It’s not that I go to art specifically seeking punishment, or anything like that. I understand the appeal of stories that simply sooth or excite us; these are noble causes, and any balanced art diet will naturally contain many cheerful and comforting stories, works that can serve as emotional candles in the dark. But ultimately, it is the works that test their heroes to the limits that most directly speak to me – the stories that acknowledge a genuine darkness in the world, and are both too smart and too earnest to answer that darkness with either platitudes or escapism. Even when the protagonists of such stories fail, there is a vitality in their striving that feels inspirational all the same. The more bleakly honest a narrative’s perspective, the more solace I can take in its heroes’ struggles, as they bravely face the unrelenting terror of existence.

ODDTAXI’s heroes have all struggled to make peace with that terror, and I love them for that all the more than if they’d somehow “figured it out.” There is no “figuring out” the modern intersection of technology and capitalism; we live in an era where we’ve all been redefined as products, and humanity is, in a very literal sense, not built to handle the pressure of society’s collective surveillance. All we can do is find some peace within this paradigm, holding close to the people we care for, and understanding we are far more than our retweets or viral posts or dating profile cachet. The world can attempt to commodify us, but to the people we love, our worth will always be beyond measure. Here’s hoping at least a few of ODDTAXI’s lost souls come to see their true worth, as we return for the last time to this poignant production.

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Right from her early childhood, Rui knew she was born to be a star. Even her first teachers marked her as someone overflowing with ambition, and since then, her unerring pursuit of excellence has led her to the lead position in an idol group. Working hard every day, she has brought her group to the brink of their formal debut, while also saving just enough time to maintain a relationship on the side. In both her personal and professional life, Rui has grabbed the horns of the modern era, and triumphed over the turbulence of the social media age.

So why isn’t she happy?

Well, there is the slight matter of her helping to cover up her costar’s murder. But as Rui herself admitted, she herself was ready to murder in that moment, after learning that her coveted lead position was being handed to another. In spite of her lifetime of effort, there was ultimately someone better than her, just as there always will be. And to someone like Rui, who defines herself by her unparalleled excellence, playing second string to another might as well be a death sentence.

To those who don’t wish to compete in a zero-sum game of personal commercialization, social media is an inauthentic nightmare, a game show where you are directed by cattle prods to smile at the camera. You cannot promise as much as it demands; to master it is to embrace the dreams of Icarus, only to tumble like Kakihana and Taichi. But even to those who love competition, and see it as the natural state of being, the modern world’s continuous demand for insincerity and excellence is a source of perpetual erosion, grinding down your energy day after day. Rui is now fighting to defend a position she’s not even sure she wants, having been condemned for the very measures she took to be publicly adored.

But even if the internet cannot make us happy, there’s always the chance it can make us rich. So trend the hopes of ODDTAXI’s remaining contenders, as the day of reckoning continues to unfold. Let’s get right back to the action, as we explore the penultimate episode of ODDTAXI!

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The lines are taut and bait is set; all that is left is to spring the trap. In spite of his professed desire for a simple, solitary life, Odokawa has found himself at the center of a deadly conspiracy, with the lives of half of ODDTAXI’s weary souls on the line. Though he claims indifference to fame and fortune, his concern for the lives of others would put self-professed “hero” Taichi to shame, while his understanding of justice far outstrips the insecure Little Daimon. He has seen the true face of his city, suspended in that liminal space between departure and destination, where their masks slip for a moment and their fears breach the surface. He has seen the faces we hide behind our social media avatars, and he has accepted them. Though he is gruff and impersonal and rude, he expects nothing more from his passengers and friends; his poise offers the quiet promise that we can learn to accept each other, even without our airbrushed profile pictures.

Other characters have begun to receive their honorable discharges, as they fly too close to social media glory and have their wings melt back to wax. Kakihana claimed wealth beyond his means, and was robbed for his trouble. Taichi claimed a hero’s mantle, and learned what happens to old heroes in turn. When you wish upon the monkey’s paw of social media, you must learn to live with the results; and now, it’s Iwai’s turn to either escape or pay the parasocial piper. Let’s begin Operation ODDTAXI!

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Through the miracles of science, it has become easier than ever to measure our success in the world, and compare it to the wealth of others. Where once we might have fretted blindly over the potential riches and happiness of our peers, now their successes are easy to tabulate – just a click away, listed and formatted through a whole ecosystem of social media platforms. Never again must you be tormented by the fear that unknown others are beating you at life; now you can know they are, through their carefully pruned instagrams and twitter feeds and facebook pages.

Via the advent of social media, our every statement has become a performance, declaring our wit and wealth and social worth. Thousands of also-rans clamor for the spotlight, hoping to one day know the pleasure of waking up in fear every morning, terrified that your audience will figure you out. Everyone is a showman, and everyone is a fraud. We construct ideals out of quips and personal victories, sweeping all that might irritate the beast behind the show curtain. Even our admissions of weakness or exhaustion carry a hint of salesmanship – after all, vulnerability is relatable.

Odokawa never intended to serve as a weird human antidote to modern malaise; in fact, basically all of his life choices seem to reflect a man with little sense of self-worth, who’d rather drop out of society than contend with its trials. Nonetheless, his taxi cab has become a sanctuary of authentic performance, and over time, a source of meaningful personal bonds. In the back of Odokawa’s taxi, no one is performing for society – his seat is the place between performances, where characters like Taichi or Shun can catch their breath between fabrications. It is not to our followers, but our service workers who we present our most authentic self; and through this shelter of identity, Odokawa has cultivated friends who might just see him through the trials ahead. Let’s return to the remarkable ODDTAXI.

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How did it all come to this? Somehow, the spiraling conflicts of ODDTAXI feel both implausible and inevitable, a thousand quirks of fate culminating in an unstoppable tragedy. Odokawa has never done more than drive his taxi and try to protect his friends, but he has nonetheless found himself at the core of a deadly conspiracy, suspended between crooked cops and violent criminals. He is now possibly the only person who can save Taichi – and yet Odokawa himself is the biggest mystery of all, with his tragic history, strange skill set, and ominous closet all presenting their own questions. In another show, this lack of explanation might feel frustrating. In ODDTAXI, Odokawa’s personality has been presented with such nuance and clarity that he still feels like a close friend, even for all his secrets.

Of course, there’s a bit more to it than that. Odokawa might conceal information, but he does not lie about his feelings. He is always earnestly himself, regardless of the circumstances. This might sometimes get him in trouble, as during his engagements with Dobu and Yamamoto – but it also attracts fast and loyal friends, who appreciate the company of someone who says what they feel. While characters like Kakihana or Taichi seek validation through the assumption of an online persona, they are ultimately promising more than they can provide, and eventually find themselves consumed by a culture whose hunger can never be satisfied. With his gruff yet undeniably earnest nature, Odokawa has won the trust of the people he cares about, and cultivated bonds that just might carry him through the waiting crucible. Let’s see if he can rescue Taichi from himself!

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Tensions are rising across ODDTAXI as the Halloween celebrations continue. Out in the streets, Taichi is racing through the crowd with his prize: fresh footage of Dobu up to his usual tricks. Of course, this very act of violence was predicated by Taichi’s own witch hunt, when he blamed Dobu for a shooting he had no involvement in. But to the internet, invented and authentic monsters are equally worthy of condemnation – and if social media’s ire clings to you long enough, you’re sure to create your own crucifixion-worthy rap sheet.

Of all possible holidays, Halloween has to be the perfect choice for ODDTAXI. In many ways, the holiday echoes the form and appeal of online engagement. We all go out into a fabricated, liminal space between our mundane real-world expectations, a world born of our collective desires. In this place, we wear the masks of strangers, using anonymity to protect ourselves from shame or consequences as we embrace strange new selves. And yet, even as our costumes protect us, we seek out intimacy, community, and joy – all the hallmarks of earnest connection, somehow more reachable behind a stranger’s face.

In this place we can dance and run wild, uninhibited and free, at least until the morning comes. We can bellow out our fears in a full voice, or lay claim to desires we could never speak aloud, held safe from consequence by our garish disguises. We can even claim community through these vestments, dressing in the trappings of our gods and idols, and thereby signaling our unity of passion and purpose. Halloween provides an evening of inauthentic presentation and authentic passion, a dreamscape where your fantasies can be realized – so long as you do not lose yourself entirely, and remember to awaken in your own skin.

ODDTAXI is a show for those who regret that waking, as well as those who only see tragedy in our vigorously mediated connections. In the face of a world that demands perpetual performance, it lingers on the moments between viral posts, and the quiet desperation of seeking intimacy through platforms designed for commerce and competition. The intoxication of Halloween revelry is a heady but fleeting high, and for ODDTAXI’s heroes, this night promises more terror than release. With the festivities already in full swing, let’s return to the streets.

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A storm is brewing in ODDTAXI, one whose clouds loom over every soul we’ve met so far. As episodes have stacked up, odd points of connection have emerged all across the cast, from Atsuya and Nikaido’s relationship to Yamamoto’s murky ties to Dobu’s employers. In a show that’s so thematically preoccupied with the alienation of the modern world, it feels like a kind of cruel irony that its cast are so oddly connected – not in such a way that they might comfort each other, but more in the way dominoes are linked yet separate, bonded only by their mutually assured destruction. A tragedy anywhere in our cast would send ripples through the entire ensemble; and with the danger ratcheted up to its current fever pitch, such a tragedy is beginning to feel inevitable.

Such a sense of unease is common in the noir traditions ODDTAXI draws upon. Rather than hoping for genuine salvation, noir heroes seek only to avoid the flood, and perhaps save an innocent or two along the way. Traditionally, the darkness of these stories was fomented in the ravages of post-war trauma; for ODDTAXI, the stratified, performative nature of social media and modern capitalism provide more than enough horror, allowing characters like Tanaka to drown in the dissatisfaction of modern living. In a world like this, clinging to the connections you can truly count is likely the best we can hope for – and with Odokawa demanding that Dobu let Shirakawa go, it seems like this show’s most precious bond might still be intact. I’m holding on hope for ODDTAXI’s painfully human lost souls, as we enter the second half of this magnificent production.

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Oh ODDTAXI, what a tangled web you weave. The lives of its disparate characters are now twisting together in all manner of subtle ways, even as their everyday experience promises nothing but isolation and disappointment. The eraser that Tanaka once coveted now rests in the hands of Odokawa, a gift from the mysterious Shirakawa. The dash cam footage of Yamamoto’s charge is now equally desired by Dobu, and may well solve the riddle of the mob daughter’s disappearance. And Mitsuya’s phone is presumably still lodged in Odokawa’s backseat, a glimmering key that may unlock the secrets of Yamamoto’s organization.

As a slow-burning mystery narrative, ODDTAXI is an airtight creation, using its focus on offhand conversations to gracefully seed all of its narrative turns. Clues pop up incidentally over the course of thoughtful, naturalistic dialogue, setting wheels in motions without ever drawing attention to themselves. The show is fascinating as a narrative puzzle box, yet all the more impressive for the fact that it isn’t even driven by that narrative.

Instead, the show burns most brightly during its rambling dialogues, full of character-rich personal details and poignant reflections on modern living. I could watch ODDTAXI’s cast grumble about their day for hours – with dialogue this insightful and authentic, it feels like a privilege to watch such vibrant, resonant characters in action. Good characters feel like people you could know – great characters remind you that we are all ultimately unknowable, recognizable sure, but capable of actions that feel simultaneously surprising and true to our nature. ODDTAXI is managing to soar on a narrative, character, and thematic level without shortchanging any of them, and I’m thrilled to see where it takes us next. Let’s get on board!

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Well Odokawa, what will you do now? In spite of the man’s apparent desire to lead a quiet life, trouble just keeps managing to find him. This latest catastrophe isn’t even his fault, really; after all, could any of us be blamed for wanting to escape the grey doldrums of their daily life, and spend some time with a friend like Shirakawa? But purposefully or not, Odokawa has now attracted the undying hatred of Tanaka, a man who, having failed to acquire his dodo jpeg, truly has nothing to lose.

ODDTAXI’s last episode was a tapestry of alienation, a character study as pointed and convincing as anything in the medium. In a show that’s already captured the loneliness of modern society from a half-dozen angles, Tanaka’s story felt like a journey to the heart of darkness, the dislocation of a story like Taxi Driver transposed to the predatory mechanics of mobile games. Tanaka’s antisocial tendencies, addictive personality, and inferiority complex all latched onto Zooden with glee, dragging an already-unhappy man to the point where his self-worth lived and died alongside a digital dodo. When you’re as emotionally distanced from the world as Tanaka, simply becoming an instrument with purpose can seem like salvation – and with his dodo gone, the blue flame has awoken in Tanaka, telling him his purpose is Odokawa’s destruction. Let’s see how all these lonely souls survive another gripping episode of ODDTAXI!

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