Speaking of comedy, I think this show can also be a slice of life or even tear-inducing drama. Kakushigoto is about a widower who hides his identity as a mangaka from his 10-year-old daughter because his stories are full of dirty jokes. He wants to protect her from getting bullied or mocked by her peers. The Japanese term “Kakushigoto” has a double meaning; drawing/writing (Kaku) job (shigoto) and hidden (kakushi) thing (goto). The opening starts with the daughter’s narrative, “My dad’s kakushi-goto, secret, was Kaku-shigoto, work of drawing.”
My favorite part about Kakushigoto is how comedic they explain manga artists’ lives, stereotypical personalities, and editors and assistants. It’s so meticulous and thorough that the show reminded me of SHIROBAKO, which allowed us to peek at the process of anime creation. However ironic and hilarious their descriptions about the mangaka lifestyle are, the show has this purest and most angelic girl who keeps supporting her dad, which pushes this comedy a little more to a drama genre. Their father-daughter relationship warms the cockles of your heart constantly. The story intertwined the daughter’s childhood and adolescence beautifully, revealing a mystery little by little, going toward the end with either tragedy or a happy ending. You have to watch and find out.
I love the fact that both anime and manga ended almost simultaneously. It was a perfect ending with perfect timing. It’s not a straight-forward tear-jerker like Somali and the Forest Spirit or Violet Evergarden, which helped my detoxication wonderfully. Still, Kakushigoto is a special, heartful human drama consisted mostly of comical and witty moments. The division between dorkiness and seriousness goes swimmingly back and forth.
*Kakushigoto is currently streaming on Funimation
