Kakushigoto Episode 1

Kakushigoto Episode 1

Secrets / Wishes

I couldn’t find the title of this first episode, so I’m just going to assume it’s “Hidden Things” since that’s technically the English name of this series. But anyway, here we are with the first episode review for Kakushigoto, which I wasn’t sure I was going to be reviewing weekly until I watched it.

Even before this season began, I knew Kakushigoto was going to be the best anime — and after watching episode 1 I think that was a safe bet. The reason I knew it was going to be good is because the two main characters are voiced by some of my favorite voice actors, Hiroshi Kamiya and Rie Takahashi.

I still like Kana Hanazawa as a female voice actor more than Rie, but Rie is definitely up there.

This series also has some other fairly popular voice actors you may know, such as Emiri Katou, Maaya Uchida, and Daisuke Namikawa just to name a few.

18-year old Hime Gotou riding the train from the anime series Kakushigoto
18-year old Hime Gotou riding the train

This first episode sets up the concept of the story with an introductory scene which takes place in the “present.” In this scene, Hime Gotou has turned 18, and for her birthday her father has given her the key to his secret lair where he keeps his work.

Up until this point, Hime didn’t know what her father did for a living, and on this day she learns that he’s a hentai, or at least ecchi, mangaka (manga author/artist). We then go back in time, and the rest of the series is going to be about Kakushi Gotou hiding this secret from his daughter because he thinks she’ll think less of him for it.

I should also mention that the manga for this series just finished in March if you’re interested in checking it out.

Kakushi Gotou

I guess I can’t really talk about Kakushi Gotou without first explaining kakushigoto (and kaku shi-goto). Basically the series title, the protagonist’s name, and the protagonist’s secret he’s hiding from his daughter are all one giant play on words.

Kakushi Gotou is the protagonist of the series. Kakushigoto means secret. And kaku shi-goto means profession or work. So Kakushi Gotou’s kakushigoto is his kaku shi-goto.

And, himegoto can also mean secret, while Hime Gotou is Kakushi Gotou’s daughter — which I guess is referencing that she’s the one he’s keeping this secret from.

If you’re familiar with my love of the Monogatari series, you’ll know that I really enjoy Japanese wordplay. So of course, this whole Kakushigoto thing is highly amusing to me. I don’t much care for English puns, but if you make an anime series that’s just one giant pun, I’m all in.

Kakushi Gotou drawing from the anime series Kakushigoto
Kakushi Gotou drawing

So speaking of the Monogatari series, you may have noticed that Kakushi is is voiced by Hiroshi Kamiya, the same guy who voices Koyomi Araragi. What I like about this is that so far, Kakushi really does look like an older Araragi, and he almost acts like him too.

He doesn’t have the same, dry, internal monologue that Koyomi has, but the way he reacts to various situations is pretty similar. And based on Koyomi’s personality, I could see him ending up as an ecchi mangaka — although that’s more of a Nadeko thing.

Also, Hiroshi voices Nozomu Itoshiki, the protagonist of Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei (which has been on my list of anime to watch for a very long time). I bring this up because Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei is also written by the same author as Kakushigoto, Kouji Kumeta.

Meguro River Detective Agency

I don’t know if the Meguro River Detective Agency is going to be something which is carried throughout the series, but I hope it is. This is the make believe detective agency created by Hime and three of her friends, Silvia, Hina, and Riko, in order to find out the identity of the man who saved a cat from drowning.

Of course, that man is none other than Kakushi. So while he’s trying to hide his true identity from his daughter, she and her friends are trying to reveal the identity of a “hero” who turns out to also be him.

But what I really like about the parts of the episode which focused on Hime and her friends is that you get the feeling Hime wouldn’t really care that her father is an ecchi mangaka if she found out. She loves her father no matter what and just wants him to be happy.

Hime Gotou from the anime series Kakushigoto
Hime Gotou

This idea is really driven home by two very different scenes. The first is when Hime is asking her friends about a project she can do at home to make her dad happy. She ends up writing down a wish for him to one day become important because that’s what she believes he wants.

The other scene is when the Meguro River Detective Agency heads out in search of the hero and stumbles into a Starbucks. Here, all of Hime’s friends are very into their fantasy and believe the Starbucks is some witch’s lair which serves drinks to monsters. Hime, however, recognizes that it’s just a Starbucks, which shows that she’s more mature and down to Earth.

Really, Hime would probably be proud of her father’s profession considering every adult in the series, including Hime’s teacher, is a huge fan of Kakushi’s work. Kind of like the opposite of Ao-chan.

Conclusion

So far, I love Kakushigoto, and I’m sure it will end up being my highest rated anime of the season. It’s a bit too early to say it will be my highest rated of the year considering some other series I know are coming out, but I expect it to be a contender.

But what did you think of the first episode? Are you as optimistic about the series as I am? Is there another anime you expect will be the best of the season? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of the next episode is available here.

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