Kakushigoto Episode 9

Kakushigoto Episode 9

Your Lie in December

This week’s episode title is an obvious reference to the series Your Lie in April. I won’t say what the lie in that series is because it would be a major spoiler, but Kakushi’s lie in December is that the Godansha (Kodansha) publishing company’s end-of-year party isn’t actually happening.

But before we get to the party, let’s go through some other parts of the episode.

At the beginning of the episode, before Hime knows what a chandelier is, Kakushi mentions that the end of the year is when sensei are running around trying to finish their work. And this bit of information leads to a couple of good gags throughout the episode.

My favorite gag of this week’s episode is one of these, and it’s when one of Hime’s friends is listing off all the professions the word sensei can refer to. Specifically, I liked how she didn’t classify mangaka as artists, but instead put them in a (lower) class of their own.

Kakushi and Hime with their Christmas tree from the anime series Kakushigoto
Kakushi and Hime with their Christmas tree

I’d also like to get the “present” timeline discussion out of the way right now as well. This time we see one of Kakushi’s assistants, Aogu Shiji, working in a bookstore. That’s important because if Kakushi was still around, this probably wouldn’t be the case.

The customer he rings up buys a book about mangaka who have disappeared, and we see that Kakushi’s name is on the cover as one of said mangaka. That’s another important clue, but then Shiji comments that it isn’t true. So, where has Kakushi gone?

Well, from the next episode preview it would appear that Kakushi was either injured or fell ill. So this seems to be implying that Kakushi didn’t “disappear,” but rather something happened to him which has ended his mangaka career.

The Party isn’t Happening

The fact that the Godansha publishing company’s holiday party isn’t happening this year is a big deal — at least to Kakushi’s assistants. Kakushi didn’t want to go anyway, so it’s not that big of a deal for him. However, he didn’t want to break the news to his assistants because he knew it would destroy their morale.

And, of course, leave it to Tomaruin to let the secret out.

Kakushi's assistants after learning there is no party from the anime series Kakushigoto
Kakushi’s assistants after learning there is no party

What I really liked about this scene is that you really got a sense of the personalities of each of Kakushi’s assistants based on their reactions to this news. Shiji looks like he’s about to quit, Keshi has gone into shock, Rasuna is having a breakdown, and Ami is just dead inside.

It might seem odd for me to say that I like how each of these supporting characters has their own personality. They’re different characters, so of course they each have their own personality. But what’s really impressive about them is that we have such a good understanding of their personalities from so little content.

These characters don’t really have a lot of screen time and lines overall. And yet we know them all well enough to understand that their reactions to the cancellation of the party are perfect fits for their personalities.

How to Spot a Mangaka

In the end, Kakushi, his assistants, Hime, and even Tomaruin end up going to the holiday party of another publisher Kakushi has worked with in the past. I don’t remember the name of this one off the top of my head and I’m not going to go back into the episode to find it.

When we got to this part of the episode, though, I had just one question: What happened to Nadila? You may be thinking that Nadila didn’t need to attend because Kakushi came to pick Hime up and bring her to the party so there was no need for a babysitter.

However, if that’s what you’re thinking, then you’re forgetting that the reason Nadila was invited in the first place was simply that Hime wanted her to come. Did everyone — including Tomaruin for some reason — bail on Nadila and leave her at the Karaoke place alone?

The mystery of Nadila aside, the party act of the episode had a few good gags as well. There were all the talent scouts attempting to recruit Hime, causing Kakushi to become distressed. And there was also the fact that Tomaruin crashed the party and needed an escape route.

Tomaruin disguised as a mangaka from the anime series Kakushigoto
Tomaruin disguised as a mangaka

Seeing a bunch of mangaka pointing and laughing at Tomaruin as he was disguised as a mangaka was pretty good. But, this gag about mangaka being dirty degenerates is a trope you’ve probably seen before — and it’s one I find particularly interesting because I’ve never seen a mangaka like that.

Obviously, it’s self-deprecating humor and not meant to be a realistic portrayal of (most) mangaka. However, I like how it couples with the other trope we often see about manga (and light novel) editors basically being slave drivers. On one hand, you have the free-spirited mangaka who doesn’t care about deadlines or looking nice, and on the other, you have “the man.”

Although Tomaruin doesn’t exactly fit into this trope. He’s a dunce, but he still looks down on mangaka like any editor worth their salt should.

Conclusion

What did you think of Kakushigoto episode 9? Do you think a disco ball counts as a chandelier? What do you think happens to Kakushi to cause him to be injured or become ill? And, most importantly, where did Nadila go? I like to think she’s doing Karaoke on her own, but let me know your thoughts in the comments.

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My review of the next episode is available here.

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