Spoilers for all works in Odd Taxi will be left unmarked. You Have Been Warned!
RoOT/Route of Odd Taxi is a 2023 manga spin-off from Odd Taxi, serialized in Japan with three volumes under Shogakukan's Big Comics Imprint. It's written by Kazuya Konomoto with illustrations by Takeichi Abaraya. A live-action version is being broadcasted via TV Tokyo and other affiliated TV stations in Japan with online streaming through Netflix Japan and other Japanese-based streaming websites. Crunchyroll streams it overseas with regional subtitles.
Rena of the Ibusuki Detective Agency (IDA) reluctantly mentors a new recruit named Sato. They were tasked to investigate whether a bank employee is having an affair behind his wife's back. Dobu, however, confronts Sato in an alley and takes proof of the man's affair. The duo are forced to take up another case since Dobu has their photos. Taeko Harada, the owner of the izakaya Yamabiko, requests them to shadow Hiroshi Odokawa to see if he's involved in a missing person's case after reports of the missing teenager were being reported.
From there, Rena gets involved since she knows the missing teen. The duo finds themselves in a pickle after realizing that the missing teen is linked to a criminal conspiracy.
See the trailer here
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The manga provides examples of:
- Mythology Gag: The first volume has Rena and Sato keep an eye on Odokawa through the bugs planted by Sekido on his taxi, which are based on the ongoing events in Odd Taxi, ranging from the conversation he had with Kabasawa on putting his pic with Odokawa together on Twitter to Shirakawa taking a ride with him as her passenger.
- Private Detective: The Ibusuki Detective Agency is sometimes given cases to investigate someone secretly. Rena and Sato are given a major one to investigate Odokawa.
- Yakuza: Taeko mentions that some yakuza fronts have a hand in the development of Harada Building 3 15 years ago when she went to the IDA.
The live-action version provides specific examples of:
- Adaptation Distillation:
- Most scenes from the manga that focus on non-Root characters are removed in order to let the TV show focus on Rena, Sato and other Root characters.
- "This is the Ibusuki Detective Agency", removed scenes involving Odokawa driving in his taxi from the first chapter in the manga in order to focus on the detective duo.
- Adaptation Expansion: "Fancy Merch" has an expansion on flashbacks of Rena knowing Yuki from her days in high school. This also includes Rena speaking with Kanon to the point of going to a Mystery Kiss live event.
- Mythology Gag:
- The detective duo sees Odokawa's taxi parked outside Goriki's clinic in "This is the Ibusuki Detective Agency". Sato sees Odokawa getting harrased by Kenshiro Daimon to get the data from his dashcam.
- Sato tells collecting erasers in "Fancy Merch" were the rage back then. This is in line with Hajime Tanaka, who tried to get a Donraku eraser when he was young.
- Wham Episode:
- "This is the Ibusuki Detective Agency": Rena agrees to Taeko's request to secretly investigate Odokawa after loosing the photos of the adulterous bank employee to Dobu. She works with Sato and electronics specialist Equator to bug Odokawa's taxi. Rena sees Mitsuya's bio, taken by Sato from Ibusaki's table and recognizes her.
- "Fancy Merch": Rena suspects that the Yuki she met in a Mystery Kiss event isn't her since she doesn't "know" her.
- Wham Line:
- At the end of "This is the Ibusuki Detective Agency":
Rena (Examining Yuki's high school photo): "Mitsuya? This is Yuki."
