Daijoubu

I’m not as negative about Ookamikakushi as Taiyaki, who can’t tell what genre it was. As a mystery it was fairly straightforward and easy to figure out in advance. But there was still a degree of suspense, as you see what happens to the characters and how they react to things. Ultimately, I think it’s about enjoying the spooky mood, as long as you aren’t expecting Higurashi. Certainly there are similar elements to the same author’s Higurashi (a town with secrets, an important festival), but the plot is much simpler and without the multiple variations on the story.

The characters were certainly not very developed. The younger sister in a wheelchair was not really used much, except to get some violin lessons. She was cute but her attitude was often bad, so I felt a disconnect between her appearance and her voice. The male lead was typically boring. The weight of the drama fell on the two central girls, Nemuru and Isuzu (Kaname was there simply to play the Nancy Drew part). Isuzu reminded me of Hikaru from Kimagure Orange Road, except her obsessive attachment to the main guy enters into the supernatural. Nemuru is the more mature and mysterious type, who also comes to like the main guy. Perhaps we could have had more of her psychological development, as she moves towards rebellion. Perhaps we could have also been given greater insights into what allowed her to resist an overpowering temptation, where other characters failed.

The strangest thing about this show were the Peach-Pit character designs. Perhaps they were a bit too cute for this particular plot line. They also seemed to lack life, being static a lot of the time. The father, Kuzumi Masaaki, for instance, not only looked weird, but seemed like a strange frozen mannequin when he was talking–very off-putting indeed! In the end, it had a lot of recycled elements and unconvincing character designs, but the plot was OK for a series that was, after all, only eleven episodes.