Anime has a distinct aura of storytelling than other forms of media. I mean, you know an anime when you see one. It’s just got this… this different vibe than other films and series that we generally consume. And it’s not just because it’s animated, obviously.
It’s because every aspect of creating an anime—direction, screenwriting, music, cinematography—everything is done in a rather different way than general Hollywood-styled or other forms of cinema. Maybe it’s because most of anime is specially made for TV.
But whatever the reason is, we all can agree that this special form of telling stories is the reason we all don’t only love specific anime, but love anime as a whole.
But, you know, like in every industry, sometimes a movie or a series comes out that completely shatters the conventional rules. They break and twist the old-form rules and do stuff their own way. And, as easy as it may sound, bending and twisting rules to create something acceptable is a really tough job.
There’s an anime that doesn’t really feel like an anime. The anime-styled way of screenwriting, direction, art—all is gone. This series decided to do things their own way and play with the rules.
And I’m talking about one of the most-talked anime series of the recent years— Odd Taxi.
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Plot
The plot of Odd Taxi follows the mundane life of an ordinary taxi driver Odokawa. And, just like most lonely middle-aged men like him, he’s a little numb on emotions. He’s just… living his life—going about the day, collecting money to eat, and that’s pretty much it.
But, being a taxi driver is not as mundane as it sounds—at least not Odokawa. Along his way, he obviously meets a large amount of people, each with a different set of aims and traits. Every single one of them is worlds apart from the others. Just to give you some examples, there’s this nurse who works at a clinic that Odokawa frequently visits, there’s a young otaku who lives for a single game, there’s a guy who can do anything to go viral on social media, there’s a group of struggling pop idols, there’s a pair of comedians, and a lot other characters like that.
But, if you think each episode of this series is some sort of slice-of-life one-shot because of my description, you’re severely mistaken.
As simple as his life was, it was all about to change as a girl goes missing—and probably dead—and the police points all its evidence back at Odokawa. And that’s how began this deadly tale of Odokawa struggling to handle both the police and the yakuza that are behind his back.
Through its characters, Odd Taxi manages to create a really well-developed plot. It, like I mentioned, follows a large cast of characters, each with their distinct set of traits and motives and conflicts. Many of these characters, at first glance, might not have anything to do with Odokawa—they were just mere customers to the taxi driver, after all. But, as the plot progresses, all of these characters’ stories start to intertwine, woven into a perfect mess of a noir.
We see that just as these guys get off the taxi, they have a life of their own. Their struggles doesn’t seem like they’re imposed on them, but rather like they are their very own. Like they’ve chosen to struggle like this for themselves. It’s a really human idea.
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Characters
Such a wide cast of characters, most of the time, is really difficult to handle. To give each character a distinct style and distinct story is not something everyone can do. But somehow, Odd Taxi was able to do both, and that too at the same time.
With each passing episode, we know more and more about these characters—how they live, hat work do they do, what conflicts they face, and what they want to achieve. Even the characters that might have the most meager amount of influence on the grander plot are the main characters for at least ten minutes, where their stories are explored. All of these characters, in some way or the other, shine in the forefront. And, these characters never fail to give the best of the screen-time that they get.
You know, most of the anime generally contain really fictional characters that are more of some idealists and are thrown in situations that they can’t face. But, Odd Taxi is more than that.
These characters… seem real. These characters seem relatable. And their lives, their struggles… seem so human. I can’t exactly pinpoint what it did right, but the characters are just so similar to people that I see around me, but are more than that. They have some depth.
And, these characters are just living their lives! Day after day, just a few moments happen here and there, and mostly they’re just doing what they’ve been doing, until something happens and suddenly, they’re advancing the plot.
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Final Thoughts about Odd Taxi
Anime is different than Hollywood or any other storytelling industry. It got its own ways of doing things. And, it, most of the time, just doesn’t hit real most of the time. Their struggles sure are really human and mature, but still, there’s just some pinch of aura in there that tells us exactly that something like this can’t really happen in real life.
And I guess that’s where Odd Taxi shines the most. It made this story believable.
It’s obviously a murder-mystery, but it’s more than that. The murder is not in the center of the things. The nuance of the daily lives of these characters and the way they intertwined into a fleshed story is.
And that’s it from my side. Bookmark our website for more amazing content coming in future…
