The men who stare at scythes.
Well, this could be interesting.
Ookami Kakushi seems to be an entry into the Higurashi-style horror genre, and does share a number of explicit traits with that show, such as the existence of some big festival for a somewhat isolated town. Unlike Higurashi, though, I get this feeling we aren’t going to resets here – no, people are just going to get possessed by monster-things and then get hacked up by scythes – or so it seems. But, awesome!
What I found interesting, though, were the different things I was reminded of while watching. Kushinada, for instance, really reminds me of Miyu from Vampire Princess Miyu from what little we’ve seen of her. I also got vibes of the British horror film, The Wicker Man (NOT the remake), curiously enough, although I seriously doubt that’s where we’re going with things – however, the calm acceptance of the entire class that Ogasawara had moved away was reminiscent of that movie. And I mentioned Higurashi before.
So far, Ookami Kakushi doesn’t seem too bad. Yeah, we have a handicapped loli sister… but her dryness seems refreshing since most of the imouto characters these days are adorable and inclined toward borderline-sexual teasing. We also have a girl who hangs all over the main guy from the word go, but the eventual twist on this was pretty well-done – one of his female classmates remarks that there is nothing special about him, although many of the other girls seem interested. However, the aforementioned Kushinada seems to dispel this with a few words, and the whole thing ends up coming across as sinister in nature, a nice little trick on the usual trope.
I like horror shows. Ookami Kakushi is a horror show. It doesn’t look to be the best ever, but I’m mildly optimistic about it.
Oh, and just a note on the title – it’s a play on words, since kami-kakushi essentially translates to being kidnapped by gods, although the best translation of the phrase comes in the English language release of Sen to Chihiro no Kami-kakushi – Spirited Away. Ookami translates to wolf, so one can render it as ‘wolfed away’ or, perhaps less eloquently, ‘kidnapped by wolf god(s)’. Wolves have been extinct in Japan for about a century now.
P.S. Naruto Filler. Just doing my best to aid the noble cause of Baka-Raptor.
GAR GAR Stegosaurus 
I got Wicker Man vibes from the first episode, too. Whether it’s even partly as good as that movie remains to be seen, but it’s not a bad source to nick from. The “entire town vs. one clueless guy” horror trope is a sentimental favorite of mine, and I like the intertown civil war set up, so even though a lot of the opener comes off like Higurashi-lite, there’s enough to at least make it a decent series.
I’m a little surprised that I’m not the only one who got Wicker Man vibes, since when I thought about it, it didn’t seem to make a ton of sense to get that from the show – we do have a clueless guy and a potentially sinister bunch, but the addition of the sister and father would seem to make one think more of other horror entries before that… yet I suppose if I wasn’t the only one, then it must have other stylistic similarities that I wasn’t catching onto overtly.
I am gonna watch this for the story, and hopefully it would deliver. And yeah, the first thought that came through my mind when I saw this was: Higarushi!
I have to admit, though, that I have seen very little of Higurashi. I think the original visual novel was from the same company, though?
Mild optimism? I’m sold.
Well, I just watched the second episode, and the final minute or so actually did give me goosebumps, which is probably a good sign. The next episode looks like its gonna make me squirm, though…
I really don’t feel Higurashi in this shit. I feel more like 11eyes on this (which I dropped on ep 2). But I’ll still watch this crap if it gets better. I just have a problem on the characters. They are so annoying!
If you think the characters are annoying, I’m not really sure how it could get better for you…
I was rather bothered by the Peach-Pit visual style, perhaps so much that I didn’t notice the interesting things you noticed. I was planning to drop this right away.
You’ve convinced me to reconsider. I’ll give it another watch. Cheers.
Having just watched the second episode, I would say even more so that the show seems to be subtlely taking the familiar tropes of anime and subverting them in a sinister fashion. Whereas in the first episode I suspected that, there was at least one moment in the second episode where I went – oh! Makes sense now! And is kind of freaking creepy.
I did catch Peach-Pit’s listing in the credits… I suppose at least the animation budget is much, much higher than with stuff they’re affiliated with such as Zombie-Loan?
The show where girls and boys wear the same tops -_-.
Except for the ribbon, which is hard to see.
I love the girls’ school uniform! Its really cute, haha.
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I’m not a fan of horror shows, and I couldn’t watch more than the first episode of Zombie Loan, but it’s been long since I watched something calling itself horror that didn’t suck (since Bakemonogatari… Which I still have to finish, I keep forgetting).
You might have just sold me on trying this show.
Well, the only thing this and Zombie-Loan have in common is a similar style to the character designs… but I didn’t even notice it until someone else pointed out the fact that Peach-Pit was involved because the animation here is, oh, about 4,000 times better than it was on that dreck of a show.
I’m just really hoping it can keep it solid. I love horror, and I feel like its been a while since I’ve had it – I’ve been watching Umineko, but that really doesn’t strike me as horror. I view it more as a whodunit with supernatural elements… and a lot of ridiculous junk. I suppose I just find it hard to take seriously, at the end of the day.
I REALLY FREAKIN’ LOVE THIS SHOW!!!!!!!!!! anyway back to the point, you know the purple haired girl in his class,yeah well thats White Wolf Kannon AKA the ringleader of the creepy people with hoods group who come out at night………………………………she’s also my favorite character. Currently this is my favorite show….:)