MAL | Watch Online | Download
Type: OVASynopsis
Among the ruins of the city, there is a game only children can play. It is called “Otokoyo”; a game of hide-and-seek. But whenever children play this game, one by one they would disappear into the blinds of the buildings… The story begins when a boy enters the world of Otokoyo, to find his missing sister.
Review – Candy
I should probably rewatch this one before I review it, but ehhh, fuck it. I literally remember the most basic of basic things, but hey its short so I know what I need to know.
So this is a short number, so do not be surprised that you’re not going to get a mad amount of fleshed out characters, a super deep understanding of the story, or anything that basically needs waaaay more time to develop. That saying, for what this is, I really enjoyed it when I was younger (I’m seriously not rewatching SHIT).
So basically the story is about a boy looking for his sister while playing a game where basically children disappear. 7 players, 8 people, not too hard to figure out what’s going to happen, but that’s not really the point,. Not going for the twist of OH SHE’S IT, it’s the execution of the way it’s done and what it signifies. So All these kids wear these super adorb fox masks and run throughout the city playing hide and seek. Well what are they playing with? Big ole monsters that are pre fucking cool looking. I enjoyed when a child was found. I can say that because you literally will not get attached to anyone, which is expected, there’s no time.
The characters are completely surface characters, we are not going to go deep into who they are or even attempt to care about them. We are simply here to watch how the game unfolds. Think of them as cute little sacrifices put up for our enjoyment. Now when you accept it as that, it’s perfectly okay that barely anyone talks and this entire show is basically built on the atmosphere of the town. I ain’t mad about it, I love myself some atmospheric shows. My favorites are the twins cause they’re super adorbs.
A dark city with a lot of tiny places makes for a great location to wreck some children. Not only that though, The city, when they went deeper in, was actually pretty, and it was really cool looking. I loved the whole setup they had. The monsters capturing and the”machine”. I don’t think that’s spoiling anything, but definitely watch it to find out what I’m talking about.
Since I’m gushing over the town, let’s talk about he art and animation. It’s pretty, it matches, it fits so well, the city is fucking amazing and I love the monsters. Now, here’s what the current me would’ve had a problem with. All the movement and animation is CG or something clunky, it’s not very fluid, and so are the monsters. Back then, when I originally watched it (I’ve actually seen it 3 times on tv, all when younger), I had no problem with it, seems it probably fit the whole thing, idk, but screw it, if you’re not a fan, from what I’ve seen, it’s matches well and it’s still horribly pretty. Summary, the animation style does not hurt this too much, especially since it’s a single 30 mins ova, don’t be a little bitch and just watch it.
Best thing about this OVA, besides me being madly in love with the whole atmosphere they build in the town. There’s very little talking so it’s literally relying completely on the ost and sound effects and facial expressions of the masks. I think that’s awesome, I really do, or did, who knows. the sound effects make up for the lack of talking and literally, they’re fucking great. But the best thing was literally the ending for me. I won’t lie, without reading the synopsis, i didn’t really know what was happening in this show, and the ending was ambiguous as fuck, but I loved the way it was done. Like the whole show goes from being calm, and just knocks it up into high voltage mode at the end, then you get this explanation, which either happened at the end or throughout, that totally merges things together….kinda. Seriously, just watch it, power the fucking city, please!
So basically, it’s a short number with little talking, great atmosphere, great designs, and CG. There is no in-depth details and it’s predictable, but the execution of it is done nicely. It’s nothing amazing but it’s so short that if you like horror, watch this, because it keeps to the genre. Take it at what it is, a unique gem,. Don;t put too much thought into a lot of the things, because again, of course they’re not going to be fleshed out in enough details. If that bothers you, sucks2suck.
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