Kakurenbo

Kakurenbo: Hide & Seek
Theatrical poster.
Directed byShuhei Morita
Written byShuhei Morita
Produced byShuhei Morita
StarringJunko Takeuchi
Akiko Kobayashi
Production
company
YamatoWorks
Release date
  • March 2005 (2005-03)
Running time
25 minutes
LanguageJapanese

Kakurenbo: Hide & Seek (カクレンボ, Kakurenbo, lit. "Hide and Seek") is a Japanese cel-shaded anime short film written and directed by Shuhei Morita.

The film entails a game of "Otokoyo" (オトコヨ, lit. Man Hunt), a version of hide and seek played by children, wearing fox masks, near the ruins of an abandoned old Kowloon-inspired city. The children who play this disappear, believed to be spirited away by demons. Kakurenbo follows Hikora, a boy who joins the game with hopes of finding his missing sister, Sorincha. The storyline is built on the idea that Tokyo is losing its natural aesthetic, which includes child's games such as hide and seek in order for industrial progress to ensue i.e. lighting the city of Tokyo costing innocence of childhood games.