Ookami Kakushi

Title: Ookami Kakushi Genre: Horror, Mystery, Drama, Psychological Rating: 5.5/10

Summary: A 15 year old boy, Hiroshi Kuzumi, has recently moved into a new town in the mountains. The town is separated into new and old streets by the river, and many mysterious local cultures still remain. Although confused and enjoying his new life, one person kept her distance from him: class committee member Kushinada Nemuru. In their few encounters she gave him a word of advice: "Stay away from the old streets."

Review: Ookami Kakushi (just so everyone is clear) was based off a video game  made for the PSP. Although I didn’t learn about this till later, and quite frankly don’t believe it caused it be a bad anime, I felt I should let you know for the sake of information. Ookami Kakushi started off rather strangely, which was great for a mystery. I was in a state of curiosity, disgust, and wonder. From my earlier post, I gave a small explanation for why I was on the fence about watching this anime. The creepiness factor in the earlier episodes did dissipate, and made it bearable to watch. Normally a mystery is supposed to be creepy, but the man-rape really made me cringe. I understand why it was implemented into the anime, but it could have been a little more tastefully. Overall though, I didn’t really get into the anime. I wasn’t hoping for the next episode to come out, and actually waited a day or two before watching the latest episode. The character models were pretty poorly done. I wasn’t attached to any of the characters whether the emotion I felt toward them be envy or hatred. The protagonist Hiroshi Kuzumi was rather annoying. I couldn’t stand how he had trouble putting two pieces of the puzzle together. His attitude throughout the anime was nothing short of an emotional crybaby. The series actually made fun of his irritating attitude in the final episode. I felt that quite a bit of the mystery wasn’t explained properly, or at least the small details that I took note of when watching. I understand that some series tend to leave you wondering after the mystery has been “solved”, but I felt Ookami Kakushi simply forgot to explain it. Finally, the series had very minor twists, and was rather predictable for me. The final episode had a feeling of “and now everything is normal” and quickly turned the anime into a comedy. The sad part about this is I felt the anime would have been better if the whole series was made into a comedic mystery, like Scooby-Doo. The art style as I said earlier was nothing special. The backgrounds seemed low budget, and the characters seemed to be disproportional. I did like some of the costume designs, so it wasn’t a complete loss. The soundtrack was alright, nothing memorable. They did do a good job keeping the music tie into the mystery atmosphere. However, I don’t plan on getting the OST any time soon.

Final statements: For the genre the anime did a below average job. As I said, I kind of enjoyed the filler final episode more than the actual series, never a good thing. Anyone who is looking for a real mind-blasting anime don’t get your hopes up. A rather boring storyline with mediocre characters is never a good mix. Avoid watching.