Odekake Kozame

"A cute little shark in her wonderful adventure: the anime"—that was the impression I got whenever I watched this episode.

Odekake Kozame may appear to be just another short, cute anime to the casual viewer, but don't let its appearance fool you. Despite its brief 1-2 minute runtime, it masterfully tells a compelling story about a little shark girl named Kozame embarking on an adventure. Even then, the show has quite strong story building for each episode. The show itself is great to watch whenever you want a little "kawaii"-ness to your daily life.

Anyway, in this review, I'll try to score the show in 7 aspects: ... story (80), character design (60), acting (50), visual-CGI (40), theme (30), sound-music (10), and enjoyment bias (30). The final score is weighted average based on the score I provided.


Story & World Building: 9
The show's limited runtime might seem restrictive for world-building around Kozame's adventures, but with a total of 60 episodes released, it's safe to say the show executes its story quite well. Despite its brief episodes, Odekake Kozame manages to develop a charming and engaging narrative.

Personally, there's not much more to say about the story—it’s a typical Slice of Life + CGDCT-esque series instead.

Additionally, keep your eyes on the ending song scene! You'll find some easter eggs that also kept progressing each episode. It is really a nice touch to give Kozame more personality, ngl.


Character Design: 10
It's Kozame, the little shark, of course she's cute. XD

Joke aside, for its simple art design, the design of the characters appeared on the show did successfully made the show to give a cute, calming impression.


Acting: 10
I personally think that Kana Hanazawa did a perfect job to voice Kozame with her soothing, cute vibe... although Kozame talks nonsense lmfao. And yes, only humans can talk properly, shocker.

Albeit that, seiyuu of side casts performed well done and matches to their respective character design.


Visual & CGI: 9
If you've seen some special shorts (like in mini/chibi anime), this anime exactly have the same art style. While the previous statement is true, it's a perfect match for this SoL-Adventure-esque show.

No need flashy art to lure newcomers, or adding unnecessary CGI to aid production, it did really great job to convey the vibe they want to share about.


Theme Accuracy: 10
Does this show is telling about Kozame's daily adventure/first errand? Yes, 'till the end. Was this show a SoL? Indeed. Is this show great to watch whenever you feel down or want something cute? Absolutely!

Additionally, this score section was more an extended scoring from Story since I believed that Synopsis, Genres & Themes, and even PV can affect this score as first impression, so you can dismiss this score instead.


SFX & Music, Theme Song: 8
Did you ever heard a little shark singing in gibberish? If no, this show can give that impression! XD

SFX wise, personally think that some factors need to be improve even more, so it can give watcher more "depth" to the show, not just with Kozame's ◯▲☆■～ (aka her gibberish) noises.


Enjoyment Bias: 10
It's a cute show where's the episode length is good enough to heal yourself. Heck, it already convinces me to rewatch this show whenever I feel wanted to, or when I feel down—it's not surprising it does help me to get back where I supposed to be cheerful. Plus, I listed this series and Kozame as my personal favorites already... So that's explains why it got 10/10 score in this section.

It's recommended to watch this series 1 episode a day, so you won't feel missing something hopefully.


Conclusion: ★10 (w: 9.53, avg: 9.43)

This anime was super adorable and super short. I kind of wished that the actual episode content was a little longer. The titular baby shark had a cute personality and got into a lot of adventures that a child just old enough to go on their first errands might. It was fun to see the world building in the series and to use it as a means of listening to Japanese more than reading subtitles. I really enjoyed it and I'm glad that there will be more episodes in the future.

If you like anime like Goma-chan the baby seal and Chitose the penguin chick, ... then you will likely enjoy Kozame-chan the baby shark. If you like anime that lasts a bit longer than a minute and a half including ending credits, then you might not enjoy it so much.

Odekake Kozame is about the adventures of a cute baby shark, Kozame-chan. It's quite simple, both in story and animation, yet it provides me with absurd amount of joy. The anime does really well conveying the feelings of Kozame-chan through simple yet effective expressions, sound effects, and wonderful voice acting from Hanazawa Kana.

Every episode, Kozame-chan is outside, exploring the little joys in the world. From eating ice cream to seeing rainbow for the first time to helping a friendly-frog cross the bridge, there's a lot packed in to 60 seconds of animation everyday. It combines the overlooked yet pleasant surprises of life with a great ... deal of optimism.

Then every episode ends with the 30 second song sung by Kozame-chan about staying positive while exploring the world. The lyrics of the song sums up the anime:

"Even on a clear day,
Even on a rainy day,
Let's look for new things
No matter how far we have to go.
Every new trail we stroll
And every new part of town we discover,
When it's done with a smile,
It's gonna be a beautiful world!"

Overall Odekake Kozame is a 90-second long weekly dose of joy that will cheer up anyone. It's a cartoon for kids (or "anime" if you insist) yet it's genuinely a great show, even for adults. There's a hint of nostalgia and optimism in it that is really charming. I recommend it everyone give it a shot.