Odd Taxi – 05

「アイドルなんて呼ばないで」 (Aidoru Nante Yobanai de)
“Don’t Call Me an Idol”

Soul food is good food.

It seems like every week Odd Taxi tries to gives us plot points that annihilate what we managed to put together from last week. This time around, it seems the mystery surrounding Shirakawa and the stolen pills got resolved – for the most part. There are still some things hanging in the air, but we now know, Shirakawa is the one who sold those medicines for Dobu, and in tandem, Dobu later auctioned them illegally on the black market.

It’s after all a mystery show, it’s fine that the program is withholding some information, but the mystery has to be fair, for both the viewer and the writer. So far so good though, small details have been trickling down the conduit and finding our way to us. It’s been enjoyable so far. 

My go-to reference when it comes to the genre of mystery. Are shows like Twin Peaks and The X-Files that pinnacle the western mystery genre. Both of which inspired (and many more) a 2019 video game called Control. A very good game that not a lot of people seem to have played. If you have the chance to play Control, I highly recommend it. It’s a third-person action shooter, but the story is what stands out for me. The way the mystery is presented and never fully explained. That is what makes the mystery fair in that game. Because mystery still has to be mysterious, and fully explaining it would just dull the story. (I’m looking at you Kojima) 

The riddle is more fun when you can come up with your solutions and interpretations to the problem. I feel Odd Taxi is trying to do exactly that, not explaining everything, while giving us subtle hints, and reminding us that it is still a character-driven show.

Odokawa might become part of the dark side.

I highly doubt it though, as he clearly states he doesn’t want anything to do with the bad guys and wants to stay on the green side of the law. Meanwhile, Dobu and Tanaka, are already on the red side of things. Too far gone to make it back to yellow. Speaking of which, it seems Tanaka has some plans and is already putting them in motion. He handed a burner phone to Yuki (Murakami Manatsu) which she unwaveringly placed between the seats of Odokawa’s taxi. Tanaka is going to be using this for his revenge on the Dodo. He now knows where Odokawa lives, the rest of his plans are surly up in the air. But I bet they’re not good.

Meanwhile, Yamamoto (Furukawa Makoto) seems to have plans of his own, asking Odokawa for the data on his security camcorder, with the excuse that he wanted to get candid shots of the girls for a PV. Sounds fishy to me. It seems he has other plans for that information and needs it in haste!

But Odokawa is reluctant to give it to him because of privacy issues, once again, Odokawa knows something is up and decides not to act. Bravo Odokawa! The savior we didn’t know we needed. He’s not only protecting himself but Yuki and Shiho (Koizumi Moeka) as well. 

What are the facts?

We know Shirakawa is in cahoots with Dobu and is maybe trying to swindle Odokawa into something – what exactly? It’s hard to say right now. But going forward her intentions, at least on my part, are going to be scrutinized through a magnifying glass. I’m already doubting her feelings towards Odokawa as genuine. Since it seems next episode Odokawa might interrogate her on her actions. Was she also being blackmailed? It’s a possibility, but it seems she’s doing it because of money problems and wants some quick cash. 

Meanwhile, Kakibana takes the tinder girl to a nice restaurant. He doesn’t fit in, the extent of this relationship seems true to my speculation. She’s a little bit discouraged when Kakiabana admits to not having a private plane. What’s more, the bill is so harsh it seems to be cutting down half of his expenses. Furthermore, we learn he has debts to be collected. Kaikibana just falls deeper and deeper down into a black abyss, seemingly no escape for him.

So far so good on this show, let’s keep watching to see where this mystery goes! 

Stay safe and see you next week!     

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