Ookamikakushi (Okamikakushi: Masque of the Wolf)

Due to his father's job, 15-year-old Hiroshi Kuzumi and his family move to the mountain town of Jouga. While some teenagers might have to worry about fitting in or feel out of place in a new environment, Hiroshi is welcomed enthusiastically at school by most of his new classmates. In fact, it seems like they just can't get enough of him, and he makes two friends rather quickly: the clingy and overly-affectionate Isuzu Tsumuhana, who is also his neighbor; and Kaname Asagiri, who also recently moved to Jouga. All in all, Hiroshi's new life seems to be quite normal—until people start disappearing.

Hiroshi is told that the missing townsfolk have simply moved away or suddenly transferred, but he can't shake the feeling that something is wrong. Meanwhile, in the dead of night under a red moon, masked individuals led by a girl with a scythe stalk their prey in the darkened streets of Jouga. Who are they, and are any of the residents safe from their wrath?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Ookamikakushi is an adaptation of the 2009 PlayStation Portable visual novel of the same name, developed and published by Konami.

The anime was released on DVD and Blu-ray by Sentai Filmworks as Okamikakushi: Masque of the Wolf on May 28, 2013 and December 16, 2014 respectively.

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Related Anime

Adaptation:

Ookamikakushi: Keshimurasaki no Shou, Ookamikakushi: Kokihi no Shou, Ookamikakushi

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Kushinada, Nemuru

Main

Ise, Mariya
Japanese

Hakuorou, Kannon

Main

Ise, Mariya
Japanese

Tsumuhana, Isuzu

Main

Katou, Emiri
Japanese

Kuzumi, Hiroshi

Main

Kobayashi, Yuu
Japanese

Asagiri, Kaname

Main

Fuchigami, Mai
Japanese

Kuzumi, Mana

Supporting

Fujita, Saki
Japanese

Mana, Kaori

Supporting

Gotou, Yuuko
Japanese

Sakaki, Shunichirou

Supporting

Yusa, Kouji
Japanese

Aniki

Supporting

Chijiwa, Ryuusaku
Japanese

Tsumuhana, Issei

Supporting

Okamoto, Nobuhiko
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Kananiwa, Kozue

Producer

Ougi, Jiyuu

Producer

Takamoto, Yoshihiro

Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Hata, Shouji

Sound Director

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Opening Theme

"Toki no Mukou, Maboroshi no Sora (時の向こう幻の空)" by FictionJunction

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Ending Theme

"Tsukishirube (月導)" by Yuka Nanri

Reviews

Jul 9, 2012

HellsMalice

Recommended

I figured i'd give this a short review. Mainly because, I was very skeptical of checking this anime out because it has god awful reviews.
Goes to show, I really can't trust weeaboos to have real opinions.

Anyone who outright hates this anime, is a diehard WTC/Umineko fan. They expected a psychological thriller with some brutal gore. That really isn't what this anime was about, and thus...let the hate flow.

Story: It's average. I had it pinned pretty quickly. It does start out slow at first, but it picks up in the later half. I can't say I was ever BORED though, it kept me interested or else ...

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Mar 20, 2010

Mimi_Taylor

Mixed Feelings

As a fellow fan of Ryukishi07’s works (Higurashi no Naku koro Ni, Umineko no Naku Koro Ni), I was quite excited for the release Ookami Kakushi. I thought that I was in for another psychological thriller and exciting mystery, but unfortunately, Ookami Kakushi didn’t turn out to be as such. I admit, I went into the show with the wrong kind of expectations, and my review is a reflection of that. However, I still think I have some good points to offer.

Story

The original premise of the show sounded interesting enough, but here is why the story was poorly executed:

The first half of ... the series suffers from no development. Our main protagonist, Hiroshi, moves into a new town with his father and sister, attends school, and meets new people. However, something never feels quite right. A female classmate of his becomes extremely attached to him, a mysterious girl neglects him, and a few classmates begin to disappear without notice by others. At the end of each episode, we catch a small glimpse of a terrified person running away from a group of supernatural, masked beings who are after that person’s life. While you know something is up and you’re curious, what you’re mainly going to see is Hiroshi participating in ordinary slice-of-life activities and interacting with a small cast of characters. Aside from a few weird events befalling Hiroshi, nothing much changes, and this becomes dull fast.

The second half finally explores the mystery behind the masked beings, but it still moves incredibly slowly for such a short series. What you have next is a string of predictable events, coincidences, and episodes dedicated to simply feeding you all of the information. By the time the climax hits, it is downright disappointing. There are no major plot-twists or anything exciting to keep the anime’s head above the water. The finale is a joke.

Characters

The characters feel one-dimensional. They hardly have any development. Only towards the end do the characters begin to show a different side to them, but their peak development is still not all that impressive. They just go back to the way they were before, falling very short of being dynamic.

They are also not entertaining at any given point in the show beyond the introduction. Hiroshi is a shy and awkward kid who always feels nervous, but he has a sense of justice somewhere within him. His hobby is to stare at the other characters and do absolutely nothing. Hiroshi's sister, Mana, is bound to a wheelchair and we never get to find out why. Nemuru, his mysterious classmate who neglects him does only that for the first half of the series. Asagiri is another classmate who is just a walking encyclopedia, always trying to help clue Hiroshi in. And then we have Isuzu, his neighbor who instantly becomes attached to him. She just spends her time hopping around and clinging to his arm, quickly rubbing off as an annoying character. Lastly, the main villain is the typical, revengeful idiot type with a predictable outcome and is nothing special. You've seen these characters being used before again and again. The adults also have a role in the show, but they are even duller characters than the children.

None of the characters stand out as being impressive, strong, or all that memorable, even by the last half of the show. At the very least, the character's backgrounds are somewhat explored, as there is a good reason for their initial behaviors. They could have had much more depth though.

Sound

I do have to give credit for the OP song “Toki no Mukou Maboroshi no Sora” by FictionJunction for being pretty good. However, there is not much to say about the rest of the sounds. They contribute to the mood, but they're more or less on the average side. Ookami’s OST isn’t something that I would be dying to have.

Animation

The animation is not weak, but it is not spectacular either. Perhaps the most noticeable aspect of the artwork is how beautiful the costumes look on the masked beings. The color and lighting effects are also used well for certain scenes and to show real depth in the character’s eyes. Overall though, the character designs are rather average, and there isn't much change in background scenery.

Overall

I learned too late that Ookami kakushi is not meant to be a deep, plot-twisting mystery series. It is more about character relations, drama, mood, suspense, and slow buildup. But even with that in mind, the small cast of characters are for the most part unchanging and dull. This anime is mediocre and easily forgettable.

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Sep 11, 2010

Lindle

Not Recommended

Ookami Kakushi was written by Ryukishi07, best known for Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni. That should pretty much tell you what to expect, since Ookami Kakushi is an obvious, shameless clone of its considerably superior ancestor.

The premise goes as follows. Hiroshi Kuzumi, an unlikeable, spineless milquetoast, moves to a town known as Jouga with his occult fanatic father and annoying Tsundere sister, who is in a wheelchair for reasons that are never given passing explanation in the series. As they are moving in, Hiroshi meets the love interest, Isuzu Tsumuhana, who is supposed to be this series' Rena Ryuuguu despite having none of the likeability ... or humour that the Higurashi character possesses. For some bizarre reason, Isuzu is obsessed with Hiro, and the rest of Hiroshi's new class follows suit. However, one of them seems a little too attached, and begins to act strangely... then, we see a scene with him being killed by a girl with a scythe. The next morning, a girl who looks an awful lot like the girl with the scythe tells the class that he has "Transferred". Could it be that this town has a dark secret?

If any of this is sounding familiar to you, then you've probably watched Higurashi, because this show is an absolute cut 'n' paste of it, only without any of the charm that made Higurashi great. It lacks the audience mindfuck that Higurashi gave us, completely misunderstands Higurashi's visual style, using all the creepy effects in all the wrong environments, and what seemed loveable there just feels stupid here. It doesn't help that almost every character here is completely unlikeable, being given little to no personality, backstory, or charisma, with only the villain having the latter trait making him somewhat likeable. And even that is hindered by the fact that his motivation is quite generic, and his plan makes no sense.

On top of that, while Higurashi did a good job of tying up the loose ends (with only a couple of details left out, both of which were in the manga/VNs and relatively unimportant to the overall plot), Ookami Kakushi leaves several loose ends, for example, the aforementioned one with the wheelchair, and a character who is hinted to have some kind of disease that is never explained.

The only thing that really redeem this show are the aforementioned antagonist, a relatively decent soundtrack, and the 12th episode, which is a random self-parody special taking place after all the plot is said and done. While it does come off as an enourmous BLAM Episode, it's still considerably more enjoyable than the remainder of this highly sub-par series.

Final Words: A shameless ripoff of Higurashi, with none of what made Higurashi good.

Animation/Graphics: 4/10
Story/Plot: 1/10
Music/Background: 7/10

Overall: 2/10

For Fans Of: Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni, Umineko No Naku Koro Ni

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Hakuorou, Kannon

Tsumuhana, Isuzu

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Asagiri, Kaname

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