Kakushigoto Episode 2

Kakushigoto Episode 2

Beach Sandals and B4 / Don’t Place, Don’t Draw, Don’t Finish Up

Kakushigoto episode 2 was probably better than episode 1. I can’t really pin down any one thing that made this episode better or the previous episode worse, but that’s just how I feel. But since putting my thoughts into words for you to read is kind of my thing, I guess I have to try.

In this episode we got to see Kakushi being an even crazier parent than before. And while I get that a lot of people are probably drawn to this series by the fact that Hime is cute, Kakushi is really the star of the show. When I say that I don’t simply mean that he gets the most screen time (although he does), but more the fact that everything is from his perspective.

It’s only during the opening scene of episode 1 and the the closing scene of this episode where we really get inside Hime’s head. Most of the time we don’t know what she’s thinking, and that’s something this episode made a point of which I want to touch on later.

An Indian curry chef arriving by taxi from the anime series Kakushigoto
An Indian curry chef arriving by taxi

Probably my favorite gag of the episode was when Kakushi was attempting to make sure everything went right for Hime during her school field trip. Obviously all of his attempts to make his daughter fit in with the other students failed, but his failures weren’t the entertaining part. The entertaining part was the lengths he went to.

For example, when he learns that the children are going to catch rhinoceros beetles, he has one of his employees go to a store to buy the biggest one he can find. The idea here is that Kakushi is worried that Hime will be the only student not to catch one, so he’s going to plant a large one somewhere she can find it.

Also when Kakushi learns Hime is in charge of curry spices, he hires an Indian curry chef to take a taxi out into the mountains in order to “help.”

Father and Daughter

To anyone who has watched this series up to this point, it should be obvious that Kakushi and Hime are complete opposites. Kakushi is constantly thinking and worrying about Hime, and Hime is apparently thinking about nothing at all.

I loved how over the course of the episode Kakushi went from denying there was anything wrong with Hime staring blankly into space to accepting the fact his daughter might be on the slow side when she asks him to sew her some glasses.

Also, while this isn’t really related to the relationship between Kakushi and Hime, I still think he’s basically just an adult Araragi. The crazy ways Kakushi overreacts when Hime is involved reminds me so much of Araragi interacting with Mayoi. And there’s no way the image below isn’t supposed to be referencing the fact that Hiroshi Kamiya voices both Kakushi and Araragi.

Kakushi Gotou from the anime series Kakushigoto
Kakushi Gotou

Hime is a strange character simply because we know so little about what she thinks of the world around her. We know she loves her father, and that compared to her friends she’s relatively mature. But as this episode showed, even Kakushi doesn’t know what she’s really thinking at any given moment.

Is she interested in learning more about his job? Although she’s been told that he’s just some salaryman, it doesn’t appear that she’s ever pressed her father for more information. And how does she feel about the fact that she doesn’t have a mother? Does that bother her? Does she even remember her mother?

The ending of the episode gives us a little glimpse into Hime’s mind when she admits that she never really pressed her father for information on anything — so there could be much more than just his job he was hiding from her.

Where’s Kakushi?

Something I didn’t really think to much about from the scene at the start of episode 1 was the fact that Kakushi was nowhere to be found. It was as though he gave Hime the key to his storage room and then left her to find out what was inside on her own.

That explanation made sense to me considering the fact I don’t really see Kakushi wanting to be there when his daughter learns of his profession. However, the ending scene of this episode appeared to be hinting at a darker backdrop to that opening scene.

Is Kakushi dead by the time Hime turns 18?

Pictures of Hime from the anime series Kakushigoto
Pictures of Hime

If you’ve seen Violet Evergarden, the boxes which Hime finds in the closet should make sense. These boxes are all numbered up to 16, and they each apparently contain a present for Hime. We can assume they were left behind by Hime’s mother upon her passing, and Hime is supposed to open one each year.

However, it’s odd that at the age of 10 is when she discovers these boxes. According to Hime, she opened boxes 1 through 10, implying her father never gave them to her before for whatever reason. But when Hime opens Kakushi’s studio once she’s 18, she finds four more numbered boxes.

We can assume Kakushi put these boxes together for his daughter after the events of this episode when he learns how to sew. But, isn’t that kind of strange for him to do that if he knows he’ll still be around? And why is his studio abandoned? It looks like nobody has used it in years.

Also, Hime is referring to how she never asked him more questions as if she’s unable to ask him them anymore. So is Kakushi dead?

Conclusion

I’d like to think Kakushigoto isn’t going to “hit us right in the feels” like that, but honestly, at this point that’s what I’m expecting. Either way I’ll enjoy the series, but I’m really interested to see which direction it ends up going in. What do you think? Is Kakushi dead in the “present?” And if not, where is he? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of the next episode is available here.

2 Replies to “Kakushigoto Episode 2”

  1. Thank you so much for this synopsis. This really helped my confusion. Please continue making such synopsis!

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