Headhunted to Another World: From Salaryman to Big Four! review: A typical isekai with a business spin

With the release of Headhunted to Another World: From Salaryman to Big Four! episode 12, the comedy fantasy anime finally concluded. While the anime wasn't quite extraordinary as an isekai, it presented fans with a unique spin, as the series dealt with real-world business concepts.

While CompTown has been involved in several anime like Spy x Family, Blue Box, etc., the Headhunted to Another World: From Salaryman to Big Four! anime was only its second adaptation produced alongside Geek Toys. Surprisingly, following their collaboration to produce Migi to Dali, they fared reasonably well with the new anime.

With that, let's take a deep dive at Headhunted to Another World: From Salaryman to Big Four! anime to analyze the narrative, production quality, and more.

Headhunted to Another World: From Salaryman to Big Four! anime's narrative is essentially "work with extra steps"

Uchimura as seen in the anime (Image via Geek Toys, CompTown)

Unlike most other isekai anime, the protagonist Uchimura Dennosuke was originally an underappreciated employee working at a toxic company. Just as he started questioning the reason behind his efforts, he was met with a comical accident and got transported to another world where the Demon King wanted to name him as one of his Big Four Generals.

While it seemed like Uchimura was not cut out for this task, the Demon King wanting to employ him wasn't a mistake. He had already run a background check on Uchimura and wished for him to use his marketing skills to reform his Demon army and apply modern business principles to improve efficiency, morale, and overall effectiveness.

Sylphid in Headhunted to Another World: From Salaryman to Big Four! (Image via Geek Toys, CompTown)

At its core, the anime is a typical isekai with a powerless human being tackling each problem presented to him using his wit. However, what sets this series apart is its heavy focus on marketing basics. Marketing isn't just about selling products but also understanding your customers, the market's demands, and adapting to new trends, all of which are surprisingly covered within the anime. Hence, it won't be a push to call this anime "work with extra steps."

That aside, the anime not only deals with an organization's relationship with its clients and customers but also focuses on its employees. While the anime focused on this topic throughout the series, the finale went all in to depict Uchimura's mentality.

Demon King as seen in the anime (Image via Geek Toys, CompTown)

As explained by the Demon King, Uchimura was talented and loyal, but he never did anything that was outside the scope of his missions. From what he perceived, Uchimura was no different from a good slave faithfully finishing tasks assigned to him. His submissive nature had caused him to have a low opinion of himself. Hence, the Demon King believed that Uchimura was restricted by something.

"Are you willing to give up and live your life in this state, or are you willing to push through the discomfort and try something new?"

As Uchimura started questioning his mentality, he realized how his superiors had caused his self-esteem to take a constant beating. While he foolishly believed that he had overcome his inner trauma, the wounds in his heart were yet to be healed. The anime deals with all this and much more. So, as far as the narrative is concerned, Headhunted to Another World: From Salaryman to Big Four! is unique. That said, it may not appeal to everyone, especially those who would want to separate work from their pastime.

Production quality and cast performances

Ulmandra in Headhunted to Another World: From Salaryman to Big Four! (Image via Geek Toys, CompTown)

As mentioned above, Headhunted to Another World: From Salaryman to Big Four! is only CompTown's second full-scale project alongside Geek Toys. With that in mind, one cannot help but praise the anime's production. While it is true that the series does not feature the best animation quality for all scenes, the close-up scenes involving the main characters almost always feature detailed artwork.

As for the character designs, if one compares the characters to their manga versions, it should be noticeable that some characters like Ulmandra and Olulu have some distinct outfit changes to make the show more family-friendly. Otherwise, the character designs are pretty much the same.

Lastly, as far as cast performances were concerned, each voice actor did a great job at depicting their character's distinct personality through their voice. Amongst them, Yuuki Ono as Uchimura Dennosuke and Konomi Kohara as Ulmandra stood out the most as their roles demanded them to enact several monologues to depict conflicts, be that work or romance-related.

Final thoughts on Headhunted to Another World: From Salaryman to Big Four! anime

While Headhunted to Another World: From Salaryman to Big Four! anime is a decent fun watch and provides older fans with a different perspective on their day-to-day work interactions and responsibilities, the series itself is nowhere close to reinventing the isekai genre.

Hence, unless fans do not expect the anime to be anything more than a normal isekai, it can be a pleasant watch.