Review of Kakushigoto

tl;dr: An anime with decent slice of life that doesn’t successfully build up to it’s deeper, more serious aspects. Kakushigoto is an anime that has a lot of interconnected parts where it isn’t really clear what they’re all leading up to, but in the end they do manage to come together, kind of. The majority of the anime is centered around a father, Goto, who is a manga artist and single father taking care of his ten year old or so daughter, Hime, though he’s somewhat embarrassed by the fact that the manga he draws is perverted and thus he goes to extreme and absurd lengthsto hide the fact that he’s a mangaka from her.

The story itself for the most part is just the two of them living their lives in such a manner, but in the process the script delves into two very distinct themes, Goto’s love for manga and his love for his daughter. Though the number that ultimately get adapted into anime is somewhat small, manga about manga are incredibly common as one would expect considering that it’s something any mangaka will have experience. But what makes this story unique in this regard is how it’s cynical regarding the manga industry, but it’s not serious about it, and thus it ends up coming across as dark comedy more than anything, but dark comedy about manga itself that avoids being directly critical is a pretty strange in a meta sort of way.

Anime about single fathers raising children are also not all that rare, though the bizarre dynamic of Goto trying to keep his job a secret certainly does make it quite a bit different from any I’ve seen, and often quite a bit more hilarious. These two separate themes also open up having a good amount of variety from a pretty large cast of side characters that come from pretty much completely different worlds, such as in that Goto’s assistant and editor are completely different from Hime’s school friends and teacher. The writing manages to use all this in regards to both themes pretty well in terms of comedy, though it should be noted that a very large amount of it is centered around puns and misunderstandings that don’t translate all that well into English.

The more serious parts are where I think the anime doesn’t really hold up all that well. The anime begins with an in media res that begins long after the ‘present’ when most of the anime takes place, and more tidbits of this future period are thrown in throughout. These as well as tidbits in the present period that provide hints though no clear explanation about major events that happened long before the beginning of the present period result in there being a pretty strong sense of intrigue. However, ultimately I think the pay off for all of this was incredibly weak and the finale was also pretty underwhelming. The plot itself felt incredibly rushed, wherein it just kind of drops a whole bunch of revelations on really important events really quickly without letting them sink in. The anime throughout touches on a lot of heavy themes, such as how it’s not necessarily fair to project an artist on their work or vice versa, but at the same time how it can be impossible not to subconsciously do so, or how the relationship between parents and children is a lot more complicated than the parents simply raising the child. And of course most importantly would be the titular element, secrets, why they’re kept, why they’re needed, and the circumstances surrounding that. But in the end it in hindsight it doesn’t feel like they were fleshed out well enough, and in the end they just kind of fizzled out.

Finally, and most importantly, what are supposed to be the heavy hitting emotional beats just don’t hit hard enough. They rely heavily on the viewer being heavily invested in Goto’s love for Hime and his love for manga, but in the end I don’t think the anime built up enough of either. Building up heavy investment in characters, their lives, and their relationships without dramatic plot events is certainly possible, but it’s something that needs to be done slowly and steadily. I think that although difficult this is something that can be done in a single cour, though it would require being laser focused with every event that occurs without much distraction. This anime on the other hand was too chaotic with far too many tangents that didn’t really contribute to the ending, and thus wasn’t able to pull it off. Thus, while I don’t have any problems with the ending itself per se and appreciate what it was trying to accomplish, I have problems with how we got to it, and thus I was only half satisfied with it.

The art and animation are decent. The style in general is pretty distinct and though usually pretty simple compared to most anime I think it holds up pretty well in and of itself. It doesn’t feel the narrative really did anything that used the style well though, which combined with designs being pretty basic results in an anime that while clean and reasonably well made, feels somewhat dull to look at. The OP and ED I think were exceptions that in that they worked pretty well from a visual point of view and had pretty decent songs. The soundtrack I didn’t find all that remarkable.