(CR) Odd Taxi

[Guardian Enzo]

I just wish someone had recorded the moment in the writers room when "So, I see an alpaca doing capoeira" was first proposed.

[Yu Ominae]

https://www.cbr.com/odd-taxi-episode...-girl-mystery/

CBR has an article that akins the anime to a noir show.

[TinyRedLeaf]

As someone who is currently playing two gacha games -- Fate/Grand Order and Arknights -- episode four resonates particularly strongly with me.

Arknights is very much kinder with its lottery rates than FGO, and has what appears to me to be a more ethical approach to its revenue model: It has a "pity" system that progressively increases the drop rate of rare characters if you go for a long enough spell without getting one.

Arknights also appears to focus more on getting players to buy cosmetic "skins" for characters rather than tempting players to spend more and more actual money to acquire characters. FGO, on the other hand, literally mocks players for not spending more, via its spoof manga spinoff.

Long story short, it can be a dangerously addictive game genre, and one has to exercise a good amount of discipline and self-control, or the spending will get completely out of hand. I'm of the opinion that some of these games are getting very close to requiring gambling regulations.

Back on point, Odd Taxi continues to fascinate. Many have pointed to Durarara as an earlier example of a similar non-linear narrative structure -- I'm yet to watch that older show, though it's long been on my watch list. Non-linear narratives are relatively rare in anime, I gather, but they have a long pedigree in film, most recently in the movies made by Quentin Tarantino. So, Pulp Fiction is one of the first things that pop to mind when I watch Odd Taxi.

It'll be very intriguing to see how everything ties together in the end.

[Yu Ominae]

The Belgians have outright banned lootboxing, which doomed Dx2 Shin Megami Tensei: Liberation there. And other gacha games.

[TinyRedLeaf]

Originally Posted by Yu Ominae

The Belgians have outright banned lootboxing, which doomed Dx2 Shin Megami Tensei: Liberation there. And other gacha games.

That's surprising, considering that online gambling is legal in Belgium. What was the basis for the ban on gacha games?

With regard to FGO, for example, there were reports of players spending over US$70,000 on the game, and there are many more anecdotal stories of people plonking over US$100,000. That is insane, in my opinion, but I've not come across a single article to date on what the publisher Sony/Aniplex and developer Delightworks have to say about this (they probably think, "More money for us, what's there to complain about?").

In my case, I make it a strict rule not to spend more than what I would for an annual subscription to an MMORPG like Final Fantasy XIV. Any more, and I would start questioning my grip on sanity.

[Yu Ominae]

The Belgiam Gaming Commission said that gacha games sold in Belgium has parts that are consistent with gambling in violation of Belgiam gambling laws.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-43906306

The BBC artilce has details on it.

[TinyRedLeaf]

It seems to me the line was drawn because it was decided that the games were targeted at children.

Belgium's Minister of Justice, Koen Geens, was keen to focus on how children are confronted with loot boxes, calling the mix of gaming and gambling "dangerous for mental health".

All that aside, I don't want to detract too much from the thread. I'll just add that I'm thoroughly enjoying how Odd Taxi is using its non-linear structure to great advantage, in telling the story of "nobodies" — "dead beats" whom we might pass by on any other day, and not give a second thought to.

We are, each and every one of us, the protagonist in the "movie" of our lives. But life is not fair, and some stories will always be more interesting than others. How you go about making peace with yourself, for the mistakes you've made, and for the roads you've not travelled, is a large part of life itself.

You can't control what life throws at you, but you can control your reaction to it. And for better or worse, your reaction will have an effect on others. Odd Taxi is doing a terrific job at drawing those connections together.

[VDZ]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

Arknights is very much kinder with its lottery rates than FGO, and has what appears to me to be a more ethical approach to its revenue model: It has a "pity" system that progressively increases the drop rate of rare characters if you go for a long enough spell without getting one.

That's a...rather optimistic interpretation.

Originally Posted by Online Casino Bluebook

Slot machines are also known for the “Taste.” The Taste refers to a small amount of money the game pays every few spins to those who are seated at a slot machine to keep them engaged in the game. The logic is simple: if players keep losing their bets without winning any back, they will eventually grow bored and leave the game. The taste is usually the 1:1 or the 2:1 payout.

The 'pity system' does not exist to get you your fix without paying, it exists to keep you hooked even though you're not getting your fix. It's copied straight over from gambling - that's because gacha (and similar lootbox systems) is straight-up gambling, just in a more modern form. When slot machines were new, they avoided gambling laws as well, but 100 years later we now see them as what they are - gambling in digital form.

Had Odd Taxi been set 50 years earlier, the exact same story could have been told with Tanaka becoming addicted to slots (or since it's Japan, probably pachinko). This episode was simply the life story of a gambling addict who loses everything.

[Cloudedmind]

It's interesting to see this theme brought up in anime, as just a few weeks ago I was listening to an episode of Trash Taste where the guys over there were having a similar discussion about gacha games and their gambling like elements.

[Last Sinner]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

Long story short, it can be a dangerously addictive game genre, and one has to exercise a good amount of discipline and self-control, or the spending will get completely out of hand. I'm of the opinion that some of these games are getting very close to requiring gambling regulations.

Throw Fortnite, FIFA, Counter-Strike and the like in with them. Peer pressure, the need to feel you're better than everyone in some way. This is why I only buy indie games now. Hades, Spiritfarer, Return of the Obra Dinn and others have been utter epics for relatively low one-off prices. The eternal grind mechanic of gacha and mobile gaming in general disgusts me as does the devs I encountered a few years ago saying mobile gaming is the only version worth making and that content is irrelevant. So I feel no sympathy for that fool aside from that someone should have had the decency to get him help. For an episode that decided to focus on only one character, it turned out pretty well.

Back on point, Odd Taxi continues to fascinate. Many have pointed to Durarara as an earlier example of a similar non-linear narrative structure

That and Baccano certainly are, but Narita's style and characters have never been anything I can tolerate. So I'd like to think this title can pull it off while being very unlike those two titles.


Well, another good episode. Certainly hope it has an ending in mind. Thanks to a certain January title, I can't rule out the possibility this title may have a decent journey but not know what it wanted to do in the end.


PS. Eff gacha.

[Magewolf]

Originally Posted by Cloudedmind

It's interesting to see this theme brought up in anime, as just a few weeks ago I was listening to an episode of Trash Taste where the guys over there were having a similar discussion about gacha games and their gambling like elements.

Last Period an anime based on a gacha game showed the gacha be a fast way to lose all your money.

[Guardian Enzo]

Given the nature of this storyline, the fact that the gacha game is available through the anime website is "odd". I certainly hope it doesn't allow players to spend actual money.

[SeijiSensei]

The writing in this show, even as expressed in Crunchyroll's translations, seems considerably above the norm for anime series. The dialogue is consistently witty. and there's so much of it. Nearly every line feels important to the development of the story.

[Last Sinner]

Episode 5 was brilliant. Things are really beginning to come together. You get just enough answers but get new hypotheticals/threats to replace them. Anything else I watched in the last week had a very down episode. This, on the other hand, continues to rise. Even if this is the only title I see through this season, it's more than enough.

[Thor's Hammer]

I have always been strongly against the faction that believes that everyone being animals is Odakawa's delusion, but what do you believers of that theory have to say now that Rui said that Baba has a horse face?

[Nachtwandler]

Originally Posted by Thor's Hammer

I have always been strongly against the faction that believes that everyone being animals is Odakawa's delusion, but what do you believers of that theory have to say now that Rui said that Baba has a horse face?

'Horse-face' is wague enough definition. It can be interpreted both literally or figuratively. So argument denied.

[Kakkou]

If anything she'd have just called him a horse than comment on his face. Odokawa not understanding why others would have trouble telling apart people in the crowd further cements the theory that it's easy for him because only he sees them as animals, hence making them easier to distinguish.

[Last Sinner]

Is it just me or are the idols verging on becoming the least trustworthy characters? I have grave concerns for anyone involved with them.

[SeijiSensei]

Originally Posted by Thor's Hammer

I have always been strongly against the faction that believes that everyone being animals is Odakawa's delusion, but what do you believers of that theory have to say now that Rui said that Baba has a horse face?

Perhaps it's just a joke. Like you, I don't think Odakawa is deluded either.

[Dop]

The sequence with Odokawa and Shirokawa in the park was just really well written and I really felt for her. The background music added to the noir-ish atmosphere wonderfully.