Shirobako is anime getting meta, an anime series about making an anime series, about five high school friends who were in the anime club together going to Tokyo and trying to make it in the industry. On one level it’s pure wishfullfillment of course, a little rose tinted perhaps, but that barely matters because the first three episodes I watched were sooo good. This is the sort of series I both want to race through to continue the story and want to saviour because there’s so much in each episode.
Its main attraction is not just the insider’s look into how an anime studio really works and the crises they face, but seeing competent people at work, in an environment familiar to anybody who has worked on time critical projects. Much of the first three episodes consisted of having scheduling conflicts, deadline issues and project managers changing their minds about mission critical features at the very last minute. Not to mention co-workers dropping the ball and having to pick it up yourself. Funny too, in a relatively understated way for anime.
What also makes it interesting for me is to see the differences in office culture between here and Japan; much, much more formal in the latter if this is an indication. (Though of course office politics are similar in most countries.) If you like to check it out, it’s available for free streaming from Crunchyroll.
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