How Crunchyroll anime ‘Odd Taxi’ uses technology casually

It also doesn’t help that it’s not delivered well, often coming across more as ignorant bashing than constructive criticism. That makes sense to me, because I don’t think there are many people alive who really understand how modern technology, especially the internet, has changed society and human beings in general. There are thousands of studies and articles about how it affects the brain, psychology, politics, economics and every other facet of society, but it’s become so big in a short amount of time that I feel like we haven’t yet absorbed all the ways we engage with it.

All of this context is what makes “Odd Taxi,” a Japanese anime television series, such a marvel. It feels like it was written by someone who really understands the relationship between people and technology. And it does this with the story of an anthropomorphic walrus.

“Odd Taxi” centers around Odokawa, a world-weary, misanthropic taxi driver, who spends his nights cruising through Tokyo picking up customers. Through a series of coincidences, he finds himself in a tangled web of pop stars, social media influencers, gangsters, corrupt cops and struggling comedians, all of whom took a ride in his cab at some point. He must use his wits to play them off each other and make it out of this mess alive.

Aside from a reference to a social media influencer, you’ll notice that I didn’t mention technology in that plot synopsis. That’s mainly because the show isn’t about technology; it’s a surreal crime drama thriller that treats modern technology as part of the narrative, rather than a focus. So why did I use my opening three paragraphs to talk about technology? Because while “Odd Taxi” isn’t trying to say something about technology, it understands that technology is a part of everyday life and it’s honest about how and why people use it.

For example, Odokawa’s best friend is an aging bachelor who lies about his annual income on a dating app profile. This gets him a date, but also gets him into financial trouble, as he takes out loans from the yakuza, the Japanese mafia, to keep up his wealthy facade. He wants to be admired and loved so badly that he’s willing to ruin himself for the sake of it.

There’s also Tanaka, a guy who not only fell for an online scam that cost his family a fortune as a kid but became addicted to a mobile game as an adult, sending him into a downward spiral. He was so obsessed with winning that he did something stupid as a child. That stupid decision would, in a roundabout way, ruin his life when he grew up.

In both of these cases, the show doesn’t completely blame technology; it’s just another step in the personal tragedies of these characters. Odokawa’s friend downloaded a dating app and was so desperate for attention that he chose to lie and take out loans instead of waiting for a real connection. Tanaka didn’t know he was being set up by an online scam, but he let his competitive pride get the better of him as he stole his father’s credit card as a child and drained his bank account as an adult.

Even the social media influencer isn’t used to constantly bash the Internet. He uses it because he has low self-esteem and his exploits are used for commentary, but it doesn’t feel forced. It feels less like a PSA about the dangers of social media and more like we’re just watching someone’s already awful self-esteem become worse. It feels like a real situation rather than a textbook example.

The difference between “Odd Taxi” and something like “Black Mirror,” a Netflix show described as “a sci-fi anthology series (that) explores a twisted, high-tech near-future where humanity’s greatest innovations and darkest instincts collide,” is that technology is just part of the story rather than the center. Also, while there is commentary on people’s relationship with technology, it’s less fatalistic and preachy. It doesn’t feel like there’s an agenda behind it, it just feels natural.

Let me put it like this: What most modern media does with cell phones and the internet is usually minimal or for the sake of commentary, making it feel like something that’s dangerous and outside the realm of normal, even though they’ve been a significant part of most people’s lives for more than a decade at this point. That would be like if they started making films about how new or dangerous cars were when the Model T came out, then barely had them in any movies that didn’t focus on their danger or newness by the time everybody had one.

And the show remembers that the human element exists. Technology doesn’t just present corrupting problems, it presents them to already corrupted people. If Odokawa’s friend hadn’t lied in a dating app, he would’ve lied in a newspaper ad. If Tanaka wasn’t addicted to a mobile app, he’d be a gambling addict. If the social media influencer didn’t have the Internet, he’d seek validation through anything else.

In “Odd Taxi,” technology isn’t weird or new or even particularly dangerous (even if Odokawa doesn’t fully understand it); it’s just there, like a car. This casual acceptance and integration of it into the story is unusual, which is strange in itself. Why do so many stories ignore modern technology except for the occasional cell phone call?

It’s very odd, don’t you think?