Odd Taxi Episode 10 – Stalking

Whew, it’s been incredibly hot lately here in Minneapolis. Today’s considered a bit of a reprieve because it’s only getting into the upper 80’s Fahrenheit (around 32 Celsius). My Scandinavian body doesn’t do very well in this kind of environment (in fact, looking at the average temps in Norway, I can tell I come from that stock… anyway). I guess that makes this an ideal time to stay inside an watch more anime. I think maybe I made the same excuse during the winter during the polar vortex, but whatever, it’s always a good time for anime!

My husband and I actually caught up with SSSS.Dynazenon yesterday evening, and we were saddened to realize that there was only one episode left of the show. This time in the season is always a struggle for me, because the series I’ve enjoyed so much are all starting to wrap up. While there are almost always new anime series to look forward to, it can still be difficult to let go of something you’ve truly enjoyed. As the type of person who tends to settle comfortably into a routine after a while, though, not knowing what to expect from the future, even if it’s from something fun, like a hobby, can always be a little bit uncomfortable. Odd Taxi is another series that I’ll be really sad to see wrap up, even though I’m also dying to see how the story comes to a conclusion. I imagine I’ll be stopping and starting the final episode a few times while I’m watching it; that’s generally what will happen when I just don’t want something to end.

If, somehow, you’ve missed my previous posts on the show, they’re linked below for your convenience:

Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 4
Episode 5
Episode 6
Episode 7
Episode 8
Episode 9

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One thing I noticed when I was re-watching the last few episodes with my husband is that there’s an alternate version of the theme song that’s shorter and accounts for more storytelling time in the actual episode. I’m fairly certain I pointed it out in a previous episode’s post, but it occurs more than once. It’s a little bit like when a series just puts up a title screen without playing the OP, usually for a season/series finale: you know either something really memorable is about to happen, or there’s bound to be so much going on that they need to utilize each second they’re provided. This episode started off with the shorter version of the theme song… and yet it seemed to blaze by even more quickly than other episodes. I guess that’s what happens when you’re deeply enthralled with something.

Predators in the wild stalk their prey until the conditions are just right to strike, or at least that’s the idea; it takes a lot of energy to take down prey, and wasted energy in a trial of life-or-death can become dire very quickly. In this episode there seem to be several people ready to strike, although whether the conditions are favorable to do so is certainly up for discussion in most cases. Partway through this episode, Odokawa is struck by a revelation that the only way his mysterious gunman stalker could possibly know where to find him at any given time would be due to some kind of tracking device, which he finds buried in the back seat of his cab. Several episodes ago, Mitsuya (the black cat from Mystery Kiss) planted a cell phone there, and Odokawa realizes that the broken window he dealt with back around them was probably due to his stalker swapping the phone for a more permanent solution.

What’s interesting is that knowing this reveals Tanaka as a particularly inexperienced predator; not because the GPS idea is bad, but because he’s now prematurely “leaped from the bushes” so-to-speak multiple times and not been able to seal the deal, and it’s clear his resources are low. I was reading some of the episode discussions online about previous episodes once I caught up with the show, and there’s good reason to assume that Tanaka only has one bullet left in the revolver, assuming it was fully-loaded to begin with. Perhaps in America this wouldn’t be a big deal; just walk into Wal-Mart and grab a fresh box of ammo. But in Japan, where gun ownership is extremely tightly controlled to the point that regular people wouldn’t have access to a handgun, this is likely Tanaka’s last chance to accomplish what he’s trying to accomplish.

Contrast Tanaka’s floundering with Yano’s professionalism – he’s a truly cunning predator in spite of his idiosyncrasies (though porcupines aren’t traditionally meat-eaters… perhaps that’s why he has a polar bear and a canine around to do his bidding – his protective quills are both literal and figurative). As Yano plans to steal Imai’s winnings, he and his underlines perform some truly… troubling cyber-stalking in order to locate the hapless idol fan. It’s a bit unsettling how little bits of pictorial and video evidence are used to narrow down Imai’s location to the very apartment he’s recently moved into, like a lighting striking a lightning rod.

The unsettling thing about it is that the type of information that Imai is sharing online doesn’t seem on the surface to be all that informative. But background sounds, wallpaper, views from windows, and other small clues can be enough for some of the more motivated stalkers out there, whether they’re looking to steal lottery winnings or simply to make someone’s life miserable through misplaced, intense affection.

So… I’m a little bit curious about how Shirakawa located Odokawa’s cab, even though ultimately her being there probably saved his life (through Capoeira, no less). The point of Yamamoto directing Odokawa to a construction site was obviously to get him alone, and yet here’s this woman who holds a torch for him conveniently there in the nick of time. I’m not complaining about “plot holes” or anything, because philosophically I don’t really believe in that kind of thing; if the story is good, a few hand-wavy bits and pieces aren’t going to destroy the illusion for me as a viewer. But if there’s one thing I can say about this series it’s that so much of its story has felt very purposeful, so I’m curious whether this is one of the few bits of it that just isn’t.

Finally, there are some all-to-brief and very tantalizing scenes following Goriki, as he makes his way to Odokawa’s hometown. In one of the final scenes he seems to be talking with a school principal about Odokawa’s accident, and of course, of course the scene ends before anything truly revelatory is revealed. I’ll just have to remind myself that patience is a virtue. In any case, Goriki’s “hunger” for information about Odokawa seems to come from a place of caring or curiosity, but I can’t help but think it’s sort of odd for a person in a position of relative authority – in this case, a doctor – to use their privileged access to information to follow one of their patients around in order to sate their curiosity. On the other hand, I feel like our ability as the audience to gain more insight into Odokawa’s situation is very reliant on him doing so.

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As usual, this episode had some additional happenings. The biggest one was the reveal of Dobu’s heist plans (code name: ODDTAXI) to Odokawa, as well as the related bit of information that Odokawa has his hands in several aspects of the situation already. I won’t even attempt to recount the details of the plan here, but I’ll just mention that in order for Odokawa to accomplish his alternate set of goals – namely getting Dobu arrested and making sure Imai is safe – he’s become very reliant on several unreliable people. There’s also the Tanaka wild card that will absolutely factor in somehow. Despite the fact that he just wants to be left alone and for certain people to be safe, I think it difficult for anyone to juggle so many balls at once.

The other major reveal involves the body recovered from the bay, which has been identified as a certain “Mitsuya” from the up-and-coming idol group Mystery Kiss (maybe you’ve heard of them?). Obviously we’ve seen a “Mitsuya” throughout the series, but considering that the group members (other than Nikaidou) have been wearing masks during their performances it’s clear that the bait-and-switch that I’ve seen speculation about online is probably true. It appears that the next episode will likely go into some back story about the situation, and I can’t wait.

Other tidbits – Capoeira isn’t useless (I took great joy in seeing Shirakawa kick Yamamoto in the face). Satoshi (the high school kid and fan of Homo Sapiens) has his own comedy aspirations (I wonder if he and Shibagaki will eventually form a duo – Shibagaki certainly doesn’t seem interested right now). And Kuroda, an obvious member of the Yakuza, reveals to Odokawa that he was a suspect in the disappearance of the high school girl (and still might be). Let’s file all this stuff away for now.

I feel like I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention one minor detail that occurs when Yamamoto tries to strangle Odokawa with a belt. As Odokawa is struggling to breathe, he seems to have a flashback to being underwater. There have been several hints about his aversion to bodies of water throughout the series, and while I hasn’t talked much about reasoning it’s clear he has some sort of phobia. Is this related to the “accident” in his past that’s been brought up a few times? I’m sure if Goriki learns anything tantalizing, we might know more about that soon, too.

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Dang, only three weeks left? I feel like that’s a great amount of time to wrap everything up, but much too short for such a great, well-written series to exist. It’s the endless struggle of getting to watch great anime, I suppose. Thanks again for reading!