Kakurenbo - Hide & Seek (2005) Review

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(More customer reviews)Kakurenbo, like Makoto Shinkai's Voices of a Distant Star, was created by only a few people yet stands a cut above a lot of anime of the same type. It presents unique ideas that would never have been tried by any of the more mass marketed anime. While the emphasis of Kakurenbo is the horror story, it still has plenty to offer outside of that, like stunning visuals, plenty of atmosphere, and a haunting soundtrack that plays well as the story unravels.
Kakurenbo is about eight children who dare each other into playing a game of hide and seek (Kakurenbo) in a city that's become a kind of urban myth among the children. Following specific rules, including following road signs, wearing fox masks, and going in with seven children, will trigger the city into life, or so the myth goes. The children follow these rules down to one, and that is they actually go in with eight. But the city comes to life anyways, and their game turns into a struggle, and all the while one boy attempts to find his lost sister who played the game before him.
The creatures that come to life in this short anime are drawn from Japanese mythology, and are made to fit into a more modern world, giving them a unique appearance that's successfully terrifying. When placed in the dark setting, these monstrosities do their job. And with relish. By the end, once all the monsters, or demons, are revealed, and twists play themselves out, you should be left with a disturbed feeling of horror in you stomach, especially when you realize what lights the city....
This is one of those films that just don't compare that easily with others. It's too different. Yet it's still great and worth the money. The DVD contains more special features than most anime DVDs have, and this makes up for the shortness of the film. Plus, had the film been longer, the effect would have been lost, I think. I'd recommend this to hardcore anime fans who don't mind a little difference from anime to anime.

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In this beautiful mixture of cutting-edge CGI and traditional animation, a young boy joins a game of hide-and-seek to find his missing sister. Along the way, he encounters grotesque demons and a terrifying fight for his very soul.

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