Ookamikakushi – 12 (END)

This is the scariest episode in the series.

Don’t believe me? I can feel your skepticism — the story ended in the previous episode, after all, and the show itself had not been particularly scary that creeper brother of Isuzu’s bit the big one. Anyway, there is a point in this episode where Isuzu and Kaname meet up with Hiro in a cafe. Both Isuzu and Kaname are dressed as maids. Now this may all seem nice and innocent, but a few moments prior to this Hiro was nearly molested for the umpteenth time by a horny wolf lured by his scent — that is, until he whipped out his hassaku mace, and all was right with the world — thus establishing a dark tone to this part of the story.

And then it happens. Isuzu gets a gleam in her eye — the type of gleam where everyone knows nothing good will come from it. There’s something terrifying waiting in the shadows, lurking, hoping for the worst possible place to step in, when finally . . .

Ookamikakushi – 11

Anyone who has any experience at all with the original visual novel — it can’t be this bad, right? Right?

I want to have a little bit of faith in Ryukishi07; I don’t want to believe he waited for some developer to CTC — that’s “cut the check”, in the parlance of Rasheed Wallace — and then dropped this wet turd of a scenario on all his fans. Because, Jesus, this episode seemingly concludes the story in just about the most thoroughly unsatisfying way possible. It’s mind boggling how utterly dumb it is.

Ookamikakushi – 10

Kaname is wondering if Hiro actually believes he has a shot of impacting the plot in any serious away aside from smelling delicious.

So, it’s not BakaTest or Hanamaru Kindergarten that is the breakout comedy hit of the season — no, Ookamikakushi has officially taken that title and raised it skyward with pride, although it could be argued that the show safely captured that award as early as midseason. At any rate, I want to applaud the series for being completely goofy and ridiculous in the way only supernatural horror seems able to achieve. Well done.

Ookamikakushi – The Hero’s Theory (ep9 post)

I have a theory: Hiro’s father is the actual hero of this series.

Let’s look at the problems this village has: It is populated entirely by wolf creatures masquerading in human form. They can normally get along quite well, but when they come into contact with humans, they can go a bit bonkers — this is because humans give off a pheromone that drives the wolves into fits of sexual madness, which most likely will end with the poor human being eaten from head to toe, because food and sex go hand-in-hand. (Plus, if there is anything “Little Red Riding Hood” has taught us, it is that wolves like eating humans. Old, young, doesn’t matter. They are delicious.)

For whatever reason, Hiro gives off a pheromone that is a hundred times stronger than the average human — he is sort of like the Char Aznable of Ookamikakushi, except Hiro makes the wolves’ eyes glow red instead of a Gundam. Anyway, the village is split into two camps regarding these events: One side — apparently led by Nemuru’s uncle — wants to find a way to leave peacefully with the humans through finding a cure (or, at least, a suppressant) to the wolves’ condition. The other side wants to kill the fuck out of Hiro and continue on as if nothing ever happened.

These are the facts.

Ookamikakushi – 8

Man, every time I think Hiro could not possibly be more of a dumbass, he admirably goes out of his way to prove me wrong. Kudos to you for continually raising the bar on dumbassery, Hiro! You get the gold medal!

The funniest thing has to be Hiro’s requirement of more proof. “They’ve tried to kill me a few times, and I’ve actually seen them kill people . . . but I don’t if I can help you fight them unless I really know they are monsters, because Nemuru saved me earlier and it was nice lol.” HILARIOUS. Whether they’re monsters shouldn’t even matter — they were going to kill you. This must be like Memento, and Hiro forgets everything happened in previous episodes. Seesh.

Ookamikakushi – 7

MAL has Ookamikakushi listed at 12 episodes right now. For anyone who has played the visual novel and knows how much story is left, does this seem like a good number? I want it to be 12 episodes mostly because I don’t know that 24-26 episodes of glacial pacing and stalling is going to be very fun to watch. (And of course 24-26 episodes of Hiro, yuck.)

Basically this episode makes things clearer and catches Hiro up on important plot points that just about everyone who has watched the series has guessed about by now. Too bad Hiro doesn’t have Internet access in his town — he could just hit up a few bloggers and know exactly what is going down. That is reason No. 666 why the Internet has made everyone’s lives better.

Ookamikakushi – 6

As weird and creepy as Isuzu has been throughout the series so far, I felt pretty sorry for her during this episode. It has been long established that the affects of the disease are completely involuntary; it’s a compulsion that the affected pretty much have to follow. Not really the easiest thing in the world to say, “OK, I just won’t be attracted to anyone so that the disease won’t affect me.”

Ookamikakushi – 5

Oh no, he’s giving her the AIDS, run away!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, Ookamikakushi seemingly throws the viewer a few more bones (lol) with this episode: The horny wolf disease actually is a physically transferable disease — in fact, just getting to first base with a carrier seems to be enough to catch it, at least according to the town’s Sex Police. (Alternative name: The Cockblock Cops. In fact, that is the moniker I will stick to from now on.) I do wonder, however, if this is the only way to get the disease, or if certain people in this town possess genetic traits that make them more susceptible to it. Or maybe Issei just made out with someone in a bad crowd and caught the horny. Who knows?

Ookamikakushi – 4

The bits and pieces of weirdness are starting to seep through the cracks more with each episode of Ookamikakushi.

This disease (for lack of a better word) that Issei and others in the village seem to have is at the forefront of everything at the moment. In just about every situation we have seen the telltale symptoms of whatever this is (most notably the glowing red eyes), the character in question was close to getting his or her freak on, or perhaps just really horny. But I don’t think sexual excitement is the stimulus for the symptoms; rather, it seems pretty clear that it is the reverse — the disease itself causes a raging case of boner.

Ookamikakushi – 3

I think the ratio of crap to good is finally starting to swing toward good a bit more; in a few episodes, once Ookamikakushi gets deeper into the plot, I can see each new episode being pretty damn good. But for now there’s still this formula of “cheesy light on the outside, and disturbing dark on the inside” that falls too often on the cheesy lighthearted moments. Also, there’s a lot of random unintentional hilarity.