This is it ladies and gentleman, the finale to Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken, my anime of the season. I was curious how our leads would respond to such a setback and Eizouken did not disappoint. So sit back, relax and let’s talk about anime!
Now there was a lot worth talking about this week, but I want to start with the short itself. While it wasn’t perfect, I really loved both the short and how it was presented. I loved how unlike the previous animations, which were large events with an audience, this one was incredibly personal. With our leads watching it alone in Asakusa’s apartment, a private viewing just for them. Meanwhile across the city everyone who bought their DVDs are doing the same. It simultaneously felt small and personal, but community driven, like a private event for the entire city. And the way it was setup, starting with the discs going in, made it feel like I was watching it with them. Like 4 friends watching what they made together, since we went on this journey with them over 12 episodes and 3 months. It fantastic.
While that was all fantastic though, I don’t think it was perfect, but almost purposefully flawed. Because throughout the series, Eizouken has done a great job of mixing just the right amount of jank into these. Making them feel professional for the TV, but amateur because our leads made them. In this case, I don’t think the time lapse was all that great because I don’t think it would have worked without the context of the Eizouken as a show. As an individual product, it was lacking. And yet as a sub-piece to Eizouken, we the viewer do have this context and so it works for us. We know what their vision was, what it all meant. So even an incomplete or unfinished work by the characters would still land with us as viewers. It’s a very odd sort of brilliance in terms of meta knowledge.
Moving on we come to the con itself. Frankly, I was expecting a little bit more here, I thought we would be getting the screening at the con. Instead we got the very personal viewing and a closer look at Kanamori’s sale practices. That isn’t a knock against it, it was a fun sequence, and seeing how Eizouken used Mizusaki here was great. I loved how they used the fake attempt at anonymity with the bags to drum up interest. Using social media to push people to their booth, actively putting in the work to sell their copies. Meanwhile Asakusa just sort of being out of it, not really being built for it all, was a cute little callback. At the start she was terrified of just talking to other people. But here she is sitting at a bench all day selling stuff. It’s some nice progress I think.
Meanwhile the actual process of preparing for that con was a treat. I was really curious how Eizouken would handle the song issue, and it didn’t disappoint. I liked the idea of reusing all the same footage, but in different orders with the new music to change the tone. Effectively showing us how simple it is to completely change the message and tone of a show just by modifying the presentation a little. Making it really clear how much intent and purpose has to go into every production to make sure we get the right message. At the same time, Asakusa’s plan was clever, requiring minimal new cuts. Sure, there was some unbelievable stuff like Kanamori being the mafia with that door. But that’s just sort of Eizouken’s lackadaisical attitude and ultimately still fits the show I think.
The last thing I want to talk about, so that I still have things for the full review, is the ending shot. I love this outpan and how it encapsulates Eizouken as a show. The way it starts with the three of them just sitting around and hanging out together is great. It once again brings back that Ed, Edd n’ Eddy vibe that I fell in love with early on. Only then for it to fast zoom out, running through various environments and set pieces. All of them used in some way throughout the show. Making little homages to productions we saw during the show or to come later in the manga. It just felt… full of love, like the rest of the show, and I felt it.
So long story short, this was a fantastic finale for Eizouken. It managed to encapsulate everything I love about the series. From the trio’s dynamics to their passion to how it presented animation as a whole. I can see now why everyone was asking Yuasa to adapt this work, because it truly does fit him perfectly. The sad thing about it all though is that Eizouken ended leaving me with only one thought: I want more. I want more of Asakusa’s shenanigans, Mizusaki’s passion and Kanamori’s snark. I want more of the wild environments or their imaginary sessions going through a project. And I can’t even read the manga for it, because as great as I am sure it is, the animation just gave it a different life. Like it was uniquely suited for it all. I can only hope for the day we get more.
And thats a wrap! See you with the final review soon and thanks for stickin with me!
