Odd Taxi

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.

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.