The anime "Other World Picnic" that will be broadcast from January 2021 is a work based on internet urban legends, netlore. It is a work that adventures in another world where netlore is embodied, and goes temporarily insane and almost dies while searching for treasure and adventure. I would like to introduce the plot of such a reverse world picnic with spoilers!
Plot 1: Wiggle Hunting
Kamikoshi Sorao, a female college student who is interested in visiting ruins and netlore, one day finds an entrance to a world different from reality. While exploring the other side from that entrance, she finds something strange and her body becomes unable to move. Just when she thinks her life is about to end, she is rescued by a beautiful blonde woman named Nishina Toriko who happens to be passing by. Toriko has entered from a different entrance. She thought that she was the only one who knew about the other side, but that wasn't the case.
Nishina Toriko and the Mysterious Squiggle
After defeating the strange thing without even realizing it, Sorao escapes with Toriko. Sorao has a hunch about what the strange thing was. It was the supernatural "Kunekune" urban legend told on the Internet. If you keep watching Kunekune, it will make you go crazy and affect your mind to the point where you can't return to your daily life. However, the entrance to the other side that Sorao found had disappeared without a trace.
Defeat Kunekune!
When Sorao returns from the extraordinary to her daily life, Toriko appears again in front of her. Having identified the university Sorao attended, Toriko suggests to her in a light-hearted manner, "Was it Kunekune? Let's go hunt it." Sorao knew it was dangerous and was not keen, but he was offered an attractive amount of money and decided to accompany Toriko. The two of them returned to the underworld using a method similar to using a bug in an RPG to break into a debug room, and along the way they discovered a strange corpse and Kunekune. The corpse had changed so that it looked like branches were growing from its body.
SAN value check is performed
The two found Kunekune, but the rock salt and firearms that Toriko brought with them were ineffective, and their heads became strange from constantly looking at Kunekune. However, they realize that they had been watching and understanding Kunekune to a certain extent when they defeated Kunekune before, and they defeat Kunekune with a coordinated play in which Sorao observes Kunekune and Toriko shoots Kunekune before Sorao's SAN value reaches its limit.
Synopsis Part 2: Yasaka-sama Survival
When they return from hunting Kunekune, Sorao's eyeballs and Toriko's hand have been altered. Taking this into consideration, the two of them visit a person who is researching the underworld. The researcher, Yozakura, lives in a mansion and looks like an elementary school girl, but she is older than the two of them. From her conversation with Yozakura, Toriko learns that she is searching for a certain person in the underworld. The person is Toriko's partner, a woman named Uruma Satsuki, who is currently missing in the underworld.
Back to the Underworld
After one way or another, the two return to the underworld and meet a man named Ribudo, who is wearing camouflage clothing. Ribudo tells them about instant death traps. Ribudo's goal is to find his missing wife, and he continues his search after discovering the existence of the underworld with his obsession, but his mental state is quite unstable. The three follow strange footprints and enter an abandoned house, where they find a large woman wearing a white dress and hat, a Netlore monster named "Yasasa-sama".
Defeat Yasasa-sama!
Yashaku-sama is a monster that confuses and kills people with the visions and voices of those close to them. Each of the three is shown a different vision, and Rito is dragged into another dimension after chasing the vision of his wife. Sorao is also shown a vision of Toriko, but he manages to escape by hearing the real Toriko's voice. As usual, firearms are ineffective against Yasha-sama, but they manage to physically interfere with her using Sorao's eyes, which can see things that cannot be touched, and Toriko's hands, which can touch things that cannot be touched, and defeat Yasha-sama.
Synopsis 3: Station of February
After returning from the other world, the two go to a bar to celebrate. However, the scenery suddenly changes, and they are transported to the other world at night. In front of them appears a transport machine carrying a human corpse wrapped in a burlap sack, which has been transformed by the influence of the other world and is approaching them. The two desperately try to escape, but they find a railroad track along the way and run along it, where they encounter a group of people wearing camouflage uniforms. The group is a platoon of the US military in Japan.
Soldiers Lost in the Underworld
The platoon was from a certain division of the US military in Okinawa, and accidentally stumbled into the underworld during a training exercise. A month had passed since they had been wandering the underworld, and many casualties had been reported, leaving them mentally cornered and sensitive. The platoon was based at a certain unmanned station, which was the internet lore "Kisaragi Station" that was posted on a bulletin board in 2004.
Escape from Kisaragi Station!
The platoon, dominated by fear, also turns its eyes on Sorao and Toriko, but they escape danger thanks to the calm judgment of the person in charge of the unit. However, a monster made of a cluster of faces attacks the camp set up around Kisaragi Station. The entire platoon fights back, but it's no use. Sorao decides that the monster's actions are meant to scare people, but only Sorao, who can see through the foreign objects of the underworld, can see the monster's true form. Sorao and Toriko work together to repel the monsters, but one day, they are caught by a frightened soldier who sees her strange eyes and thinks she is a monster.
Escape Success!
Sorao and Toriko escape to Kisaragi Station. Just then, a train passes by, and Sorao realizes that the train is the one that connects the real world to the other world, so she jumps onto the moving train. Although she makes it inside the train safely, she is shown a shocking vision. However, she then safely escapes the other world.
Synopsis 4: Time, Space, and Old Men
Three weeks have passed since escaping Kisaragi Station, and Toriko, who had a falling out with Sorao, has disappeared. Sorao, worried about Toriko, finds out her current address from Yozakura and asks her about it, but when she steps into a room in the apartment where Toriko lives, she finds herself lost in another space-time where she can't sense any human presence, even though it's supposed to be reality.
The Time-Space Old Man Appears
Soura, who got lost in another dimension, was saved by a mysterious old man wearing work clothes, commonly known as the "Time-Space Old Man." There is an urban legend that he secretly helps people who get lost in another dimension, but the old man returns Soura to her original world with a warning. However, when she returns to her original world, she finds a message on her cell phone that she doesn't recognize. From the contents of the message, Soura is convinced that Toriko has gone to the other world alone.
Let's go together
Sorao was going to the underworld to look for Toriko, but she was afraid to go alone, so she tried to invite Yozakura to join her. Yozakura refused the proposal, but she encountered May in Black and a monster with a big face, and before she knew it, she was transferred to the underworld. Yozakura was furious, but the reason was that she was more scared than most people.
Find Toriko!
The two ended up getting lost in the underworld, and while encountering monsters such as Kunekune, they arrived at a space that had become a ghost town. There was an old man from time and space, but when Sorao tried to see through his presence with her altered eyes, the old man and Yozakura turned into plant objects. When Sorao tried to see through their true identities, the objects changed into various forms.
Rescue Toriko
Eventually, Sorao found Toriko's apartment and found Toriko inside. Toriko had been shown a vision of Saetsuki and was held captive there, but Sorao broke the vision, rescued Toriko, and returned to the original world with Yozakura. The next goal for the two was a rescue operation for the US military held captive at Kisaragi Station.
【Otherside Picnic】Spoiler Summary
I've put together a summary of the spoiler summary of Otherside Picnic. The original story is an urban legend on the Internet, so it's a work that stirs up a sense of cyber-fear in a disjointed and buggy world. The horror of internet lore that you've never seen before is a new sensation, so be sure to check out the anime!
