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Shirobako – 24 [END]

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Shirobako - congratulations

A lot of contributions!

winter15-highwMy final show for Winter 2015 is also my final show for Fall 2014, as Shirobako finally, or should we say sadly, wraps up. Was this the show that everyone wanted to see for this great PA Works production?

The Final Push

Shirobako - Murakawa finally gets everyone on board

Everyone’s finally on board with Murakawa!

Shirobako - Team Emacchi

Team Emacchi in the hizzouse!

They’ve worked out the creative differences, now it’s to the big work of trying to get the final episode of Third Aerial Girls actually made. 500 cuts, 10,000 in-betweens (which I’m guessing works out to a LOT more animation than is usually in an anime. There are only about 35,000 frames total), late changes, and . And then there are the personal requests, like Ema asking to do the scenes with Lucy even on top of her animation supervisor role. The things like that are a really nice touch. And even with all that life goes on, like the underling in the coloring department being urged to go on her dates before things get hectic, and someone coming up with a new (well-demonstrated) plugin for glasses highlights. In fact, it’s so busy that Segawa actually comes into the office to work until the show is finished, giving Endou a big start (have they ever said what the issue Endou has with Segawa’s presence is? He certainly gets squirrely around here, but he’s already married, so it’s not like Segawa’s after him).

Shirobako - Does he think she's going to hit him

Does he think she’s going to hit him or something?

Shirobako - Hiraoka helps out

Is Hiraoka actually being helpful?

And there are other good signs, like Hiraoka seeming to feel like part of the team, offering to help out Satou with a contact. Even if he keeps his usual response of ‘betsu ni’ to everything, he certainly seems to be enjoying himself at MusAni. There’s also another credited role for Shizuka, this time as ‘Girl C’ in The Prince of Baseball (moving up from doing the crowd portion). And even though it’s a bit of a self-congratulation society, Kunogi and Ema are both getting compliments from the director and the other experienced animators, while they’re both feeling better about their own work (and even able to talk in public). But there’s still the final task, even after everything’s put together: Getting it to the stations.

3-2-1 (mouseover for Go!)

 It’s too late to transport normally, so the delivery team is assembled, with Aoi, Erika, Nabe-P, Katsuragi, Mizuyama (who hasn’t really had a starring role, but has been around), and the specialist: Okitsu. Is anyone surprised that Okitsu shows up in an Alfa Romeo wearing driving gloves? And why does Katsuragi have an Acme Pegbar? Of course, they all have their challenges getting to their destinations, whether by land, sea, or air (does Okitsu actually get a ticket for going 7 kph over the speed limit?), and Aoi is the one who has to run instead of sitting in traffic. Of course, it gets delivered, and Aoi even makes it back for the after party, in time to make a speech. I like the way that they worked Roro’s exhortation of Aoi to go to a different plane and look farther to decide what she wants to do into the scene of her speech, as she actually does get to look out over a group of hundreds of people who contributed to Third Aerial Girls, a size that in aggregate is much more impressive than as individuals, but as individuals possess talent and creativity and vision to get something that we all enjoy made, and realizes that all those in the past have contributed to where we are now, as well as all those viewers.

Shirobako - more comfortable now

And even Endou and Segawa can get along

Will the girls ever make their personal project? Who knows. But even as corny as that ending was, it still was very touching. People do corny things. And reaching for that goal is what it’s all about.

Shirobako - To the future

One more time: Don-Don-Donuts!

Series Thoughts

Shirobako - Aoi Makes It

Aoi makes it!

“PA Works only does shows about teenagers.” “PA Works can’t end a show properly.” “PA Works shows look great, but don’t have a good enough story.” Hark, I hear the call of the naysayers. Well, I guess if some people can be JC Staff fanboys or Type-Moon fanboys (nobody’s an A-1 Pictures fanboy, are they?), I can be a PA Works fanboy. And that’s ok. But to all those criticisms above, I present Shirobako (even though they’re still saying those things after I presented Uchouten Kazoku to them a year and a half ago). Shirobako was excellent, there are no two ways about it. Maybe it was a bit sanitized version of making anime, where the good guys succeed and all troubles are overcome, but who would want to see things fall apart like they did where Hiraoka used to work? That’s only good if you are an awful, mean-spirited person.

Shirobako - looking out at everyone

Aoi realizes how many people there are

Shirobako - Ema feels like Aoi did

Ema has a similar reaction to Aoi

And even as idealistic as the show is, I think it was still probably pretty realistic, at least of what you want your production to be like, of course without all the roadblocks. And even though I work in an entirely different field, it did a good job of portraying that office environment, one that’s familiar to me. Working across disciplines, getting cooperation and buy-in, and having to deal with a rush at the end. It’s a fairly universal thing, and it’s certainly not all bad. I would almost like this to be aspirational, in that everyone who sees it tries to make their office more like the MusAni office (and NOT like the Servant x Service office).

Shirobako - Nice details

The details are excellent

There’s not much to say about the actual production of the show besides the fact that it does PA Works proud. It really did feel like this series was kind of a love letter to themselves, and I almost want to say that “of course” it’s directed Tsutomu Mizushima, who has now made three of my favorite shows (Shirobako, Witch Craft Works, and the best show, Girls und Panzer), and one of Fosh’s (Ika Musume). It matched fun situations with interesting characters, and while there might have been a little bit of spinning out at the end with Kinoshita and Nogame, I think that the time the show spent on that was well done, and worked within the context of the show. Art and sound were consistently good, and PA Works turned their terrific backgrounds on an urban setting that worked well (one funny note: Studio Titanic’s building is based on an anime store named Vintage Club Murai, an anime, manga, and merchandise store in… Ooarai, where Girls und Panzer is set. They even dressed the place up as Taitanic for a gag).

Shirobako - Life goes on

Judging by how they were ribbing her at the party, she had her date

header-winter15-highw

I don’t know if I have anything else to say, except that I hope everyone else enjoyed watching Shirobako as much as I did. 6 months of a great show aren’t nearly enough, especially one that could easily continue, or even spin off two other series in Exodus! (episode 1 was a lot of fun) and Third Aerial Girls Squadron (whose episode 1 I’m eagerly awaiting). I’m not expecting to ever see any of those further anime made, but one can hope.


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