Kakushigoto | Episode 11

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Misunderstanding is the name of the game for today’s episode. I think the first few minutes of the episode we’re shown a misunderstanding/lack thereof proper communication between Gotou and the Editor-in-chief of the company that helps publish Gotou’s manga to the masses. What is misunderstood here? Well, Gotou an individual who has always drawn without colour is finally being given the opportunity to publish a manga in full colour. Something I think offers a great deal of pride to that artist, finally be able to see your art, your profession in full colour. It should be something to be proud of right?

However, finally being draw an anime in full colour, somehow Gotou sees it as a “severance package” a final hurrah for him as a manga artist. Walking home from the meeting with the Editor-in-chief, Gotou contemplates his current career path. Whether or not it will continue to be viable in the long term. Something that we know that, as shown in episode 10, he doesn’t think it is. This fact is only reinforced when Gotou mentions all the bills he has to continue to pay and all the future bills he’s going to pay. Also by the fact that he is now thinking more about the long term future, not only for himself and Hime but for everyone employed under him.

But haha, sike, I will now pull the rug out from underneath you! Like I said it was all a misunderstanding between the two parties. Gotou thought he was getting fired because he thought being able to do a manga in colour meant it was the end of the manga. But in reality it was just him getting the opportunity to draw in colour this time around.

Now it’s time to get to the fan part for me, the end of the episode. Where we learn more about Gotou and why we have those “present” scenes. What I found interesting about the end of the episode was how the older Hime talked. As she was scrumming through an old photo book of the life she once had as a child, she said “Father I turned eighteen today” as she quietly touches a photo taken on her 11th birthday of just her father and Roku infront of a cake. How she talked, it was as if, her father wasn’t there anymore and that to me is strange because in the previous episode we see Gotou reading a newspaper with a saddened look on his face. Maybe they separated somehow along the way, who knows? There are so many questions I have now.

It also doesn’t help that, while Hime was in her own little bubble, a mysterious letter slides through the mail slot of the door. Containing a note and a key which read “Secrets lie here”. Talk about mysterious.

To me personally, I think the secret itself is that Gotou was a gag manga artist but didn’t want to let Hime know. He only wanted her to know when the time was right, which was when she turned 18. However, with how everything has played out, with Rasuna mentioning something about a “tragic private life” being revealed to the public, maybe there is an even bigger secret that we don’t know about. An even deeper secret that he’s been keeping besides that he’s a manga artist. Looks like episode 12 will be the answer to all of that, and I am looking forward to it!