Kakurenbo

Kakurenbo is a one-shot ova and is Yamatoworks first attempt at an anime. And as the title suggests, its an OVA about hide and seek. But like any good anime out there theres a lot of rules and twists to this 30 minute show. Thirty minutes isn't enough time to flesh out character backgrounds and a deep story but it gives out the rules and punishments of the game all in the beginning of the show. And that gives this show a lot of points from me considering how confusing and crazy the show gets right away. For example one of the rules gets ... broken even before the game begins. But it all will start to make sense toward the end.

As for the characters, they're all grade school children but they all have their own unique style and look. For instance, one kid has earrings big enough to have a kanji symbol on it, another has a mowhawk, etc. Regardless these kids arent your typical type of kids but I don't think this show is aimed toward a young audience considering the graphic nature of this OVA. Well its not a graphic violence but more of a psycho thriller. Which is pretty unique since you dont see these types of anime being produced as much. But back to the characters, they all wear fox masks as a requirement to play the game. I'm assuming this is a move to save money on animation, or it can be to increase the scare factor of the show. Which brings me to the art and animation of the show.

Apparently it took the production team 6 months to produce this one episode, and you can see that most of their work was put into the art and animation of this show. It looks like most of the show was hand drawn but the characters are a mix of cell-shading and hand drawn animation. As you well know this combination usually looks pretty bad, but surprisingly they managed to make it look really REALLy good in this show. The antagonists are all vibrant and oozing evil, neon lights all have a soft neon glow, posters on abandoned walls are written out with care, and even heaps of trash and debris have their own beauty to them. The detail to the background artwork is just insane it appears they put in just as much work to the backgrounds as they did to the characters.

As for the sound effects and voice acting, one turns out VERY EXCELLENT and the other turns out VERY mediocre. The sound effects are top notch and set the mood all perfectly. Almost a little too perfect. Still air can be heard, buzzing of neon lights, even the dilapidated buildings that make the setting all creak and crack with antique clarity. At times, the sound will actually make you jump if you get too into the show. On the other hand, the voice acting is mediocre at best. Most of the time they don't even speak, they mostly run and scream in fear. Two of the kids don't even speak at all. But where there is no dialog, they're usually some sort of suspenseful, creepy, or downright ominous song brooding over the show.

As usual, my review is starting to becoming longer than the whole show itself. Overall, the show is a great psychological thriller who is very open minded to unique shows. This show is obviously full of holes and inconsistencies, but the whole experience will still be exciting every time i watch it. And I've watched it 4 times already :)

The time has come to start horror anime month in earnest. First up we have Kakurenbo, a short film from 2005. It was done by Yamato Works, written & directed by Morita Shuuhei. 

Story:

There's a mysterious game of hide and seek played by seven children in fox masks. There's just one problem. Every child who plays the game vanishes. Rumour says that they're spirited away by demons or possibly creepy old guys with worn down ice cream vans. We see various groups. A pair of twin brothers, a trio, a pair of friends and a girl on her own. Giving us eight players for the game. 

The ... biggest problem with the film is a very simple one. There's a real lack of investment. The film isn't long enough for us to get to know or care about the characters or what happens with them. The trio seem to be there for no adequately explored reason. The twin brothers never speak and have absolutely no motivation. The main pair have some motivation, to find the main protagonist's missing sister. And while that is understandable at a basic level, it's kind of weak in terms of getting the audience invested when you never see the siblings interact. 

I will give some credit. Having a twisted area of the city where a bunch of children are fleeing and hiding for their lives is a potentially good set up. I also appreciate that the ending is allowed to be a horror ending. It doesn't hold back or try to be nice and sanitised. So, that's something. 

Characters:

I've already somewhat covered this, but the characters are really the big problem. In order for you to have a strong horror work, you have to get the audience to care about the characters. Spend some time with them, develop them and then put them in peril when you've built up that investment. In this, they try for a very short, clean narrative but in order to achieve that they sacrifice any potential for characterisation. You don't give a shit what happens to these kids because you know virtually nothing about them. They're simply too dull. Even if they aren't actively obnoxious, it's still a bit like trying to care about a slice of dry white bread that's been left on the counter. 

Art:

In terms of art, I'll credit Kakurenbo with not falling into the too common horror pitfall of having a bunch of over the top gore and violence. Because, like I talked about with Elfen Lied last year, that's not scary. It's just ridiculous and quickly loses its impact. I may not give this film credit for being great horror, but I will gladly give it credit over the gore festival films that just have no sense of subtlety. And the Cel-shaded style does look pretty decent. Although it might not be the most suitable style for a horror work. The atmosphere around the city and the demon designs are pretty good.

Sound:

The acting is decent enough. We have both Takeuchi Junko & Suzuki Masami in major roles. They may not be at their best in this since the characters are so mundane but they manage to turn out performances that are all right. Which is also how I'd describe the music. It's okay. 

Ho-yay:

None of these characters are developed enough to have interactions that come across as potentially romantic. I honestly don't even know if these kids are old enough for that to be much of a concern with them. We seriously know that little about them. 

Final Thoughts:

This is a horror film that might be effective for actual children who are used to media having under-developed one-note characters. If I were watching this as a ten year old, it would probably scare me. The problem is this isn't a film intended for that audience. It looks to be made for the younger end of the shounen spectrum IE, teenagers. And with teenagers, I don't think it's going to work all that well. But if you want to experience the atmosphere and watch a bunch of children get chased down by demons, by all means give it a try. For myself, I'll give it a 5/10. I've certainly seen worse horror, on many occasions, but I also can't call this a good one. It's just kind of middling. 

There are 2 reasons to write a review.

1. Is this anime for you?
A: If you are easy to trick and get lost in atmosphere quite often, or don't watch horror much or are frightened easily then yes.

Now part 2 is justify why you hate something to the people who love it. (Fair enough since you should at least provide good reasoning for liking or hating something.) Past this part has SPOILERS.


It is a game of 7 children. There are 8 children. This is the start. Gee, WONDER WHO THE 8TH IS!? Also, she looks exactly like the one kids sister (despite wearing a ... mask), and they all wear fox masks. Now they spend 16 minutes running around the city looking for the girl (8th child) as well as being chased by monsters. During which period, they find a poster with 4 monsters and a fox in the middle.

Right then I stopped the movie, walked to my brother's room and explained to him That I'm watching a OVA in which there are kids running around with a fox mask, an extra kid pulling a Silent Hill 2, and that the fifth monster was a fox. We said IN UNISON "She's it". She literally is "It" btw. To catch the children. Then after 16 minutes elapse, we get to see that SHE IS THE MONSTER! Oh wow, shocker on shock street. They still feel the need to then explain that however. Then she says "When we play Hide And Seek the city gets brighter, but only for a minute". Right then I said "She's using them as batteries" then that's revealed, as if that's a surprise. Then it's revealed the last child is it, go figure.

So in addition to being 100% predictable, how is the atmosphere since that's a key aspect of horror! It's not great. The music is poor, it's often annoyingly dark despite being animated, the creatures are not that scary, the characters are not particularly likable. They're UNLIKABLE CHILDREN, how is that possible!? Probably because they're soulless, in a 20 minute production, designed primarily to serve as fodder for the monsters.

The only thing it does well is somehow make 3d cell shading not look horrible for 20 minutes.

So I guessed the plot, I wasn't afraid or creeped out despite watching it at midnight in a dark room, and it didn't entertain me. Enjoy! I am being generous with my rating.