I have a lot I want to say about ODDTAXI but I want to write a non-spoiler review. This is because in my opinion the best part of this show is the plot. This is a review for people who have seen the show too, but I do not want to talk about the plot at all. The premise is ultimately a mystery story and the audience is tasked with solving two mysteries in this story simultaneously; one is a crime solving mystery that follows our main character Odokawa, and the other one is more psychological and follows Gouriki. I suspect the show is best viewed not knowing what is happening on either of these two fronts. That was what made this journey so enjoyable for me anyways.

I would say most of the show is dialogue, so ofc the dialogue itself stands out to me most. The fun of the show comes from the clever exchanges between characters, especially anything coming from Odakawa. He is a very perceptive and blunt protag, very likable, but you are not given a lot of information about him so a lot of his background is explored as you go. There is a ton of soliloquy and on the nose dialogue too, which I don't think is bad innately, but some moments are done better than others.

The dialogue is at it’s best when what is being said has double meanings, with the hidden meaning foreshadowing future reveals. You can really tell the author has put in the work and thought about his story from end to beginning. There are a lot of Chekhov's Guns in what characters say to each other, I found myself going back and relooking at dialogue after things were recontextualized. However, there are times when the show sidebars with a very fast and abrupt life lesson that it wants to teach a character and the audience at the same time. When the lesson lands, it hits and this form of delivery is appreciated; I appreciate feeling as if the author is talking directly to me because I am being touched by his words personally. But when it misses, I'm struck and confused by why these two characters are exchanging philosophies now. Looking back I remember feeling this way intensely during epi9 when Dobu was giving Taichi a lesson about narcissism… it was a great moment but in the most conspicuous setting at a very inappropriate time. Once you notice it's hard to unsee. Sometimes these moments themselves are very forced into a spot in the story or the content of the dialogue is very unnaturally on the nose, that it’s too obvious to suspend belief. Nevertheless, every time, the content of the lessons themselves were emotionally impactful and most likely affecting someone watching.

Aside from plot, the show’s biggest strength is all of the individual characters living their own independent lives. The story telling shines when you start to see how they all connected with each other. There were plenty of characters to relate to and everyone felt relatively real. My fav character was Yano, and there are too many great characters for anyone to come away with not picking a fav. But sometimes your best quality can get in your own way. The ensemble cast was too big for me to keep track of all of the important information for each supporting character. Imma take a guess and say there were at least 20 unique and important characters that I was juggling in my mind over the course of a 13epi season. Maybe more depending on who you think is important. It was not easy, however, I noticed two things in the show that helped me with this problem.

The first is kinda obvious but it is that everyone is a unique looking animal. It's easy for me to remember; the taxi driver is a walrus, the gangster is a baboon, the doctor is a gorilla, the nurse is a lamb, the cops are dogs, the friend is a monkey, ect. This ofc has an in-universe explanation, but think about it from a storytelling perspective. The author wanted to tell a mystery story with a lot of characters, each with only some information about the other, where they all connect with each other over time, in a tight small season; a choice like this was almost necessary to make all the characters unique and memorable. The other way is that Odakawa constantly reminds the audience who he is talking to by saying things like, for example, “oh you are the Mystery Kiss fan.” He will flat out declare the role the person is playing in the story out loud to the audience. While a little “odd”, this was really helpful because I would always remember someone's design, but not always their connection in the web of the story. I thought this was a great way to just point at what is relevant and keep going.

But even with all this happening, it was still, in the end, not enough for me to really feel like I picked up on everything that was being laid down in the show. The characters I ofc remember the best are the ones where I felt like the spotlight of the show was being taken off the stage and put onto the audience, like when a character’ story felt like mine own, or someone I knew. Arguably this was the greatest talent exhibited by the author. But there were just too many characters for these backstories to go over everyone, and some supporting characters I just forgot about. Another reason I was drowning in characters could have been bc I was so focused on the mystery and the hints and what the reveals meant in the larger story, that I wasn't focused enough on keeping track of all the supporting characters’ role. I spent most of my watching time trying to figure out “what was really going on.”

The last few episodes and especially the finale really delivers on explanations and gives you an extremely satisfying feeling when you walk away from the show. All the side stories you were following are relevant to the main story and you feel really rewarded for the time invested in them. I would recommend ODDTAXI to anyone who likes trying to solve the mystery along with the show or any crime drama fan or even surprisingly enough someone in need of some self reflection in their relationships and self image during our age of social media.

TL;DR
Take a clever and mysterious protag and have him do taxi cab confessions in a crime drama noir anime, you got ODDTAXI
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