When you see a harem anime and sigh as the breasts of the female lead jiggle with every step and wind that can flip a skirt it’s easy to forget that somewhere in Japan a group of people worked hard to get that jiggle right and draw each frame of animation. The hardships of the animation studio are a tough one as they could be demonized for putting in a recap due to production problems or tossed under the train tracks because of a small miscommunication between people. Shirobako is an anime I overlooked because I saw it as typical moe fluff with just glancing at it. Yet it’s the anime that gave me an appreciation for the hard work that goes into my weekly shows. I say this now. Shirobako should be required viewing for any fan of the medium. For it is a well served humble pie to the arrogantly ignorant.
In fact it may be useful for those even not into anime. Shirobako presents the animation workplace and all the trials and tribulations that appear in not only anime production but in every workplace in general. As a working man I can relate to Aoi’s starry eyed leave from school, only to discover the mundanity of the job. Or Shizuka’s powerlessness as she attempts to get a job but is put aside due to a lack of experience. Shirobako has a lot of truths about working life that school doesn’t teach. Like the most important lesson of all, in any job there is a Tarou. There is always a Tarou. That guy who somehow bluffed his way into a job he can’t do, never gets fired and pretty much does nothing but make your life more difficult. Out of the five main girls there’s bound to be one that encounters something you will, or have faced. And it presents it with cynical wit and lighthearted tone making it an addictive experience.
But I am not here to lavish praise for I am a critic and thus must critique. Do I even need to comment on how unlikely it is that five cute girls enter anime production? Its clear that a number of girls here have been added for the moe factor. The most grievous offender being a artist who is so shy she requires another person to interpret what she says through a series of small utterings. Though I do relate to the struggles the main five goes through I find that they are not interesting characters. When the story moves away from the animation process and focuses on daily event it becomes significantly less interesting. It doesn’t do it often but when it does things tend to get bogged down. I do feel it’s also a little bit of a optimistic filter of the animation industry but that’s a personal grip. The art and animation is up to PA works standards and for once I think the photo realistic backgrounds don’t seem out of place when compared to the anime character models. There are also strange moments of collective hallucination which come out of nowhere and are rather off putting considering this show is set mainly in reality. Like when they are talking about a plane anime and out of nowhere the plane shows up outside and it seems like everyone sees it but then they just go back to talking like nothing ever happened. I get the intent but it just forces me to do a double take every time it happens. This last thing is definitely a nitpick but at times things in Shirobako are too animated for a show set in reality. Characters can heavily overact, mainly for comedic effect. Its hard to explain but things feel staged, when they should be natural.
There’s a lot to love in Shirobako and I am honestly truly glad that I have seen it. It teaches you a truth often forgotten. That the anime you love and the anime you hate didn’t just spring into existence. That there’s some poor souls working day and night to bring animated characters to life and show us their stories. To the animators of Japan, you have my sympathy and my respect. Though sadly if your end product is terrible, you will not have my leniency.
“Do I even need to comment on how unlikely it is that five cute girls enter anime production?”
It’s more likely than you think. Some studios have a lot of female staff. KyoAni for example. For Tamako Market, the director, the head writer and the character designer and chief animator supervisor were all women, some of them pretty young too.
Maybe I have gotten it wrong, but wasn’t there also an interview done with some visual novel staff lately? And it focused on the involvement of a significant female presence?
Is it true that some of the character designs and characters in shirobako were actually based significantly on members of pA works?
Not sure if these people work under P.A Works, but here http://i.imgur.com/zqFXKEw.jpg
There’s also this from some very well established names in the industry http://i.imgur.com/eR8RHVK.jpg
Um regardless of some single cases like that, there is undoubtedly an overwhelming male majority in the anime industry, much less those that fulfill every otaku’s concept of “moe” working in the same studio is what the writer is getting at.
Because haha, otaku and anime producers are pathetic and probably disgusting right? Way to go, judging people you don’t even know.
“much less those that fulfill every otaku’s concept of “moe””
Well, real-life people that resemble anime characters don’t exist to begin with, so the point is moot. Now, if we’re talking about female staff working on anime, there quite a lot of them.
“Um regardless of some single cases like that”
It’s not just some single cases. Some anime studios have a lot of female staff.
“there is undoubtedly an overwhelming male majority in the anime industry”
Majority, yes, but not as overwhelming as you think. Contrary to what the reviewer suggests, five girls working together in the same production happens pretty often.
Indeed:
http://i.imgur.com/29GkvEo.jpg
http://www.animexis.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Shirobako-Parodias-8.jpg?f41465
https://i.imgur.com/QOcgtdG.jpg
For female animators, if you’re talking about Japan, Yuri Kuma Arashi had an almost complete female staff. If you’re talking about Western animation companies, there’s quite a significance of female animators (loads of my female friends are), but they do fight an uphill battle through the often sexist community (For instance, one company staff at an animation convention told my friend that they fired a female worker because the male workers were sexually harassing her. That’s right. They fired the woman being harassed. And then proceeded to tell my friend they don’t hire women any more to avoid that. Instead of, you know, actually cracking down on work place harassment. Believe it or not, this kind of sexist stuff is fairly common and isn’t an isolated incident).
i have a really great harem anime set after a deadly war that destroy most of human civilization now it is the year 2222 where trolls, angels, living skeletons, banshees, centaurs, yeti, kappa, fox girls, raccoon dogs, crow girls, cat girls, living umbrellas and other objects, ogres, demons, snow girls, long necked monsters, spider girls, werewolves, Minotaur like beasts, sea monsters, lizard folk, dragons, dwarfs, elves, fairies, gargoyles, genies, ghosts, ghouls, giants, goblins, gnomes, griffins, mermaids, necromancers, orcs, titans, gods and goddesses from various myths and legends,zombies, aliens, robots, mutants, witches, Jason from Friday the 13th, Micheal Myers, Chuck y from child’s play, harry warden from my bloody valentine, Freddy Kruger from nightmare on elm street, ghost face from scream, leather face from Texas chainsaw massacre, naughty sexy nurses and emergency services workers, mad scientists, Dracula, Frankenstein, pirates, princesses, and Richard Nixon clones have taken over the world.
we also have escaped prisoners and mental asylum patients roaming the streets there are only 1000000000 humans left they are forced to live as servants to various kingdoms where legendary creatures rule over them one man Adam Davidson is the leader of the male Resistance movement of 100000000 human male soldiers while the female fighters of 10000000 humans are led by Lilith Earnestine the male fighters were no shirts while the females are dressed in absolute cleavage leg revealing midriff baring outfits made from old leather. we also meet a girl who drinks corn syrup, water, eats corn maize flour, and mint leaves and wears only a blue old ragged sheet and red boots and nothing else she is raised by normal tigers, rabbits, snakes, horses, sheep, monkeys, chickens, dogs,pigs, rats, and cows her name is Roberta Spackle she is 19 years old also she finds a dragon and hunts it later kill this dragon she later gains pointy ears, horns, a tail, and fangs after eating the dragon and drinking its blood.
we also meet a 1000000 year old witch who looks like a 16 year old girl she is a black widow she can also transform into a wrinkled skinned large hooked nosed warts can cover her body and grow facial hair and look kind of like a monster she is normal pale skinned and black hair sometimes her hair looks like a prim and proper bun style wears a black robe and a wizard hat speaks to animals like cats, reptiles, and spiders. she lives by herself likes to giggle has a magic cauldron loves to eat newt eyes and children to keep herself young forever has a magic flying broomstick her name is Jezebel her best friend Salome is part frog spirit part human and is 100000 years old but looks like a 14 year old girl.
there is also a half vampire half werewolf princess named Delilah her best friend is zombie who is actually infected by a body snatching alien parasite that invades planets and feasts on their hosts later after eating their victims from the inside out they turn into king Kong gorilla/ Godzilla/ giant monsters this host is female and named Mary.
1: Reference humor is one of the weakest forms of humor.
2: For the love of god man, punctuation.
3: Spent too long developing a setting without having a main character, cast or a main plot. There’s no way you can form this into anything remotely cohesive. Best to scrap the idea.