Kakurenbo

There really isn't a whole lot to this 30 minute "movie" but what's there is decent enough. If you're into spooky horror you may even get a little more mileage out of this. I rated this an 7 because it does all you could ask it to do in its runtime: Set up its premise, give a chunk of the characters a bit of personality, and create a good atmosphere. The art is something I can't rate to be honest because the copy of this I watched was presented in glorious 144p Potatocam. I do think it could have been nice to look at though ... if it had higher video quality, there seemed to be a bunch of CGI though. The sound was...there...nothing crazy but it did the job. Honestly, go into this expecting an episode of some spooky tv show and you should be decently satisfied.

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.