Do you believe in soul mates? Do you have faith that there’s someone out there meant for you? What if you’d been dreaming about your perfect match for your whole life, and then — suddenly and unexpectedly — you meet them in the real world? That’s Kazuhiho’s (sorry, Kazuhiro’s) story in Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf! Get ready for food porn, jokes about foreigners, and elf booty.
Nihon e Youkoso Elf-san. (日本へようこそエルフさん。) or Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf! follows mild-mannered office chair jockey Kazuhiho (real name: Kazuhiro, voiced by Yūsuke Kobayashi). He gets to work on time, does what needs doing, and then knocks off on the clock. That’s not very Japanese of him. Instead, he skips office parties and overtime to do what most parents of toddlers wish they could do: sleep. But Kazuhiho (gah, Kazuhiro) has a secret superpower, and when he shuts his eyes, he’s instantly transported to another world. A world with hot elves and hotter dark dragon waifus. Ho ho ho, Kazuhiho!
Kazuhiro’s “every-day-is-Christmas” begins when Mariabelle (a.k.a. Marie, voiced by Kaede Hondo) hitches a ride on his slumber sled back to Japan.
The Couple Who Burns Together (in an Isekai World), Stays Together (in Japan)
Peter coined “Living with a Quirky Girl” to define the genre where weird circumstances lead to a helpful guy taking in a helpless and odd lady, like that anime where a guy welcomes a nerdy ninja assassin into his home. The genre is an answer to prayer. See? I’ve had this itch for shows that include great dads in great marriages.
Think about it. When did you last see a show where the dad wasn’t a loser? And how many romances tell the story that begins after the first kiss or wedding night? Good luck finding them.
I didn’t expect anime to deliver. Spy X Family wasn’t the answer I was looking for — Lloyd is great but not intelligent — but it was a sign of things to come. And that delivery is here, now. The Living with a Quirky Girl genre backed up a truck and dumped good-dad-great-marriage shows on top of us — without dads or marriages.
Oh, sure. Kazuhiho (sorry, Kazuhiro) isn’t a husband, and Marie isn’t his wife. That’s only a technicality. Kazuhiho (“cough,” Kazuhiro) is ready to dive in, headfirst (or maybe heart first) to help Marie against big scary dragons or intimidating lingerie displays. If love is an action and not a feeling, Kazuhiho (Kazuhiro!) is a model husband who’ll hold their unexpected married-by-circumstances marriage together with everything he’s got.
Which will probably mostly be his cooking skills.
Cover Your Eyes! It’s Food Porn!
If waiting for the next season of Dungeon Meshi (a.k.a. Delicious in Dungeon) has left your tummy rumbling, Ms. Elf! has plenty on its plate to satiate you. However, unlike Dungeon Meshi, the focus is Japanese food here, not the next monster hot pot. I’m not complaining. I’m ready to indulge in any food fantasy, whether roast basilisk or authentically Japanese katsudon.
We’ll have a feast for our eyes, but Marie might have to choose if she wants to enjoy her feast with a spoon or chopsticks.
Stereotyping Foreigners is Funny. Don’t Take Offense, Karen.
Have you spent any time in Japan? If you had, were Japanese people ever amazed by something trivial you could do? Such as eating with chopsticks?
In rural Japan, foreigners are about as common as unicorns. So, you’ll get the occasional reaction that leaves you feeling like a massive horn is sticking out of your forehead. Fortunately, even though foreigners like us exude weirdness, the people of Japan are generally too polite to call it out. Still, stereotypical images of foreigners float around in the Japanese collective consciousness and are great joke fuel.
I enjoyed spotting those stereotypes in Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf! Give the elf a spoon instead of chopsticks. Explain that sushi is raw fish, which is safe to eat because of how carefully it’s prepared by well-trained and experienced chefs. We’re not offended and can laugh because we’re not elves.
Marriage Suits You, Kazuhiho!
Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf! is a tasty tease for food lovers. It’s also an entertaining, inward-looking comedy that pokes fun at tourists. And the lovey-dovey friendship between Kazuhiho (or whatever his name is) and Marie is meaningful enough to convince me that the show is an excuse to tell stories about happy newlyweds. Even if they’re not married. Marriage suits you, Kazuhoho.
Director Tōru Kitahata led the Zero-G team producing Nihon e Youkoso Elf-san. Aya Yoshinaga wrote the anime based on the light novel series by Makishima Suzuki. Despite its Shōsetsuka ni Narō origins, the work has already been adapted into a light novel and manga format. So, I’m confident they’ve worked out any bugs to bring us the best anime possible.
Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf! streams on Crunchyroll in Japanese with many subtitles available. I love that there’s no dub yet because it leaves Ms. Elf! feeling like an untouched anime you’ll get to tell your normie friends about. Kazuhiho (sorry, Kazuhiro) and Marie earn Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf! five Chibi Megumis for being an unexpected mix of wholesome, sexy, and funny.
Are you watching Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf!? Why is the dragon waifu the best waifu? And why is Kazubro so interested in her eggs? Tell us in that empty text field below, and we’ll feel the warms and the fuzzies.
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