The Slept-On Anime of Spring 2021

This season of anime has been packed. From a time traveling high-school delinquent to corrupt governments with their racist ideologies sending out discarded humans to fight robots to a being that takes the form of everything that dies near it and more, there is something in this Spring season of anime for everything. Many people have watched the shows that match the plot summaries in the previous paragraph, namely 'Tokyo Revengers' (ongoing), 86 (finished) and 'To Your Eternity' (ongoing), but one show that might have slipped under everyone's radars is the extremely well-written 'Odd Taxi'.

First: Is This just a Furry Kodomomuke?

Anyone who has a quick glance at a frame of this show might get turned off by it's childish appeal. The characters are all animals that can speak and seemingly live a human-like lifestyle. The art direction is also very cartoonish as many of the frames seem like they are painted with crayons or water-colors as compared to the sharp sketching styles of other animes that came out this season. It is not a kodomomuke (anime intended for children) at all. Not even close. So then..

What actually is Odd Taxi all about?

First of all, it's a Seinen (anime intended for mature audiences). At heart. The story revolves around the 41 year old walrus Odokawa, a reserved taxi driver who always seems to attract interesting customers to the backseat of his taxi. Reserved, lonely taxi drivers aren't a new trope, as Odokawa strongly reminded me of Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver (maybe because that's my favorite film) while watching the anime.

The main talking point in the story is the ongoing investigation about the disappearance of an unnamed high school girl, and somehow Odokawa unwillingly finds himself in the middle of all this. Through his conversations with his passengers, it slowly becomes evident that each of his passengers play a bigger role in this puzzle than they initially let in. Everything is not what it seems.

A Weird Bunch

"are the characters really what they seem though?"

Odd Taxi introduces us to a variety of memorable and goofy characters. There is the Alpaca Shirakawa, well versed in Brazilian martial arts, who works as a nurse at the clinic of the Gorilla Goriki, who is Odokawa's physician. There's the Gibbon Kakihana, a close friend of Odokawa who lacks a lot of self-respect and goes out of his ways to pretend he is someone else to woo girls (I mean the female equivalent of any animal). There's the comedic duo Homosapiens, whom Odokawa listens to quite often in his taxi and there is also an idol group called 'Mystery Kiss' who have something sinister going on behind their seemingly innocent idol personas. 

On the other hand, there are the Meerkat Daimon Brothers who are police officers investigating the disappearance of the high school girl. Then there's the cunning Baboon Dobu who shares an intense rivalry with a rapping porcupine called Yano. 

Odd Taxi is sprinkled with many more memorable characters like a Hippo who wants to go viral on the internet and a Skunk who is a hard-core fan of 'Mystery Kiss'.

You may think, what good is going to come out of an anime with animals having traits like this. Trust me, by the fifth episode or so you'll start wondering - "are the characters really what they seem though?"

"You talkin' to me?"

Odd Taxi is almost like watching a Linklater movie, in the sense that conversations are the protagonist.

Odd Taxi has a lot of conversations. A lot. Most of them happen in Odakawa's taxi but every single one throughout the show is important. It is a very dialogue-heavy anime, and that includes Yano's lines in the form of freestyle raps. Crucial backstories are revealed through detailed monologues, and many important plot points are revealed in these conversations. Odd Taxi is almost like watching a Linklater movie, in the sense that conversations are the protagonist. If you don't have patience to watch a Skank and a Walrus talk about lucky lottery numbers, don't watch this anime. 

And that is why writing is this anime's strength. Somehow, with a very grim protagonist, lack of shounen like action or big set pieces and a non-human cast, Odd Taxi executes itself really well. Odd Taxi wastes no time in introducing us to all the key characters early, as the viewers take a ride along Odakawa in his taxi as the mystery starts unraveling. It is very hard to explain the reasons for watching Odd Taxi without delving into spoiler territory, because the real fun in this show is best experienced first hand. Not everything is what it seems, and not everyone are who they make themselves out to be. 

This is as cinematic as any anime this season has reached. Sprinkled around are some PSA worthy episodes involving online gaming addiction and the toxic fame-seeking behavior of wannabe influencers. There are no big action set pieces, even though the Yakuza and corrupt cops are a core part of this story. Instead it's a web of interconnected stories, coupled with the viewer's confusion about why these "animals" are all involved in things like this, all building up to a stellar finale. 

The final episode wraps the show up pretty well, with a major (and depressing) reveal that many redditors had been theorizing about on r/anime when the show was airing. Odd Taxi seemingly doesn't wrap up at 23 minutes on the 13th episode, as the ending is sure to catch the viewer off-guard and leave itself open to interpretation. 

Odd Taxi is a very strong anime that I had to rate 10/10 on MyAnimeList, along with '86' this season. Strap your seat belts, get in the back seat and ride around Tokyo with Odokawa as you listen to 'The Homosapiens' on his radio.