Yes, I genuinely like the pun.

Given the synopsis, I was fully ready to experience something… well, pervy, for lack of a better term. What I wasn’t ready for was how sincerely adorable and heartwarming Kakushigoto/Hidden Things would be. And as a comedy, it’s genuinely funny! Imagine my shock. Think actually, unironically funny here – not dark, not cynical, not even slapstick, but honest-to-god, sweetly funny. The focus is very much not on the manga itself, but on Goto’s job as a manga artist and the fact that he’s trying desperately to shelter his young daughter from this fact, purely because he doesn’t want her to think of her own father as vulgar or shameful, or as an unfit parent.

Better still, the characters are all truly likeable in an unaffected, down-to-earth kind of way. Goto’s just a dude doing his job, and seemingly doing it pretty well given his amount of name recognition. He also clearly loved his wife very much, so there’s a hint of sadness under his otherwise intent but kindly nature – to him, his daughter always comes first. Hime herself, meanwhile, is a polite and delightfully grounded elementary school kid who likewise just wants the best for her father. In fact, she doesn’t know or apparently much care what he does for a job, so long as he’s happy.

If that all sounds refreshingly natural, that’s because it is. Sure, it’s a comedy, and there’s some pretty outlandish antics going on – mostly as a result of Goto’s improbable and likely wholly unnecessary attempts to cover up what he does for a living – but on the whole, I was pleasantly surprised by Kakushigoto’s bright and cheery atmosphere. This is complemented extremely well by the art style, which is crisp and colourful, and simplistic enough to almost come across as child-like if it wasn’t for its obvious high quality.

I honestly don’t know if there’s going to be enough raw material here to warrant (I assume) a full cour of twenty-odd-minute episodes; because of the skit-show nature of the comedy, I half-expected this series to a short. That said, I’m more than happy to continue watching to find out. Kakushigoto is about as innocent as you can get with this kind of material, and I really was taken aback by that – not because I don’t enjoy dark humour, but because my expectations were entirely subverted in the best way possible.

In short, this is exactly the kind of thing I’m looking for right now to help me relax and lighten the mood. It’s surprisingly wholesome, delightfully uncomplicated, and best of all, genuinely entertaining.

Rating: 7.5/10