After last week’s detour, we’re back to a nice relaxing drive in the taxi! Well, mostly. There were good, bad, and just confusing parts to this week’s ride – so let’s get to it!
Let’s start with the good – Odd Taxi shines in conversation and relationships. The “Mystery Kiss” dynamics were spot on – also, Odokawa vs Yamamoto’s battle for the dashcam footage was well done. I think it’s called situational irony, where the audience knows more than the characters – that’s a mechanic that Odd Taxi uses very well. It’s fascinating too how Odokawa is quietly digging into Shirakawa – not sure why the doctor is randomly calling him in the middle of the night, but that’s about the least strange thing in the show so far.
One other area I’d compliment is the meta-game of Odd Taxi. As kind reader Dr. Pest pointed out, there’s apparently a gacha-game to go along with the show…watching this show has become an exercise in concentration for me, as I try to discern if every scrap of paper is going to end up wildly significant. One odd thing though – the receipt Kakihana drops apparently says 2021, while the tweets from Kabasawa are 2020. Hmmmm….
The bad: everything involving Kakihana. This just hurts to watch, and I wish they would stop. I’m sure it’ll be very important to the plot, but it’s just so painful.
Now we come to the confusing. Tanaka and Dobu are head scratchers for me. As far as I can tell, Tanaka gives the Mystery Kiss backup singer a phone to track Odokawa. How did he convince her to do that? And Dobu…I have no idea what’s going on with this monkey. He seems bad news, but maybe he’s just having a bad day (with the aspiring Youtuber calling him out and all). I just don’t see how all the stories connect yet – I think it’s coming together, but there are so many loose ends.
All said and done, Odd Taxi, 5 episodes in, is as advertised. I was a little concerned after episode 2 that this would be a comedy/drama stuck in car, but that’s not the case. Even on the taxi-centric episodes, there still is sufficient scene changes to not feel stifled. This is an anime built on its characters – and it’s doing a great job there. The mystery and suspense are still holding strong, so as we come to the midway point of the season, everything is looking pretty good – except the primates.
Also next week – ay oh!
P.S. My working theory is that Odokawa’s visage is related to the Beatles’ song “I am the Walrus” Which is a song of utter nonsense.
I really hope by the end this show makes more sense than that Beatles’ song =_=
I wonder about the true connection between Odakawa and the missing cat.
In episode 2 (I think?) we can spot that the current black cat from Mystery Kiss isn’t the same one from the concert a year ago. The old one had strands of fur under her ears and blue eyes, the new one has the strands on her cheeks and green eyes, which explains why they are forced to wear masks and why fan no. 1 noticed that her way of dancing was off.
The old design matches the missing cat from the video footage from the shop in ep. 1, so it’s safe to assume it’s her.
The question is how Odakawa is involved in this. I assumed was hiding her, but she never responded when he was talking onscreen, he is away a lot and after watching the taxi footage Dobu should have seen whether she went into his house at the end or not. And yet he still seems to be unaware of her hiding spot.
I also wonder why Dobu gave Shirakawa the eraser. Well, if it was him, that is. Coincidentally or not, “dobu” means “ditch” in Japanese. Like the name of the scammer that turned Tanaka into a psycho.
Kind of exciting to guess how everything is connected here and how it might end. It could go down a lot of different ways, including happy ends for everyone or a massacre.
Oh, that’s interesting about ditch and dobu – I kind of thought the name was intended so that it sounds like “One One One” (Ich-one-one).
Yeah I’m thinking 50-50 on if the missing girl is in Odakawa’s house. If she is, 50-50 if she’s alive.
Also, it’s dramatic irony, not situational irony. Sorry, AP English.
The scene with Kakihama was meant to be uncomfortable. He is a desperate monkey trying to find love, even if it is in the wrong places. He was clearly a fish out of water, given his interactions with the waiter but he is trying so hard to impress the girl, but he just keeps embarrassing himself. I think this will either lead to a happy epiphany for him or a tragic ending. Hopefully it is the former.