Continuing my streak of “better late than never” this week, we have Keep Your Hands off Eizouken! Though this time with backstory, some dancing and more great Kanamori scenes. Lets dive in! And I promise, no more late ones, I should have things sorted now.
Starting off, this was a pretty straightforward week for Eizouken. Focusing in on a specific theme and tackling it from a variety of angles. However while the theme itself might not be particularly complicated, I think Eizouken did a great job portraying it. The idea of “Coexistence” was tackled from a variety of angles, from more professional ones in their club to the person in Asakusa’s flashback. Each one managing to both explore the characters while still building to a final peak. I will admit, at the beginning of the episode I wasn’t to enthused. I thought it was going to be another sort of montage filler episode. Which while it would still contain Eizouken’s usual quality, wouldn’t be particularly memorable. As the episode went on though and it revealed more and more of the primary thread, I came to love it. So now, let’s get to the details, yeah?
The first big one is of course Asakusa, the value of play, and how it fits into work. How it fits into the greater theme of coexistence is obvious from the start. As throughout the episode we see Asakusa waxing philosophical, experiencing and exploring her surroundings. Questioning what exactly an “enemy” is, both in the context of her animated work and in the larger world. My favorite bit of it though was the professor and his focus on fun. Prior to this, he always came off as a tad lazy or uninterested when he appeared. Here though Eizouken is showing instead how he has balanced his life. How work and play must come in equal measure, both so you don’t get burned out, but also to help inspire you. Even a job you love can eventually become tedious if it’s all you do, afterall.
Meanwhile Eizouken gave us even more Kanamori backstory, and I loved it. Though this time instead of being a solo-piece it’s about how she met Asakusa, why they hang out. Once again, how this fits into the greater theme of the episode is obvious. Asakusa spells it out for us from the beginning, how they help and support each other. Kanamori is a bit more blunt about it of course, calling it a business transaction. But the spirit of the theme is there. I really liked though how Eizouken managed to build on both of them in this segment. Having Kanamori be the one to initiate the relationship while Asakusa was the one desperately clinging to it. Doing her best to hold on to the one new connection she had, taking that leap. It fits both of them to a T, I feel.
What I really loved about the flashback though was how it built on the secondary theme, perspective. We saw it a bit in the opening section with Asakusa, this question of “enemies” and perspective. Yet it’s in the flashback with Kanamori that we see it expanded upon. This is most directly done via the leaves that Kanamori has them gather. To Asakusa they are just leaves, nothing more. But to Kanamori they are money, while to the shopkeeper they are a commodity. Eizouken also shows this when Asakusa calls Kanamori a thug based on her first impressions, without knowing who she really is. It’s all a very clear example of coexistence, presented within the confines of our leads relationship. And all of this would be fine and dandy, nothing more, if it weren’t for how it lead into Eizouken’s final animation.
Speaking of that final animation, I am really curious how it turns out. This is clearly their most ambitious project yet, with its larger scale, environments, story and character animation. I liked how it fit in everything about the region though, really fitting it to their client. What with the kappa’s, the water, the floods and the bell. Eizouken really manages to fit everything from the last few episodes together and its rather impressive. All the while Eizouken is still managing to fit in these little tidbits of animation knowledge. For instance when Asakusa thinks up just changing the colors on Kappa, adding a cup onto the existing models. Or how they just flip the same interrogation room from the humans. Resulting in a whole new environment, even though it’s the same, just from a different angle. It’s clever little things like this that make me love Eizouken.
Finally we have the newest problem for our crew, and it’s one I have no idea how to fix. Really, none of them are equipped to make a new song, and they have no time to re-animate it. Perhaps Eizouken will show us some remixing, changing aspects of the songs sound to make it fit. But that seems outside of their skill sets. Perhaps they could find some kind of free music out there, or modify the animation somehow. Regardless, I think it’s going to make for an interesting finale. As we watch the club come together to solve what can’t be that uncommon a problem in animation. A single miscommunication, a single mess up somewhere along the pipeline, and you end up with something that doesn’t fit at all. It makes you appreciate all the work that goes into this a bit more I think.
So all in all, how was Eizouken this week? In my opinion, it was pretty good. The B-Plot with the student council is relatively meh, I don’t think they add all that much personally. Same with the security team, but since this is an ongoing manga, I can only assume they become more relevant later. But as far as setting up for the finale, I think Eizouken did a great job this week. Once again tackling an interesting theme while managing to tie it into the episode and their animation itself. I can’t wait to see how the series closes out next week. So long as it’s done well, I will have no qualms about calling Eizouken my anime of the season.
