Finally got round to watching Odd Taxi after SMFAS. It's a good show, and it has the most engaging beginning I've seen in anime for a long time. The characters are interesting, the atmosphere is weird, in a good way. The art and sound design are mostly good, albeit with some minor gripes anyone that's watched the show will know about, and the plot, pacing and especially dialogue is solid. It just kinda feels like there was something missing? I don't know how else to put it, but it feels like a good show that's a puzzle piece or a bit of creative flair away from being something genuinely special.
(Non-major spoilers)
Maybe it's that it's always a balance between being totally surreal and very grounded. It doesn't quite lean into the utter absurdity I felt it might have been going into after the first episode, nor does it turn into a genuinely tense thriller, mystery, or even an in-depth character study, all of which it felt like it could have done at some point. Not to shit on the show because it's still very good, but I think it could have been something more.
Gripes aside, the OP and ED fuckin slap.
(Major spoilers)
I wrote the above just before watching episode 12 (which I thought was the last before starting) and 13, and I feel all that even stronger than before. I think most of the last two episodes were satisfying and I liked the animal reveal. It felt clever without being forced or pretentious, adequately foreshadowed but not too obvious. But then the rest of the final episode feels so lacking in closure to me, and the very ending was kinda... safe? I don't know how else to put it. If I had tried to guess the ending plot points beat by beat aside from the murderer, I feel like I would have nailed it, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it felt simultaneously too happy and not happy. Most of the main characters appear happier and the yakuza are less of a problem, but literally nothing else is resolved or even really discussed. I'm kinda frustrated because there's almost everything here for this to be one of my favourite anime and I was waiting for about ten episodes for that one thing that makes it click with me, but it never came. As is, I have really mixed feelings, and I enjoyed it, but less than I could have.
Also, the way the Dodo dude was handled irritated me. I liked his focus episode and the episodes leading up to it were really strong, which made me really hopefully especially considering how much I struggle with the starts of shows. Unfortunately, they decided to just... kinda do nothing with him? He sometimes shows up to create conflict and tension, but he might as well be a husk with no personality for most of it. It felt pretty obvious he was a red herring given he was also a black cat, but as a lover of mystery media, it irritates me that he was set up in such a way and receives almost nothing else for the rest of the show? There's not even anything approaching a payoff at the end of the show which makes it all the more frustrating. He's a plot device with almost no agency or impact, not a character. When you have an ensemble cast and use about 1/10 of your screentime on a character with no personality, it might be worth just rewriting stuff. It's frustrating because even though the episode was good, it hinders the overall story, which could have sorely used that extra runtime. Almost every other character in the story exemplifies his themes in some other way to the point that he wasn't necessary. It just feels like some focused script editing could have made this a masterpiece.
You can probably tell from typing up all of that how badly I wanted to love this show, especially after what I thought was a strong beginning. Everything looked to be set up and just... kinda fell flat. Based on the buildup, I thought what it aimed to do was cleverer or more creative than in actuality. It's like I came in late to watch it play archery, and I saw it shoot two bullseyes to start. When I waited for it to shoot the third arrow, it shrugged and showed me that it already dropped the first one in its own foot.
This probably seemed very negative and I still enjoyed this show a lot! I just can't help but wonder what it could have been with some changes.