Every week I wonder how Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken is going to top itself. And every week it finds a way, it finds some area to improve or some new facet to explore. That is no different this week as we learn a bit more about Kanamori and explore the wonderful world of “labor costs”. Riveting. Lets dive in!
Starting off, I just have to gush about the character animation throughout this episode. Specifically, I want to call attention to Asakusa at the end, both during the sound effects and her realization. These were just some beautiful long shots, like the one you can see below. Really showing off how expressive Eizouken can be. Simultaneously keeping her on model while exaggerating the movements just enough to keep it energetic. I want to credit this cut to Izumi Murakami, but so far I haven’t yet seen any sources confirming who worked on it. Meanwhile you also have the general aesthetic of scenes like the Kanamori flashback. Turning the world into this almost watercolor or marker scene. It’s the same style used whenever they are imagining something out in the world, yet now its being used as a flashback, and I love it. Chibi-Kanamori is just fantastic.
Speaking of the Kanamori flashback, can we take a moment to appreciate it? This was simultaneously incredibly informative to her character while also very telling on why she helps the club. Up until now we never really knew why Kanamori was helping out the club. We knew Asakusa and Mizusaki just wanted to make anime, but why was Kanamori there? Just helping her friend? Maybe at first, but this has clearly transformed into a much more personal endeavor for her. Watching her relatives store die as the times and town changed, unable to adapt with the world. Seeing all the work she put into the place, only for it to have to close down. A stark reminder to the harsh realities of business, and I can totally believe how this would influence her now. All the while leading into a project to revitalize a dying shopping district. A personal project.
Meanwhile it also gives us a more down to earth real life example of business, along with Kanamori’s business savvy. Eizouken managed to point out all of these little details on her actions. Showing how even the smallest thing can be an opportunity, and how to make use of it. From clearing the front of the vending machine first, so people can get drinks, to charging for hot water. Even managing to sell a glove by telling the customer a better way to use it was great. At the same time however we also see that Kanamori doesn’t feel entitled to money, rather she wants to work for it. For instance when she got paid extra, she decided to do more work before leaving. Or when she showed up even on a snow day to help out. Thats an astonishing level of commitment that carries through even to the club.
And what is truly great about it is how Eizouken transitions into that conversation from the anime industry. Early on we have Kanamori once again going in on the business side of things. Only this time instead of it being about production, timing or resources, it’s about profit. Really laying it out for us, the viewer, just how little studio’s might make. From splitting the money with the client to the cost to make it to limitations on sales. It even goes in on how much more money they make from merchandise and how much easier that is to make. Since for the animation, they spent hundreds of man hours between them, and even at minimum wage, that adds up. Really puts the industry into perspective for those who didn’t already pay attention to things like BD numbers or studio revenue.
At the same time, Eizouken also takes a stab at the importance of social media. Going in on promotion and spreading their brand, celebrity endorsements, etc. Often times I have looked at a studio or personalities twitter or something and wondered why the posted what they did. But ever since joining this blog, I have come to notice and realize it a lot more. The idea of audience engagement, of consistent posts. Keeping people coming back, reading and talking to you. For us here at Star Crossed, that includes things like SEO, website rankings and the like. It’s why I also post all of my reviews over at Anilist and link them back here, to try and drum up more traffic. Sending people to the main site, etc. It’s not something you really think about until you start to run your own place, so it was nice to see.
Lastly I want to talk about the actual new project Eizouken has them taking on. So far, every project has been different from the last, and thats great. We started with a simple, no story character action bit. Then moved on to a light-story, client paid and client’s idea mecha battle. Now we have an original piece being subsidized by the local government with a, seemingly, greater emphasis placed on story. I love how Eizouken is so naturally moving between types of projects, both in funding and subject material. Even having the characters go out in search of opportunities themselves, looking for inspiration, rather than resting on their laurels. I fully expected them to take another commission from another club and that become the formula. But this was a very pleasant surprise, and I should have expected it with how the series has gone so far.
So all in all, how was Eizouken this week? Well, if the glowing praise throughout this post wasn’t enough of an indication, I loved it. This series is putting up a serious fight for Anime of the Year, and yet we are only 2 months in. That said, I have absolutely no idea how Eizouken is going to end. As it is, the series is an adaptation of a currently running Manga, meaning we won’t get a definitive ending. Sad as that is, that doesn’t mean we can’t get a satisfactory ending to the season. It just means Yuasa and Science SARU have to be creative with how they approach these remaining 3 episodes. And if there is one thing Yuasa is good at, its creativity. So as concerning as a story without an end might be, I trust Yuasa to pull it off.
P.S. In my hope to keep this (relatively) short I once again completely missed something worth talking about. Namely, Asakusa’s revelation at the end of the episode. Once again we get Kanamori’s realistic view to production contrasting with Asakusa’s artistic vision, this time with lazers. Her desire being to portray them like reality, with non-visible light spectrums and how quickly they shoot, etc. Except this time we got the glorious moment of Asakusa realizing what exactly her anime are: Performances. They do what she wants, they aren’t stuck adhering to reality, she controls the set. And the goal of these performances is for the audience to enjoy themselves, to get something out of it. It’s why the hanger was black in their first short, for example, and she is realizing she can meet both her artistic vision and the viewers expectations. I loved it.
