ODDTAXI remains one of the most interesting mystery anime out there. With every single character in the show being an anthropomorphic animal, it's hard to ignore how the show tries to lure the viewer in by having both a unique art style and premise. And while the premise of the show is about how Odokawa, a simple taxi driver, is being accused of kidnapping one of his passengers, there is so much more going on behind the scenes.
Aside from the mystery central to the plot, the show also deals with the fact that every character is an animal — and how Odokawa views both the world and the people surrounding him.
While the show is filled with tons of mystery and undertones of something darker within the story, ODDTAXI shows itself more in terms of a worldview that is dependent on Odokawa himself. While he can be classified as your typical middle-aged grumpy character that has a cynical view of life, it's evident as the story dives deeper that he's more than that.
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Multiple POVs shed light on some questions that aren't as black and white as when we see them through Odokawa’s shrewd view of the world. A few episodes in, learn Hajime Tanaka wanted a pet bird. We also see him going into a pet shop with other animal characters walking their dogs, which begs the question: "Why is there even a pet shop, anyway?"
If everyone is an animal, why would a cat own a cat for a pet, or vice versa? This question also comes up when Goriki — Odokawa’s doctor — visits Odokawa’s landlady to ask about his past. Odokawa's landlady is an older dog who happens to have puppies outside playing in her backyard.
Those puppies would have to be her children because she herself is a dog, right? Though it would be weird to keep your actual children outside — and her puppies acted more like the conventional dog rather than the ones walking around in the series.
The inconsistencies between anthropomorphic animals and "normal" animals can't be written off as a simple mistake. There must be some reason behind this unique worldview and the oddities that grow with each and every episode. This can be investigated further when Goriki asks Odokawa to identify a character in a photograph only by looking at the character's back and he knows it's his friend — a white gibbon named Eji Kakihana — because of his animal figure.
This also goes for Shirakawa, a nurse he becomes closer to throughout the series, with his comment that "she's the only alpaca around" being something he states because it's rare to have a passenger such as herself in his taxi. The slight nuances, as well as the odd stares they give Odokawa for these comments, can be brushed off as him being eccentric.
But not everything can be pushed aside once the series nears its climax. The various comments Odokawa has made, his oddly sharp eye for people just by having a slight glance at them, and even the way the world is composed, all begin to come together when it is revealed that Odokawa has a sight impairment — visual agnosia — that causes him to see everyone as an animal.
RELATED: How ODDTAXI's Big Cast Keeps Its Mystery Interesting
Odokawa can tell someone apart by just looking at their back because he can tell an animal's details from the back. Think about it — it's not that hard to differentiate an elephant, is it? The reasons behind other animals having pets, as well as the glances some characters give Odokawa, become clear the moment it's revealed that everyone is actually human.
Eventually, everything comes full circle. The truth is revealed in both a clever and sly way, everything is wrapped up in a not-so-neat bow, and Odokawa continues to live his life with a new perspective — albeit him not remembering some folk because of how different they looked in their animal form compared to their human form.
While it can be argued that Odokawa can live his life easier now because everyone looks "normal" to him, his "normal" was always everyone looking like animals. Although ODDTAXI wraps up its story nicely, one can only wonder in the end how Odokawa plans to live his life from here on out.
Brianna Albert is an author, writer, reader, Japanese translator, and seasonal anime watcher. She has been watching anime since before Naruto became Hokage and trying to figure out how to bend air since she was in kindergarten. You can follow her and her witty conversations on Twitter, @brisanbear, or watch her content on YouTube.
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