Kakurenbo: Hide & Seek

In the shadow of an abandoned city—framed by steel scaffolding, tangled power lines, and dim, weatherworn neon—children speak of a forbidden game played among the ruins.

Called “Otokoyo,” it’s a clandestine version of hide-and-seek that requires seven participants, each wearing a fox mask, before it can begin. The rules may sound simple, but the outcome is not: everyone who has taken part has vanished without a trace. Some dismiss the stories as superstition, while others insist something far darker is at work.

*Kakurenbo: Hide & Seek* follows seven children as they enter Otokoyo for the first time, only to confront the unsettling reason why those who play are said to never come back.