Luna's Anime Palace: Kakurenbo: Hide & Seek

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Kakurenbo: Hide & Seek

Kakurenbo: Hide & Seek (カクレンボ, Kakurenbo^?, lit. "Hide and Seek") is a Japanese cel-shaded anime short film written and directed by Shuuhei Morita.

The film is based around "Otokoyo", a game of hide and seek played by children, wearing fox masks, near the ruins of an abandoned old city. The children who play this disappear, believed to be spirited away by demons. Kakurenbo follows Hikora, a boy who joins the game with hopes of finding his missing sister, Sorincha. The storyline is built on the idea that Tokyo is losing its natural aesthetic, which includes child's games such as hide and seek in order for industrial progress to ensue i.e. lighting the city of Tokyo costing innocence of childhood games.

Characters

Hikora (ヒコラ^?): Voiced by: Junko Takeuchi (Japanese), Michael Sinterniklaas (English); The young boy who plays the game to find his missing sister.
Sorincha (ソリンチャ^?): Voiced by: Masami Suzuki (Japanese), Veronica Taylor (English); Hikora's sister who went missing when she played the game with the other children.
Yaimao (ヤイマオ^?): Voiced by: Makoto Ueki (Japanese), Dan Green (English); Hikora's best friend who plays the game to lend a hand in finding Sorincha.
Noshiga (ノシガ^?): Voiced by: Rei Naito (Japanese), Sean Schemmel (English); The leader of his little gang who claims is not afraid of demons.
Tachiji (タチジ^?): Voiced by: Mika Ishibashi (Japanese), Tom Wayland (English); One of the members in Noshiga's gang. He has blond hair and wears glasses.
Suku (スク^?): Voiced by: Akiko Kobayashi (Japanese), Veronica Taylor (English); Another member of Noshiga's gang. He is short and has a large, red scarf.
Inmu (インム^?) and Yanku (ヤンク^?): Twin brothers whose reason for playing is a mystery.

Demons

Once the seven children pass through the gates to enter the abandoned streets, they are pursued by four different demons and then finally by the one demon who is "it".^[1] The battery tower they guard has socket rows that go on to the first children who played.

Kimotori (肝取鬼^?, lit. "Liver-Taker"): A four-armed, red humanoid demon that holds a mechanical wheel on its back. Captures both Tachiji and Suku.
Chitori (血取鬼^?, lit. "Blood-Taker"): A horned komainu demon that wears a tarp over its back. Captures Noshiga.
Aburatori (油取鬼^?, lit. "Oil-Taker"): The two small, identical demons, one sitting on a cart, and the other pulling said cart. Captures both Inmu and Yanku.
Kotori (子取鬼^?, lit. "Child-Taker"): A spider-like demon with eight arms that protects the battery tower where every child that is caught is taken. Captures Yaimao.
Oshira-sama (おしら様^?): A fox demon who captures and takes the form of a child who wins the game of "Otokoyo", and wears a fox mask that changes into an oni mask that the person who is "it" wears. At the beginning of the film, it takes the form of Sorincha (who apparently won the game before Hikora), and at the end, it takes the form of Hikora after he wins the game.