Review of Kakushigoto
Man, being a dad seems nice. This series is the kind of story that doesn't just warm the heart. It's a compelling narrative that, just as the name suggests, holds a secret for the audience. It creates a space that shows both sides of a coin: the fun, energetic tone of the past, and the sad, reflective side of the future. Both shine a lot more, because of the existence of the other. While it's a father and daughter story at its core, I enjoyed the comedy a lot, because of the strange realism. There's a grounded nature about the story, discussions of money, services, howmuch you need to live, who you gotta trust, and the way a loving father acts. It doesn't try to give you a bleak outlook, just how a nice life has a cost, and how much a good father can do for a good daughter. Including job related antics, conversations about a series, about drawing. It's a work, and family narrative, as well as the balance between those.
I loved the dynamic, the dialogue, the wholesome. It's just a relaxing series that still contains the interest towards the ending. Something the genre tends to fumble is the road towards the end. Not many times does one question direction on the genre. Stories like to give an idea of continuing on forever, they will be friends forever, the father, and daughter will be happy forever; never straying from the original path, and I hate that. Here, they have constant flashes forward, giving us that snack of anticipation, and it worked really well. Not for a second was I disinterested in seeing what was coming, even if it was probably gonna be simple (it wasn't).
The voice acting was something a bit exaggerated at times, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't make me laugh. It sold the comedy really well, and I hate gag manga, but here every character has a sort of gag that spins around with care for the audience not to get bored. The cast was great. I have no problems with it, but those come with the last aspects.
The animation is pretty simple, and not to a fault, it simply works how it's intended, but sometimes the way faces look towards the camera and the nose disappears felt jarring. It clearly used the budget for the flashes forward, which have so much more detail, fluidity, and can work as an artistic choice to differentiate them. The ending, though, we gotta talk about that.
Rushed, instantaneous, extremely cliché'd. I don't have a problem with an interesting direction taken at the last minute if you can wrap it all in a tight bow. However, it didn't work all that well here. Out of nowhere, exposition about the things happening, everything goes wrong, but then, extremely fast, everything goes right, and one of the characters screams about how this is so cliché. Self awareness doesn't save you from the fact. It all happened in the span of one episode. If only they cut way more from some of the other eleven episodes and allocated the ending to two chapters. Giving it space would've created one of the greats in the slice of life genre.
7.5/10, it sits near greatness, but it gets held back by a typical, last-minute conflict that resolves itself too fast. I still recommend it; really heartwarming.