Kakushigoto: My Dad’s Secret Ambition

What do your parents do for a living? Are you proud of what they do? Or are you one of those who define what their parents are because of their jobs? Or are you one of the cool kids that don’t know what their folks do because you couldn’t care less or you just don’t know because they don’t tell you anything?

What about you? What are you doing today? Are you proud of what you do for a living? Do you think your kids or future kids will be proud of you for doing that?

I was a curious kid growing up and what my father does is something that I was interested in. I asked questions and I was lucky enough to get not only answers but I was able to experience and see what he does for a living with my own eyes. He would often take us to the mall, where he works, to roam around and just see things for ourselves.

The question might have been out of the blue but it was prompted by the show I watched on Netflix. It was called Kakushigoto, or as it roughly translated to “My Dad’s Secret Ambition”.

Expectation

Comedy and slice of life are some of my favorite genres when it comes to Anime. And that’s what I gathered when I first saw this show. I thought that I would like it because it looked like it was going to be easy to watch in the sense that it will not have those intricate storylines and those heavy fight scenes.

I thought that it would just be an everyday anime with just comedy skits all through out the show and gags here and there. And oh boy, was I wrong.

Story

The story is about the relationship of a father and her daughter. The father is a mangaka or manga artist who is famous for drawing and writing raunchy and dirty mangas.

He tries to hide what he does for a living from his little girl thinking that the knowledge that her father draws dirty mangas will ruin her and her innocence. And he tries to hide it not just by simply lying to her. He goes to extreme lengths to protect the lie.

He is so invested in keeping the lie intact that he would pretend to go out every single day dressed as a salaryman only to change clothes when he gets to his studio where he draws his manga. He would even hold emergency meetings and drills to prepare himself and his staff in case his daughter stumbles upon the studio.

His attempt to hide the truth gives him a lot of trouble and takes him to a lot of unnecessary sticky situations.

Characters

Kakushi Gotou, is a single father who draws raunchy mangas for a living. He’s quite eccentric but is driven by his love for manga and for her daughter. He is just divided because he thought that his love for manga could not be shared by his daughter.

He is also a doting father to his daughter and that is also one of the reasons why he is trying to keep her away from his works. He thought that knowing what he does for a living will dissolution her.

He is a devoted father and everything he does is for the good of her daughter. That may explain why he seems to be so dense when it comes to the ladies he attracts. He is oblivious to the fact that while he dotes on his daughter some ladies are trying to get on with him.

Hime Gotou, she is the daughter that Kakushi is trying to protect. She is an ordinary kid in school with friends and all that. Although it is just her and her father, she grows to be a good kid showered with enough love to be an understanding fellow.

The show also shows how she reacts when she found out what her daddy was doing all these years. If only he had known that the love for manga in general runs in the family, oh and hey, I guess lying also runs in their genes.

Design and Cinematography

It is a short anime with just 12 episodes. You can definitely finish the whole series in one sitting if you can sit still for a whole day.

The animation could potentially throw you off at first. I mean, it’s not that bad, but it’s definitely not good either. Frankly speaking, I felt like I was looking at a project made by students when I first saw it. It looks like a mellow-downed version of Monogatari series wherein they used old water color palletes that their colors were already faded.

I like how they play the story in two separate yet connected timelines. The story runs both in the present wherein the girl is already 18 years of age and she had just found out what her father used to do and in the past wherein she was just a little girl being protected from her daddy’s dirty little secret.

How the story unfolded like that is pretty effective to heighten the impact of the twist and of the climax. It is really well done.

Conclusion

If you can look beyond the not-so-impressive animation, you will be in for a treat. It is heart warming show, definitely. I would have preferred it to have more gags and more banters between the father and daughter. But overall, it is a good show to watch. I just don’t know if they ran out of time in the end because they seemed to rush things towards the ending. I thought that they could have done a better ending than that one. Even though I think that the actual ending wraps up the two timelines perfectly.

It’s like eating mochi. All fluffy and sticky outside with a surprise sweet and delicate filling inside.

I give you my word, this show is not a waste of time.

Ohayoww!

Top of the morning and I certainly do hope that you are well today. Better than yesterday I presume.

I would just like to take time off and tell you that I really appreciate you being here. I would also like to know if you have thoughts about this one or any other article of mine. Actually, I just want to talk. Just comment down below and let’s get the ball rolling.

That’s it from me and until we read again.

Cheers!!!

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Series    : Screen-reads
Title     : My Dad’s Secret Ambition
Published : 24-Feb-2022
Author :  © RB

Image from myanimelist.tv