Every week I wonder how Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken can top itself. What new approach it is going to take to the industry. How it is going to explore it through our three highschoolers. And this week, Eizouken does just that by dedicating an episode to Kanamori and her struggles in management. Without further ado, lets dive in!
Starting off, this week had a big focus on the business side, making it basically Kanamori’s episode. And personally, I loved how Eizouken treated Kanamori here. I have said it before, but I like how the series gives the business aspect of the industry a fair shake through her. Showing us how she treats and looks after her team, the effort she puts into getting them what they need. Whether that be setting up meetings with the art club, getting them a PC, or just the day to day planning and management. Kanamori clearly works her ass off, as we see early on just when she falls asleep in the restaurant. Not to mention her presence in basically every scene of the episode. It helps the scenes where she does have to lay down the law feel justified, rather than just bitchy, which is important coming up.
For instance, this week Eizouken also saw the beginnings of scope creep. How with increased budget and time they can add more and more to their production. Yet if the go overboard they risk not being able to complete it at all, as Asakusa goes on about VA’s and SFXs, etc etc. Luckily Kanamori is there to keep them in check and get the ball rolling on their core storyboards. Keep them focused on what they have to do now, while she takes care of lining everything up for them. It’s a nice division of labor we see going on within the team.
On the flip side though, their increased budget and exposure from their first project gives them more options. Now they have something to point to when asked about their work. Something to draw potential clients and make people want to work with them. We see this with the art club approaching them to help on their current project. Where as they had refused to help them during their initial short for the Committee. Of course now Kanamori has to coordinate between teams, and Eizouken does a good job showing us some issues here. Such as communication with the art club about the story boards. Or communicating with the client as changes are made during the production to make sure they are happy, etc. All of these just ending up creating more work for Kanamori in the end.
This isn’t to say Eizouken was perfect at this of course, nothing is. I found the Sound Club being run by 1 kid, with 1 rooms worth of audio a bit… Deus Ex Machina like. Just incredibly convenient for it to exist and effectively solve all of their sound issues for the rest of the series. However Kanamori did come prepared to effectively buy him out, offering their extra club space to him for the use of his sound. Sort of like getting an in-house audio-engineer to help them out. My hope though is that he becomes a reoccuring side character Someone that becomes part of the main cast, rather than just a one-off explanation for how all their stuff has professional sounds now. It also shows them slowly but surely maturing into a full “studio”, reenacting such a process but in high school.
Lastly, I want to bring up what was maybe my favorite part of the episode, Asakusa’s fear of judgement. I loved her slow realization of how many people are going to watch it, and how all of them will be judging it. Causing her to rethink her designs, completely change the project, all out of fear that her work wouldn’t be good enough. It’s a very real thing that everyone experiences on some level or another I think. Whether it be as simple as sending an email to someone or giving a presentation, putting yourself out there can be difficult. No doubt doubly so for artists, since their work is so subjective at its core. Unlike reports or technical presentations and the like, you can’t really fall back on “facts”. Just your artistic vision, which I loved seeing Kanamori try to keep alive.
The reason I loved it so much is because its something I go experience multiple times a week. Every time I write one of these posts, whether it be for Eizouken or Neon Genesis Evangelion or Runway de Waratte. I know that people are going to read them, however few that may be, and that they will judge me for what I write. Maybe I didn’t like a part of the show they did, maybe I loved something they hated. Maybe I missed some crucial aspect of the show, who knows. The fact is the fear of judgement is there. Over time you may start to get excited about posting something new, of showing off your work. Or you just stop caring what everyone else thinks. But I don’t think the fear of criticism, however valid, of disappointing someone ever goes away.
So on that personal note, how was Eizouken? Still really good if you ask me. Its tackling a lot of different aspects of the animation industry through its little club. Aspects I never expected it to tackle when I watched the first episode and assumed it would primarily be about the animation side of the industry. Meanwhile it’s also hitting some deeply personal topics for me, such as the last paragraph, or the battle between passion and actually finishing and putting something out there. The only real criticisms I have at this point are, in my opinion at least, largely subjective. I think Eizouken is at its core an incredibly well made product in basically every respect, and I look forward to watching it every week. I hope you do to.
P.S. Of course in all of this I completely failed to mention how Eizouken spectacularly demonstrates the importance of sound effects. Using Asakusa running across various terrains in various footwear all with the same SFX to show how it ruins the experience. Consider this one a freeby, where I don’t write a 150-200 word long paragraph on it. Go watch the episode and experience it instead. See you next week!
100% agreed on the footstep sequence. Fabulous.