Ranked #2063

Kakurenbo

Title: Kakurenbo

Anime: Kakurenbo is a half-hour OVA that was produced as a collaboration between CoMix Wave Inc (known for their work on 5 Centimeters per Second and Voices From a Distant Star), Dentsu Inc (known for their work on Antique Bakery and D.Gray-Man) and Yamatoworks/D.A.C (this was their debut production), and directed by Shuhei Morita (who also directed the Freedom OVA series). Kakurenbo was released on September 1st, 2004 in Japan, was licensed Stateside by the now defunct Central Park Media, who released it on October 30th, 2005.

Story: In a city that's now in ruins, children play the game of Otokoyo (a Japanese version of hide and seek), but seemingly disappear whenever it's played, supposedly spirited away by demons. A boy named Haraku enters the game hoping to find his sister, who went missing playing Otokoyo.

This OVA's really good at ramping up the creepy factor. You're thrown into this world with little to no background whatsoever, and truths unravel slowly as you watch these kids going through the game, which grows more and more scary as you go through. You don't know much about the kids initially, as they're all wearing fox demon masks, as required per the game, but you learn enough details about them as they go through the game. And there are some excellent and truly scary twists in this, though I would suggest some cultural background before going into this, as it'll make these make a lot more sense. And everything wraps up neatly in a half hour's time.

Art: Kakurenbo was made entirely using 3D CGI and cel-shaded animation, like in Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker. The art for this in general is incredibly well done, and conveys the creepiness of the atmosphere perfectly, not to mention the designs of the creatures you find in here. 'm personally not that much of a fan of cel-shaded animation, though, as it does look a bit strange in places, especially with regards to the childrens' expressions, which are incredibly wooden. It is a fairly new technology, though, so it'll probably become better-used with time.

Music: I really like what they did here. Traditional instruments are used and orchestrated perfectly, as is the incredibly understated use of silence, to add to the tension in the entire thing. Excellently done.

Seiyuu: They didn't particularly stand out, but neither did they leave much of an impression on me. Overall, passable job here.

Length: The OVA does feel a bit constrained by it's half-hour run time, but it still manages to tell a good, creepy story, even if we aren't as invested as we could be in the kids. Overall, it does well with what time it has, even if it could be a bit better.

Overall: An amazingly creepy OVA with a pretty good story and music track, decent art and seiyuu, and a length that could've been longer for maximum effect. A good watch for Halloween.

Story: 8/10
Art: 7/10
Music: 9/10
Seiyuu: 7/10
Length: 8/10

Overall: 39/50; 78% (B-) read more

Kakurenbo is a one-shot ova and is Yamatoworks first attempt at an anime. And as the title suggests, its an OVA about hide and seek. But like any good anime out there theres a lot of rules and twists to this 30 minute show. Thirty minutes isn't enough time to flesh out character backgrounds and a deep story but it gives out the rules and punishments of the game all in the beginning of the show. And that gives this show a lot of points from me considering how confusing and crazy the show gets right away. For example one of the rules gets broken even before the game begins. But it all will start to make sense toward the end.

As for the characters, they're all grade school children but they all have their own unique style and look. For instance, one kid has earrings big enough to have a kanji symbol on it, another has a mowhawk, etc. Regardless these kids arent your typical type of kids but I don't think this show is aimed toward a young audience considering the graphic nature of this OVA. Well its not a graphic violence but more of a psycho thriller. Which is pretty unique since you dont see these types of anime being produced as much. But back to the characters, they all wear fox masks as a requirement to play the game. I'm assuming this is a move to save money on animation, or it can be to increase the scare factor of the show. Which brings me to the art and animation of the show.

Apparently it took the production team 6 months to produce this one episode, and you can see that most of their work was put into the art and animation of this show. It looks like most of the show was hand drawn but the characters are a mix of cell-shading and hand drawn animation. As you well know this combination usually looks pretty bad, but surprisingly they managed to make it look really REALLy good in this show. The antagonists are all vibrant and oozing evil, neon lights all have a soft neon glow, posters on abandoned walls are written out with care, and even heaps of trash and debris have their own beauty to them. The detail to the background artwork is just insane it appears they put in just as much work to the backgrounds as they did to the characters.

As for the sound effects and voice acting, one turns out VERY EXCELLENT and the other turns out VERY mediocre. The sound effects are top notch and set the mood all perfectly. Almost a little too perfect. Still air can be heard, buzzing of neon lights, even the dilapidated buildings that make the setting all creak and crack with antique clarity. At times, the sound will actually make you jump if you get too into the show. On the other hand, the voice acting is mediocre at best. Most of the time they don't even speak, they mostly run and scream in fear. Two of the kids don't even speak at all. But where there is no dialog, they're usually some sort of suspenseful, creepy, or downright ominous song brooding over the show.

As usual, my review is starting to becoming longer than the whole show itself. Overall, the show is a great psychological thriller who is very open minded to unique shows. This show is obviously full of holes and inconsistencies, but the whole experience will still be exciting every time i watch it. And I've watched it 4 times already :)
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