Review of Kakushigoto

What Kaukshigoto is- Briliiant. What Kakushigoto also is- Tedious and Immature. Kakushigoto shows two aspects of Gotou's life- the manga artist and the father. While the portrayal of the manga industry is hilarious, the observation into the father-daughter relationship is abysmal. Kakushigoto successfully parodies the manga industry without once belittling or disrespecting it - no easy task. The frustrations, the deadlines, the parties, the varied assistants, the idiotic pain-in-the-ass editor all seem so very real. It delivers fine comedy without depending on impossible exaggerations or stereotypical characters. Smartly designed situations in line with the characters' personalities and motivations keep this anime thoroughly enjoyable tillthe end. The hilarious depiction of Starbucks is unmatched!

The problem lies in the portrayal of the father-daughter relationship. Let's face it- Gotou's a terrible parent. Almost all of their interactions are driven by Gotou's attempts to hide his profession and Hime's "innocent" reactions to her circumstances. At no point do we see Gotou actually taking care of Hime or acting like a functional father who understands his daughter's needs. We never see them in a normal father daughter dynamic like doing homework, talking about Hime's day, playing or visiting places together. The gap is so huge that Hime couldn't even tell him for 3 days that she wanted fried chicken. Yes, Hime is the actual parent, but her maturation has not been depicted in an organic manner (the creators should have taken notes from Usagi Drop). Kakushigoto had the unique opportunity of portraying a single father raising a daughter while grappling with his wife's loss, but they completely ignored that and began the series when Hime is already 10 years old! Hime's early years, her coming to understand that her life is different from others around her, her growing bond with her father as she switches back and forth from being his daughter to his mother to his friend have all been ignored to focus unnecessarily on the comedy. They don't even talk about Hime's mother or what happened to her, almost as if she didn't even exist. Neither does Hime ever ask about her mother or grandparents or anything like that, even while opening her mother's gifts. Her reactions on seeing her father with a woman (the cooking teacher or the florist) are too placid. Hime is passive almost to the point of surrender, and the fact that her dad doesn't notice it is plain sad. Hime rarely gets to express herself, and the few times she does, it usually works only to get Gotou out of a rut. Talk about irresponsible parenting! As per Gotou the only way to ensure Hime's healthy development is to hide his work-life, which is idiotic and immature. And no, constantly lying to your kid and misleading her "for her own good" is in no way acceptable. There is a difference between keeping certain things from your children and actively deceiving them.

The insistence on slapstick comedy even ruins the best moments in the series, like the dejection Gotou faces on realizing that he wouldn't want Hime to marry someone like him. His overprotective nature, possibly stemming from his wife's unexpected death has also been reduced to a comedic trope instead of the deep seated trauma that it really is. The absence of the mother is depicted only in a logistical way like how to take care of a dog or arrange a birthday party, with the emotional gaps left unexplored. The societal stigma faced by dirty manga artists could have been beautifully portrayed through Hime's experiences at school or random comments by people, but the stigma is nowhere to be seen. In fact, everybody Gotou meets seems quite supportive of Gotou, thereby rendering his fears baseless. The comedy also starts to get stale towards the end with absurd exaggerations and harem tropes. But here's the one that really disturbs me- the scene where Gotou finally remembers his life and immediately tries to hide his manga drafts from Hime could easily have stood out as one of the best moments in anime! But it ditched the real emotions in favor of feel-good smiles. Gotou's desperation to hide while simultaneously processing that his daughter has grown up reaches nowhere near the emotional heights it can reach. By not showing the societal stigma against manga artists the show lacked the buildup required for the scene. In its attempts to not be melodramatic the show cuts down on even the essential drama.

Certain aspects though have been delicately handled like the insecurities of a father who would never want his daughter to read his own work, or how a manga artist lost popularity, then his job, and finally his concsiousness to inhumane warehouse working conditions. Really makes you think about the lives of these people and how we take warehouse workers for granted. Hime finding refuge in Roku as she copes with her father's coma is top tier storytelling, though it would have been better if she had found out about her father's secret on her own rather than some cousin just flat out telling it all to her all-in-one-go in the final episode. The show does a poor job of the reveal, especially after teasing at it in literally every episode and never paying any attention to it till the end. The character interactions though, are relatable enough (both amongst Gotou and his colleagues and amongst Hime and her friends), which, aided by superb character design and voice acting, is what keeps the show going. Kakushigoto is a good watch, and a sincere attempt at refined story-based comedy- way better than the usual farcical stuff that gets peddled as comedy. Only if it had focused a bit more on Gotou and Hime's relationship it could have been a masterpiece.