Review of Kakushigoto

So yeah, this was really good. I laughed and I cried. The jokes may not have always been belters but they were making me chuckle and smile and nothing ever felt strained or forced, which is probably the best sign that the writing is sharp. I love Ichiko and her stranger-danger baton or whatever that she wields. I've come to understand that I have a weird soft spot for the passing of time that isn't seen by the audience. Like there's a jump forward and it can be days, months, years later and the characters now have to deal with whatever confronts them or whatthey have to remember from that time. It also makes endings more touching because I leave and don't get to see how these characters get to change. I may not have the wherewithal currently to go through some long media, but it does give me a certain appreciation for the abstract ending that just goes in all places like an artistic explosion. Both of these things kind of keep me from finally finishing Twin Peaks, but for Kakushigoto, it does a fantastic job of building itself up and letting everything fall into place at the final episode. You get your happy ending in a comedy show focused on a family but dammit you're going to have some heartache along the way.

This is the second show I've seen that was released this year that is "about" creating anime, and while Eizouken is a lot of fun, this has a much stronger narrative, especially in the ending. I don't know what I could say that I could call a legitimate complaint. I love the simplistic art style <i>and yet</i>, this is key, it's aesthetically pleasing, stylish, and the movement is fluid. (That's at western animators, specifically American. I don't want to beat the CalArts meme drum but it's just such a lower quality of work.) I love the weirdly Christmas-like ED, and all the characters are cute and fun, even if Tomaruin is out here trying to TomaRUIN the show. Ok, I'm done.