Odd Taxi

Odd Taxi (オッドタクシー) (stylized as ODDTAXI ) is a Japanese anime television series produced by OLM and P.I.C.S. It was broadcast on TV Tokyo and AT-X from April to June 2021. Set in a world of anthropomorphic animals, it tells the story of walrus taxi driver Hiroshi Odokawa, who converses with his passengers and learns about various mysteries and oddities occurring in Tokyo. These conversations get him involved in the strange disappearance of a schoolgirl, and that leads to him being followed by both the police and the yakuza.

Prior to its release, a manga series from Shogakukan (via Big Comics) began publication in January 2021, and was serialized in its Superior Dalpana magazine until July 2022. An anime film, titled Odd Taxi: In the Woods, was released in Japan in April 2022.

Plot

Set in a world of anthropomorphic animals, Odd Taxi tells the story of Hiroshi Odokawa, a 41-year-old walrus taxi driver whose parents abandoned him in elementary school, leaving him generally asocial. However, he usually has conversations with other animal inhabitants who ride in his taxi on their respective journeys around Tokyo, where the series is set. Odokawa's conversations with these people unravel into a series of mysteries and acts of violence, including that of a missing high school girl. Because of the case of the missing girl, the police have been tracking leads back to him, and now he is being followed by both the police and the yakuza.

Characters

• Odokawa Hiroshi (小戸川 宏)
• A middle-aged walrus taxi driver who often maintains a melancholic attitude. Loves to lose himself in various radio programs on and off the job.
• Shirakawa Miho (白川 美保)
• A young alpaca nurse at Goriki's clinic who seems cheerful but sells some of the clinic's drugs on the black market to pay off her debt. She studies capoeira as a hobby.
• Gōriki Ayumu (剛力 歩)
• A middle-aged gorilla doctor and Odokawa's primary physician who runs his own clinic.
• Kakihana Eiji (柿花 英二)
• Odokawa's drinking buddy, a middle-aged white gibbon who works as a janitor and tries to pick up women through a dating app.
• Nikaidō Rui (二階堂 ルイ)
• A toy poodle and the lead singer of "Mystery Kiss," a new idol group looking to make it big.
• Ichimura Shiho (市村 しほ)
• A calico cat and one of Mystery Kiss backup singers, forced by her manager to engage in multiple "badger games" to scam money out of rich men.
• Mitsuya Yuki (三矢 ユキ)
• A black cat, one of Mystery Kiss backup singers, she was athletic and talented, and was about to replace Rui as lead singer before her mysterious death. It is later revealed that her real name is Sakura Wadagaki that served as a substitute for the real Yuki Mitsuya before Mystery Kiss's debut.
• Daimon Kenshirō (大門 堅志朗) Daimon Kōshirō (大門 幸志朗)
• A pair of meerkat identical twins who usually work together as cops. Kenshiro, the older brother, is a cynical, crooked cop who looks the other way in exchange for bribes. Koshiro, the younger brother, has a strong sense of justice and naively trusts his older brother.
• Shibagaki Kensuke (柴垣 謙介)
• A wild boar who plays the boke (funny man) of the comedy duo Homosapiens. He works part-time at a cabaret club to make ends meet while trying to make his comedy career take off.
• Baba Atsuya (馬場 敦也)
• A horse who plays the (straight man) of the comedy duo Homosapiens. Baba finds himself shooting up in popularity and TV appearances but still thinks Shibagaki is the funnier member of their duo.
• Kabasawa Taichi (樺沢 太一)
• A pygmy hippopotamus college student addicted to social media, desperately in search of a picture or video that will make him "go viral" online.
• Harada Taeko (原田 タエ子)
• A female kangaroo izakaya owner who runs Yamabiko, the izakaya that Odokawa and many of his acquaintances frequent.
• Fukumoto Daichi (福本 大地)
• A giant panda comedian and member of the comedy duo Bonnou Illumination with Kondo.
• Kondou Shigeyuki (近藤 繁之)
• A cheetah comedian and member of the comedy duo Bonnou Illumination with Fukumoto.
• (ドブ)
• A gelada gangster and bagman under Kuroda, he suspects Odokawa is somehow involved with the missing girl case. He is a rival of Yano. His real name is Kyouhei Mizoguchi (溝口 恭平); Dobu (どぶ) is an alternative reading of 溝, the first kanji of his name, which means "ditch".
• Imai Shun (今井 旬)
• A striped skunk who is one of Mystery Kiss's first ever fans. He has been obsessively following the group and tries to attend every concert and buy their merchandise when he can. He works part-time at a cabaret club and buys lottery tickets to fund his hobby.
• Tanaka Hajime (田中 一)
• A puma who is part of a video game development team. He became obsessed with obtaining an in-game rarity, a dodo, in a mobile game to make up his past foolish mistake as a child. Becomes unhinged and declares vengeance on Odokawa after he breaks his phone and loses the dodo due to his taxi swerving in front of him.
• Yamamoto Fuyuki (山本 冬樹)
• The red fox manager of Mystery Kiss who also has an interest in the missing girl case.
• Sekiguchi Tōgo (関口 東吾)
• A tracksuit-wearing polar bear member of the yakuza, who acts as Yano's bodyguard.
• Kuroda Shigeru (黒田 茂)
• A Malayan tapir yakuza boss who oversees Dobu and Yano.
• (花音)
• A tabby cat freelancer and aspiring idol.
• Rena (玲奈)
• A rabbit freelancer and follower of Kabasawa.
• Yano Haruhito (矢野 治人)
• A porcupine gangster who is Dobu's rival in the same yakuza syndicate. He always speaks in rhymes as if rapping instead of talking.
• Nagashima Satoshi (長嶋 聡)
• A giraffe high schoolboy who is an obsessive fan of Homosapiens, writing them letters almost every week. Satoshi also runs his own amateur podcast.

Media

Reception

Odd Taxi was listed by The New Yorker's "Best TV of 2021" list as an honorable mention. Reviewer Doreen St. Félix stated that the show's "noir humor ... made [her] feel crazy—in a good way".[48][49] The show was named as the Best Anime of the Year by IGN, describing Odd Taxi as "a fascinating mystery drama with incredible writing, deeply developed and memorable characters, and a unique art style that stands out".[50] Austin Jones and Reuben Baron listed Odd Taxi as the "Best New Anime Series" of 2021 in Paste, describing the show as "one of the best anime of recent years, and unlike anything else out there right now" remarking on the "banter between the cast’s characters [revealing] a deeply human view of modern life".[51]

External links