English Dub Review: Kakushigoto “Secrets / Wishes”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Kakushi Goto has a big secret. He’s a manga author! And he can’t let his young daughter Hime know about it, lest she think less of him. She’s an inquisitive little girl, and it’s all he can do to keep his day job under wraps. When a new editor named Satsuki gets assigned to him, he freaks out because he went straight to the house and met Hime. Thanks to his quick thinking and drawing skills, he manages to convince Hime that Satsuki is no more than a business associate.

Later on, Hime writes a wish for her father at school that he will become an important person. She thinks this will make him happy, but it only causes him a lot of consternation as he wonders what she meant by it. Was does it mean for a manga author to be important? Do they need to sell well? Or just create impressive works that don’t achieve mainstream success? At the end of the day, the misunderstanding is cleared up and Kakushi and Hime agree to keep on growing strong together.

Our Take:

Kakushigoto is the tale of a single father with an embarrassing job, and the curious daughter who’s on the verge of growing up. It’s a sweet story that brings to mind shows like Barakamon and Non Non Biyori in some ways. The premiere episode gets things off on a bit of a rocky start, but by the end, I think the series has found a good balance between comedy and more emotional beats.

The first part of the episode lays out the basic groundwork of everyday life for the two-person family: Hime heads off to school while her father heads in the opposite direction wearing a business suit. After she’s far out of sight, he changes at a nearby store into more casual clothes, and ends up at his real job, where he works on new manga pages along with his assistants.

His assistants include Rasuna, Aogu, Ami, and Kakeru. The two guys of the group mainly exist for comedy relief so far, while Ami seems to be setting up as a potential love interest and mommy 2.0 for Hime. Neither of the two female assistants are introduced until later in the episode, but I hope they’ll have equal footing with their male counterparts from here on out. There are a couple more characters so far. Ichiko is Hime’s teacher, and is a fun, supportive instructor who has lunch with Kakushi in order to question him about why he keeps his career a secret from his daughter. Also, she’s a big fan of his hit manga ‘Balls of Fury’.

The dub cast is very impressive so far. Kakushi is voiced by Howard Wang, who brings a good balance between overbearing manga artist and loving father. Hime is a tricky part to cast, because she’s young, but is an old soul in some ways. Morgan Lauré does an excellent job with her so far, although my one complaint would be she sounds a tad too old at times. The supporting cast members are solid, too, with Katelyn Barr sounding perfectly low energy as Ami. The translation of the script is acceptable, although terms like TrendyPeeps and Mango sound a bit strange.

Overall, the first episode of Kakushigoto does a nice job introducing the main premise and the characters to us. It’s first segment is a bit awkwardly paced, and some of the character’s first appearances felt off, like Ami’s random introduction and the shopkeeper who Kakushi knows. But the comedy is on point, and the delivery by the dub cast is fantastic. By the end of the episode, I was even starting to feel things when Kakushi and Hime have their heart to heart before bed. If the show can continue balancing humor with heart, I think we’re in for an exceptional ride.