![]() ![]() It’s a small side story about overcoming miscommunication and misunderstanding that captures the outsourcing experience well. They took the art direction too literal in some areas and took too many liberties in others. When the assets do show up, they’re wrong of course. Realizing they need more people to deliver the story in time they hire the art club to produce some backgrounds. Their first outsourcing experience with the Art club was almost too real. As most client work does, it hits a few hiccups along the way, but through mutual understanding of what each party wants, they come together to produce something that wows the audience. Their first client, the Robotics club, was a hilarious arc with all the trappings of client work: egos, niche desires, and convincing clients by building trust in your team and your idea. I struggle to not recap the whole entire series but two standout arcs for me were Eizouken’s first client and their first outsourcing experience. Slamming into the real world, they run with creative energy but must confront all the difficulties (budgets, timelines, last minute changes, a leaky roof) of turning passion into a production. When trying to come up with an idea or fix a problem, the girls enter a sort of hand-drawn imagination group space where they riff on eachothers ideas small, disparate additions from each person combine to make something interesting. In this self-referential anime, “play” describes the girls’ process as well. ![]() The play between reality and imagination is impeccably done. It’s a wonderful story about creating something with other people and the art-style is simple yet sophisticated as well. Together they set out to make a production studio to make anime. Kanamori is the stoic manager, dead set on making money and keeping the project on task and within budget (with a bit of over the top Yakuza-like leverage mixed in).Mizusaki is the animator, concerned with making every motion feel perfect.Asakusa is the concept artist in charge of all the settings and has a knack for story building.Over time, each character begins to find the role they best operate in: They find an aloof teacher to sponsor their group and create a new Eizouken (film studies) club. They girls don’t want to join the school’s existing anime club, Mizusaki’s parents forbid it, but there’s another catch the anime club is all about watching anime and the girls want to make anime. The story revolves around three central female characters Midori Asakusa, Sayaka Kanamori, and Tsubame Mizusaki set in the fictional waterside city of Shibahama. By the end of the opening credits, they had me hooked for a whole season. At its core Eizouken is a shōjo (young girl) coming of age story, but it’s not about finding romance or interplanetary superpowers, it’s about a group of high school girls figuring out what they’re passionate about, what they’re good at, and where their skills can benefit the group. Over the break I watched an anime series called Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! (映像研には手を出すな) and was so impressed I feel compelled to share about it here.
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