Welcome to a late week Odd Taxi post! This week sees a variety of relationships unfold, plus we have some popular fan theories to discuss. Let’s amble our way on in.
“Borrowed Plumes and the Bodyguard” is an entirely conversation driven episode – even if some of the participants are unaware it’s a conversation! This poor monkey, man – he’s getting kidnapped or shaken down next episode, guaranteed. I thought Odokawa’s hold-up in the taxi was a bit lackluster, but the line about dying rather than dealing with this crap was spot on. Alpaca defense yoga was clearly the highlight of this episode and, as much as I know it’s going to go south, I can’t help but cheer for that ship.
Since we have no source material, it’s time for theories! The first fan theory to address is that Dob is undercover police and is using his service revolver. This is patently incorrect, since Japanese police carry a sidearm very similar to the S&W Model 36. That firearm displayed is probably a Colt King Cobra – you can see in the photo a small golden circle by Dob’s thumb. That’s a Colt medallion, set in some lovely walnut grips – there isn’t a S&W medallion in gold that’s in widespread circulation (they tend to be silver or bronze). Upon closer inspection, I think this is a bit of an animation mismatch – I think those are Colt Python grips, which wouldn’t fit that gun. I digress. Something else is missing from this photo – you guessed it, bullets. This is an unloaded gun – you’d see the tips at the end of the cylinder. So the second theory of this being a replica holds a lot more water. Japanese airsoft guns will source their firearm components, such as grips, from the same manufacturers as the actual guns, as their specs are extremely close. The only oddity of it being a replica is why Dob buries it in the park – my vote is this is an actual firearm, just without any bullets. Which makes sense, since Dob knows Odokawa is a threat to cheeseburgers, not criminals.
The second fan theory that I’m more on board with is that Odd Taxi characters are humans – the animals are in Odokawa’s mind. Two pieces of evidence appear in this episode – first, any flashbacks (colored in that sunset orange palette) seem to show human anatomy (albeit possibly dead humans). Secondly, Odokawa’s alpaca origami, while discussing Shirakawa, has four legs, not two as she appears in the show. The fact that he’s making origami while discussing a person seems to parallel to how he views the people themselves. Kakihana also makes no comments or connections – but then again, he just had a one-sided conversation with a mob boss, so he’s not the sharpest tool in the shed.
All in all, “Borrowed Plumes and the Bodyguard” felt pretty relaxed, as did the previous episode, but it looks like the next episode is going to have a bit more action (with the missing gorilla and the monkey “date”). I’d say Odd Taxi is keeping the suspense there, but is a bit more in comedy, character building mode at the moment. I expect that all to change around the halfway point, so I have no major complaints as of yet. Now if only Odokawa could learn some of that Yoga karate onscreen…
I really wonder about the human-theory too. Because this episode they did it again: you see Dobu’s shadow in one of the driving scenes and it looks human. It’s clearly done on purpose since it doesn’t look cheaply drawn and they seem to do this everytime they show the car from the outside when Odakawa is driving a passenger.
Though I saw one guy saying that Shirakawa’s “human” head had the same hair style as her VA. If that was the same for Dobu it could maybe also be some inside joke of them referencing the character’s respective VAs.
On the other side there is the whole cat business going on. The black idol cat we know seems to look sligthly different from her shadow during the flashback when the fan talked to Odakawa about them. He also noticed that her dancing was off before and the cat on the footage that shows the missing girl in ep. 1 looks eerily similar to her. But is she the one in Odakawa’s apartment? Is there anybody to begin with?
Anyway, I agree with you about the MCs. I really like the characters so far.
Shows yet again to me that anime are have a lack of adult protagonists. Having an actual past that is more than an elementary school memory and some life experience makes them already more interesting than most teenagers imo. Personally, I like the janitor and hope he gets a good end. The double-PoV joke with the phone call was perfect. I just fear too that the manager and his goon will beat him up now.
Huh didn’t connect the backup singer and the missing girl….INTERESTING!
I think the what-ifs and the meta tie-ins (the tweets and whatnot) are about half the fun of this show ^_^