12-Days of Anime, Day 12: Shirobako

So, one day, the staff members of P.A. Works all sat around a table during one of their regular meetings.

The manager goes like:

“Alright men!  We need to think up of some new anime to please our fans!  We made success and big money with Nagi no Asukara, but then fucked up big time when we tried to make a show that’s literally about nothing and named it GLASSLIP!  We need to create a show that would give our credibility back!  Johnson, what do you have?”

One impressionable guy who wears a plain white shirt adorned with the P.A. Works logo said:

“Well, sir, w-we could try to make a show about a whole bunch of kids who go to a school in the afterlife and then a bunch of murders happened and this girl with an eyepatch tries to solve them while having a fish head for a knee?”

Manager-san is not pleased and fired the guy.

Then, another guy with dark brown skin and curly hair said:

“It could be a story about this kid who sees dead people and spends the entirety of the first episode running away from poisonous trees, and then a plot twist happens where the kid is actually an alien cyborg sent by Jedi-master James Tiberius Kirk from the future.”

Manager-san wondered when he hired M. Night Shyamalan and immediately fired him.

And then finally one guy said:

“What if we made an anime……………..about making anime?”

Manager-san is pleased, and they made a whole ton of money.  Leonardi Di Caprio still didn’t win an Oscar.

What’s up, everyone, my name is Ken,from thebuttonsmashers.com, and today, I present to you Day 12 of the 12-Days of Anime, featuring my immediate two-cents on the show that gives a behind-the-scenes look on just what goes on behind the anime you watch:  Shirobako

So what is this show about?  It’s about the trials and tribulations of a production company as they strive through the ups-and-downs of making anime.  That’s pretty much it.

Ok, there’s a reason why I mentioned a little bit of hype for this show during Day 11, and that’s because Shirobako is amazing.  That’s all there is to it.  That’s the short answer.

What drives this show, I feel like, is its realism.  And it’s not just it being a slice-of-life anime, but rather the events and situations within it are all realistic and even relatable to a different level.  As far as I can tell, Shirobako really gives the viewers a nice little inside-look into the inner machinations of making an anime, and it’s not just the basic stuff like the what the main staff does either, like voice-acting or directing.  They include EVERYONE, from the assistants to the various staff members, to the many different animators who work on specific parts of a show at any given time, which gives the characters of the show more depth not only on an individual level, but as a whole, as if the entire staff is one big main character.

Sure, said realism could be boring for some people, but the fact that there is still some sort of story beneath all that, coupled with amazing characters that do not feel one-dimensional at all, really made this show super fun and insightful for me.  The animation and soundtrack, though not being anything note-worthy, both compliment the show really well, and that’s what I feel that this show is trying to be both with its production and the show’s theme in general:  a whole bunch of parts and individual cogs working together to create something really special.

If you are an anime fan and are in any way interested in the makings of anime and the industry itself, then this is really something that would both be insightful and highly entertaining.  I highly enjoyed every bit of this show, hopefully you will too.

So what recommendation do I give this show?

WATCH IT NOW.  It is a fascinating look at the ins-and-outs of the anime industry and all the trial and tribulations that essentially all anime production companies have to face on a day-to-day basis, while still having a story that makes you want to watch on.  The characters are the show’s crutch, being realistic enough to accurately portray their roles in connection to the setting, as well as being entertaining and having a great dynamic with the rest of the cast to allow the viewer to relate and develop a liking for them as a whole.

……………………………………………..

IT’S FINALLY OVER!

This’ll be my last anime-related article for the year.  I’ll be releasing a little writer’s blog a few days before the new year just to sorta wrap everything up together, but until then I’ll have to say this:

Thanks to everyone who put up with all of my lame jokes, silly puns, and stale humour over the course of these 12 days.  This was a fun experience, getting to watch so many new anime and writing about every single one of them for you guys, and I definitely would be doing this again next year.

I just gotta be more careful with some of my choices next time 😉

Aaaaaaand, with that, I bid you all adieu.  This has been Ken for thebuttonsmashers.com Anime Reviews, and I’ll see you guys in a few days for my year-end blog!