Lets Gush About Odd Taxi - Renegade Animation #81
In this episode, Captain Kaye and the Animation Guru are joined by Teresa to discuss the anime Odd Tax, as well as its companion film Odd Taxi: In the Woods.
What’s going on, everyone? This is your Captain speaking, and I’m excited to bring you this latest episode of Renegade Animation! On April 1st, 2022, Odd Taxi: In the Woods was released in theaters in Japan. Last month, it became available to stream on Crunchyroll in North America, which means now was the perfect time to talk about the series as a whole. We were happy to have Teresa join us to gush about one of the best anime series that premiered last year, so tune in to hear our full thoughts!
Odd Taxi
There will be spoilers in the podcast itself, but for now, all I can say is that there is nothing quite like this series. It may not be the first anime mystery thriller, but the way it executes its film noir narrative with a unique cast of characters, a quirky sense of humor, in a world that feels completely believable makes it something truly special. It also happens to have one of the best English dubs I’ve seen recently, featuring a number of recognizable voice actors such as Mike McFarland, Zeno Robinson, Amanda Lee, and SungWon Cho, just to name a few. If you’ve never seen the anime before, I highly recommend you do so!
“Odd Taxi is one show I have no problem calling, what I would argue, perfect. A genuine triumph in storytelling and character writing. It's a tragedy it was underseen by so many people.“ -The Animation Guru
Odd Taxi: In the Woods
For those who choose to watch the series in English, keep in mind that only the Japanese audio is available for the film as of this writing. I can’t complain too much about that, because it was actually cool to listen to both languages and compare and contrast the nuances of each actor’s performances. As for the content of the film, there unfortunately isn’t enough new material to fully justify its existence. Outside of a new framing device and a kinda-sorta epilogue in the final 10 minutes, this is otherwise a typical anime recap film. It’s great for fans of the series, but entirely skippable for newcomers.
“Odd Taxi: In the Woods It's a solid movie, but it's hard to justify watching the whole thing when you can just skip to the last 10-12 minutes and watch what is essentially an epilogue to the overall journey of the show. If you love Odd Taxi, then please do watch this film, but if you aren't a fan, then you can skip this film or watch the last 12 minutes and be fine with skipping the rest.” -The Animation Guru
That’s all for now! Thanks again to Teresa for joining us in the episode, and thank you guys for tuning in! Renegade Animation is taking a brief hiatus for the rest of the month, but we’ll be back with something spooky, so stay tuned.
