Is Hakozume: Police in a Pod the Most Unique Anime of the Season?

One thing I’m continually impressed with is how varied the kinds of stories anime tells us. While the general impression by fans is that 90% of shows are isekai or trapped-in-a-video-game, idol, slice-of-life, cute-girls-doing-cute-things, or ecchi young boy finds himself surrounded by perverted oneesan characters who can’t keep their hands off him, there are also a lot of fresh and original concepts in anime. Some great anime concepts include:

• Monogatari Series, with its complex psychological and supernatural elements, and great dialogue
• Ben-To, about characters fighting for half-priced bento boxed dinners in the supermarket
• Interviews with Monster Girls, which asks hard questions about how society would need to adapt if we learned that vampires, succubusses and headless dullahans were living in our midst
• FLCL, a totally insane anime about a boy who gets hit on the head with a guitar by a cute girl, which is the beginning of many strange adventures for him
• Ranking of Kings, i.e. what would happen if Ralph Bakshi animated Game of Thrones

Another fresh concept in anime might be Hakozume, aka Police in a Pod, a currently-airing show about two cute female police officers working the daily grind in a “police box.” This is not a Doctor Who reference, but a small police station of the kind that dot Japanese cities and allow police to respond more quickly to local issues in Japanese neighborhoods. Let’s learn more about this fun show!

The Story of Hakozume: Police in a Pod

Mai Kawai is a girl from a poor family who wanted to find a job as a komuin, or public servant, because those jobs offer stable income and job security. But the only job she got accepted for was as a low-level police officer, which she grudgingly accepts…though she has her letter of resignation prepared inside her desk to be submitted at any time.

Seiko Fuji is a former detective-track policewoman who got busted back to uniform duty because she got accused of para-hara or power harassment, i.e. abusing her rank in some way. Her experience and a unique sense of police work make her the best woman for the job. She hates the stylized view of the world presented in police recruitment pamphlets, since real police work is so much more complex.

While most of the story arcs involve things like Kawai and Fuji expressing frustration over the high-stress job, which earns them the hatred of the people they’re policing, sometimes they must use their skills to delve into darker areas in society. One such story was about a girl whose mother’s new husband is raping her, so she ran away. This is definitely not a cute moe show like You’re Under Arrest!, but a grittier, more realistic and very enjoyable police anime.

There’s a Live-Action Version, Too

I’ve written before about, while fans tend to hate all live-action anime adaptions right off the bad, certain stories actually lend themselves to adaptions quite well. This might be one of those cases.

So if you’re looking for a fun show with cute and inspiring characters and some of the best animation and art of the season, give Hakozume a try!

Thanks for reading this post about the Hakozume: Police in a Pod slice-of-life police anime. Tell us your reaction to the show below, or on Twitter!

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