Kakushigoto: My Dad’s Secret Ambition is a slice-of-life comedy anime series about a young widower named Kakushi Gotō and his 10-year-old daughter named Hime, whom he adores very much and for whom he will move heaven and earth. Kakushi is the mangaka of a popular comedy manga that has crude content, and he fears Hime will be disgusted of him if she learns of this. Thus, he’s set on keeping this a secret from her.
This show is only second to Kaguya-sama: Love Is War season 2 as the funniest anime of spring 2020. Much of the laughs are derived from the various situations that Kakushi has to struggle with as a single parent as well as the absurd lengths that he goes to in order to hide from Hime what he does for a living. And the core comedic dynamic of its premise thoroughly works because the hyper, overprotective characterization of Kakushi and the sweet, dense characterization of Himi impeccably feed off each other. The show also has a solid supporting cast that two leads can work with in further enhancing and diversifying the comedic experience.
Moreover, this anime is not all jokes. It also makes room for touching, emotional father-and-daughter moments for Kakushi and Hime. In fact, there are hints during the course of the series that the story is heading toward a heartbreaking ending. In every episode, usually at its end, there’s a flash-forward to Hime as an 18-year-old finally discovering her father’s secret. In those scenes in the future, it seems like Kakushi has been gone for a while already, though it’s kept vague if he’s dead or missing or whatever. It’s only in the 12th and final episode where his fate is finally revealed.
While watching series, I was bracing myself for that potentially sad conclusion. As it turns out (SPOILER), while the finale is poignant, it isn’t really as heart-rending as I anticipated. I got teary-eyed, but leading toward it, my expectation was it would leave me a wreck.
In the end, I love Kakushigoto: My Dad’s Secret Ambition. It isn’t necessarily an instant classic, but I feel I will be looking back at it fondly in the future.
Miscellaneous musings:
- I don’t think the ending is sloppy, but it feels kinda rushed.
- Come to think of it, there seems to be a couple of details that weren’t explored as well as they could have been.
- My favorite OP of the season is Kaguya-sama: Love Is War’s. My second favorite is Kakushigoto’s. I skip neither when I watch new episodes of their respective shows.
- The intentionally bad dubbing for their dog’s bark never stops being hilarious.
- I like how 10-year-old Hime seems to be an adorably dull-witted, innocent child initially but is actually just deliberately trying to not think too much about things to avoid upsetting herself and her father. Awww.
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