Odd Taxi

So I finally got around to watching the first episode of Odd Taxi, and I'm already pretty intrigued. From what I can tell this is the debut of the director, Baku Kinoshita, and I don't know what his background is but he definitely seems to have a pretty unique eye for directing. I feel like this has some genuine potential to be a sleeper hit for this season.

One thing that's unique about this show is that the cast is almost entirely older characters. I'm a bit intrigued by a series with an older, close to middle-aged protagonist, even if he is a walrus.

I'm very curious about what's in that closet...

Anyways, even if the series doesn't turn out as good as I'm hoping, this OP is a bop.

This already smells like a sleeper hit, I’d agree. It’s already one of the best shows this season, in my opinion.

Episode 2: So we get to the part of the story where our taxi driver basically bas a series of conversations with several passengers, and it’s evident that the bits of information we hear about are all pieces of the jigsaw puzzle. Perhaps most noticeable is that that black feline idol singer is probably only a replacement of the real Mitsuya, because the real Mitsuya is likely the missing girl mentioned in the first episode. Oh, and of course the baboon with a gun at the end.

Love the dialogue in this show. It sounds very natural, but also meaningful.

Edited by fillerdude on Apr 13th 2021 at 3:20:30 AM

There's also an audio drama where the high school student that keeps writing in letters to the manzai duo listens in on conversations between the characters by picking up the signal from a wiretapped pen that also happens to keep showing up in shots in the anime. I haven't seen any full translations for these though.

I'm definitely invested in the anime regardless.

Edited by ROTHY on Apr 13th 2021 at 10:08:54 AM

Doing a favor for the OP.

Episode 3 dropped. I loved seeing both sides of the tapir guy's phone call from Kakihana's perspective and the conversation he was having with Dobu. The Capoeira tangent was funny, but Odokawa raised a good point that doing martial arts for exercise and doing them for self-defense are not equal. Kakihana's definitely gotten himself into some deep shit by being too blinded by his chance at love to see the red flags.

Also random bit of trivia that was dropped by the director, Odokawa's favorite drink is milk, which is inspired by The Professional.

Edited by ROTHY on Apr 21st 2021 at 9:27:42 AM

How unlucky is Odokawa that the cop that responded to his call was the corrupt one.

The gangster boss being a tapir is interesting considering Odokawa has problems with insomnia.

The capoiera part was the kind of tangential weirdness I could see popping up in everyday conversation. The Bollywood comment was funny too. Shirakawa seems like a nice girl but that’s what’s setting off the alarm bells in my head. Likewise the Shiho girl is shady too; Kakihane might be persuaded to sell a few of his organs.

Man, can I just reiterate, the dialogue in this show is amazing. It’s natural, without feeling pointless.

I have a feeling those vids'll show up in some audio CD format in the future.

Episode 4:
Basically the story of Tanaka, who, like the number of the episode, was mirred with bad luck to kill for... He's the guy who was ran over by Odokawa's taxi last episode. Poor guy...
Interesting stuff: The eraser Tanaka was so adamant in wanting to get was already shown in the first episode.

Edited by thuse on Apr 26th 2021 at 8:22:14 PM

Four years of whaling and 5 million yen spent and he only got a specific rare roll available from launch once? Gee, and I thought FGO had bad rolls! Anyway, jokes aside, I got a very Taxi Driver esque feel from his story and I wonder how badly he's going to flip when he realizes Odokawa owns the eraser he wanted and didn't even have to pay anything for it.

It was also pointed out to me that 'ditch' in hiragana is 'dobu', which seems to indicate the identity of our eraser scammer and Zooden top player.

I think this episode proves once and for all that gacha truly is evil. Great episode though. A somewhat mundane yet believably chilling descent into madness.

Why was that joking mode? You only spoke the truth.

Indeed it is.

It's either you control yourself or you'll make your government do it for you. Like Belgium.

On that note, it’s morbidly funny how they frame the cat dude finding the gun Dobu buried as winning an SSR on a gacha roll.

Just started following this thread but have been watching every week. I will have something more next week. You guys got everything covered.

Here's some stuff I think will be important for the mystery. The manager of Mystery Kiss wants Odakawa's dash cam data, Kakihara took out a loan to look rich which might bite him in the butt, Shirakawa has been selling drugs to Dobu to pay off her debt, Kabu is planning on trying to catch Dobu in the name of clout so Kabu could die, Goriki will close his clinic for a few days because of Shirakawa stealing, Tanaka knows one of Odakawa's locations which might be Odakawa's house, Odakawa can apparently tell the differences with people because of his animorphed vision, The fan guy won 1 billion yen, and Odakawa's given name is Hiroshi. I am still unsure what is in Odakawa's house or where the mob girl might be for certain. Soon enough we can talk on the details of the mystery.

I have a bad feeling on Imai, the fan boy who won the lottery... I think something devastating might happen to him.
Also, it seems the woman Kakihana took to dinner on a loan has a connection to one of the members of Mystery Kiss somehow, specifically Nikaido...

Edited by thuse on May 3rd 2021 at 8:16:26 PM

Okay, apparently it's not just one wiretapped pen floating around, it's several, and most of the characters own one. That, or people are just passing it around like it's not weird.

Edited by ROTHY on May 6th 2021 at 7:56:10 AM

I’m honestly amazed at how many plot threads they laid down this episode. I’m most frightened by the college hippo who is biting off more than he can chew just to farm those likes. Meanwhile Kakihara will probably end up owing the Yakuza. And the psycho gacha gamer seems to have tracked down where Odokawa lives.

That girl is a member of Mystery Kiss. Speaking of Mystery Kiss, I’m curious how their number one fan will impact the situation with his newfound riches. He is going to be spending a lot of money on them.

Paranoia intensifies!

Wait... A wiretapped pen?
Edit: Oh I think I know what you mean... This is about the audio drama, is it?

Edited by thuse on May 7th 2021 at 11:19:02 PM

Yesterday I had a thought about Odakawa's anima vision. He sees his doctor as a gorilla, Kakihara as a monkey, but why does he also see Dobu as a primate? My inner Doylist says it's to make Dobu look tough, but my Watsonian side still wonders. What are your thoughts others?

Dobu is a bleeding-heart monkey, make of that what you will.

So someone was nice enough to translate some of the audio dramas in the youtube comments. I was wrong, it is just one pen being passed around.

nvm, I figured it out

Anyway, Tanaka shoots up the place Shibagaki and Imai work at after following Odokawa. There's more evidence that Odokawa is the only one seeing people as animals as both Kabasawa and Dobu couldn't tell Tanaka wasn't Dobu or Yano respectively despite him having a cat tail. Baba is being repeatedly picked for more and more programs while leaving his partner behind which seems suspicious, but I don't know what anyone would gain from that. Also his girlfriend turned out to be Rui from Mystery Kiss.

Edited by ROTHY on May 18th 2021 at 8:03:04 AM

Speaking of audio dramas, the recent one about Rui and Baba... Also, in the episode, that giraffe appeared so suddenly!! So he was the one sending the usual letters to Homosapiens...

Edited by thuse on May 10th 2021 at 8:12:01 PM

Yep, both the audio drama and episode parts with them were pretty cute! I am curious about what Nagashima was trying to tell Shibagaki.

The wiki has translations and a timeline for the dramas too, if anyone's curious.

Edited by ROTHY on May 10th 2021 at 9:02:33 AM

Yeah, that line about Odokawa finding it strange other people can’t find others as easily as he does, was yet another subtle hint that he’s the only one who sees humans as animal-people. Dear lord, the writing of this show is so, so good.

Kakihane has finally borrowed some cash from the loan sharks. This will not end well for him. Also screaming internally at Imai who really should pick up his winnings already. Get them! Please!

Also loving how small a world they’re living in is. Imai and Shibasaki turn out to be coworkers, and Baba is Rui’s boyfriend! Man oh man.

The contents of Odokawa’s closet remain tantalizingly out of reach.