Remember the games you used to play as a child – racing around the neighborhood well past dusk until Mom called you back to home? Well, imagine if Mom wasn’t around, and the games were for much higher stakes. Into a world of horrors go seven children, to face the ultimate challenge of a game of hide & seek that isn’t winner takes all – its winner survives. Count back from ten and get ready for KAKURENBO.

As the camera pans down into the depths of town, we hear children talking about the rumors about ‘the dark town’, where kids who have gone to play hide & seek and have never returned. Some of the kids scoff at this story, but a young girl giggles and tells them it’s true, it’s all true. If you follow the trail of O-to-ko-yo, you will find the center of the dark town. When seven children are present – and all are wearing fox masks - the game will begin, and demons will seek the players. The kids take up the challenge, for reasons of their own. They make their way through the O-to-ko-yo maze and arrive at a great castle. The doors open, and the game of their lives begins...

“Boss” Noshiga is out to expose the ‘demons’ as frauds, but his lackeys aren’t as convinced. Boss grows frustrated wandering in the maze and strikes a strange statue in rage. His boys warn him that it’s bad karma. He laughs at this, but after they leave, the statue’s eyes light up. Hikora is playing this most dangerous game to find his sister Sorincha, who went missing after competing a few days earlier. His friend Yaimao is there to help, and they run across a girl who looks a lot like Sorincha. She leads them on a merry chase further into the maze. Meanwhile, the twins run into sharp-tooted mini-demons and their rather large cannon – they run!

If one demon on his tail wasn’t bad enough, Boss finds himself trapped between two monsters! The coward Noshiga throws his boys to the monsters as a distraction as he runs away. Hikora and Yaimao hide in one of the castle’s many rooms, where they discover a poster depicting the five demons of the city. But so far we’ve seen only four... Will Hikora and Yaimao find Sorincha and the other missing children, or is the game already lost? What will happen to them all when they’ve no place left to run – no place left to hide? And what is the secret of the fifth demon and the dark city?

KAKURENBO (Japanese for ‘hide & seek’) is a very interesting anime short. The film runs only 25 minutes, but it’s full intensity all the way. There’s just enough of a set-up to explain the ground rules, then game on. The film feels like part of a much larger story - I don’t know if the creators plan on expanding KAKURENBO, but they should. There is plenty of potential to create a feature here. As is, the story and characters create such an impact I found myself wanting more. I want to know more about the dark town and it’s demonic inhabitants. I want to know more about Hikora and his friends. I even want to see more of Boss. It’s kind of unnerving to see there are no parents anywhere, but then again, they represent safety, and KAKURENBO has no happy ending – it’s straight outta the ‘Twilight Zone’. This is the first work of Yamatotworks, and this taste has certainly shown they have the potential to create anime masterpieces.

The picture quality of KAKURENBO is superb. The animation is a combination of cel animation rendered with 3-D CGI to create a look that is fluid and has definite depth. The backgrounds are complex, moody and an integral part of the film’s look. Audio is fine, with sounds clear and music appropriately gothic. The dub job is very good – with each character masked, there was no trouble with lip synch. I actually preferred the Japanese version, because certain concepts (like O-to-ko-yo) were easier to understand in script than as translated.

Central Park Media continues to release DVDs with plenty of extra stuff. KAKURENBO not only has the usual trailers and previews, but two art galleries for characters, & backgrounds. There are separate interviews with creators Morita and Sujiki, whose enthusiasm for their projects convinces me they are one of the rising starts of anime – the future looks good for the genre with these guys! There is a making of feature, which is actually a commentary by Morita and Sujiki as three screens are projected – the storyboards, the CGI-render, and the final cut, so the viewer can see how everything came all together. Absolutely required viewing for anime fanatics.

When innocent childhood games like hide & seek become the feeding grounds for demons, you know the world is going to hell. Like your favorite roller coaster, the ride on KAKURENBO is a full-tilt boogie that’s just too darn short! Darkly disturbing and intense, KAKURENBO is an anime short that should be seen by all animation fans. I can’t wait to see what’s next from Morita & Sujiki....