Odd Taxi

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Alternative Titles

Japanese: オッドタクシー

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Information

Type: TV

Episodes: 13

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Apr 6, 2021 to Jun 29, 2021

Premiered: Spring 2021

Broadcast: Tuesdays at 02:00 (JST)

Producers: Pony Canyon, Pony Canyon Enterprise

Licensors: None found, add some

Studios: OLM, P.I.C.S.

Source: Original

Genre: Mystery

Duration: 23 min. per ep.

Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

Statistics

Score: 8.77¹ (scored by 98,162 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #36²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #840

Members: 246,286

Favorites: 5,000

External Links

Official Site, AnimeDB, AnimeNewsNetwork, Wikipedia

8.77

Ranked #36Popularity #840Members 246,286

Spring 2021TVOLM, P.I.C.S.

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Episodes: /13

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Synopsis

Eccentric and blunt, the walrus Hiroshi Odokawa lives a relatively normal life. He drives a taxi for a living, and there he meets several unique individuals: the jobless Taichi Kabasawa who is dead-set on going viral, the mysterious nurse Miho Shirakawa, the struggling comedic duo "Homo Sapiens," and Dobu, a well-known delinquent.

But Odokawa's simple way of life is about to be turned upside-down. The case of a missing girl the police have been tracking leads back to him, and now both the yakuza and a duo of corrupt cops are on his tail. Set in a strangely familiar city filled with unusual individuals, Odd Taxi is a bizarre story about a humble taxi driver and the mystery of a lost high schooler.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Episode Videos

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Related Anime

Adaptation:	Odd Taxi
Other:	Odd Taxi Movie: In the Woods

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Odokawa, Hiroshi

Main

Hanae, Natsuki
Japanese

Yano

Supporting

METEOR
Japanese

Tanaka, Hajime

Supporting

Saitou, Souma
Japanese

Shirakawa, Miho

Supporting

Iida, Riho
Japanese

Imai, Shun

Supporting

Sakai, Koudai
Japanese

Dobu

Supporting

Hamada, Kenji
Japanese

Gouriki, Ayumu

Supporting

Kimura, Ryouhei
Japanese

Daimon, Koushirou

Supporting

Asei
Japanese

Yamamoto, Fuyuki

Supporting

Furukawa, Makoto
Japanese

Kakihana, Eiji

Supporting

Yamaguchi, Kappei
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Kinoshita, Baku

Director, Character Design

Yoshida, Kouhei

Sound Director

Yamai, Sayaka

Episode Director

Konomoto, Kazuya

Script

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Opening Theme

"ODDTAXI" by Skirt and PUNPEE

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Ending Theme

	1: "Sugarless Kiss (シュガーレス・キッス)" by Suzuko Mimori (三森すずこ) (eps 1-5)
	2: "Kabe no Mukou ni Waraigoe wo Kikimashita ka (壁の向こうに笑い声を聞きましたか)" by Tony Frank (トニーフランク) (eps 6)

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Reviews

Jun 28, 2021

13 of 13 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 7

DannyTheDonkey (All reviews)

470 people found this review helpful

***THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS***

Odd taxi is pretty cool, the series was mature without being a gore and sex fest, portrayed a setting that was slightly imaginative but very conceivable, so that this setting could be discussed in earnest, and delivered, moreover, exactly what fans were expecting - well, many of them, in any case. All thing considered the presentation almost reminded me as if Rockstar games was behind it especially Odokawa’s shirt style was kind of the same with Tommy Vercetti’s.

What I like about the series is that I found the writing here was strong, the show really built up to anything since the very beginning. The story was quite grand and as it goes on we’d move onto bigger mysteries with bigger stakes, added to the fact they do a great job creating such a huge cast of characters, together with their own individual stories that culminating into one single major event. Despite having interconnected stories, your characters always interacted. The series in general was quite heavy in exposition and It’s not that the characters always have something worthwhile to say, but the dialogues will just keep you engaged, and a lot of attention must be given in what certain characters said or doing and it’s rewarding in the end.

I’m willing to defend the criticism of as to why the show feels the needs to use the inhabitants with animals. They are quite pedestrians, they have Japanese names, there is no bigotry; one species can marry with different one, they use twitter, YouTube even doing gatcha, so why not use normal human instead? I’d argue first of all, even without any kind of depth analysis using animal as the basic design was really fitting with the overall animation style which reminded me a lot of western cartoon. Secondly it just makes the characters so memorable; a lot of the time anime suffers from ‘same face syndrome’ that just plagues the memorability of some characters they had. In Odd Taxi everyone is memorable despite the huge cast of the characters. Last but not least, the usage of animal as inhabitants of the setting had something to do with the nature psychology or mental state of the main character and I’ll just let you to watch the show to figure out what I meant.

Having said that the show is not devoid with criticism. First is that not all stories are made equal. Well, of course, right? Even if this was somehow possible, tastes will come into play. Nevertheless, I could barely keep myself interested during Kakihana’s story. It really just something You already seen hundred of times before and you just going to know how it will end, he was just a pathetic character.

Speaking of characters, man a lot of this characters were simple minded and one dimensional at best. Kakihana just wants a cute girlfriend and it doesn’t matter if she conning you or not. Yano just talking in rap and that’s the only thing about him, Imai just love Idols, some characters risking their life on gacha, some characters just wants to get viral and so on so forth.

A lot of the time the events reliant on coincidences; certain characters magically found a weapon out of nowhere, character got saved from death because they're apparently have lucky item in their posession or some characters making sudden appearance out of nowhere to save the day etc. Like a lot of corny anime, this anime is fixated on the ideas of forgiveness and redemption. I just can’t believe some characters were just not dead (apart from the original murder case) and forgiven considering the tone and the overall thing with Yakuza, Criminal and stuff.

Visually it really wasn’t the best. Overall it was fine but most of scenes with cars was replaced with CG, making all the action scenes looks very jarring. The overall characters design was fine but they definitely not really stand out like Beastar.

As for sound, I like it. The voice acting was superb, it consists not only a famous artist like Hanae Natsuki who does Odokawa superbly but also a lot of other voice actors who maybe not as known, but they really really do deliver especially characters like Dobu and Shiragaki. Most of the time the sound was muted or with only the sound of car were present that just giving more grip for attenttion to the dialogues. The OP was quite nice and kind of giving a cozy vibe before getting into the anime and the ED just shows one of the features in the show which is an idol. All in all, the sound department were absolutely spot on.

But for the most part, the anime’s charm outweighs its faults. I would recommend Odd Taxi, This is not a series where lots of friendship will overcome obstacles, depending your precious imoutos and childhood friends, awe-inspiring student council leaders who can do it all, so on and so forth. This has been such a fun series with an intriguing and serious mystery. The depth and breadth of reinterpretations of Tokyo is quite impressive. The amount of cast were large but they were very compelling, each with their own mini character arcs to follow. Not all of them were perfect but so is fictions.

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Jun 28, 2021

13 of 13 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 8

SingleH (All reviews)

308 people found this review helpful

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.

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Jun 28, 2021

13 of 13 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 10

KANLen09 (All reviews)

260 people found this review helpful

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 read more

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Jun 28, 2021

13 of 13 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 7

literaturenerd (All reviews)

65 people found this review helpful

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!

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'Odd Taxi' Gets Anime Movie in April 2022

The official website of the Odd Taxi television anime announced an anime movie on Saturday. The movie, titled Odd Taxi: In the Woods, is scheduled to open in theate...read more

Dec 25, 2021 3:08 AM by Vindstot | Discuss (25 comments)

Spring 2021 Simulcast List [Update 4/19]

In this thread, you'll find a comprehensive list of anime acquired for simulcast release during the Spring 2021 season. Anime series licensed for home video rel...read more

Mar 29, 2021 11:26 AM by Snow | Discuss (54 comments)

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	This was nominated for Best comedy in Crunchyroll anime awards 2021 BiobulletM - Jan 24	22 replies	by Evolved_KiR4T »» 9 minutes ago
	[SPOILERS] Unanswered questions and 'odd' plot decisions in Odd Taxi Satyr_icon - Jul 14, 2021	15 replies	by dyloon »» Yesterday, 12:28 PM

Odd Taxi

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Characters & Voice Actors

Odokawa, Hiroshi

Yano

Tanaka, Hajime

Shirakawa, Miho

Imai, Shun

Dobu

Gouriki, Ayumu

Daimon, Koushirou

Yamamoto, Fuyuki

Kakihana, Eiji

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