I often read that Japan animation industry has been becoming creatively sterile. People point out to productions becoming increasingly intended to aesthetically appeal to broader ranges of to-be customers’ tastes, rather than studios and staffs being in them for the sake of art.

Many also point out to narratives becoming excessively focused at easily digestible material, such as teen romance and isekai fantasy, rather than dare to write more thought-provoking stories and perhaps even alienate a fair part of the watchers, for the sake of trying something different. Many others point towards more ruthless business practices and mistreatment of staff (especially animators), stripping the last out of each and every incentive to go above and beyond themselves.

As for me, I have been detached from those topics and discussions for a very while, I do not often watch seasonal productions and I do not have access to enough data to provide for a more objective outlook. Plus, the animation industry was never charity to begin with and in the end, commercial anime are both art and product.

But I can clearly state this: works such as Odd Taxi, the current object of this review, can run against the idea of anime industry decaying as a whole.

Odd Taxi interweaves two overarching mysteries: one is related to the protagonist. Another is a big-picture mystery on the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of a high school girl.

On the protagonist Odokawa, a brief introduction: he is a flat, introverted, sharp-tongued 41 years old taxi driver walrus. He is more than a bit odd, and with a mysterious and apparently troubled background. During his taxi work, he meets and discusses with many characters, until he gradually gets pulled to the big-picture mystery.

His condition and past form the more “personal” part of the mystery, one which can actually be “solved” before one reaches the conclusion, not unlike in a whodunit. It does require quite a bit of attention to detail though, perhaps even revisiting previous scenes to unite the pieces, and even so one can fall out of line in their judgment of Odokawa.

Other characters in Odd Taxi are a mixed bag. Some are from sectors of the entertainment industry (e.g. idols), others are Odokawa’s peers. Some are well-developed (e.g. the alpaca girl) for their length, though most are one-dimensional as there is hardly enough time for the show to invest evenly in everyone. Some just steal more of their spotlight.

All characters become entangled in the above-mentioned big-picture mystery. This mystery is much more easily explained; although one of its aspects on the girl’s ultimate fate raises too many questions. Not going to spoil, but I can discuss if you have already watched the show.

A final note on the overall mystery aspect: there was genuine attention behind not making it too easy to solve and to mostly make sense. E.g. a red herring was used and there was a very funny use of the Chekhov's Gun principle.

Some sociological and psychological themes connected to contemporary life are interplaying, such as social media amplifying narcissistic and delusional tendencies. There is plenty of dry and often caustic humor, and many memorable and actually witty lines that deviated a lot from being tropey. I was almost surprised at the beginning that this show lacked a comedy genre tag.

One point of criticism is that despite its merits, this story ultimately can bite off more than it chews. For example, non-idol aspects of the entertainment industry were hardly built on, e.g. given the presence of a rakugo master and a duo of comedians competing with others. Instead, the first character was connected extremely shallowly to the show and the two comedians were hardly seen “in action”, rather than solely discussing on their fans feedback and arguing on how comedy should be. This point is mostly related to the series’ length as it is a 13 episode series with too many themes and characters crammed together. If this were a 24 episode series it could have worked even better.

As apparent, the characters are depicted as anthropomorphic animals. This could be off-putting to some people’s aesthetics, but nonetheless I would insist that even those people give the show a chance, and for a good reason.

Quite frankly, though, I’m rather mixed towards visual production on its whole. Some backgrounds did catch my eye, but animation was often poor. CGI especially was neither technically smooth nor in harmony with the rest of the scenery, standing out like a sore thumb.

Soundtrack and voice acting are matching the tone and context of this modern mystery, not too much to say. One complain though was on a gangster who raps all the time instead of normally talking, a choice I found to be too “just because” and clumsy.

To conclude, presence of anime such as Odd Taxi run against the idea of the anime industry decaying as a whole. Its mystery narrative provides for an original spectacle and actually can push watchers to think, all without being too alienating. There are flaws tied to its format and it's not pristine in technical aspects either, but to call it sterile would be unfair.