Uglymug, Epicfighter – Episode 1

Content Warning: Fatphobia, ableism, false harassment accusations

What’s it about? His looks? Negative 255 points. Touch? Impossible, it hurts girls and tanks his HP. Sexual acts? Completely off the table—he’ll literally get torn apart. These are the trials and tribulations of former salesman Shigeru, once of Japan, now of another world…and an incredibly strong but ugly man.

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There’s a lot I have to say here, so instead of doing a setup paragraph, we’re going to dive right into this premiere so I can save my word count for the bulk of my thoughts.

So. 

Episode 1 opens, like many isekai, in the before with a salaryman named Shigeru, a man who is considered incredibly ugly, even to himself. However, he carries himself with pride, confident in his skills and his ability to make others smile through his efforts. Having lived a fulfilling life, Shigeru finds himself pretty okay with the flow of things. That is, until a false sexual harassment claim forces him into a sudden downward spiral.

Forced to pay a fine, Shigeru finds himself unemployed, depressed, and his world growing smaller. With little left to his name, he turns to the internet for solace, only to find a way to remake his life and find purpose once again. Now in another world, Shigeru meets other isekai’d individuals, all drawn to the rumor of obtaining a second life in another world at the cost of half their life. Now part of a crew of teens, Shigeru finds himself in another world with a new life ahead of him and the potential to spend it among friends.

…If only he hadn’t made a few snap decisions about his stats.

I hate this.

I hate this, I hate this, I hate this, and that’s not because this is bad, but because I find it so incredibly cruel to center physicality as a plot point in this specific way. It completely obfuscates the fact that this could potentially be a perfectly fine isekai action-adventure show where a man actually likes who he is and is fine with his character until a series of events sinks him into depression.

Instead, it just feels like one big joke at the cost of a fat body with severe volcel (voluntary incel) overtones, though I won’t be going into that because I just simply don’t have a lot of knowledge. What I can say is that there’s a oil-slick veneer of misogyny that permeates this show that definitely doubles down on the volcel vibes.

Now, what I can speak to is the physicality of this show—namely of Shigeru.

As a fat person, I’ve worked incredibly hard to undo the reflexive judgement taught to me. I don’t judge my fellow fats and I certainly don’t judge my fellow super fats. Instead, I am okay with the simple fact that my body is mine and other bodies are theirs and none of it is mine to police once I step outside my personal purview of my own skin.

Uglymug relies on this reflexive judgment to, at once, create sympathy but also…as a joke. In fact, it’s kind of the backbone of the premiere because haha, isn’t it hilarious that this man who is considered hideous gets accused of sexual harassment AND is considered wholly unlovable AND falls into the dark web thoughts of the government killing the unworthy NEETS (easily read as disabled individuals and those considered socially ugly) AND ends up sent to another world where he’s STILL considered ugly because he decides to max out his skills while INCREDIBLY DEPRESSED? 

Isn’t that fucking funny? Just downright hilarious?

It is decidedly not funny at all to me.

In fact, it’s cruel and it completely overrides what could potentially be a fascinating story about a man restarting his life in another because he needs an escape from his debilitating depression. It could have been just another entry in the “middle aged men in another world” genre and instead, Shigeru gets position as being almost sinfully ugly to the point that we never see his full face prior to him getting sent to another world. Worse, in this other world he’s cartoonishly fat and ugly, getting stuck in a doorway at some point and constantly profusely sweating and falls in a fountain and splashes out most of the water because…fat. He feels almost like a certain British TERF ghostwrote him, because he’s so outrageously anti-fat in his physicality, with the only redeeming quality being the simple fact that Shigeru is a decent human.

Isekai all have a quirk that distinguishes them from one another, frequently crossing over with minimal tweaks that make them stand out. Here, Uglymug, Epicfighter leans on tired anti-fat and honestly just downright disgusting tropes to create “comedy” amidst a story about existing and adventuring in another world. It’s a choice for sure, and it was something that I had to come down hard on in this episode.

It may seem like I’m just shitting on this anime premiere, but let me make it clear that I’m not. I have worked incredibly hard to look at the world and see value in the neutral existence of others and that includes in fat bodies. They are not our entertainment: my belly and arms and curves and rolls are not your bread and circuses. I am a person. Fat people are people. Everybody and every body has a right to exist, and we don’t get to play judge, jury, and executioner with the politics of that existence. That is not a fact I’ll ever yield on.

In truth, ikekai’d Shigeru isn’t even ugly. He’s just a fat man with round features: fat rolls and large thighs, jowls and thicker lips, though the latter leans into kind of dangerously toward the “gonk” trope, marking Shigeru as other instead of just as normal and human as his party members. But at base, Shigeru looks like people I’ve seen around me—people who are decidedly not ugly but are just people existing in the world, which is a beautiful thing when drawing on indigenous and non-white theories of humanity’s place on our planet and how we can all serve as custodians to Earth. (I’m thinking of you, Braiding Sweetgrass.)

In fact, Shigeru’s greatest crime, amongst a party of socially attractive teens, is being a fat teenager, a crime I committed by existing from the ages of thirteen to twenty. But as I hope you’ve come to realize through this review and larger hard work on prejudice, being fat isn’t a crime. It’s an adjective, like curvy, slender, average, mid-size. It’s a descriptor, not an indictment.

It is because of this I simply cannot continue, even if I think Shigeru will find joy in his second life and his adventuring party. I don’t want to see Shigeru’s body and abilities be the butt of the multiple jokes I can envision coming, even if this series grows beyond its anti-fat foundations to be a much more heartfelt and sincere story. I’m not going to ding anyone who does continue, but I will say that a critical eye is always important to have, even with media we like and love.

Discomfort with media can be a good thing, as can be pushing ourselves to engage with thoughts that are counter to what we personally believe, but here, it’s more than that, and I don’t think it’s worth challenging my ideals on being fat with a show that finds my body to be fodder for humor instead of a lived experience worth existing on its own merit.