Kakushigoto Episode 5

Kakushigoto Episode 5

Everyone Gets Their Turn in the End

Of all the episodes so far, I think Kakushigoto episode 5 had my favorite gags. And somewhat surprising was that all of the gags I enjoyed the most from this episode involved Hime. Sure, Hime’s cute, but I didn’t really see her as the main comedic element of the series — that would be Kakushi.

The best gag from the first half of the episode involved both main characters, though. This was when Kakushi says he doesn’t want to be a judge for a manuscript competition even though it’s his duty, then he goes home and Hime mentions how performing your duty is important, and the next day he’s all gung-ho about doing it.

But my favorite part of that whole gag was Hime, a 10-year-old, saying that if people don’t perform their duties society is going to crumble.

Kakushi reading Kakeru's manuscript from the anime series Kakushigoto
Kakushi reading Kakeru’s manuscript

I’ve mentioned this multiple times in previous episode reviews, but Hime has a pretty interesting split in her personality. On one hand, as we see through this gag, she’s extremely mature for her age. But on the other, as we see when she gets stuck in a stack of boxes, she basically has zero brain function.

Moving back over to Kakushi, I also really liked the scene where he was attempting to give feedback on Kakeru’s manuscript. The fact that Kakushi is a mangaka and yet couldn’t give proper feedback was used as a gag, but it’s also a good representation of how difficult it is to explain things you’ve naturally learned through exposure or trial and error.

So while it’s funny that Kakushi can’t even explain his job to someone at first, the point here is that while he’s a professional, he had to learn his craft on his own.

You’re Spending the Night!

The second half of the episode is all about Kakushi having to be locked away by his editor so that some last-minute changes can be made to his manga. This is a trope commonly seen throughout anime in which editors are depicted, with one of my favorite depictions of the trope coming from A Sister’s All You Need.

It’s not too often that I link back to a review from 2017, I hope you appreciate how much the quality has improved.

But while Kakushi is locked in a hotel room with an ever-increasing number of his staff, Hime is “home alone.” Or at least Kakushi believes she’s home alone, because the nanny, Nadila, was only supposed to be there for two hours. However, Nadila returns in the end, and Hime too finds herself with an ever-increasing presence in the house.

Hime, Naru, and Nadila looking at a package from the anime series Kakushigoto
Hime, Naru, and Nadila looking at a package

Once again, Naru makes an appearance, and at this point I think she may be the most frequently seen supporting character outside of Kakushi’s company. And of course, that’s not a complaint. I think Naru is probably my favorite supporting character of the series, even though they’re all good in their own rite.

But the real reason I wanted to bring up both Nadila and Naru is that the two of them, along with Hime, created my favorite gag of the whole episode. As you should be well aware, Naru is an aspiring idol. And Hime has some ideas about how you’re supposed to act in front of an idol which set this gag up perfectly.

Upon learning that it’s Naru’s birthday, Hime is about to ask how old she is before remembering that you aren’t supposed to ask idols their age. However, Nadila then asks and Naru answers the question — leaving poor Hime to question everything she ever knew about idols and the world.

Where is Kakushi Gotou?

Over the past few weeks I’ve been going back and forth regarding what I think happened to Kakushi at the end of the series (in “present time” scenes at the end of the episodes). At first I thought Hime was visiting his dilapidated studio, meaning he was dead. Then it was revealed that’s actually his old house, so I changed my mind.

But at the end of this episode we get a scene which seems to imply that Kakushi is dead after all.

To set the scene, allow me to start by reminding you of something I mentioned a few episodes ago (I’m not sure in which episode review it was) which I didn’t think was supposed to be some big reveal. That is, of course, the fact that the boxes for Hime labeled 17 through 20 are from Kakushi, not Hime’s mother like boxes 1 through 16 were.

Kakushi wearing a bathrobe from the anime series Kakushigoto
Kakushi wearing a bathrobe

Based on Hime’s realization that this is the case in this episode, I think that was supposed to be a surprise for the viewers as well. But if you remember, those extra boxes were first shown to us at the end of the episode in which Kakushi decides to learn how to make presents for Hime himself, implying whatever is inside those boxes is made by him.

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, the fact that Hime is so overcome by emotion when she realizes these new boxes are from her father hints at the fact that he’s no longer around. The other boxes were presents from her dead mother, so the only reason I see her having this kind of response is if her father is now dead too.

I won’t be surprised if the next episode includes a scene that makes me change my mind again.

Conclusion

What did you think of Kakushigoto episode 5? Were the gags in this episode any better than those which have come before? And if not, which episode was your favorite so far? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of the next episode is available here.

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