Kakushigoto

Kakushigoto: My Dad's Secret Ambition
Cover of Kakushigoto tankōbon volume 1. Featuring Kakushi (right) and Hime (left).
かくしごと (Kakushigoto)
Genre	Comedy, slice of life
Manga
Written by	Kōji Kumeta
Published by	Kodansha
English publisher	NA: Kodansha USA (digital)
Magazine	Monthly Shōnen Magazine
Demographic	Shōnen
Original run	December 5, 2015 – July 6, 2020
Volumes	12
Anime television series
Directed by	Yūta Murano
Written by	Takashi Aoshima
Music by	Yukari Hashimoto
Studio	Ajia-do Animation Works
Licensed by	Funimation SEA: Plus Media Networks Asia
Original network	BS-NTV, AT-X, Tokyo MX, SUN
English network	SEA: Aniplus Asia
Original run	April 2, 2020 – June 18, 2020
Episodes	12

Kakushigoto: My Dad's Secret Ambition (Japanese: かくしごと, Hepburn: Kakushigoto, double meaning of "secret" and "work of drawing") is a Japanese comedy manga series by Kōji Kumeta. It was serialized in Kodansha's Monthly Shōnen Magazine from December 2015 to July 2020, and has been collected in twelve tankōbon volumes. An anime television series adaptation by Ajia-do Animation Works aired from April to June 2020. A compilation film has been announced.

Plot

Kakushi Goto draws ecchi manga for a living; worried that fact would alienate his daughter Hime from him, he swears never to let it out.

Characters

Gotō household

Kakushi Gotō (後藤 可久士, Gotō Kakushi)

Voiced by: Hiroshi Kamiya (animated PV, anime) (Japanese); Howard Wang (English)

Kakushi is a mangaka who runs his own company, G-PRO. Being that his primary work involves ecchi, he is determined to keep his mangaka career a secret from his daughter, Hime. Kakushi is a single father, his wife having disappeared in an accident off the coast of Japan. His name is a pun on one of the Japanese words for 'secret' (かくしごと, kakushigoto). In the present, he has been in a coma for a year after suffering from an accident at his warehouse job.

Hime Gotō (後藤 姫, Gotō Hime)

Voiced by: Chika Anzai (animated PV), Rie Takahashi (anime) (Japanese); Morgan Garrett (English)

Hime is a 10-year-old sprightly elementary school student and daughter to Kakushi. She is also depicted as an 18-year-old high school student in flash-forward segments, who knows of her father's secret, and has been waiting for him to wake up from his coma. Her name is a pun on one of the Japanese words for 'secret' (ひめゴト, himegoto).

G-PRO

Aogu Shiji (志治 仰, Shiji Aogu)

Voiced by: Taku Yashiro (anime) (Japanese); Cris George (English)

Aogu is Kakushi's chief assistant at G-PRO. He often requires instructions from other people, and his name is a reference to this fact (shiji wo aoku, 'ask for instructions').

Rasuna Sumita (墨田 羅砂, Sumita Rasuna)

Voiced by: Kiyono Yasuno (anime) (Japanese); Tia Ballard (English)

Rasuna is an assistant at G-PRO. She is named after the phrase don't drop ink! (すみ たらす な！, sumi tarasu na!).

Ami Kakei (筧 亜美, Kakei Ami)

Voiced by: Ayane Sakura (anime) (Japanese); Katelyn Barr (English)

Ami is an assistant at G-PRO. She generally sports a flat, uninterested demeanour; she also keeps secrets of her own, such as her mangaka pen name. Her name is a reference to the kakeiami (カケアミ) style of cross-hatching.

Kakeru Keshi (芥子 駆, Keshi Kakeru)

Voiced by: Ayumu Murase (anime) (Japanese); Kevin Thelwell (English)

Kakeru is the newest assistant at G-PRO; his primary duty is to erase mistakes on the manga manuscripts. His name is a reference to his need for constant encouragement (嗾ける, keshikakeru) so as to be motivated.

Satsuki Tomaruin (十丸院 五月, Tomaruin Satsuki)

Voiced by: Natsuki Hanae (anime) (Japanese); Aaron Dismuke (English)

Tomaruin is the long-suffering editor at Weekly Shōnen Magazine responsible for liaisoning with the G-PRO firm. He repeatedly drops off manga materials at the Goto home, threatening to reveal Kakushi's secret to his daughter. He is regarded as a ditz, and in one episode, mistaken for a pervert; however, he generally means well. His name is a reference to the phrase tomaru insatsuki (stop the presses).

Other characters

Nadila (ナディラ, Nadira)

Voiced by: Emiri Katou (Japanese); Risa Mei (English)

Nadila is an Indonesian migrant worker who occasionally comes to clean the Goto home. She teaches Hime how to cook Indonesian food, befuddling her father. In another segment, Tomaruin mistakes her for a dukun.

Kairi Imashigata (Imashigata Kairi)

Voiced by: Akio Ôtsuka

Imashigata is Kakushi's wealthy father-in-law, who has been at loggerheads with him seemingly ever since his daughter passed away. However, it is shown he still cares for Hime, going so far as to buying her a grand piano when she wants to practice.

Media

Manga

Kakushigoto: My Dad's Secret Ambition is written and illustrated by Kōji Kumeta. The manga started in Monthly Shōnen Magazine on December 5, 2015. In March 2020, it was announced that the manga would end with the release of its twelfth tankōbon volume. The manga finished on July 6, 2020.

In March 2020, Kodansha USA announced the acquisition of the manga for an English language digital release, with the first volume being released on March 17, 2020.

Anime

An anime television series adaptation was announced on the tenth volume of the manga on November 15, 2019. The series was animated by Ajia-do Animation Works and directed by Yūta Murano, with Takashi Aoshima handling series composition, Shuuhei Yamamoto designing the characters, and Yukari Hashimoto composing the series' music. It aired from April 2 to June 18, 2020 on BS-NTV, AT-X, Tokyo MX, and SUN. The opening theme song is "Chiisana Hibi" (ちいさな日々) by Flumpool, while the ending theme is Eiichi Ohtaki's 1981 song "Kimi wa Tennen Shoku" (君は天然色).

Funimation acquired the series and streamed it on FunimationNow, AnimeLab, and Wakanim, as well as produce an English dub.

The first volume of Blu-ray & DVD contains a 12-page newly drawn bonus manga by the author.

No.	Title	Original air date
1	"Secrets" Transliteration: "Kakushigoto" (Japanese: かくしごと)	April 2, 2020 (2020-04-02)
	"Wishes" Transliteration: "Negaigoto" (Japanese: ねがいごと)
18-year-old Hime Gotō receives a key to a mysterious and secret building, which is revealed to be a storehouse filled with manga manuscripts written by her father, Kakushi. The current story is set 8 years ago, when Hime was 10 years old. When Hime was born, Kakushi, an ecchi manga writer, vowed never to reveal his job to his daughter for fear of being repulsed by her, going as far as to store his manuscripts faraway, revamp the office building to make it look ordinary, and leave the house in a suit. However, when a new editor Satsuki Tomaruin arrives at the house instead of the office, Kakushi redraws the character on the manga-present T-shirt he is wearing to something unrecognisable. Kakushi saves a cat from a river using his donut pillow in public. For classwork, Hime wants to write about a wish for her father. Inspired by a friend whose mother believed in men getting promotions and prestige, she hopes for her father to "become important", much to Kakushi's worry. Consulting his assistants Aogu Shiji, Ami Kakei and Kakeru Keshi, he lands into a dilemma as in society, becoming famous is similar to becoming important but it is also akin to exposing his secret. When Hime and her friends attempt to find the cat saviour, they almost find Kakushi but are scared away by a silly legend. In bed, Hime tells Kakushi that she wished for him to become important because she thought it would make him happy. Kakushi tells her that he would happy if she grew up well.
2	"Beach Sandals and B4" Transliteration: "Bīsan to Bī-yon" (Japanese: ビーサンとＢ４)	April 9, 2020 (2020-04-09)
	"Don’t Place, Don’t Draw, Don’t Finish Up" Transliteration: "Okanai Kakanai Shiagenai" (Japanese: おかない かかない しあげない)
3	"Makeshift Circus" Transliteration: "Yarikuri Sākasu" (Japanese: やりくりサーカス)	April 16, 2020 (2020-04-16)
	"The True State of Manga and Muscles" Transliteration: "Manga no Jitsujō to Kinniku" (Japanese: 漫画の実情と筋肉)
4	"Normale Namae" Transliteration: "Norumae Namae" (Japanese: ノルマエ・ナマエ)	April 23, 2020 (2020-04-23)
	"Komawari Sketch" Transliteration: "Komawari Sukecchi" (Japanese: コマ割りスケッチ)
5	"And Yet Everyone Gets Their Turn in the End" Transliteration: "Soredemo Hachi wa Mawattekuru" (Japanese: それでも鉢は廻ってくる)	April 30, 2020 (2020-04-30)
	"You’re Spending the Night!" Transliteration: "Tometane!" (Japanese: 泊めたねっ！)
6	"School Rucksack" Transliteration: "Sukūru Randoseru" (Japanese: スクールランドセル)	May 7, 2020 (2020-05-07)
7	"Inuhoshiki: Dog Wanted" Transliteration: "Inu Hoshiki" (Japanese: いぬほしき)	May 14, 2020 (2020-05-14)
	"The One Who Connects Mother and Child" Transliteration: "Boshi o Tsugu Mono" (Japanese: 母子を継ぐ者)
8	"Our Rough Draft" Transliteration: "Oretachi no Shitagaki" (Japanese: おれたちの下描き)	May 21, 2020 (2020-05-21)
	"Unfortunate Memories Club" Transliteration: "Zan'nen Kinen-Gumi" (Japanese: 残念記念組)
9	"Your Lie in December" Transliteration: "Shiwasu wa Kimi no Uso" (Japanese: 師走は君の嘘)	May 28, 2020 (2020-05-28)
10	"I"S（Izu）" Transliteration: "I"S（Izu）" (Japanese: I"S（伊豆）)	June 4, 2020 (2020-06-04)
The end of the year approaches; at G-PRO, Kakushi tasks his team with finishing the proofs for both issues six and seven of their manga ahead of schedule, so as to be able to take time off until January 8th. However, Kakushi himself has no motivation to go through with it. Whilst shopping, Hime wins a hot springs trip to Izu for herself, Kakushi, and Roku, valid from the 6th to the 31st of January; with this newfound motivation, Kakushi manages to finish issue seven. Unfortunately, he catches a cold immediately after, confining him to his futon. All of his friends (including those who think he is romantically interested in them) come to check up on him; in the morning, he feels better and gets up, only to find his room covered in marriage proposals. They leave for Izu shortly after. At the inn in Izu, Kakushi worries about not being able to keep an eye on Hime in the gender-segregated onsen; he gets Rasuna and Aogu (who he'd bribed with a free trip) to watch her. However, Hime finishes in the onsen before the two even get a chance to enter. Walking back to their room, Kakushi asks an inn attendant about a sealed-off room; she replies that it's being remodelled into a showroom, as it was where a literary classic was written. In the dining room, people spontaneously start telling others about their secrets; Kakushi almost reveals his mangaka career when a scream is heard. Rasuna says she saw a shadow in the room, and the inn attendant admits it's actually haunted by the ghost of the book's author. Later at night, Roku runs into the room, prompting Kakushi to chase him; he discovers that the shadow was actually that of a civet's. Marvelling at the room's history and quietude, he decides to work on his manuscripts, and is mistaken for the ghost by a group of young boys peering in through the window. In the present, Hime reflects on how Kakushi had told her that he'd taken up a new calling in life. Meanwhile, Rasuna and Satsuki talk about why Kakushi quit his job; a newspaper reporting on a group of people lost off the coast of Japan is shown.
11	"Saishukai: The Last Chapter Doesn't Bother Her" Transliteration: "Saishūkai Heiki Kanojo" (Japanese: 最終回平気彼女)	June 11, 2020 (2020-06-11)
12	"Hidden Truths" Transliteration: "Himegoto" (Japanese: ひめごと)	June 18, 2020 (2020-06-18)
In the present, Hime is sitting on the porch of the home-turned-warehouse when a boy her age greets her, and calls her "Sis". He reveals that Kakushi is the love child of a kabuki actor and his mistress. Somewhere else, Satsuki and Rasuna discuss this revelation, and speculate that Hime's maternal grandfather resented Kakushi not because he was a mangaka, but because he was born into a family of kabuki actors. Meanwhile, Naru Senda, now a reporter for the Weekly Bunshio, interviews a worker at the company Kakushi went to work for after he gave up being a mangaka. He reveals that Goto was crushed beneath a stack of mangazines he was moving, because its structural integrity had been damaged - someone had taken out a copy to read. As a result, he's been hospitalised for over a year by the time the series started. Satsuki and Rasuna further discuss how Kakushi's finances had spiralled, not the least because he was searching for his wife. When Hime entered lower secondary school, a tabloid picked up that story, causing him to quit his career. However, Hime managed to get through upper secondary school just fine, having inherited her art skills from her grandfather. It comes out that the boy's mother, Kakushi's half-sister, was the one who'd sent Hime the key; Kakushi had requested she sell everything inside in order to help Hime survive should anything happen to him. At Tokyo Women's Medical University Hospital, Kakushi suddenly regains consciousness, and Hime and everyone else rush to his side. However, Kakushi doesn't recognise Hime, asking who she is. It turns out that he does retain most of his memories, only losing the past seven years of his life. To him, Hime is still a 10-year-old girl. Kakushi wishes to get back into drawing Tights, not knowing the series had ended years ago, and his former assistants oblige him. Hime sees his father work for the first time. Kakushi asks the now 18-year-old Hime if she's a new assistant, and asks her to keep an eye... on herself. On the hospital's rooftop, Hime and Ichiko discuss how, if Kakushi should ever regain his memories, he would stop drawing manga again. Hime states it's for the best that he doesn't. Hime returns home and greets the now-grizzled Roku, breaking down and crying. At the hospital, Kakushi's assistants discuss how the best form of therapy for him is to continue drawing manga; this draws Satsuki's ire, given that Rasuna is one of their company's top creators au courant. Hime talks to Kakushi alone, and posits that drawing manga is what makes him the happiest; Kakushi rebuts her by saying that he would like to see a happy, healthy, and grown-up Hime instead. Tearful, Hime runs out of the hospital room and rushes to join up with her friends, retrieving old manuscripts that Kakushi doesn't remember drawing to show him. Kakushi begins to remember, and finally recognises Hime as his daughter - and promptly attempts to hide the manuscripts from her. Later, it's shown that Hime's keeping a secret too: she's drawing her own manga. The G-PRO staff are reunited as "New G-PRO" as Kakushi proposes a new series to Satsuki.

Film

On December 12, 2020, it was announced that the series would receive a theatrical compilation film.

External links

• Anime official website (in Japanese)
• Kakushigoto (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia