Kakushigoto | Episode 12

The final episode is where we start to see everything come together. The present day Hime is able to piece together that Gotou;

Drew for a living
That her home in Nakameguro was the same in Kamakura
Her father continued where Hime’s mother left off in regard to the birthday boxes.
That the home in Kamakura was supposed to be for her, her mother and father to live in.

However, there was one thing that she still didn’t know, why did her father quit drawing.

In comes a boy, who breaks Hime’s train of deep thought saying “Hey sis”. LIKE WHAT. WHO IS THIS PERSON? I HAVEN’T GOT A CLUE. But for sure, this is one major plot twist! Did Gotou secretly father another child with another person? We find out by Hime’s “brother” that it isn’t the case. We’re faced with yet another plot twist, we find out that, Gotou was the son resulted from an affair. We also learn that Gotou’s father was a “Kabuki actor” who had an affair with a mistress (A person who sings and dances, while being dressed in vibrant clothing and outfitted in fancy makeup [is what I pulled from googling it that is]). It is because of this origin story for Gotou which may have caused some resentment from Hime’s mother’s side because, Hime’s mother’s family is a linage of master traditional Japanese art. And Gotou effectively marrying into that family, I am sure would have caused some sort of tension because Kabuki actors are performers, who sing and dance, while Hime’s mother side of the family are all artists, which I assume tend to be a little more reserved and less flamboyant. BUT THEN. ANOTHER CURB BALL. Hime’s mother and father (Gotou) are apparently half siblings?! Get hit in the face a little hard now will you.

While all that is happening, we also learning (We’re doing a lot of learning today) out about an “incident” involving Gotou at a warehouse, where I assume he was working at, (post-manga career). There we see him and other person transporting pallets worth of manga to, I guess, their distributors. When all of a sudden the weight of a pallet tipping, causes the packaging supposed to hold the mangas in place, to rip and fall on top of him. Causing him to be in a coma, which is shown immediately after that flashback as someone in bed.

We find out that after he quit being a manga artist, he worked various jobs in construction and in labor, and even sold his house, why? Because he was searching for his wife. Little did we know that the newspaper saw in episode 10, in particular the page the newspaper was turned to was about a sunken ship, a ship that Hime’s mother was on. This is where the “tragic private life” comes in from that episode as well, we find out that Gotou for years, even after the search party was called off for that sunken ship, he still pressed on and continued to search for her. That is when his tragic private life leaked to the public. Where the harsh reality that was real life took over, to make ends meet he used the only skill (at the time) which was to draw gag manga. This was not only to support his family, but to continue to fund that search party he kept going. When news of this leaked he was immediately attacked by everyone saying “how could he draw dirty jokes etc, while everything was going on” I am sure this took a serious toll out of him and is probably the leading reason why he quit manga, to escape the hate.

For the purposes of this blog, I’ll continue refer to the boy we met in the first scene as “Hime’s brother”. So when Hime’s brother finished explaining everything to Hime, all the little bits of the family she knew very little of. Their little moment is interrupted by all her childhood friends and former teacher running to meet them, this is when the line uttered “I have some good news and some bad news” by Ichiko Rokujou, Hime’s former teacher becomes very important. The good news is, Gotou has awakened from his coma, the bad news is, he has amnesia; and to pull on the heart strings even more, when Hime goes to see her father, he doesn’t remember who she is. This part to me is so sad, not being able to remember your own daughter and only have memories up until a 10 year old Hime. I find that to be so sad. When you’re stuck in time, thinking you’re still a manga artist, but not knowing that the person standing beside you was that 10 year old daughter whom you cared so much for. I think would be extremely traumatic for Hime. Especially when Gotou asks the now 18 year old Hime, to go take care of her younger self because he didn’t want her to get too lonely. I find that to be so sad. Further compounded by the fact that seeing her father happy drawing, Hime thought that, his happiness was more important to her than him knowing who she was.

That’s why I also loved that when Hime said that to him, Gotou refuted her saying no, what he enjoys and loves more than drawing is Hime growing up big and healthy.

That is when it finally clicked for Hime, in order to bring back his memories she had to show him the old manuscripts he wrote a long time ago. Reading through them all, the memories slowly start to re-populate his mind as he spent all his time recalling all the little events that led up to each chapter of his manga being drawn. All the little events and struggles he had went through during those times. That’s when it finally happened, he remembered Hime. When that happened, ohmydays, I felt so happy.

Who would have thought, the secret he hide from his daughter for so many years, was a secret that almost killed him (literally), and was the secret that helped him regain his memories. Talk about going full circle.

Having gotten off to a rocky start with this anime. I sure did have my doubts about this anime. But as I slowly started to get deeper and deeper into the anime, finding out that this anime is not just a comedy but has a deeper meaning to it all I suddenly got hooked. Making the various connections to “present day” in this anime is what really did it for me, finding out that every time we saw little Hime, it was her in the “present day” recalling past memories, of when she was truly happy with her father, of when her father was there.

Seeing that very strong bond between father and daughter really warmed my heart. Even more so that regardless of internal struggle either one of them had, they knew they could always rely on one another. Love conquers all, that is Kakushigoto’s message to us. A father-daughter bond can never be broken no matter the circumstance. Hime running to get the old manuscripts, in hopes that him reading it would help regain his memories, really hit home.

Even though he lost part of his memory for a short period of time, he kept thinking about Hime. That is why, I think anyway, when Gotou said to Hime that he didn’t know who she was, and that the Hime he knew, was only 10 years old it really stung. Happily though, my heart was saved the heartache, when Gotou finally realizes that the Hime he knew was standing infront of him, I felt happiness.

I think probably, the one thing we won’t ever know, is how long Gotou was in a coma for. I think he was in a coma for awhile because when Hime was going through the birthday boxes, she had, I believe 17 to 18 she still hadn’t opened. But that’s besides the point though, point is I get a happy ending and another anime I can safely say is one of my favourite anime.