Odd Taxi – 13 (END)

「どちらまで？」 (Dochira Made?)
“Where To?”

Odd Taxi ends with an absolute bang! The question we have all been asking has finally been revealed. Was the animal faces just a facade placed over Odokawa’s eyes? A coping mechanism he used to be able to deal with the world around him. The answer by the likes of this episode seems to be most certainly so.

So from here on out, I’ll be discussing the finale freely, so feel unencumbered to leave and come back when you’ve watched the episode. Spoilers lie ahead for the finale of Odd Taxi, you have been warned.

This end was the big reveal, we got all of the answers. Who was the real killer, and the most important part, Odokawa was finally able to let go and live within the realm of humans. And most significantly we got to see the individual (human) version of each character. Just for fun, let’s name each character and their human version.

Gouriki and Miho were the first ones to receive this treatment. Dobu and one of the Diamond brothers showed their true colors. Then during the news broadcast Yamamoto, Yano, and Sekiguchi got their face reveal. Also, Rui got her time in the spotlight during the broadcast as well. Imai then came in to visit Odokawa. (That’s what he looks like!?) Of course, let’s not forget about Odokawa himself. Cut to Taeko preparing to open her izakaya to a select few people. And finally, Kuroda shows his face during a sauna scene with Odokawa. Tanaka deletes ZooTopia (whatever it’s called) from his phone, finally moving on. Taichi is reading a business book in the library. Seemingly getting his life back on track. And Eiji found a respectable job as a construction worker. And that girl who loves karage.

As for the rest of the cast, there wasn’t enough time to play who’s who.

While at the same time the finale leaves some stuff open for a possible sequel where the setting changes from anthropomorphic animals and now uses real human beings. The story, all this time was actually centered around Mystery Kiss, at least that’s how I see it. And Odokawa was actually just a bystander, who so happens to be involved in this whole ordeal, by proxy or otherwise.

It certainly came as a surprise when the bait and switch finally happened, all of these characters we’ve been with, week by week, have grown on me, and now finally, until the last episode, we were able to see what they actually look like. They certainly took their sweet time building up this mystery, but the payoff was quite worth it. As the finale delivered in the original promise it set up.

The truth seems to be that Odokawa developed some kind of severe visual agnosia, as described by Dr. Goriki and the alligator counterpart. Odokawa’s backstory was finally revealed in full, we knew he had a hard life, but not exactly how hard. It seems like he had an alcoholic mother who was unable to fulfill her duties and an absent dad who had a mistress. Odokawa had only two things he loved when he was a child. First, he loved animals and would fixate over an animal book his dad had given him, and also he loved cars. So he thought it would be nice to have a job where he could drive a car around all day for a living.

Both of those came true, as he placed a veil over his eyes, maybe not by his own making, as his subconscious might have done it to protect him after the accident. And now sees everyone as real humanoid animals, he also drives a taxi. But it took another accident in a similar manner as the one his parents were involved in to bring him back to reality.

When he was little Odokawa got bullied and was compared to a walrus, just because he’s a little chunky, he’s perfectly within reasonable standards. But I bet an absent mother also comprised to his weight problems as probably was fed high caloric meals all day every day, and never really learned to eat properly until later in life. When he was adult enough to buy his own foods. After he met with Kuroda, who is not part of Dobu’s organization, but instead part of an organization that deals in making sure orphans are able to have a proper life outside of crime.

Which Odokawa in the second half of the episode, ‘donates’ the lottery money to that same organization, in hopes of paying it forward and having others in his situation have a nice comfortable life as well. And upon doing a very small amount of research, I’ve found several organizations that do actually care for foster children in Japan. So it’s not entirely out of reason that Kuroda picks up Odokawa from nothing and is able to give him a comfortable life in Tokyo. Henceforth, becoming a sort of father figure for Odokawa.

As for the rest of the mystery, we now know who actually killed Yuki, in reality, it was all part of a mastermind’s plan. She so casually walks down the street talking to her mom about it. They showed the ‘killing’ scene in human form to throw us for a loop. But I’m pretty sure it was the new girl who joined Mystery Kiss after Yuki’s demise. She wants the group all to herself, and she’s going to go to great lengths to do that.

Finally, what was behind Odokawa’s closet? It was just a cat. Great… So much fuzz over nothing.

In the ending scene, we see that girl gets into Odokawa’s taxi, finally revealing who was the true mastermind behind this whole scheme, apparently, everything went according to her plan.

Will Odd Taxi return for a second season? Only time can tell, but the mystery seems pretty open. Dobu is wrongfully in prison, while the real killer is still on the loose.

It’s been so fun watching alongside you and everyone here on the RC team! Spouting theories, some of them finding footing, and others being rejected outright. But that’s what fun about watching this type of show. For now, I’m glad to have a little break, but worry not as the new season starts this Thursday, with new shows airing their first episode! And at the same time, it seems the hype train is moving for Chainsaw Man chugging right along. Thankfully it has Jujutsu Kaisen levels of quality! And I’ve already started reading the manga out of curiosity. This is goodbye to Odd Taxi, seemingly for now, but hello to new series! See you all in a couple of days for the start of the new season!