanibe. We find out that behind the scenes the two ate confusion grass to ward off the brainwashing (it was a gamble that paid off). In the second half of the episode, Kinji and Wanibe get reassigned to group 3 of the exploration division within the company and are put under the watch of Shia a very famous mercenary who many are calling the second coming of the hero. She’s voiced by Megumi Toda. We quickly see how Shia is the exact opposite of Kinji. She loves to work and takes pride in her job not knowing all the hardships and underhanded methods the company uses to get money (she’s like a girl straight out of college landing a job while Kinji is that guy 5 years out of college and knows how harsh and unfair the working life can be). They go to the third floor of the dungeon where we see Shia’s skills are on another level (in another lifetime she’d be the MC of a story). Once she sees Kinji talking to one of the dungeon ants, she accuses him of being a monster (a direct violation of company regulations) and attacks him. Kinji summons Rim to fight Shia where Rim easily defeats her and then he blackmails Shia into joining his company or he’ll show a picture that will ruin her reputation forever.
Episode 4 opens up with Kinji getting jumped by his loan shark where he’s told to pay 5 million gold in one month or they’re going to kill him. In an effort to pay back the money he manages to turn the second level into a monster ranch where the monsters are taken care of and Kinji’s group harvests their valuables without having to kill them and risk their lives (it’s a little underhanded but at the same time it’s smart). With this farm, Kinji easily pays off his debt, but Shia doesn’t like how quick and easy it is (work hard, work smarter. That’s what I say). The dungeon soon gets hit with the Death March, an event in the dungeon where all the monsters that were slain all return back at once (the blood moon rises) including a dangerous monster known as the Majin. In order to replenish its strength, the Majin will go after the person with the most mana aka Shia. In fact, that’s the whole reason Shia was hired in the first place. She was meant to be a sacrifice for the Majin (why sacrifice 10 people when all you really need is just 1 good adventurer to calm the beast?). The Majin finds Kinji and Shia where she gets injured but is prepared to die to fulfill her duty. As she prepares to use an item to send Kinji back to the top, Kinji instead tosses the item to the Majin and transports it to the surface instead (yeah, this is definitely coming out of our paychecks). The Majin returns to the dungeon to feast on Shia where Kinji and his black company have prepared numerous traps. While the traps don’t kill the Majin they do slow it down providing Shia time to heal up for the final strike. As they fight, we find out about Shia’s dad the so-called King of Failed Ventures. Shia’s dad was a thrill-seeker, clearing out dungeons left and right, but at the same time ignoring his family. He wasn’t a good husband or father which resulted in Shia and her mother’s life being miserable until she joined Raiza’ha who taught her how wonderful it is to work to contribute to society (I call that brainwashing). Kinji does a boob grab to calm her down (Corbin: Hey, that’s my signature move) and says that nothing she does is based on her own personal determination and is just working based on a sense of duty. While Kinji believes there’s nothing wrong with working (which there isn’t) he doesn’t agree with her willing to sacrifice her life for a company that honestly doesn’t give a damn about her and she should live her life the way she feels is right. After their talk Shia delivers a powerful blow to the Majin, but it’s still not enough to finish it off until Rim finally shows up and just eats the damn thing like it’s nothing (she is so overpowered). As the episode ends, Kinji and Rim fall down a portal, the same portal that brought Kinji to this world.
Episodes 5-8
At the start of episode 5 Kinji wakes up back in his apartment (not sure why he’s wearing a speedo, but you do you Kinji) believing that everything he experienced was just a dream (if only). Once he turns on the TV he sees Rim rampaging through the streets looking for food (and the news anchor is way too calm about all of this. Nothing less from Japan). Rim then appears in Kinji’s room ready to eat him until he wakes up once again (a dream within a dream. Go Inception). He finds himself in a room with Rim where he’s greeted by a girl named Ranga voiced by M·A·O aka Mao Ichimichi (Iris from Fire Force) who calls him the messiah and begs him to save the world (you are asking the wrong guy lady). Kinji not falling for this charade demands to know where he’s at and a man named Zazel comes in to reveal that Kinji is in a futuristic town known as Marcia in another world (this guy got isekai’d twice and into another world that sucks. That is hilarious). So Zazel goes on to explain that 300 years ago a company rose to power using the negatives of capitalism (the Trump Organization). The company soon spread its ideals across the world which everyone adopted and split the population into the ruler class and corporate grunts. The corporate grunts were treated as slaves, became weak and the demon lord capitalized on this to take over the world. Once the humans were defeated, they escaped underground where they have lived for the past 300 years and their resources are starting to dry up. Luckily, they came across a prophecy which said they could summon a hero who would overthrow the demon lord and return the humans to prosperity (again, you are asking the wrong guy for this job. I sooner see him as a demon lord than a hero). At first Kinji refuses to help, but after being held at gunpoint and with the promise of being returned to Japan, he accepts the quest. Ranga joins him on his quest where we find out she’s a boy (because of course she is. Actually, in all fairness, Kinji’s reaction to this is good. He doesn’t get freaked out by him or call him disgusting. He remains open-minded and doesn’t judge him) and if that wasn’t shocking we find out that this is the same world Kinji was isekai’d to in the first episode except it’s in the future and of course it was Raiza’ha that destroyed the world. They make it to one of the demon lord army’s outposts where the place is run by one of the dungeon ants who has its own trouble with humans who are mad because of fair labor. The dungeon ant incorporated the teachings of Kinji and created a fair working schedule for humans where they work 8-hour 5 times a week shifts, get paid fairly, have insurance that’s affordable, and get 2 days as well as holidays off (holy shit! That’s not a normal work schedule, that’s a damn good work schedule. Hell, it’s actually my work schedule right now along with the benefits and everything. Need I remind you that there are people out there working 8-10 hours 6 times a week with no overtime pay, no holidays, and crummy insurance who would kill to have the work schedule these lazy assholes are complaining about. Another shining example of how lazy the human race truly is and how we’ll whine about anything). Kinji lends a helping hand to his ant buddy by changing the overall structure of the outpost. He strengthened the oversight, those who complained and were disobedient were punished, those who performed well were given better pay and allowed to rule over others which resulted in the workers wanting recognition as well and working harder to get paid more. Kinji’s work gets recognized by the demon lord who makes him a general and puts him in charge of Marcia.
In the first half of episode 6 Kinji and the others get targeted by some of the demon lord’s executives who are worried about their position because of Kinji’s rise. They each try to sabotage him but fail each time (doesn’t help that they’re idiots). In the second half of the episode the group is in a forest and get attacked by a robot where Ragna gets hit by a beam which knocks him out. We get this weird Alice in Wonderland parody where we find out Ragna is the descendent of Belza (Kinji’s boss), the demon who caused the destruction of the world (not surprising). Ragna and his parents were hated by the masses and eventually, this led to the parents dying. In order to save himself, Ragna hid amongst the humans and has been running from his past ever since. Kinji manages to wake him up and tells him it’s okay to run away as long as you get back up and try again. As the episode ends, Kinji finally gets the chance to go and meet the demon lord.
Okay, so in episode 7 we finally meet the demon lord and discover some surprising facts about her. Not only is she Rim’s sister, but she’s actually the Majin they fought back in episode 4 (a name she’s not very fond of). In truth, the demon lord and Rim are actually guardians of the world responsible for managing the circulation of magic power. They’re also responsible for protecting the treasures of the dungeon from humans because they’re so dangerous. Because Rim left the dungeon she upset the circulation of magic within it (Kinji’s fault). This resulted in the Majin being born in order to restore the circulation of magic to the dungeon. Kinji doesn’t care about any of this and just wants to know if the Majin can send him back to Japan. The answer is yes, but there are a few problems in the way. The first one being Raiza’ha. Yep, they’re still around and have been biding their time to take control of the world. In the past, Raiza’ha managed to find the ruins of the dungeon and used that technology to spread their influence throughout the world. However, they overused the powers of the ruins which brought ruination to the world and forced the Majin to take action and attack Raiza’ha. While she couldn’t destroy them she banished them to another dimension and now they’re back. Not only do they have the power to match the Majin now, but they’re pretty much immortal and can keep coming back from the dead (like Deadpool only less funny). At the rate they’re going the world will be destroyed which is why the Majin brought Kinji and the others here. She wants them to go back in time and stop Raiza’ha from discovering the ruins and altering the timeline. Why choose Kinji for the job? Because he has a hard time giving up. She presents him with two doors to choose from. A red door which will lead him back to Japan and a blue door that’ll take him back to the past (sure is getting Matrix in here). In a not surprising move, Kinji returns to the past with Rim and Ragna to stop Raiza’ha. Not because he wants to save the future (he is not that noble), but because he refuses to let a company that has treated him like crap rule the world (and honestly, I get it. I would totally do the same thing). So now that Kinji’s back and knows what the future will hold his plan is to get to the ruins first and use that power to rule the world instead (can’t help but feel that’d be an improvement). With Kinji’s brain and everyone’s powers the task should be easy, but Wanibe reveals that the dungeon landscape has changed and heading down into the lower levels has become a lot harder and dangerous.
In episode 8 Shia reveals just how low-level Kinji is and begins to train him where he comes to the conclusion that he’s the weakest person in the world (took him long enough). We get to hear a pretty funny drunk rant from him (very well-voice acted too) and he tries to think up another way to survive the dangers of the dungeon. His answer comes in the form of a runic gun he got from the future he calls Blade Wing. After Rim supplies it with mana, it activates recognizing Kinji as its master. The gun works by absorbing the mana from its surroundings and converts it into energy (it also has auto-targeting, enemy-seeking and other useful features. (Isis): That might just be the most overpowered gun I’ve seen. I want it). The only downside is the gun has a mind of its own and it’s a character. The gun is very possessive of its owner and is yandere. It won’t allow Kinji to use other weapons and threatens to self-destruct if he tries to abandon her.
Episodes 9-12
Episode 9 is a weird episode. It starts with Kinji’s group and other adventurers getting attacked by zombies. They fight them off but Kinji gets captured and the others have to save him. The others find a sweatshop where the zombies are forced to make potions but the group frees the zombies and return them back to normal adventurers. They then find Kinji who is berating the necromancer (who I’m going to assume is a cousin of Ains). We find out that the necromancer was once the mage partner of a greedy hero who stabbed him (or rather her as we find out later) in the back. Angered by this, the mage trapped the hero in a barrier in the dungeon only for the hero to break free and turn the mage into a criminal. Rather than be sentenced to death, the mage was forced to work in the dungeon as a corporate slave until she died from overworking herself cursing the world and everyone in it. The reason why Kinji was kidnapped is because he bears a striking resemblance to the greedy hero (I can see the comparison). The mage tried to brainwash him as retribution (it didn’t go so well). Since that plan failed, the mage decides to return to the surface and turn everyone into a corporate slave just like her (haha, funny story about that), but the others tell her that’s already happening. After realizing that the world is headed in a stupid direction without her help, she passes on peacefully. In the second half, Kinji helps a struggling shopkeeper named Cindy with her shop. He manages to get adventurers addicted to a low grade potion drink called Dead Cow (name could use some work) until corporate steps in discovering the addictive substance and Kinji getting in trouble because of it.
In episode 10 Kinji’s party is stuck on the 4th floor with another party who just got back from the 5th floor. The entrances to the 3rd and 5th floor have been blocked off and they have to figure out a way to clear the rubble all while avoiding monsters. As they make it to a base for safety, they run into the dungeon ants and the queen who we find out can transform into a complete human (stay in this form). After Kinji disappeared (into the future) a large tremor shook the dungeon and the queen led her troops away from the epicenter. As she was leading her group away, she came across Majin and has been taking care of her all this time because she’s so cute (and she can pretend that Majin is her and Kinji’s child). Just like it was explained a few episodes back, with Rim disappearing Majin was born in order to keep the dungeon and magic circulation in balance. However, something is wrong with her and since the dungeon is an extension of herself that means all the strange occurrences happening in the dungeon are because of her condition. In order to make the Majin’s condition better, Kinji and the others decide to fix the floor’s ecosystem (yeah, it’s all messed up). While Kinji and the others mess with nature, Rim looks after Majin who hates her and is scared of her (well the last time these two met Rim practically killed her), but as time goes on she starts to open up to Rim and the two become good friends. Rim decides to name her Sora and thanks to Kinji’s meddling, the ecosystem on the floor is back in order. This manages to make Sora feel better but only for a short while as there appears to be a disturbance on the 5th floor.
So in episode 11 we go to the 5th floor where we see an altar is mass producing guardian monsters. In the past, it was just two monsters but now it’s a number of them and the adventurers are overwhelmed. Kinji and the others arrive to help even the odds where thanks to Kinji’s leadership skills (or manipulation given his personality) they manage to clear a path to the altar with morale high and this one guy named Alus developing a man crush on him (what am I watching?). They manage to defeat the guardians, destroy the altar, and this stabilizes Sora’s condition. After this, they make it to the 6th floor where they find the power that Belza has been looking for this whole time. Kinji absorbs the power of the dungeon gaining control of all the monsters within it. He returns to the surface and hands in his letter of resignation to Belza (why he never did that a long time ago is beyond me) and he even pays off his debt to add insult to injury. Three months soon pass and rather than go on rampage and get revenge on everyone who wronged him in this world, Kinji instead goes around buying up abandoned dungeons, regenerating them and turning them into modernized dungeons. After this, everything goes Kinji’s way as he gets control of the market and is ruining Belza and her company (you think something bad is going to happen or he’s going to screw it up, but nope, he knows what he’s doing and he’s using that to win). The only downside is that Shia chose to stay with Belza (I’m convinced this woman is a masochist) and as Belza wallows in her drunken defeat she comes up with a plan to take down Kinji.
In the final episode we start with Kinji getting arrested for violating the demonite trading and exchange law. He gets charged with looting and embezzlement thanks to testimonies (both true and false) from Raiza’ha workers. Just when it seems like Belza has won and will get control of not only Raiza’ha but the dungeon powers of Kinji, Kinji’s team pulls a fast one over her. It turns out Kinji predicted something like this would happen and had a manual written out for his team to follow. Kinji’s team managed to buy up stock from Raiza’ha’s shareholders to become the majority owners and their first act is making Kinji the CEO. Speaking of Kinji, all the charges get dropped against him once all the testimonies were proven false (although some of them are harmless truths) and he gets released. So Raiza’ha becomes a subsidiary of Kinji’s Dungeon Black Company. If you can believe it he actually does keep Belza around (don’t get mad if the fox eats all your hens) and has her compete with Ragna strengthening their bonds with each other. So, Kinji has everything he’s ever wanted in this world, but still feels empty inside (because you equated happiness with success. And now that you’ve achieved it there’s nothing left. -Dr. Nefarious, Rachet & Clank: Rifts Apart). Kinji realizes that he’s only truly happy when he’s chasing his goals and the others think he’s going to use the dungeon’s power to return to Japan. They throw him a party where he says he’s going nowhere (he worked his ass off to get rich in this world. How stupid would it be if he left?). Instead, Kinji decides he’s going to focus his attention on spreading his ideology all over the world and conquering it.
Final Thoughts
Meikyuu Black Company is actually a good anime. I like the jokes, the social commentary and the way it pokes fun at the social ailments of the real world involving exploitative companies and just how terrible they are. The only character that really stands out to me is Kinji. He is a fun character. I like how despite all the shit he gets put through and how things blow up in his face he never loses hope. If something doesn’t work out he finds a way to bounce back. When you think he’s been outsmarted, he pulls an uno reverse card and outsmarts them instead. He has a twisted and selfish view of himself and the world, but at the same time he does care about those around him and works hard to create a working environment that’s fair to his employees. He knows how terrible the working conditions are and rather than continue down the same path as those before him ignoring the pleas of workers he takes the time to make things better for them. The ending is good as he manages to get everything he’s wanted, come out on top, and show he’s the bigger man by hiring the person who was trying to destroy him (something a lot of people would never do). The animation is pretty good. While not Silver Link’s best work you can tell they worked hard on it. I like how most of the characters are more demon/monster-based creatures instead of the usual elves and humans with animal features. This does help the world stand out a little from other isekai animes I’ve seen. The music was alright, I didn’t really hear anything special or memorable. Aside from the opening, the music doesn’t really do anything for me.
Final Score
The final score for Meikyuu Black Company is a surprising 6/10. It’s a good anime with some nice social commentary on the importance of a good working environment and the dangers of exploitation in them as well. I do recommend checking this anime out if you want a good laugh as it is one of the better isekais I’ve seen that tries to do something different and succeed. I don’t see this anime getting a second season as the ending did wrap everything up nicely, but then again I would like to see more of this world and the various races they have as well as what other social commentary they can squeeze in about the work environment. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.