Anime 46102 Odd Taxi Reviews

Odd Taxi is really good, but its reception is a little warped, as it seems to have found itself in this weird situation of being fairly obscure, but also highly overrated by those who actually know about it, and this is dangerous because it leads to a hugbox where no one is willing to offer negative critique. Odd Taxi is a refreshing and clever mix of genres and styles, and it tells a complex but ultimately grounded and human story steeped in its well-construed mystery. Many have compared it’s conversational tone to that of Quentin Tarantino films, and as long as they’re referring exclusively to ... Reservoir Dogs, The Hateful Eight, and perhaps just a tiny bit of Pulp Fiction, I might have to agree, and much like those movies, this was seemingly written by a prodigy. It’s not often you see something like this, but the person behind Odd Taxi’s incredible dialogue and pacing is a writer with no other credits to their name, so either they’re a genius, or their beginner's luck is working insane amounts of overtime. With all that being said, however, Odd Taxi is no masterpiece, and it’s ironic too, because some aspects of the show are so strong, they’re almost held back by other elements which don’t quite pull their own weight. It’s themes of self-esteem are very mature and perceptive, but they’re almost too ingrained in seemingly irrelevant and thereby misleadingly innocuous visual symbols, so one would hardly be at fault for assuming this show had nothing to say at all until the very end when it clearly explains itself to anyone not paying close enough attention. It’s subpar voice acting almost undercuts how good the dialogue is, and visually, the ugly CG cars make the otherwise perfectly constructed atmosphere of the show feel less complete then it had any right feeling. And speaking of the mood, the music is often some of the best around, but then during some casual conversations, it’ll play this obnoxious semi-comedic track which just kills the realism the script worked so hard to instate.

But these are borderline nitpicks. Forgive me for feeling the need to selfishly impose my worldview like this, but personally, I believe that while idiots who call dog shit a masterpiece are just funny to laugh at, people who call quality entertainment a masterpiece when it doesn’t quite deserve it are worth challenging, because we owe it to the creators of good and thoughtful anime to offer their work good and thoughtful critique. Provided this, it’s time to gush. Odd Taxi is great, and personally, I found it shockingly compelling. It’s comedy is not only genuinely funny, but it never overstays its welcome and is weaved through conversation naturally. It has a real sense of wittiness, and constantly capitalizes on its ability to establish unique and diverse character personalities one after another. The main character, Odokawa, is this autistic, jaded, contrarian, middle-aged asshole, and having realized this was a show which was actually going to have real-feeling characters, I immediately knew it’s praise was warranted, because as basic of a feat as this may seem, little TV can achieve even one character who is this well-realized, and Odd Taxi has countless. It’s just so good at capturing subtle fluctuations in awkwardness and intimacy in conversation that every personality feels well-balanced and sensible, and despite its ostensibly silly character designs (which scream their thematic relevance), the actual characterization is nothing if not lifelike. The art design and backgrounds aren’t mind-blowing, but they’re far better drawn, more detailed, and more aesthetically adherent than 99.9% of anime airing these days, and overall, it remains a lovely little show throughout all its twists and turns. While I hope this review can distinguish itself from the mass of overtly unbridled praise many of its fans are showering this show with, I must admit I very quickly began to adore this show, and I believe anyone who can appreciate a script which is honestly too good for its own good will feel the same way.

Thank you for reading.

THIS IS A HIGH AND TALL ORDER PSA: Aside that this will be a VERY HEAVILY NON-SPOILERY review, go figure out things yourself if you truly want to enjoy Odd Taxi to the fullest. And I highly swear by my guarantee: the rewarding payoff is much better that way. This is a criminally underrated, underwatched/overlooked hidden diamond gem of an intrically made complex and gobsmacking show YOU DO NOT WANT TO MISS OUT ON!

In my very honest-to-marvellous-greatness, this show a.k.a Odd Taxi has been far in the way, the most frustratingly challenging review of all time for me to pen down a non-spoilery review in ... a very long time (that gives me headaches of the absurdly mind-boggling kind), simply because:
- It not just joins in the fray of 2021's setting of "ridiculously, notoriously high standard" bars of original anime of the likes of Wonder Egg Priority or even Vivy: Fluorite Eye's Song;
- Not just because it's gonna be a modern-day cult classic of a masterpiece through and through;
- Heck, not even its subverting setting and themes which encapsulates everything about an ARG-like film noir;
BUT BECAUSE IT'S HEAVILY SLEPT UPON by the anime community which gives no two flying Fs about anthropomorphic "furry" shows that Odd Taxi is one, but not at the same time. It's a devastating shame that only those of us (like me) whom have watched this show can appreciate that Odd Taxi is NO DOUBT THE BEST ANIME of the Spring 2021 season that no one is watching, BAR NONE! And it's massively thanks to the production staff at P.I.C.S (for the most part with director Baki Kinoshita and scriptwriter-cum-series composer Kazuya Konomoto) and OLM's Team Yoshioka for giving us such a tightly compact, outstanding, pièce de résistance masterpiece of a brillantly thought-out mystery thriller of a show that's unlike anything ever seen in anime before (lest if you count Durarara!, Baccano, or even "Sayonara, Zetsubou Sensei" in that sense).

You know me: If you're reading this review, you know that like many others outside of MAL in Reddit or even in a specialized Discord group have been discussing and sharing potential theories for the last 3 months when this show was airing, I might not be the first to jump into that gun. But not just in the very elaborate episodic discussions (that I felt like I was the Sensei dishing out those answers to everyone who are lazy in being detective sleuths, which I say: "Why the hell are you lazy-bums?"), the real joy of enjoying Odd Taxi to the fullest is to be like Sherlock Holmes, going in-depth with people who are like-minded and try to figure out the 5W1Hs of how everything came to be from the very beginning. It's very low-key in wanting to accomplish its "Inception" like thematics, and both Baki Kinoshita and Kazuya Konomoto really did use all of the mixed media mediums to corporate all of the "occult"-style hidden juxtapositions that is meant for the audience to truly be Odd Taxi's version of Holmes, both in and out of the anime. The film noir we didn't know we needed, and it was a total blast from start to finish.

Just for context, let me give you the preface of what Odd Taxi is about:
"41-year-old Hiroshi Odokawa is is an eccentric, reticent talking walrus of a taxi driver, who has no relatives and does not have much to do with others. He does have conversations with his customers, including a college student who wants to go viral, a nurse hiding a secret, an unsuccessful comedian, a street rough, and an up-and-coming idol. These conversations lead him to a girl who has disappeared." If you're thinking that this premise does sound "Odd", given its very aptly named title, that's because it purposefully meant to be a subtle and covert message that everything that happens within this show, NOTHING happens out of coincidence: everything is intertwined together, one way or another, even in the smallest of ways that brings the setting and characters together for such "idiosyncratic" events like this. Don't blink, or you might miss a beat and rewind 10 seconds to see the untold messages. So strap in your seat belts, folks! We're going where the night is right, the city lights are bright, and the conversations are tight in this very strange and peculiar world named Odd Taxi.

Before that, I would also like to preface what is the company P.I.C.S all about from the debut director Baki Kinoshita himself (most of which was taken from the ANN interview and changed for nuance, so plagiarism issue solved);
P.I.C.S is a production company that handles all kinds of visual works, including advertisements, music videos, live footage, dramas, and films. Serving the role of a character designer and animation director, Kinoshita's impetus for working on TV shows is his desire to create an entertainment work with dramatic elements that depict character growth, which sadly can't be gotten out of a commercial or a oneshot comedy (his inspiration being influenced by Studio Ghibli and Satoshi Kon's works, which it all finally clicks). Working together in the amazingly tightly-packed script for Odd Taxi with writer Kazuya Konomoto (his other work being a hidden gem of a manga: Setoutsumi), I'll just slot a PR for this: Go and read Setoutsumi (which I did before penning this review down), the story itself is conventional to the tropes and clichés of the modern age, but what the hell that Konomoto did was to flip it entirely on its head, giving a whole new rhyme and feeling to his creative inventiveness that "nothing and everything made sense". After watching Odd Taxi and reflecting back on Setoutsumi, it is very clear on its succinct approach to creative storytelling that will blow the minds of people.

Back to Odd Taxi, Kinoshita is the character designer, and Konomoto is the scriptwriter and series composer. He had the loose idea for things like an individual taxi driver, but Konomoto was the one who fleshed out the characters and plot beats, as is the story with juxtapositioning ironic and enjoyable comedy elements with the darkness of society with the tight refines with the sense of balance is very tonely refined (which I can firmly say that I've really been taken aback each and every episode). The narrative structure, the meticulous foreshadowing, the characterization…every element is superb in his view, as is the script for the show (AND YOU'RE GODDAMN RIGHT IT WAS!). The key to Odd Taxi's eccentricness was the decision to go anthropomorphic with animals instead of humans, a realistic story about the human condition with cute animal visuals. If a heavy story has a cute-looking surface, it mitigates the feeling of gloominess and expands the scope of the story. Both him and Konomoto had confidence that the dissonance brought out by the contrast would be compelling, and that's not just to say about the foreshadowing weaved throughout the entire story. There will be mysteries right to the very end, so the elements are quite strongly pronounced. At the point when the mysteries are being solved, you can see the backbone of the characters, then feel the drama...it's an anime that juggles both its mystery and its human drama elements to an equal (but insane perfection of a) degree.

Another key element of Odd Taxi, was getting the voice actors that are a complete un-hoax of an unorthodox (aside from the famous ones), that along with the entire mystery of Odd Taxi, brings another compelling reason why this show is SO doggone perfect. Casting Natsuki Hanae as the cynical 41-year-old Walrus, you've heard his voice go around a lot recently thanks to his massively successful role as Kimetsu no Yaiba's lead MC Tanjirou Kamado. So for Kinoshita to cast him (which does not sound like Natsuki-san's voice at all), it was an interesting choice nonetheless to potray the kind of character who became an adult while dragging along his childlike heart. To be frank, Kinoshita didn't want to make him the typical middle-aged guy with a gruff and austere attitude, but wanted to express his internal youth and purity of his heart. Odokawa may have a cold side, but he makes witty retorts and his conversations bring out his youth as not just an older guy who has given up on various aspects of his life. And as such, Natsuki Hanae's portrait of Odokawa as the middle-aged guy, while also bringing out his cool and collected side, has energy and vigor in the depths of his voice, and is a perfect suit for Odokawa. Also, the comedic conversations and verbal exchanges are a very important part, so Kinoshita wanted to get professional comedians involved for those (the comedic duo of the Homosapiens: rhino Shibakagi and horse Baba, voiced by entertainers from the Yoshimoto Kogyo talent agency: Yuusuke and Atsuhiro Tsuda respectively). In order to bring out the feeling of reality when it comes to the gaps in conversations and the warmth, the pre-score voices are recorded ahead of time and afterwards made the images match them. This unorthodox approach follows up to the cast for some examples (who are complete unknowns): the Daimon brothers with Kousei and Asei, Taichi Kabasawa with Takashi, heck even rapper METEOR got in the fun being the "Handshake" porcupine-rapping Yano. These so-called pseudonym-but-real VAs are not what you typically expect of the anime industry, so to see Kinoshita going far as to recruit actual real-life prominent figures makes the icing on the cake much sweeter.

If you wanna understand how much Odd Taxi is playing hooky with the audience, let me direct you to these references (again, NON-SPOILERY):
- First and foremost, is the YouTube MV for the OP of Odd Taxi. Sure, as is every full-length song that you could find on Spotify that you can hear if it's your favourite songs of the season, even with the cool anime OP visuals, Baki Kinoshita goes one step further into integrating the anime scenes with the MV, making it look like a sneaky, non-canon of a foreshadowing sequence of events. There are a lot of scenes to take in, because as you constantly watch the anime and go back to the MV, that is where the sublime mystery all clicks up. Even to the point of getting famous rappers such as OMSB, METEOR and VaVa, as is comedians Yuusuke and Atsuhiro Tsuda, along with typical anime VAs Riho Iida and Saori Terai, all of them are a teaser to what the anime has going for its progression. Other than that, Odd Taxi's OP by Wataru Sawabe (Skirt) and PUNPEE is a total blast of a catchy, laid-back, low-fi, city pop of a juggernaut song that gives the whole anime a peace vibe of a mood. Honestly though, the Spring season has a lot of good (and few amazing like Vivy, 86, Megalo Box 2: Nomad) OSTs, but Odd Taxi knows how to hit with full cylinders pumping, and as such, it's the No. 1 spot of OPs for me this season, NO QUESTION. I just love this song to bits, and only Odd Taxi watchers can follow up with that vibe. The ED with Suzuko Mimori and the insert songs with its pseudonymly named "Mystery Kiss" group, it can take a while to get used to the various idol songs, but it's all good as well.
- Secondly, it's the official YouTube channel, which also has a non-canon hidden story about normal objects, which is intricately placed in the anime in full hidden view, and used as devices to snively record normal day-to-day conversations that would have been otherwise classified as an "Extras" of sorts. Hey y'all, these are MORE than just your typical "Extras", they are also integral to piecing the smaller puzzle pieces with the main plot. By the time this review is up, most (if not all) of the audio drama would've been fully translated and posted on YouTube or even the compact Fandom page (which I DO NOT recommend to go in the early stages because of heavy spoilers lest you searched for something else, only go there once you're 3 episodes deep into it).
- Thirdly, is the official character cast graph. I'd highly doubt that most of you would've made the effort to scour the official Japanese website when the anime started airing for the character cast (and some that actually caught on), but a few wittingly apt people have already made the translations to the big picture of the character connections, so the information is readily available at the places you will expect. Again, please DO NOT spoil yourself by referring to it early on, you're doing a major disservice to yourself (unless you're watching it and need some help).
- Last but not least, it's a rando Twitter account that is also non-canon to the story, AND YES, you're hearing it correctly. I've already hidden that link in the discussion forum (you should be able to identify as much from my shared topic), so please check that out also. You should already get the gist that it's also a small integral part to the Odd Taxi story.

I understand why you'll want to get a studio such as OLM, popular for the Pokémon series, to create such a kiddy feel of a show that doesn't detract the visuals amidst a film noir-like mystery thriller masterpiece show in the making. OLM's Team Yoshioka having only done a few shows and films made for kids, and Odd Taxi lends that abstractness to the team's unique calibre. It's definitely an unique piece of media, made by a unique production team, crafted by well thought-out people, that only the people who watch Odd Taxi (like yours truly), will find this to be a modern day triumph of a sensational showpiece figure of a cult classic for the 2020s.

If Quentin Tarantino had a side job that he would've like to produce an anime for, Odd Taxi would be one to fit within his brilliantly crafted mindset that will always aim to play mindgames with the audience, and you'll be seeing twice or more with the "Inception" like feel that will never get old. Nevertheless, I BEG ON MY KNEES (even with a Dogeza) to ask you to watch Odd Taxi, this is THE one show where nobody gives a crap about "furry" shows. But laying deep within the rabbit hole, is a thriller story beyond anything you could ever imagine to come out of the anime spectrum. An abnormally peculiar rare show that you won't find anywhere else (that I'll ever swear until my time has come), and a tremendously ironic, yet surrealistic monumental classic for the ages.

That said, GO WATCH ODD TAXI! STOP SLEEPING ON IT! This is unanimously easily my absolute favourite AOTS, even down to being an undisputed AOTY with a double-confirm plus chop with so many big hits registered in 2021 alone.

Odd Taxi is one anime that certainly lives up to its title. It is very odd indeed. The director is a complete unknown and this is his first project. The writer is another rookie and this is literally his first work as a professional writer! Odd Taxi was not based on a manga or LN or game. It's a completely original IP. To make things even stranger, it's being animated by Oriental Lights and Magic, the studio responsible for the 1997 Berserk, the first seasons of Pokemon, and a bunch of 80s and 90s anime. I had no idea they still existed! I thought they ... had gone bankrupt eons ago!

So what is Odd Taxi about? It's about a cynical, smartass Walrus who works as a taxi driver in a city filled with anthropomorphic animals. So this is like Crunchyroll's attempt to compete with Netflix's Beastars right? WRONG. Despite the fact all the characters are animals, they never act like animals. They live in Tokyo and not some Zootopia city like in Beastars. Culture and technology is just like in the real world. Beastars completely revolves around the predator vs. prey dichotomy. Odd Taxi is not focused on that kind of stuff at all. Instead, it's actually a mystery/crime drama.

One thing people will immediately notice about Odd Taxi is the sheer number of characters and simultaneous sub-plots. These 13 episodes are as densely packed as a neutron star! Yet this isn't because the studio was rushing to cram a bunch of manga into a limited episode run. It was written like this completely on purpose! Some people have compared this to Baccano, but that isn't an accurate comparison. Baccano only confuses people because it skips around in time. The LN is more complex, but Bacanno's anime only has 2 main plotlines, 1 sub-plot, and a frame narrative. It can be simplified down to: The fight with Szilard, Flying Pussyfoot, The search for Dallas, and Gustav with Carol. If it was told sequentially, people wouldn't think it was complicated. Odd Taxi is an entirely different animal! Pun intended. It has about 13-15 different sub-plots depending on how you're counting. This makes it very difficult to keep up with if you're watching on a weekly basis and not discussing it with other people. I would definitely recommend watching this show in a few sittings.

There are some anime that are great because of the feels or how they tackle a certain topic or how they capture some theme. That's not really what Odd Taxi is about. This is a mystery/puzzle anime. That sadly means the more I talk about it, the more I risk spoiling something. There are some series where spoilers don't matter. I went into Ashita no Joe already knowing almost everything that was going to happen and it didn't make a difference. Odd Taxi is a bit closer to the film Memento. Spoilers would definitely have made a negative impact. That's also one reason I'm not sure how well this will hold up upon rewatching it. It has some really strong aspects like the dialogue, but I'm not sure the mystery will have quite the same punch the second time.

I'm not going to sugarcoat it, the art is not great. The animal character designs are fun, but the actual animation is fairly cheap at times. The CG cars also look straight out of 2007. I think Killer Bean might have better looking cars. At least the soundtrack makes up for this. The OST is genuinely pretty darn good.

Odd Taxi very well might be the best new anime of spring 2021. I haven't seen "To Your Eternity" because I don't like to watch shows that are THAT hyped while they are airing. Despite that, my feelings on Odd Taxi are honestly a little mixed. I think it's one of the most unique modern anime I've seen in quite a while. I think it was an incredibly laudable first effort for both its writer and director. However, it's not a series that I'm instantly adding to my extended favorites. It's so densely packed and confusing that there was never one single moment or episode where I thought "BOOM! this is getting added to my faves!" It still might be added at some point because it is very good, but I'll have to re-watch it again. It's unfortunate MAL only allows you to review an anime once. I'd actually love to review this title again after sitting through it a second time!

Minor Spoilers Ahead!

Have you ever thought of watching a walrus talk his way out of gunpoint with such passive-aggressive tone that you start wondering who is actually holding the gun? Have you ever thought of watching an alpaca who is doing capoeira move queixada to lofi-boss music?! Yeah, no... Me neither, but I Frinkin' Love It.

This show has brought a breath of fresh air and is doing it right. Good sounding opening, amazing voice actors, characters which have bigger personality than my future and story with so much potential that I think I just saw new Quentin Tarantino's indie anime project. (Gigguk also mentioned this, ... but I swear I did not know :D, world is really smalll)

This show has really came out of nowhere and it really did not have an impact when I was reading the synopsis during my usual planning of seasonal watchlist, but I gave it a chance nevertheless and I am glad I did. And you should too!

When I saw all of the overwhelming praise that Odd Taxi got, as well as its premise and character designs, I got a great sense of excitement and anticipation. I'm very critical of the sameyness and uninteresting generic nature that most modern shows seem to have, and Odd Taxi's vibe seemed so offbeat and interesting that I was excited to give it a watch, ready to be blown away by great stories, awesome charming characters, and all sorts of unique exceptional aspects for this well-regarded sleeper hit.

As I watched Odd Taxi however, I felt a familiar tightness in my chest. My brow went furrowed, my ... hands got clammy, and my face turned to one of concern rather than interest. This feeling of disappointment, and this feeling of missing something was overwhelming, but rather than mull over these feelings and just let them fester, I'm letting them out here because I feel my perspective on this show could be a unique one, so please keep reading if this interests you.

I don't know if I'm just an asshole, or some fool who missed how good this show truly is, but Odd Taxi just didn't deliver.

Odd Taxi consists of our Walrus main character Odokawa interacting and getting caught up with multiple strangers and acquaintances that put him in different circumstances, only for all of these separate stories to come together in interesting ways and forcing Odokawa to try and fix everything so everyone comes out of it okay. In trying to understand what was the standout and exceptional aspect of this show, I read multiple reviews, and most seem to cite the sheer number of interesting plots and how they're woven in with each other as an aspect of this show that is truly masterful, but I'm not sure if I agree. There certainly are a lot of stories going on here, but not all are equally interesting or developed as would be ideal in my eyes. Kakihana's story is one of a hopeless romantic getting involved with a girl who turns out to be into him for the wrong reasons, but there isn't a lot of interesting interplay between him and the girl for the twist to feel like a neat subversion. There's a big blue hippo fella who is obsessed with online popularity and makes it his goal to go viral, eventually getting people to rally behind him in his efforts to find and apprehend a dangerous criminal, but the way his story is developed doesn't feel super natural - we don't see why he's taken such an interest in Dobu, we don't see the depths of just how much he needs or wants online popularity enough to be effective, and we don't follow his story consistently enough for it to always be in the back of the viewer's head. There's a story of two comedians who start out as radio show comedians and slowly drift apart as one gets more high-profile opportunities, but again these two and their chemistry isn't great. They only ever act abrasive towards one another, and it isn't clear why either of them need the other one to do comedy, or even why either of them like each other enough to want to do comedy together in the first place. One of the more interesting ones is definitely with Odokawa, seeing this hapless misanthrope who can't help but get involved and do the right thing try and balance everything going on is pretty interesting, but you'd think he'd show some kind of exhaustion or something to illustrate the toll that all this responsibility is taking on him, but there is very little of that, and it's pretty nuts that such a socially distant individual is able to get on everybody's good side with such ease. The fact that all these storylines are being told parallel to one another in any capacity is impressive, and the way they come together is neat, but at some point Odd Taxi cared more about making the stories line up and end rather than the emotional content of each of the stories. There are very few poignant, emotionally resonant moments throughout this story, instead choosing to put most of its dialogue into exposition and elaboration between characters reiterating what is already happening, and as a result this show was a very dull watch. No jaws dropped, no smiles, no frowns, but a generally apathetic viewing experience that left me empty and unsatisfied.

The writing of Odd Taxi has also been praised as Tarantino-esque, with personality and flair indicative of each character's personalities, but the voice actors here aren't exactly churning out top-tier performances and never blindsided me with a particularly exceptional line delivery. Comparing Odd Taxi to anything Scorsese or Tarantino though is ultimately a fruitless and shallow venture, since stacking Odd Taxi up against some of the greatest cinema ever made simply isn't a fair comparison, as Odd Taxi doesn't have the directorial expertise as either of the guys I've stated above, nor the fantastically varied writing that their best works have either. Plus, an anime such as this should be showing more than it's telling, and as is typical with plot-heavy anime, there is a whole heaping helping of exposition and elaboration here, which is never delivered with any unique characterful style. A vast majority of these lines, along with the way they're delivered, feel interchangeable between characters, and since there isn't much in the way of outstanding visual storytelling here, Odd Taxi's story and sequence of events is not nearly as engaging to follow as I was expecting.

Technical aspects here are also very dull and not very noteworthy. The setting and character design is above average here, with very realized and detailed areas and very evocative character designs, but not much in the way of great facial animation or emoting. Shots are framed very rudimentarily, and there is little in the way of compelling direction to get some interesting ebbs and flows in how scenes play out. The soundtrack here has its moments too, and some nice sound design bits as well, but they are very few and very far between and just aren't much to write home about.

All of this and a bit more piled on top of each other, episode after episode failed to amaze, and I've come to my conclusion that Odd Taxi didn't click, and it's kind of fucking with me since one look at the reception to this show across the internet shows overwhelming, well-worded and well thought -out positively ASCENDANT praise for this show, but all of the aspects of the show that should have mixed together to make a bona fide stunner of a 2021 anime made, for me, an above-average show with some good twists and fun moments that, while certainly a good attempt at a story of this kind, ultimately fell short of the mark, and I couldn't help but feel that familiar sense of disappointment and discontent writing every word of this review.

I think on paper, there's a recipe for your quintessential sleeper hit masterpiece here: Unique character designs, a cool title, flew under the radar, has an interesting plot and story in comparison to what's usually offered, a great twist ending that recontextualizes the series, but in my eyes, after fully taking in all of what Odd Taxi had to offer, tackling the show on its own terms and assessing its quality based on my own taste and standards, I'm still at the same conclusion - disappointment.

If I'm a complete fool and have got it all wrong, feel free to leave a comment letting me know your thoughts, I'd love to have some dialogues surrounding this show, especially given how disillusioned I feel with the general consensus. Thanks a bunch for reading this far.

As someone who loves psychological anime, this show was an utter disappointment. Everyone talks about it as though it is a groundbreaking piece of work, but Oddtaxi is nothing close to that; it barely deserves to be referred to as a Durarara!! knockoff.

The main source of praise for this show is due to the plot and characters (specifically the way they interact to move the story along). Despite the amount of reviews stating that Oddtaxi was a slow burn masterpiece, it is nothing of the sort. I am all for a large cast with overlaying stories under one plot umbrella, but that is only ... if it is done well. The amount of characters and their individual plots is too big for any of them to be well developed over the course of thirteen episodes. In an attempt to fit in the numerous characters, motivations, and plots, they all become shallow and bland. We’ve got good-cop bad-cop brothers, a few gangsters, an idol group, a lovesick middle aged man, and a number of other characters. That’s it. There is nothing more to the characters and they experience little growth over the course of the series. Even the characters who show growth amount to nothing. We see a teen fall into the role of an internet personality, and eventually realize his behavior is harmful. What does this have to do with the case of a missing girl? Again, I am completely for aligning multiple plots, but that’s only if they actually align. The only purpose of internet obsessed Kabasawa is to throw another character into the mix. Anyone can write one level, quirky characters and have them interact once to say that their paths have crossed. Had the cast been halved, we could have seen a deeper look into the psyches of the necessary characters, the plot would have been streamlined, and the overall watching experience would have increased exponentially.

Other praises I have seen for Oddtaxi include its “slow burn, but high tension” format. Oddtaxi was not slow burn, but subject to bad pacing. Slow burn insinuates there is a buildup of intensity over the course of the show. Oddtaxi, however, remained stagnant for pretty much the entire series. Every turn was predictable, and it felt as though the writers were not even trying to create twists. At the end of the first episode, I got my hopes up thinking there was going to be an aspect of unreliable narrator, or even anti-hero characterization. This assumption was unfortunately incorrect. Odokawa’s suspicious behavior (referring to his constant watch over someone behind his wall) which genuinely intrigued me was summed up in something which felt closer to a comedic relief scene than a long awaited reveal.

Speaking of reveals, the focus on the case of the missing girl, which was essentially only prevalent in the very beginning and ending of the show, was thrust onto the audience so abruptly and horribly I couldn’t believe it. After focusing on unrelated side characters for a majority of the show, the plot finally circles back to the idol girl group, and delves into the lives of one of the members for an unnecessarily long amount of time. And, just as suddenly as it began, the missing girl plot again vanishes. Also mixed into the final episodes is the big reveal of why everyone is an animal. This big reveal can be figured out in the first episode with close to little thinking.

Overall, Oddtaxi simply does not deserve the unfounded praise it is receiving. If someone who adores this show would like to argue with me, please do so, as I legitimately do not understand what has everyone up for a standing ovation.

I'm watching up until the latest episode: episode 5. To be honest, I'm too speechless to say anything about this anime. I have never seen anything like Odd Taxi before.

Odd Taxi is so raw, authentic and powerful. It's simple and yet complicated. The characters got connected through a subtle and yet shocking events. It gives me goosebumps how the story flows flawlessly. Even the small details could give so much information. I feel like if I blink while watching this, I might miss something. Truly, A MASTERPIECE!

The opening and ending song, the Seiyuus.. I think everything is perfect as it is.

I can't wait for the ... next episode!


P.S. I'm usually too lazy to write a review, but this show made me to write one. That's how powerful Odd Taxi is 😎

The whole anime community should now rejoice and plunge in the sea of pleasure and gratification considering the long-awaited and looked-for modern magnum opus of the entire anime industry has finally been brought out from the brilliant mind of the potentially next Satoshi Kon, Kazuya Konomoto, and painstakingly produce it at such utmost dedication—from the aptly cartoonish style of art and animation by which complements the utilization of anthropomorphism to strive for giving a truthful real life depiction in a cutesy way, the copybook voice acting performances that accurately express the persona's countenance, and especially noting the extant actual tweets from the characters circulating the ... internet, the canonical weekly podcast series, and extras outside of the show so as to provide additional details to polish up the enthralling obscurity enveloping the whole setting— to give a much remarkable existence to this gripping mystery show that would undoubtedly be carved in the entire history of anime as one if not the most well-thought-out shows to ever exist. Akin to a notorious film noir, Odd Taxi flawlessly handled the entanglement and amalgamation of these deep and rare set of features for an anime: dementia, crime, mystery, cynicism, heavy plot — you name it, and Odd Taxi impeccably mastered it.

This show here is a classic in the making. The new decade may have only just begun, but the new king has already been crowned.

Let me get something straight: YOU HAVE TO WATCH THIS SHOW.
If you are not watching Odd Taxi, you simply MUST watch it, despite all the things that may turn you off such as talking animals, no-name studio and 'weird art style', if you love a good story, you won't be let down.

Have you ever heard of Chehkov's gun?

copied from Wikipedia : [a dramatic principle that states that every element in a story must be necessary, and irrelevant elements should be removed. ]


As the story progresses, we learn how everything mentioned is related in unexpected ways.

...
Writing and execution of the story is excellent, characters are well thought out and behave and talk in realistic way, coherent and unique to their character, which is not something I've seen being executed this well recently.

Art and sound are pretty solid, character designs are amazing and they blend outstandingly well with the story which contributes to its uniqueness and help covey personality of characters.

It's extremely enjoyable and the vibe it gives of reminded me of something that could have been taken out of noir film.

Overall, Odd Taxi is show bursting with originality and character,it will keep you in the edge and you coming back for more
10/10 MUST WATCH

weebs you better chill. this is hardly something groundbreaking or genial as you'd think. it has a namedrop ffs.

overall the narrative is competent, but it doesn't have anything meaningful to say besides being a character exploration thriller/mystery/crime episodic experience. all characters (even odokawa somehow) are one-dimensional and do not grow or change throughout the first season. every single character stays the same from beginning to end. the whole situation is so fabricated that it feels completely inorganic and confusing to some extent. the entire kakihana arch is borderline unwatchable because it feels out-of-place and so unredeemable that i honestly would see benefits to the narrative ... in killing the character.

visually-wise, the characters being anthropomorphic animals did help a lot in contextualizing the plot but i have no idea why they thought it'd be a good idea to explain it in the last episode. it serves as a plot twist moment but it has literally no weight to the narrative (and the human characters look pretty bad). and oh boi the whole mystery behind doors in odokawa's place was one of the dumbest things i've seen in anime in years.

the first few episodes were interesting and i could see some of the praise in its novelty and plot, but similarly to wonder egg, it devolves so much the more you watch it (gladly not as bad as wonder egg). a decent 'meh' in my opinion, i don't really see the point in watching a second season, especially if the characters are now human.

People thought this was a...masterpiece? Gunna have to agree to disagree on that part.

I think people hype up this show because Odd Taxi is able to have separate storylines converge into one culminating conclusion and finale. But seriously, I really don't think this story was intricately woven, and nor are any of the characters compelling. Using the crutch that is the protagonist being a Taxi driver, having "coincidental meetings" happen that spur the story on while exposing our protagonist to trickling information each episode is not particularly difficult or a stroke of genius.
This show is pretty slow paced, for better or for worse. It ... probably could have been put into a 2 hour movie without feeling like it was rushed in any sort of way once you cut away the fluff, and trust me, there is. All of these "mysteries" get conveniently put in front of Odakawa in an othrodox manner. Plus, these "converging" plot lines are extremely boring. There isn't anything amazing about tens of minutes of dialogue between two characters that coincidentally met each other that's being crammed into a story in order to progress plot. You're going to love seeing characters talk in a static background. If you're going to cram so much dialogue in, you might as well have something on the screen other than a three frame mouth movement for 30 seconds. In monogatari series, at there was a change of scenery, lots of of movement, just eye candy for the viewer to absorb not only with their ears for the dialogue, but also entertaining their eyes.
It's really not that hard to have multiple perspectives of people and having them connect with Odakawa when there are so many forced and fortuitous encounters. For the most part as well, the conclusions of these plot arcs are actually either not even remotely related to the story or are only vaguely connected. Sometimes, they also abruptly end for no particular reason.
So many characters with lacking personality due to little to no characterization are being shoved in and out of the story in order for there to be a level of "depth" into a mediocre story. Such examples include lame romance budding between Odakawa and a female interest that have a total of four conversations with each other, both with no particular reason to like each other than the director saying "well damn, we need romance" for some reason. There are also other far reaching ones too. There's this whole plotline with a comedy duo that never comes into fruition, Mystery kiss, which barely has anything to do with the main storyline other than a few forced convergent points and people, and a few others here and there. I really have to ask: "Why???" Having independent events be vaguely or forcibly related to each other does not elevate a story.
I also had to ask myself: "are there converging storylines that I can think of that are good?" The list is pitifully small, so I might see why people think this is a novelty. Kumo desu ga Nani ka and Twelve Kingdoms is pretty good in that regard, and the only other story I can think of at the moment is stormlight archives by Brandon Sanderson, which honestly also does not execute this concept very well. But, all of them understand how converging storylines work: their storylines only converge after a decent period of time. In these stories, each character is left to their own devices for a long time until there's a coincidental meeting. You get to understand each character in and out before anyone meets with each other. There's this joy in finally seeing two characters in completely different circumstances that you have been following meet each other. In Odd taxi, you don't get that feeling because no character gets any particular development past their relevance to the plot. Yet, most characters who interact with each other almost never know each other before their "chance encounter." So you have to just drag yourself by the feet when they somehow become related or engaged to each other for no particular reason. The most notable example of this was the romance, where so little time was dedicated to it, but it still ends up influencing Odakawa in a major manner. Why not do something like Butch (Bruce Willis) in Pulp fiction in which his romantic interest is already together with him as a pre-established plot point? This story really wants to shove in your face in how random people meet and have relationships with each other but it just makes everything so artificial.
How about Pulp Fiction? I mentioned the film earlier, but Pulp fiction has half the run time of Odd Taxi, yet, it does this converging story line in such a better way. It understands that random characters only have so much chance encounters. It's only in small moments that the main characters meet each other, and it's always a climax scene when they do. When they do not, they are in their own sort of story in which they build up their character and engage in great scenes with other side characters. Why does Odd Taxi not understand this concept? You're really not buying me with the story.
Well, if the encounters are forced and singular plotlines are boring, then the converging plot lines and conclusion better be good, right? Hell no. I wish. There's this pretty predictable "plot twist" ending that builds off of Odakawa's eccentricness but it's pretty straightforward and not particularly worth the build up. if you really felt compelled by the characters, I gotta say, you got low standards. What the hell am I watching? Characters only change personality because of a "mystery" that you "figure" about them being "naturally" unraveled, and dialogue is as dry as the characters trying to carry it.
I obviously put this story to a higher standard than a movie since, well, it's got 4 hours of screen time rather than the 1.5-2 hours that a movie traditionally has. Time pacing issues that a movie might have is less applicable to Odd Taxi. It's just lazy. There wasn't too much of a focus: the story tried to be bold, but ultimately it failed, and it bites them in the back. While I will forgive a movie for not having characters up to snuff, I really cannot forgive Odd Taxi for the same. Again, there are stories that have used this concept to great success, even in movies, just like Pulp Fiction. This show is extremely weak both in story and in characters.

(TLDR at the bottom, thanks for reading.)

Odd taxi is good.

TLDR: Anime of the season.





...
There is this issue I have with anime, especially dialogue-heavy light novel adaptations, where the dialogue feels like it was written by a robot. Very by the book statements that don't really feel like they were made by humans and were made by a computer program, at best the writers might try to add some personality to by having the characters insult each other and then pass it off as sarcasm. So when the first episode of odd taxi started with two radio comedians having an organic conversation it immediately hooked me because this isn't something you see in anime. In a show like odd taxi this authentically human dialogue is extremely important, not because of its plot but because of its characters.

When you think of well-writen anime characters you might this of characters that develop and change but most characters in odd taxi are adults who have already grown because this anime isn't about people growing and changing, it's about society and the connections people make and in this massive web of connections Odakawa is in the centre of all of it.
This is why a place such a big importance on dialogue because odd taxi leans entirely on its characters, it's a show that relies completely on its characters. The actual plot of the show isn't anything to write home about, a heist with some corrupt cops and a missing high schooler, all pretty standard stuff but since it has such strong character writing it can get away with it.
When people are talking about plot in anime they often just talk about the events in the plot of the characters and how they develop, but one thing that often isn't discussed is structure. Most anime approach their story in a fairly linear fashion, event A happens then event B then C you get the idea, but not odd taxi. Odd taxi's story happens by a group of random characters living their life and one small event leads to another which leads another, which leads to another. The story then unfolds in an organic, and realistic, way. One of the main benefits of this chaos theory like structure is that it constantly keeps you on your toes, it is kind of easy to predict if you know anything about general storytelling tropes, but the main trope odd taxi applies is an absolute rejection of traditional writing styles and trope and therefor it constantly keeps you on your toes.

All these little things build up, the lofi music, Odakawa's dry yet eccentric behaviour, the visual aesthetic, the structure, the dialogue everything comes together to make one unique whole. While each of these individual parts may not make a show good on their own the way the coalesce forms a truly unique whole.

At this point saying anything more won't add much to the review, the visuals are constant on-model and memorable, the music is chill, the delivery of the plot and dialogue is good and you get the general idea of things.

TLDR: Odd taxi is good

This show is an underrated gem and it is tragic how under-appreciated it is due to the slew of other great anime airing this season. This is by far one of the best written anime I have ever had the pleasure of watching, only rivalled by, in my opinion, Steins;Gate. Starting off seemingly as a slice-of-life show starring an eccentric taxi driver, it slowly reveals itself as a crime, psychological thriller mystery with so much detail and nuance packed in its truly astounding. The amount of theorising and discussion around the show at this point is amazing and the fact that so many people picked ... up on small details that completely went over my head makes me appreciate the show even more. It's a mystery so carefully planned out, I know it'll be incredibly satisfying and cathartic once we get the payoff to all these unanswered questions. This show about animals, a taxi driver and a missing girl is not what it seems and I'd highly recommend watching this just for the writing alone! 10/10 love this show, its story, its characters and its OP, what a beautiful song that is one of three anime songs I've added to my spotify playlist! Don't sleep on this show!

I hope I don't say anything too silly, this is my first time reviewing a series and I'm also stupid, please bear with me.

Characters;

I'll get to the point, This anime may have one of the best characterizations I've ever seen, the characters feel genuine and their actions no matter how small, constantly have an impact on the overall story while also managing to be grounded in reality. IT ALL MAKES SENSE, and it's so satisfying to see it all come together. The dialogue is fantastic too, it feels like they're actually talking instead of trying to shoehorn stuff to try and accelerate the plot.

If it's ... not clear by now, CHARACTERS ARE A 10/10.



Story; 10/10


The story gives you just enough information about Odokawa's past to keep you invested until the amazing payoff at the end. I really can't say much about Odokawa because I want you to go completely blind into the anime, I want you to find out about all the twists and turns because It's all subtly hinted at from the start.

About the others, they're just as well-written with their backstories encompassing Lots of different themes. This story is so cohesive that I don't know what the story would be like if even the most minor characters didn't exist.

I also wanna mention that theorizing about Odokawa's story and what the hell is going on was very fun for me, each episode changed my theory bit by bit and it was a delight.


Sound; 9/10

The OST is amazing and fits the story, as usual. I can't stop praising this anime. The opening song is probably the second-best after Houseki no Kuni which is saying a lot. It's so relaxing and sounds good too.


Art; 9/10

The character designs are very good, you can almost guess what their personalities are just by looking at them. Well-defined silhouettes, colorful and saturated color palettes which are in nice contrast to the darker themes this story presents, and everything is very consistently animated.


10/10 series, just watch it, bro.

Many people will pass on this anime simply because of the design and art style. Do NOT let that keep you from giving it a try. You'll watch the first episode and think to yourself "Okay, I gotta see how this ends." and watch the rest of it. The writing is some of the best I've ever seen in an anime, the dialogue is snappy and realistic. It doesn't sound manufactured like a lot of typical shounen anime. The characters are interesting and there are several aspects to them you are left to wonder about throughout the entire show. It all comes together to create ... a near perfect storyline. Even at it's lowest points, it's still impressive.

Do yourself a favor and watch this. The chances of you regretting it are slim to none. I've never watched a seasonal where the wait for the next episode was so difficult. That is how good this anime is. You have nothing to lose giving this anime a shot.

This is truly a unique anime, one that was unfortunately somewhat overlooked this season and one that will likely top many "10 obscure anime you should watch" lists for years to come.

This is an incredibly well done show, the number of animes of this caliber are less than the number of fingers on a hand.

Unfortunately, this anime will appear boring at face value and will turn almost every typical anime watcher away due to the lack of surface appeal.

To say this anime is a slice of life does not do it justice. That just gives the presumption that its simply revolves around people with no plot enjoying life.

The level of writing in this anime is not like most animes, in fact it barely follows a story structure of traditional story telling. Its more to kin of ... verbal short films in the west or the storytelling dialogue style of Quentin Tarantino films. Most animes follow with: your exposition, your expository background on the main character, some heavy information drop in a fictional world, and then an action scene or 2.

i only need to be 2 episodes in and i could see how this anime might be structured:
there is currently no visible plot, however there is a LOT of well placed set up. Most of this anime is done and told in dialogue. and its barely even world building dialogue because it takes place in the real modern world with no fictional element to it (other than everyone being animals).

All story is told with the character interactions, especially with the taxi driver and his passengers. you learn about each of the reoccurring characters in a grounded way, stuff is implied and the audience is left to piece things together. The dialogue is smart, grounded, and easily believable across every character. Every character is relatable and each with their own problems and relations with each one. Everyone has some hidden secret and its never outright told, leaving you to find out.

To describe this as best i can:
Imagine Durarara, but without the chaos of it, with the mature content and character design of Aggretsuko, and the dialogue style of Tarantino

Odd Taxi is a show that is exploring and pushing the boundaries of what anime is capable of as a story telling medium.

The animation itself is nothing artistically groundbreaking, as the actions and movements of characters aren't anything remarkable, but where it shines is in subtle movements of the characters giving you a peek into the emotions they might be feeling.

The dialogue and writing is where this show shines the brightest. Conversations between characters drives the plot forward without holding the audience's hand. Amidst the comedic conversations, is embedded a commentary on modern topics, as well as clever conversational devices meant to fill in ... the audience on the character or plot, all while maintaining a natural flow.

Its a show made for the attentive viewer, as you can easily miss out on details in a casual watch, but for those that are paying close attention, the show lends itself well to discussion and speculation after each episode.

Odd Taxi is an odd case. I watched in recommendation of Gigguk's video, and seeing as I was already watching the most underrated "anime" of the season, I saw it as a challenge to the fantastic manhwa called Link Click. And so that's how I binged 13 episodes in one sitting.

Let's start with its best aspect: the dialogue. People have compared this anime to Tarantino movies quite a lot, and just by the first few episodes, it's easy to see why. Tarantino likes to give people unique dialects (sometimes switching dialogue styles between interactions) and sometimes add in quirky topics to "bring" a lot of ... character out. This gives the dialogue a next level of authenticity, with the drawback that not a lot of story will happen. Odd Taxi replicates this style well. Since this style is not commonly used, it does give a unique feel to the anime.

However, it might've done it a little too well. For the first half of the series, Odd Taxi tries to set up its characters with Tarantino dialogue, while ever so slowly building the story. It's so slow that I claimed nothing was really happening. And while the dialogue is good, it's not engaging or charming enough to really see into the characters, much less engage you for five episodes straight.

When the story actually gets going, it's very clear from the start that the writer had an end goal in mind, and everything is set up to make the end goal work. In that sense, the story is quite good. However, some of the storylines were not as interesting or even fell flat for me. It takes so long to get the story to even start, and trying to juggle so many story arcs... sadly some of them were going to fall flat. This goes for the characters as well.

I binged all 13 episodes in one sitting. And now that I have, I can finally see the flaws in recommending this anime after the runtime is done. Odd Taxi is a mystery anime to those that take its time to learn the mystery. The faster one gets through the anime, the less time one has to figure out the mystery before it is revealed. By the time Gigguk uploaded the video and recommended the anime, I was already too late.

Overall: 6/10. Decent end and decent dialogue, but the pacing is quite slow, mediocre story, and meh characters. It is in an ironic spot where you want to binge it to get through the slow pacing, but you shouldn't binge it too quickly so that you can figure out the big mystery.

Odd Taxi is actually GOOD

The japanese comedy scenes and soundtrack were the downside, and the slow pace storyline often annoyed me and give me thoughts about dropping the anime. In counterpart, characters and some pretty decent plot twists made a nice experience

You are probably going to think about stop watching many times along the show, but the final episode will make it all worth it

Odd Taxi isnt amazing but is not bad either, in my opinion the myanimelist score is a little bit overrated, i would give it a solid 8

If you like Mistery with drama and comedy, i would definitely recommend this

And remember, watch ... it until the end, is gonna make sense and the pieces will finally connect, belive me

Have fun

I swear this anime just looks like it's really deep and the story and characters are going to be developed good. But it's really just shallow show. Is it really that simple to trick you guys?

I love how all the stories of different characters converge at the end. The last twist with the main character is also cool. I really like the main idea of this anime. But it was just boring to watch. Dialogues are not that important, it's not Tarantino movie, it's more like dialogues are needed here in order to remind real life, because anime is for an adult audience.

The disclosure ... of the characters is not very interesting, they show why they are and how they came to this, but I have already seen this in other anime and I would not say that here it is something interesting and done with greater depth than I have seen somewhere else.

Well, I think the new anime is just not for me. :)