Shirobako episode 5

Time really flies when it is pitch black outside and it is slightly freezing cold. Like I don't know how you people do it up North and in other countries. I know people complain about it being hot here but cold is just so different for me. X___X Like even going to the bathroom is a pain because I feel like I am wasting ten gallons of water waiting for the thing to heat up so my fingers don't break off. Begone cold...but I want it to be Christmas please.

Release the secret weapon!!!

As I cuddle into a blanket that threatens to take me to sleepy land have another anime episode post tonight. Up now is Shirobako episode 5. Spoilers for animes of the world being decided on by barely legal assistants who really shouldn't be making decisions at all.

How about it is zero percent her fault?

Episode Summary: Tarou tries to follow Endou outside and pretend like he doesn’t understand how angry the man is. Endou is like no I completely quit for episode 8 peace out and leaves. Tarou is completely overwhelmed and it really isn’t his fault but he does not gain sympathy when he decides to assign some blame to Aoi. Aoi is like no and Tarou tries to open up about what happened when Erika walks by. He seems determined to not involve her or Honda despite Aoi suggesting to do that. He might have been right though as they go to morning assembly and find Honda having a meltdown that Seiichi hasn’t finished the storyboard for the last episode and at this rate it will be done after the broadcast is off the air. The office lady with a sleek haircut opens her drawer and suggests they use IT. Seiichi seems to be in a great mood and hops up to Honda who has promised him friend chicken. The man must be on crack as he allows Honda to take him into a dark room for said chicken. Turns out this room has a sort of jail cell in the corner and Honda has locked the man inside with no cell phone and piss bucket. The man is not allowed to leave until the storyboard is done. Honda is going to stick it out with the man in the room too but Seiichi keeps making excuses and what not. Despite all of this Aoi thinks Tarou needs to tell Honda what happened. Tarou has to take Aoi aside as Erika was listening in to the conversation and he wants it hush hush. Basically Endou had a crybaby attack because someone on the 3 D team wanted to make an explosion at the end of episode 8…3D and not traditional art. Tarou knew that Endou was drawing that part and the 3D department told Tarou to tell Endou. Endou basically got offended and said he was about to start it and tell the guys no. Well Tarou goes back and forth between the two groups using no tact at all and ends up getting Endou super offended. The next morning Endou comes in and starts working on the scene and Tarou was like….I told you the 3D people already did it and Endou had his explosion and left. Aoi is like….so basically you screwed it up. She still wants to go to Honda but Tarou tries to make her see the light. When that doesn’t work he fails at complimenting her. Honda however is busy on Seiichi duty, not giving him chicken and following him to the bathroom. Endou comes home surprised to see his wife not at work. She switched shifts so he has to lie about why he is home. He tries to distract her by going out to eat but she wants to stay in as they have a loan to pay off.

Ange having her own derp face moment.

Honda and Seiichi are looking like crap in the jail cell and Honda is like…well why don’t you cop out and have a recap episode for the final episode. Seiichi has flashbacks when he got an award for best director for his debut anime. He promised big things for his next project and it turned out to be some Jiggy anime, the one that everyone mentions. It turned into an utter failure and this anime was supposed to be his major comeback. There is a brief moment of motivation then demotivation when there is no chicken but later the motivation is found. Sorta. In the meantime Endou takes out his underling to meet with his mentor. We will call him Mentor since I don’t need any more nonsense in my life. Underling is clearly team Endou and traditional animation and didn’t get the memo that the events of yesterday/today were not to be brought up. Endou starts to trash 3 D animation thinking that Mentor will agree with him. Well it turns out Mentor has gone traitor and has started teaching 3 D classes to kids. Endou is singing the drunkie traitor song but as Mentor explains…..this field is growing. He thinks traditional is the way to go but there is no doubts that the animation world is changing and maybe they need to work together with 3 D animators and not against them. Underling and Endou get butthurt and Mentor says if Endou blames others well maybe he should just quit. It is time to adjust with…well the times. Aoi and Tarou tried to call during this dinner but Endou kept hanging up on them. They go back to the studio where they run into the 3 D animator and Tarou informs the man that Endou has quit. The man is like X___X but Tarou promises it will be okay even though Aoi is glaring at him. Aoi leaves for the night and runs into Emo at the supermarket. They end up making a meal together and Ema lets Aoi know that many people know about Endou’s tantrum. Ema talks a bit about 3 D animation and how that might affect her career and what not. Aoi feels guilty and goes back to work to hear Tarou trying to find another animator to take over as supervisor for episode 8. He thinks that will be easier than convincing Endou to come back. He wants to handle this problem so Honda doesn’t worry. Aoi goes to pick up more frames from Misato who knows about Endou’s tantrum. She is also worried about the future of traditionally drawn verses 3 D. She also asks how this will effect episode 9 as their episode opens up with the explosion from episode 8. Aoi slightly panics and vows to find out the next day. But when she gets to the office Endou is there and wants to watch the 3 D scene. Aoi shows it to him and he seems shocked. Aoi leaves the room briefly and she is told episode 9’s beginning is done with regular animation. That means Endou has to do the last scene with regular animation. Aoi freaks out and blames Tarou when he walks by. He seems pleased that Aoi is now in deep crap too so she has to help him. THE END!

Are you serious about being this behind in anime blogging?!

MOG I started writing this like weeks ago. Why do I do this?! I did write the summary the day I watched the episode. You know…so it would be fresh in my mind. Unlike the rest of the episode which has been erased and deleted already. Because those two things are necessary. Delete something and it goes to the recycling bid because maybe you really didn’t want to delete it. So maybe I just erased it. Let me check my mind to see what happened.

Sweet talking will not get you out of this young man.

Okay so when we last saw our heroes…I mean main characters Aoi got a day off which she ended by pounding back a few drinks. Which was well deserved and I don’t think anyone was all pointing fingers and blaming Aoi for what happened with Tarou and his special brand of crazy. Even after learning all the details I don’t know how Tarou could blame Aoi with a straight face. In the end it does become her problem but while I don’t think Tarou was 100 percent innocent there was nothing Aoi could have done if she has picked up the phone. Just would have ruined her night as well. Of course it took a lot of the episode to get to the meat of the problem so I will just cut to the chase and explain why….having very young assistants in charge of much older adults might be a bad idea.

See? Tarou was...okay at first.

So going chronologically and to the point Endou needs to learn to stop being such a baby. He had problems with Misato in the first episode and tried to brush it under the rug when the woman never did anything to him. She seems to know he doesn’t really like her work for some reason and is careful to not step on any toes. More like there is well known information that Endou is a giant pain in the ass to work with and no one wants to be on the receiving end of his tears. Basically the 3 D department over stepped their bounds and decided to do a scene that wasn’t originally assigned to them. They thought they were helping the overworked Endou and that their explosion made the scene pop. It is up to Tarou to tell Endou not to do the scene and be the in between of the two parties.

Aoi has lots of compassion for people not named Tarou.

As expected this does not go over well. When Aoi is finally told the whole story (as she saw Endou walk out at the tail end of the drama) she feels as if most of the fault is with Tarou. I can’t really agree with ALL but some. Some folks. Because….I feel as if the part of my brain that stops my mouth from saying unfortunate things either doesn’t exist or is on a permanent vacation. But Tarou takes that to a whole new level. There were times he could have said the same thing but with different words and the same message would have come across. Or rather he just made up random crap, put words in people’s mouths. I believe part of this business involved a lot of ass kissing and stretching the truth. Like Endou…everyone knows how you have been so busy lately and what with Aoi causing all that drama last week…well we are just trying to keep on track and the 3 D team is going to take over this one scene so no one else falls behind or passes out. Like throw people under the bus. LIE. Lie in a way that makes sense and won’t cause people to question your lie. Because people coming together and talking about your lie leads to your downfall every time. Instead of doing any of that Tarou lied in ways that made the situation worse. Like well Endou I guess people don’t think you can do it. Well 3 D team I guess Endou hates your guts and thinks everything you do is crap. Like…Tarou needs to learn to be a people person. Or people need to learn that everything he says is lies and perhaps people should take the 5 minutes to stand up and talk directly to the person, breaking some Japanese code of speaking through people to not be confrontational or something. Because Tarou is beyond confrontational.

...And I could have fixed this last night? HOW?!

So yeah…not sure how Aoi was going to help out Tarou in that aspect of his life. She can’t teach him now at the age of 22 or however old he is how to have tact. Usually junior and high school beats that out of you. But Aoi places all the blame on Tarou and his lack of…..workplace words. In reality Endou was being just as immature as Tarou was being. Yes the man felt slighted. Yes they should have asked Endou his thoughts on the matter before even starting anything. That is where the toe stepping started. Sending in Tarou instead of manning up to what they did…not a fan. Even if it is Tarou’s job to keep things on track I don’t think it is his job to stop two grown men from having a fight…even if he started it. I think the fight was going to happen no matter what the kid said just based on what was happening. Endou just has an attitude and this was a moment where anyone would feel slighted. Like I can do this scene amazingly and now someone is going to come around with their 3 D glasses and make it unnecessary. I think that Tarou probably should have gone to Honda sooner….or at all. This was over his head and I don’t think he should have made the decision or helped make the decision on what should actually be on air.

X__X How can the end not be done yet?!

Aoi keeps saying that Tarou needs to go get Honda. I think Honda should have been brought in earlier. Because now the man has locked himself up with crybaby Seiichi in a tiny room with no hope of ever seeing the light of day again. Because it is funny that Seiichi, a man who needs redemption in his life, has yet to write the ending to anime that is already airing. Just let that sink in folks. People are basically finishing the actual episode, drawings and all, a day or two before it airs. But now we are so backed up things are looking iffy on that point. But now…now…the person who has made up the entire anime from his own head doesn’t even have an ending for it! How did this show get picked up?! Especially with a man like Seiichi who apparently rose quickly and fell just as quickly in the anime field. Had this been a manga or game adaptation or someone who had been consist with regards to hits yeah back up the guy. But Seiichi was like look guys…idols and they just gave him a show? Perhaps if he was conflicted on ONE detail of the ending I might understand. But it sounds like he has no idea what to do and was lala living in fried chicken land when he should have been really reviewing his material and coming to ending that is satisfying.

There is a bucket. Get to work NOW!

Is this real life in the anime field? If so I am really am understanding the derp/C-Team scenes more and more now. How Recap episodes come into being. How the last episode ends with no ending at all or an ending that really isn’t an ending and everything felt like a giant waste of time. Perhaps not all studios have a special key that basically lead to a dungeon under the studio. Okay in the studio but you know what I mean. Honda acted like he was turning into a demon when really the man was just trying to save everyone’s jobs including Seiichi. He was going to eat more chicken! No chicken for you until you finish something. Although I might have drawn the line at the piss bucket since I locked myself in there too to ensure work got done. Just…Seiichi has a lot of regrets about the past and his horrible looking anime that probably would have failed anyway just based on the drawings but still. Honda is just trying to help…everyone. Which means he has no time to help Tarou and Aoi fix this problem. Because a no ending is a bigger deal than a crybaby attack.

Speaking of showing professional and wearing big boy panties....

But it is still a deal. Not a deal where Tarou needs to suck up to Aoi. I agree that maybe they should have talked to Erika and see what she would suggest if going to Honda was not an option since she has been around the block for a while. I think a lot of this episode had to do with Japanese interpersonal relationships and that is why it seems so…off to me. Like just talk to people. Or fire people. If Endou wants to play this game he can go somewhere else. Especially when others like Misato finds out what is going on and she isn’t even at the studio. Show some professionalism. I especially was….well was something at the husband trying to sneak home after stomping out of work and finding his hard working wife cleaning the house. Like I wanted to beat him when he asked why she wasn’t at work. Like fool why aren’t you at work?! Guilty face! Plus she is going to work later. As probably the primary breadwinner Endou needs to think about having HIS FEELINGS hurt at work. This coming from a girl who has made bad decisions at her job in the past. But I am not the primary earner. Work is work and sometimes you are going to have your feelings hurt. But if Endou just had put his big boy panties on and talked to the 3 D people he might have learned Tarou was saying some crappy things and perhaps there was a different point of view. Or at least he could have explained how passionate he felt about the topic.

But they are meanie heads. MEANIE HEADS!

Instead he takes his underling out to get drunk and talk crap with Mentor. I kinda felt bad for underling as he had pressure to support Endou. I think on his own underling was all like TEAM DRAWING and not team 3 D. He seems knowledgeable and looks up to those who draw things rather than rely on computers. But he has to support Endou during this crazy tantrum the man is having. I think that Endou was expecting Mentor to support him as well. Like eff the police, we don’t need 3 D animation. How dare they take our jobs! Instead Mentor had a more mature point of view which sorta pissed Endou off. Like well….I believe in hand drawn animation too. But right now I am teaching 3 D animators. Because that might be the future. And instead of being left in the dust I want to help shape the future. Because if it does come down to only computers then I will need a new job. And if it continues to be a hybrid I will need to have a good working relationship with these other people. Things are changing and you can either change with it or be called a relic. I think some advice about picking your battles and being someone reliable might have been warranted too. Like dude no one is going to count on you if you stomp out the minute you don’t get your way. I know you felt slighted but do the best you can do so maybe if things fall through you can look like the hero.

Thanks for the drive by Emmaing and giving your opinion.

Aoi was stuck in the middle of these two factions. She was trying to help Tarou reach an angry and drinking Endou to no avail. She keeps saying bring Honda into this and Tarou refuses to do so. So on she goes to get some actual food to eat. I can’t help but notice this line of work seems to have long hours or not really a traditional set of hours. I was happy to see Ema and Aoi hanging out. I thought that the show was going to be more like that. The girls living close to each other and often going to each other’s house to complain or vent about work, having dinners together. So it was nice. Brief but nice. Ema was basically there to voice her concerns about 3 D animation herself. Like this is a big chunk of people’s lives. Sorta like when all the video rental places die. Change happens and a lot of people gain jobs while others lose them. So Ema sheds some light on what Endou must be thinking so I guess Aoi feels guilty enough to go back and help Tarou. Or maybe she was just on a break. Either way she comes back to Tarou telling lies to people that things are going well and him trying to find someone to replace Endou. Which I think was the right thing to do. Let Endou have his crybaby attack. I don’t want his help anyway. Time to find someone who can do the work without being all emo about things. I think Tarou did the right thing.

Okay so maybe Aoi was reminded at a different part of the episode...but still. What the heck?!

The episode ends with Aoi getting sucked back into the drama. Perhaps Endou had a change of heart or the booze got to him. Or maybe he realized that eating is a nice thing and he needs his job. Whatever the case may be he decides to ask Aoi to play the explosion scene in question. He needs to see for himself if this scene is worth having a crazy attack over. And I think folks…he saw the light. I think he knows that the scene (as incomplete as it was) looked really good in 3 D and he had to admit defeat. That all would have been fine and dandy but of course something else had to come up. Aoi is then informed (well she was informed earlier but now it is dire) that her episode is directly tied into the ending of Tarou’s episode. And that episode has already been drawn with traditional techniques. As in no 3 D. So now…the scenes don’t match. And clearly this is Aoi’s problem. This is why I think there are way too many hands involved with the anime process. No one knows what anyone else is doing and when people take it upon themselves to change things…well other things get affected. If Tarou had not told Aoi about this animation change problem she would have been caught off guard. But since she DOES know what is going on….that means she is responsible to help fix the mess. You know, the minute she got Endou on board now she needs to go crawling back to Endou and get the 3 D team mad for wasting her time. Her. Because Tarou is done being responsible. Like haha you are involved now so you fix it. Thanks a lot dude….

Read more!

Shirobako episode 4

XO So many more posts to get to yet it is growing colder by the minute. Being from Florida my version of cold starts at 60 so needless to say the recent temperatures of 30 and 28 have been....SUPER FUN! I look like I am ready for a hike up a snowy mountain in my own house. Break out the blankets folks. Of course......every other state has...you know....cars buried under 6 feet of snow and people running out of food. You know...almost the same as Flroida?

Adults? The real world? NOOOO!

But the posting must continue. I will just break into my cocoa box that is about 343 years old because it takes me that long to finish a box due to how many cold days we experience in Florida. Up now is Shirobako episode 4. You know, everyone's favorite anime about 5 friends working in the anime industry. Or you know..mostly Aoi. Maybe a bit of her friends but mostly Aoi.

Yeah no. Just no. I rather sleep all day then help you on my day off.

Episode Summary: Shizuka is on her way to a voice acting audition and decides to practice her lines on the subway which is a bit special given you are to be quiet on the subway and some of the lines are special. At work Aoi is having to deal with Tarou who acts like he is the one who keeps everything together. Aoi has no sympathy and walks away from the delusional boy. She walks into a fight with Animation Director Hironori and Seiichi about the AC. Seiichi says it is hot and he can’t work under these conditions and Hironori is like you are just fat. After that is not settled Ema pokes her head around and reminds Aoi that she is a bad friend and that Shizuka has a voice actress audition today. Aoi immediately feels bad as she was unable to take Shizuka’s phone call and texting hasn’t been invented yet and how was she to know?! Ema seems to think everything will be okay as everyone is getting together the next day anyway. Shizuka and her bundle of nerves arrive at the audition where she practices her lines with others sitting in the waiting room. Shizuka almost loses her mind when she sees a super famous voice actress arrive. The girl in question is super modest but people in charge of the hiring process fawn all over her so Shizuka starts to lose hope. Shizuka is finally called for her turn and off she goes with her bundle of nerves. During her audition she is called out for being nervous which surprisingly makes her more nervous as her voice breaks all over the place. She finishes the audition and leaves dejected. Most people weren’t impressed with her but one person liked the rawness of her voice and the fact that she was a newbie. Shizuka doesn’t know that of course. Aoi gets packed up to leave for the day while Honda grills her on things that she needs to have done on Monday. Aoi seems to be on the ball with episode 9 as she gained some experience points the disaster that was episode 4. Tarou tries to guilt Aoi for having a day off but gets super interested in Aoi going out with her friends. He seems to think one of them will marry him. Aoi skips home to reheat a to go bento meal when her mother calls. It turns into a conversation everyone can relate to, a parent getting a new piece of technology and not understand what Aoi does for the show. Still her parents are super proud of her…and then her mom does the worrying about her eating right and should more food be sent to her jazz. As Aoi hangs up she gets a text message from Shizuka and decides to call the girl to apologize for being busy with a passed out co-worker. Aoi tries to be the supportive friend and asks about the job audition but she senses Shizuka and says they can talk about it tomorrow. Slightly awkward. Shizuka gets off the phone and watches the anime they made in high school with a bit of sadness.

First day off in forever from anime...so lets go see anime!

The next day everyone meets at the train station almost at the same time because none of them are named Tenchi. Look Misa and Midori exist! After there are greeting and what not all the girls go and watch an anime movie together. Then they sit around and eat pastries while talking about the movie in regards to what they do for work. Midori seems super impressed anyway as she isn’t really working in whatever field she wants to in anime yet.. They spend the afternoon at a park which houses something that relates to their anime they made in high school and at a local anime/manga store. After some window shopping Shizuka takes them to the small mom and pop store she works at for some drinks. The couple that owns the place really seem to like Shizuka and treat her and her friends well. They drink a bit and Midori is a bit sad that everyone is living the dream and she is still a student. One day she will write anime scripts though…maybe. Misa and Ema talk about how stressful things are at their jobs and Aoi chimes in with how she is always needing to be bailed out. Shizuka decides the other girls are lucky to have stress at their jobs because that means they have jobs. The others try to point out that Shizuka has had work but all she has done was be a mascot’s villain and some dubbing over a foreigners voice that doesn’t even sound like her. The audition comes up and Shizuka explains not only did she mess up but a super famous actress was up for the same roll so of course she isn’t getting the part. All the girls are super supportive of Shizuka and tell her she is going to kill it next time. That doesn’t stop Shizuka from getting drunk. Aoi excuses herself to take a phone call from Tarou. He won’t say why it is so important that she come to work right now so Aoi goes inside to drink with friends. They all talk each other up and Aoi has to pause as she doesn’t know what she wants to do yet. The girls point out she should be a producer and get their original anime made into a movie. They all get silly and a bit drunk. Misa takes home super drunkie Shizuka as Ema and Aoi go home mostly together as Aoi talks about how she doesn’t know about her future. Shizuka walks home singing a drunkie song and ignoring Tarou when he calls again. He is panicked about something but never explains. The next day Honda lays into Seiichi for not having the storyboard done for the final episode and it turns out the man is super behind. Seiichi tries to blame it on the AC. Aoi then sees Endou having a meltdown in front of Tarou. He is crybabying about something and quits as supervisor over episode 7. THE END!

They exist to hear about Shizuka's problems anyway.

What is this? The other girls actually exist?! Do my eyes deceive me?! Apparently all the drama that happened with Aoi was actually minute by minute and there were no days or gaps in between. So maybe she didn’t go too long without contacting her friend Shizuka but I am still side eyeing her a bit. Sounds like she hasn’t had a lot of time to get together with the other girls outside of work because I guess if you work 6 days a week you pass out on the 7th like it says in the Bible. But not texting Shizuka back was a bit eyerolling.

Now imagine her moaning that....

I was side eyeing Shizuka a bit though. Like hello this is anime based in Japan. Everyone must play up to all the norms and standards that exist in Japan. You must respect the signs on subways and be quiet. Especially when some of the dialogue is super suggestive. I guess when you trying out for voice acting parts you get bits and pieces. Like a line here and a random line from this episode. Just a lot of moaning and high voiced lines for a closed in space like a train. Maybe because the train is sorta empty she feels okay doing that? If it was rush hour it would be a no no. I don’t know. I guess I am thinking too much into this scene. We are just supposed to feel how nervous Shizuka is. This is her big break and she is going to practice up until her name is called. Plus…we actually get to see her. Poor underclassmen Misa and Midori. They get no love.

YEAH! Says all the cold people of the world.

Aoi has a lot of people she has to deal with at work. Lots of personalities. Lots of people in general. The show realizes that too and continues to put names and titles under people. But Aoi has to deal with Tarou being delusional. I don’t know if this is Tarou’s first assistant job but it is Aoi’s first job. So him complaining to her and calling all the time for help is a bit…you know. Backwards. And even if it is his first assistant job Erika should be the go to person even if he thinks she is not as approachable. Although it isn’t like Aoi is going out of her way to befriend the boy either. Anyway Tarou is complaining about how tough his job is and everyone else is like dude please. Aoi runs away from Tarou’s complaining but walks into another juvenile situation. Or maybe not so juvenile. It was Seiichi verses some other important due in a battle over the AC. I remember those days. Before I worked at Mike’s Pizzeria with no AC and DryCleanersRUS with super high AC with NO ability to change it I worked a mom and pp…consignment shop if you would. I worked with 3 older ladies. All in different stages of overweightness. Needless to say me and my giant jacket became best friends because someone was always having a hot flash and I was never going to get my way. Of course the owner would come in and yell at me for wearing a jacket and would tell me to wear something more classy AKA expensive looking. Because at 6.67 I could afford to shop at old lady shops where 200 sports jackets are the norm. but I digress. So I have experience with AC wars. The husband wants it cold and I want it warm and I always lose because it is easier to put layers on than take them off. But since this is Japan Seiichi is going to lose. Especially in a post 2011 Japan where saving electricity has become common place. How dare you be wasteful! So what if you can concentrate on your drawings? No AC for you.

I have no picks of Ema so have one of Tarou being very Tarou like.

In the middle of all this crazy is Ema. Like oh hello friend. My lovely friend. We promised we go to the big city together and find cool animes in the anime field and well…at least we have each other? Thank you so much for being here for me Ema. What is that? Shizuka has a voice actress job interview today? And since I couldn’t continue her phone call while tending to a passed out person on the ground I was left out of the loop for days? I mean….damn people. Text message exist for a reason. If you call me and I don’t pick up and it was important leave a message or text me. Or even if it is exciting news. People can be busy in this world but it really pisses me off when people can respond to texts later in the day or the next day. Like damn people I see you all the time with phones in your hand. Can’t take a second to say hi or whatever? So yeah…I think it was a little dramatic that Shizuka didn’t text Aoi. Like….Shizuka can have a busy work life and care about your friends. Now Aoi has the guilt dear goodness.

:( Well that is slightly sad.

Well Aoi couldn’t call Shizuka right now even if she wanted to. The girl has made it to the audition spot and Shizuka has to focus on getting this job. Sometimes I believe you can study too much for a test. Like if you cram it might all explode your head. There were very few lines for Shizuka to learn and the fact that everyone got to have the paper in front of them and will always have the script in front of them means Shizuka could probably have just practiced on pitches and what not. Her mind would have remembered the sentence structure naturally at that point. But even if Shizuka wasn’t nervous at that point it all flew out the window when the famous voice actress came in. Like damn that girl is getting all the rolls lately and this isn’t an open audition for any part. It is just ONE part and chances are this girl will get it. Personally I agree with the one dude, the one who liked Shizuka for being new and raw. Like if someone has work on 10 shows right now everyone must be sounding the same. Time to spice it up. But after Shizuka allowed her nerves to break through…it is hard to say what will happen. Maybe some anime magic but they had a lot of people auditioning for the role and they might not have time to help a newbie. But I got to give Shizuka props for going through all the lines despite it going..well not so great. If she gets this role it will be by anime magic. I rather her learn from this and get the next job, full of confidence and learning from her mistakes.

Too bad neither of our phones have texting abilities.....

But right now Shizuka wants to have a cry and pout. It must feel pretty lonely to move away from home and only have a few friends from high school be your support group. And that support group is super busy doing their own work all the time. The second Aoi was done with her work she called Shizuka so that counts yes? Well first Aoi went home and made some dinner. After Tarou was giving her grief about having ONE day off. Like yeah Japanese people love work so much they are going to constantly be at the office on their days off. Sign me up for some health problems there. Oh wait and Aoi talked to her parents too. But since Aoi doesn’t leave near her parents first and she is going to see Shizuka the next day I will allow this too. I like how cute the parents were. Like we don’t know much about anime or the big city where you live now but we will act cute and ancient, just happy that our daughter is living the good life now. Parents are always proud of their kids. Well most of the time. Some parents are just like thank goodness we got through that. But then after lying to the parents about eating properly she called Shizuka back. Because remember no texting. The size of Shizuka’s room makes me a sad panda. Life is like that in Tokyo I suppose. Just starting off and all. Shizuka wasn’t in the mood for talking though since her audition went bad. Well you are probably going to have to talk about it tomorrow so….

Where are the shopping bags?!

And then tomorrow came. WOOHOO for friends and arguing about being on time and who is late. Everyone arrived within 2 minutes of each other which I think is a miracle. I think anyone reading this would know who would arrive last out of my group of friends. Hint: She is the one writing this right now. XD GO ME! But yeah it is the first time we have seen Midori and Misa since it was graduating doughnut time. Funny how a few years out of high school and people act like they are super adults. Sometimes I don’t even feel like an adult. But I guess that is not the point. The point is 5 girls went out for a day together and no one bought anything. I understand window shopping but all of them?! Well they did buy treats. I love that part though. I hate watching animes when the stick girls want to be on a diet. Like no I am going to eat cake and be happy. Time with friends should be full of things that….well you do by yourself in your house and feel guilty about but still.

That was pretty cool.

It is interesting that on their day off all the girls go to an animated movie. Like damn this is what I do all day for work I want to escape it please!!!! But then again…they could be the kind of people who want to work in this industry because they love that product. They just….well have a better appreciation of how that anime came into production. I would think if I were Aoi though I would want to take a break. Like I love you anime but we need to take some time apart before I kill everything in this room. Oh did I mention when we had sad Shizuka we saw a bit of their original anime? It was….done by high school kids but still a TON of work so many props there. Anyway after the anime was over and the girls were all chowing down on their delicious looking snacks the girls then….talked shop. Like how many frames was that, the voice actress was a newbie, 3 D crap because that is what Misa does. Like look how adult and mature we are, knowing how these things work. I don’t think there was any bragging. Just….WOOHOO I actually knows this and it is fun to know this weee!

:( At least she didn't start crying again...

But then there was the flip side. Everyone knows you call your girlfriends when there is money burning a hole in your pocket and when you want to blast a hole in someone’s head. Gotta have the gripes. Some people are happy about their accomplishments and knowing about how animes are made but at the same time everyone else has a bit of envy in regards to the others. Not everything is roses. Ema seems pretty overworked too even though we see Aoi running around all the time being overwhelmed which in charge of everything. Misa doesn’t think she is doing that great at her new job as her elders are always yelling. And poor Midori…well she has big dreams. Dreams of writing animes. Like the actual storylines or coming up with the entire thing herself? I don’t know yet. But these seem like big dreams and I don’t even know how you get started in this field. So Midori feels as if everyone has left her behind when in reality Ema is pretty much the only one already in her dream job which seems pretty impossible as they are still fresh faced.

LET ME WORK!!!

But none of these gripes compare to Shizuka and her soon to be drunk self. I like how the people at the bar Shizuka works at have taken her in. Although that sounds very Skip Beatish, especially if Shizuka lives there too. But yeah…Shizuka is all like at least you guys can complain about working. That means you are working. Like okay Debbie Downer, we are allowed to complain about work even if you have no work to complain about. Sometimes you can wish for something and have your dream job and wake up to find out that it isn’t all Mickey Mouse and churros. But Shizuka has experienced what she thinks is a major setback. Another setback. No voice acting job for her. None that really matter in terms of getting her more work. The other girls don’t really help with her pity party when they are like MOG that famous voice actress auditioned with you?! Like thanks my friends….thanks for…well not lying to my face about how awful that is.

BLAH BLAH so sad my tears.

But like good friends the group tries to bring Shizuka up. Well Aoi could have done a better job at that if Tarou and his crazy phone call self wouldn’t stop interrupting. Like seriously I hate that when you get a day off and people call you for help. Unless you are manager, boss, or someone with tons of zeros on their paycheck leave those people alone. So Tarou…call your boss and make sentences that are complete and are of the sense making. Aoi handled those calls rather fast though although it interrupted the mood when she walked outside. I would have just turned my phone off since all my friends were right in front of my face. But as Shizuka drowned her sorrows in booze her friends were really supportive. Like wow your ability to sound like an American farmer abducted by aliens is amazing. And just because you didn’t get this part doesn’t mean things are horrible forever. Just keep trying! You can do it!

Well that was fast...

I think that is what is great about friends. They either say what will make you happy or they will tell you the truth you need to hear. I think I am more on the truth side. But this is a feel good anime so clearly Misa is….the best 3 D whatever ever, Midori will write the best animes ever, Ema…well she is already amazing so she should just buy the next round, and Shizuka will be the best voice actress ever. All this lifting up and beer drinking made Aoi realize….she has no idea what she wants to do with her life? She works at an animation studio yes but she knew at a young age she didn’t have…well the talent that some of the other girls had. So I think she took a job at entry level that didn’t require any skill. Nothing is wrong with that obviously even if I think the job is a bit fluffy. And nothing is wrong with working that job your whole life. I honestly believe that. But Aoi seems to see this job as a stepping stone, to get her foot in the door. Where does she want to end up? Well her friends took 5 seconds to answer. You want to produce anime right? Sorta like what you are already doing but being in charge? Like we need someone to lead us and get us back on track when we work together in the future. You can be that person. Be the Honda. Aoi and her slightly tipsy self is like WOOHOO I gotta a dream. She gots a dream folks! More booze for my friends, everything is going to be okay!

Err...I should have answered the phone?

In the end Shizuka ends up drunk like a little skunk and has to be taken home by one of the younger girls. Not setting a good example for your younger friends are you Shizuka? I mean I guess she has the right to drink if she is sad but if you are going to drink to the point where someone needs to help you I reserve the right to roll my eyes. This reminds me of when I was in Japan on vacation and my husband and I watched a very drunk man try to help his very drunk coworker up some steps. Lets just say it ended badly. So Shizuka should drink at home. Ema and Aoi were on their way to drunkie town too but managed to get on the train and home by themselves although I think Aoi could have sung a little less. People were probably sleeping. I like that Shizuka was ignoring Taro because 1 it was her day off and B he wasn’t even telling her what he needed. Like how are you going to ask for my help if you are going to hem and haw and not explain yourself. Peace out Taro….you know until the next day. When it turns out there is some major drama going on because key animators can just pick and choose what they want to do and apparently Aoi had the power to stop that…..so yeah. Until next time!

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Shirobako episode 3

RUN! It's the walking dead! Behold I am Zombie Tenchi rising from the grave to bring you a heap of new posts. Because that is what zombies do. They watch 8 anime episodes at once and start blogging and watch more shows and never finish anything for almost an entire month. X___X Like the last post was on Halloween and now it is almost Thanksgiving. I have been a bad little zombie blogger. Please don't give up on me and all my lateness.

Anime=Where dreams come true!

I have finally sat down and finished MOST of the anime posts I stared. I have 1.5 episodes to go...on things I started. Yeah a bit behind on everything. But I am assuming that the new Pokemon game is going to enter my life soon so if I want a chance at catching up before Christmas I figured I better do it now. So let's get started with Shirobako episode 3. Spoilers for.....one facial expression adding a week's worth of work.

Clearly this scene needs to be changed. Adding 17 hours of extra work for one face.

Episode Summary: Seiichi and Aoi show the in house animators the new scene of Arupin yelling that she knew the betrayer was…betraying them. The new scene meaning the voice acting has changed but not the drawings yet. The animators see right away the acting is better than the drawing and Seiichi explains how he wants the scene to go now. Yuka (general animation supervisor assistant….) quickly sketches something to see if she understands everything correctly. Yuka seems to think that they can have this new scene done by tomorrow morning which impresses newbie Ema. Yuka and Ema get right to work but Ema stops to take a little break to spy on Yuka whom she really idolizes. Seiichi ends up spending the night at work and can be heard mumbling about recap episodes. Aoi is either at work bright and early or also worked through the night. I am going to assume it was bright and early. Or I could rewatch the episode and it’s nighttime……She goes through everything that she needs to get done today. I am going to also assume I finally know what it is Aoi does. Each assistant is assigned to a different episode and is in charge of making sure each component is done on time so the next one can take place. While episode 4 is being worked on Aoi needs to start working on episode 9. It seems like a lot of running around work and Aoi starts to get a little stressed about 4 key frames for episode 9 that aren’t being done in house. But she is mostly stressed about the retakes for episode 4 and how to coordinate all the people for that mess. Erika comes by and tells Aoi to not to get sidetracked with admiring the art and to stay on task. Erika also gives Aoi some advice on how one of her key animators like to…say things are okay when really they aren’t. Aoi calls the man in a panic and he doesn’t answer the phone. This causes Aoi to assume the worst. Erika is like meh it will be okay so thanks for worrying her for nothing. Honda comes by and Aoi watches as Erika perfectly talks about her episode 7 and the status of everyone and everything involved. Honda then turns to Aoi and starts firing away questions about…well everything. At first Aoi has all the answers but then she gets super frazzled. Erika hits the man for going too hard on Aoi and Honda apologizes for worrying. Aoi is able to answer the questions anyway about…well all those things that were fired off way too fast for me. Erika gives Aoi a few pointers on what to focus on first and who to give the extra work too. There is a brief scene with Yamada and another artists working on clips when Aoi comes by with some review work. Yamada asks her to calculate times in her head and gives her strict orders to wake him up at 6:30 am the next morning. Well really today as it were.

Everyone is cracking under pressure.

Aoi goes back to her desk to fret about what else needs to be done. She passes out briefly and has a dream that her dolls are arguing about her job. Soon the morning rolls around and Aoi is off waking people up, making sure sketches get done, and running them to every single person in this series at a breakneck speed making her look super busy. While handing the frames over to Rinko Ema gets called out on spying as she wants to learn this looking over process. Apparently looking things over is a skill that you can get super fast at over time. Aoi keeps on running around and accidentally makes a mistake due to her lack of thinking or sleep. Aoi checks the mail and finds out one of her people haven’t sent over the frames. Well it turns out he just woke up and assures her all will be well. Later he calls back and thinks he can’t do it at all and Aoi starts to lose her mind. Eventually she is able to pick everything up and runs to the colorer who assures her things like this happen all the time and not to worry. The work they have out sourced is finished but….the server is down and they are unable to send it via the computer. Aoi then has a break from reality and does the dishes instead. Erika sees Aoi and takes the girl up to the roof for a snack break. She tries to get Aoi to talk about what is wrong and to focus. Downstairs everyone starts to realize the internet or the server is messed up. Several people get involved but I am not a computer expert by any means so I really can’t tell you all that happened. Just that the files from the out sourced company could not be sent. The head office lady Yuka calls this company while everyone panics and has them drive the data over here even though it will take 2 hours. Aoi tries to then go finish episode 9 work and Erika is like hello anime is team work and other crap. She then offers to do some of the assistant jobs or…something despite that not being her duty. Because she believes in team work too. So off she and everyone goes working. Eventually the out sourced work arrives and the President of that company talks the ear off the President of this company. Seiichi views the new work and the tiny changes and it is a tear jerker. Aoi is told all the work is done and to send her people home. She then thanks Honda for all his hard work….He says mistakes happen and she will grow as a person. She tells her team that all the work for episode 4 is done woohoo! She then calls Shizuka to confirm plans for Sunday with all the girls. She then sits down with Ema to watch the complete version of episode 4 complete with Arupin ugly face. THE END!

I am sure the President has a name. But really he is named Dude Who Makes Food.

Okay wow folks. I was thinking that this episode was going to be so easy to blog. That I was going to simply say for the summary Aoi worked on episode 4 and a million things went wrong but in the end Arupin got her ugly cry while Aoi ran around appearing to look busy the entire time. Yes a run on sentence for the summary indeed. Instead I typed….a million words. How did that happened?! Clearly I have the crazies….

SO MANY NAMES!

But yes folks. I might have used up all the words in the universe for the summary but in reality…this episode was all over the place and half the time I had no idea what was going on. X___X Like how to blog this when I am not super sure what Aoi does for a living and when there are a million characters featured in this episode for a slightly brief amount of time. SO MANY CHARACTERS! It is like they want my brain to explode or something. Perhaps this show was created to show everyone what was on the line. If you don’t buy DVDs and BLUrays….none of these people will get paid. And there are a lot of mouths to feed apparently. So folks…downloading anime is bad. Very bad.

I see everything!

As I continue on with my downloaded anime….I am going to sit down and try to explain to myself what it is Aoi actually does. I am convinced she doesn’t do any drawing or coloring. We know she doesn’t do any voice acting. She MIGHT scan the prints to the computer and upload them final copies. You know, after she is doing running around with a million cells and folders all the time. But I believe Aoi’s main job is to oversee every single aspect of certain episodes. Mainly 4 and 9. Maybe another one but that hasn’t been mentioned yet. That means she is required to know who is working on what rough cuts, final drafts, coloring, ect. She needs to know when these things will be done and has to schedule when the next part can be done without asking anyone’s time so timing is important. So basically Aoi is supposed to keep track of everyone and everything as her only work while not having a hand at the actual anime episode herself.

Aoi's job is to apologize and be responsible for other people's actions.

Is that rude to say? Because I do like how Japan tries to find a job for everyone to keep unemployment low. People seem to accept higher prices on things because that will keep taxes low. Like you would have been spending that money anyway. So sometimes that means there is a lot of stupid red tape and people to go through because…well everyone needs a job. And sometimes that is how I felt Aoi was being. Not that I don’t like the girl. A job is a job after all. It just seems she was running herself stressful and crazy when in reality couldn’t this be done without Aoi? Just do things in order and the person who has the copies last gives it to the next person. No middle man involved, just everyone following a linear line of an episode and the last person who has the product will look it over and give it to the general manager who will give the A OKAY.

Honda is in charge of the episodes and then appoints minions like Aoi to be in charge of specific episodes?

But that is apparently not how anime works. And maybe if it did go this way things would end badly. No one person would know every little bit of an anime episode and things could fall through the crack and some finger pointing could occur. No one would be held to a time frame and since animes are made….three minutes before they actually air it is impossible for the boss to know each episode well. So this is where the assistants come into play. They aren’t drawing or coloring or voice acting things. Instead they are assigned a view episodes and keep everyone on track. Unless their name is Tarou they are supposed to be up people’s butts and never take no for an answer. So while Aoi is not doing any of the work herself she gets super stressed out over what she knows needs to be done. It is all in her head, bouncing around her brain and keeping her awake at night. Little lists of what needs to be finished and who has what scenes. Or she did until Honda came over and asked too many questions and turned her brain into mush. So Aoi has a reason to work.

Ema is like we can?!

All of this insanity in this episode happened over one little scene changes. Seiichi turned over the new voice acting part of his Arupin having lots of feelings moment and the artists all agreed that the voice acting was much better than the art and that Seiichi’s changes were sound. This TINY moment of animation meant tons of reworking. The voice acting was already complete but these tiny moments in anime add up into tons of work. Work that was being done in house and sent to other animation studios. I still find it odd that more things aren’t done in a studio. Like I knew manga artists work mostly at home but I thought all animes were done by people who worked at the same office so things would look similar all the time. Guess not. So that means Aoi has to lose her mind more over keeping track of slackers at home who are sleeping and not working. So many pieces of the puzzle spread out all over the place. I can see how that can get confusing, keeping track of all that. But I can also see how that could lead to some downtime. If everyone is working on what they need to do and Aoi is up to date on the situations what else can she do you know?

It's Aoi's job to wake people up and keep them on task?

That was most of the episode. Aoi and her lack of sleep trying to get episode 4 done while not neglecting her other episodes. Aoi freaking out and thinking she is letting her boss down. Dude these people work late. I almost feel bad complaining about my latest job as I never had to work past midnight and be up by 6:30. X___X Insanity. Yet Aoi was expected to do it all. Like um when can this girl get some sleep? She was constantly apologizing and being lectured to despite the fact she was doing her best and it was other people slacking or Seiichi’s idea to change one ugly face. And then the computer software crashed and the one file she needed was not going to be sent in time. I sorta liked that she lost her mind so much that she was doing dishes. I didn’t like that she blamed herself for this issue though. Not knowing much about computers how can she be the one to blame when she wasn’t the one who asked for the change? All dazed and confused…poor thing. Everything did work out in the end but I think Aoi aged 5 years in the meantime.

Ema spying on someone she feels is awesome.

In between Aoi freaking out and everyone in the world having a tiny part of this episode there were some other moments worth mentioning. Ema was adorable all over the place. She and Aoi are new to the business and as such are in awe of others that are in the same position but have been there longer. Ema watches Rinko and Yuka like they are the most amazing people on the face of the planet. Perhaps Misato is a bit higher rank wise but since Ema never leaves the office (because she needs supervision) she might not know to super look up to that woman yet. For now it is all about Yuka and Rinko who seem to get things done within a blink of an eye.

Eff you computers. All day long.

Aoi has her own moment of you are so awesome too. Well it wasn’t so much hero worship as it was Erika was rescuing Aoi from a stressful situation. All day long. Erika knows how animes work and things aren’t perfect. I think Aoi was assuming things were going to be her fault if they went wrong. Maybe it would have been blamed on her but I thought the artist were more at fault. In any event Erika was calm down Honda, have some chocolate Aoi, and we will all figure this out together. Maybe. Even if it wasn’t going to be alright I am glad that Erika was there to keep Aoi from washing all the dishes ever and quitting her job. Is this Aoi’s first job at all at the studio or just the first time she has been in charge of episodes alone? I hope it is the second option because the first one would be….a bit much for a newbie. Erika probably knows the new to the team feeling and made sure that Aoi didn’t fly away to crazy land while knowing what was expected of her. Yay for being friends.

Such....such a difference.....

So as episode 4 is finally finished Ema and Aoi can breathe a sigh of relief. All that rush and running around like chickens with no heads is done…well until episode 9 comes around of course. This finally means there can be time for friends. Because there were 5 girls in the animation club and we have only really focused on Aoi with a side of Ema and splash of lonely Shizuka. What about the two younger girls? Are they having a tough time as well because they are younger and would be fresh to this crazy city of Tokyo? Shizuka still hasn’t caught her break and she has been there probably as long as Ema and Aoi so….are the other two girls just as busy working other jobs while waiting for their dream job? Everyone must be busy as they barely have time to spend together. Almost makes me sad but I guess that is the reality of adulthood. Still once a month….at least Aoi and Ema got to take a moment to watch this new ugly Arupin moment of animation. Like take a breath and watch our work at…well work. You guys did it. Smiles and doughnuts for all. Then we will wake up the next day and do it all over again WOOHOO!

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New Anime Series! Shirobako episode 1

Goodbye childhood, hello real world!

WEEEE look what it is! The last of the new animes I am watching this Fall season. I am so sorry Shirobako that I have kept you on hold. :( But I am almost done with episodes 2 and 3 if that counts for anything. If it doesn't...well here is the almost forgotten episode 1 for Shirobako. Spoilers for anime really cutting it close to the wire.

Err if you say so....

Episode Summary: 5 girls are apart of an animation club at a high school and have decided to make their own original anime for their high school festival. It will be a lot of hard work but most of the girls seem very talented. Aoi makes them promise victory on some doughnuts. Then the seasons change as the festival draws closer and the girls work hard on their animation. Aoi seems the most outgoing and outspoken about all of them going to Tokyo and working in the animation field together but seems to have the least talent in any one thing. Ema seems the most talented with drawing but has doubts her family will let her go to Tokyo. One girl is talented at voice attacking and the two younger members barely get any screen time. They work hard and by the time the festival rolls around they proudly present their work. Ema talks her family into letting her go to Tokyo and at graduation Ema, Aoi, and voice acting Shizuka bow to their younger classmates and promise to all meet up in the city one day…on the promise of doughnuts of course. Two years later and Aoi is beyond tired at her job. But she trucks on. Well actually she is in a car on her way to pick up some artwork for her studio. Her studios is mentioned on the radio as their anime Exodus to Tomorrow is premiering in a few hours. Aoi blasts the theme song on the radio happily. When she spots a fellow coworker out and about they decide to race to the next destination. By race I mean they turn the cars into airplanes and nearly die. Aoi wins and races up to get some stills or whatever from Key Artist Misato. Aoi is impressed with how hard this woman works..and that she has huge boobies. Aoi makes it back to the studio…and she notices no one is in the work areas. She walks around the area until she finds everyone in the break room eating and waiting for their anime to air on TV. All the other workers at this studio are introduced at a breakneck speed but a familiar face is shown in Midori as she is one of the new artists at this place. Everyone has differing levels of excitement and how to handle their nervousness. Aoi and Midori are so happy part of their dream is coming true.

I am sure this makes some kind of sense...

The anime airs and as the closing song ends….the entire room is excited. Of course there has to be someone who reminds them there are 12 more episodes to go and not to get too excited. But everyone seems to be positive except for one nervous looking boy. The next day the entire studio is given a pep talk about what to do next. Again more introductions of characters and job titles. Aoi seems to be…in charge of making sure all the art pieces are collected? Like each assistant is in charge of making sure all the elements of shows are ready to go. Aoi and the rest of her team go to watch episode three in which the nervous boy Tarou was in charge of. Turns out he was so nervous because the main key animator for that episode basically told him there wasn’t enough time to finish the main battle scene or something and gave back the rough sketches. This puts a lot of things on hold as coloring can’t be done and the voice acting can’t be started as it will be off in the syncness. Tarou apologizes about a million times and said she tried to ask other key animators for help. They list other people they know but Midori is too new to do such an important scene and all the others are a no go for some reason or another. It is basically decided that Aoi, Tarou, and a few others would go and ask Misato for help even though she is busy working on other episodes. She seems concerned that Aoi won’t be able to get episode 4 finished in time if she is helping with episode 3. Well 3 comes before 4 so lets put that aside for now. Misato agrees to do the heavy work much to someone’s…disappointed back at the studio? Work gets under way and for some reason Aoi get a lot of talking to despite the fact that she is just trying to help get episode 3 done since 3 comes before 4. She seems rather frustrated at home but knows it will all work out. At the last possible hour Misato is able to get the frames done. She is told to rush over there as everyone else is on standby to color and dub. Misato seems exhausted and Aoi thanks her for the hard work. Aoi declines going to the voice acting session so she can get to work on episode 4. She does stop by a doughnut shop on the way home to share with Misato. Only when Aoi gets to Misato’s home she hears the artist pass out on the floor from exhaustion. Oh no!!! THE END!

Well that part was easy enough to understand. Working in the anime field means you can drive a car like a spaceship DUH!

So folks…not going to lie. I had to watch this episode twice just to understand everything. Okay that really isn’t accurate. I had to watch this episode twice in an attempt to understand everything. I don’t think it worked. I don’t know if the show is at fault though. I guess I thought the show would explain everything to me, step by step. Sorta like how all my “yaoi” shows do when they focus on the manga and anime industry. In between the not having sex and barely having kisses. With this show I feel as if someone needs to have a basic or working knowledge of anime to understand this process. That might be far but it sorta just left me feeling lost and confused.

I can get behind doughnuts all the time. Go girls!

The first part of the episode was easy to understand. A bit fast paced and we really didn’t get much time with all the girls but easy to understand. These 5 girls all attend the same high school and belong to the animation club which also has to involve doughnuts. Donuts? How do you really spell doughnuts? I hate words. The doughnuts might just be an added perk as one of the main character Aoi loves them. She makes all the girls promise to work together to make an original anime in time for the school festival. That is why I am assuming this took place over a year as each year would have their own festival. Less than a year then…..more like 6 months. Quick look out the window and watch the seasons pass on by.

Look at those eager little faces!

So throughout the year we see these girls working really, really hard together on this. And the entire time I was so impressed with them. I really would have liked to see more of the final product but I am going to assume that it turned out awesome. The girls seem very talented. Or at least talented enough to do all this work on their own. So maybe in Japan everyone does have a working knowledge of how anime is made since these girls with no prior training figured it out. I found it odd that all the girls seemed to have a hand in some of the animation. Like all the girls might have different interests (like Shizuka and voice acting) but they were all able to contribute to the final drawing product. Kids if you can draw a stick figure you can help make an animated film.

Best friends forever!!!!

Throughout all this hard work we learned a tiny bit about the girls although it was really Aoi’s episode with Ema in between. The internets are trying to tell me that Midori also works where Aoi does. If that is the case I didn’t see her this episode. But yes Aoi. She seemed to be the most pumped during the episode, about doughnuts and the episode they made at the club. But then she seemed liked the most inexperienced? Like she wants to be in the anime industry really badly but hasn’t found what she is really good at. She even doubts herself when telling the others they all need to get to Tokyo and work together. Ema seems to be the most talented of the group but almost didn’t make it to Tokyo due to family problems. It wasn’t explained well but it sounds like her parents weren’t keen on the idea. Still sent her money after the fact so I guess it wasn’t too bad. Shizuka seemed very good at voice acting. The other two girls got barely any airtime, probably due to the fact they didn’t graduate at the same time. Midori and Misa will get their time to shine. That time isn’t now though.

The face of happiness....

For now it is Aoi and 2.5 years after graduation. I wonder if Midori and Misa kept the club running after the older girls left. Guess we will find out next time. Right now we go to watch Aoi look beyond tired and hungry as she waits for the light to change. Apparently working in the animation area means really late nights as it was pretty dark outside. She was listening to the radio before she became a road criminal and the very fast talking hosts were LALALAing about the new animes coming out soon. Even if I did speak Japanese I would have been like X___X trying to understand them. But Aoi understood them enough and couldn’t help but beam with pride as the anime she was working out, Exodus to Tomorrow, got pretty good ratings from the duo. Even had the voice actresses on to talk up the show. Oh Aoi was just so happy. Of course even after viewing the episode twice I still have no idea what she does for the show but she was excited. Sorta like you stay and watch the credits for a film you worked on. Head Person in Charge of Cleaning the Make-up Brushes. Work is work though folks and Aoi pushes aside all the tired feelings she was having and was excited for the moment. Their show was almost on the air! Quick cue Aoi racing her co-worker down the street like an insane person while singing the theme song to the anime in question. Sounds like an idol show thus the peppy song that really jazzed up the fact that these cars were basically flying in the sky. Where are the cops? Oh wait they are at home ready to watch a new batch of anime too? Fly on.

MOG SO MANY PEOPLE!!! X____X

Once Aoi picked up some…..some things from key animator Misato Aoi drove the company car/flying vehicle back to headquarters. It looked..well different than I thought it was going to look. Almost like you could live next door to a major anime studio. Pretty cool. Anyway she arrives back at work and no one is there. Clearly the zombie apocalypse has happened and they are all dead. Or you know…everyone is waiting for their show to air at what looks to be 11 pm or midnight. If Aoi hadn’t figured out where they were would she have missed the showing? Maybe she forgot and they did tell everyone? In any event now Aoi can eat and watch the show with all her millions of coworkers. Seriously it felt like millions. Is this why anime is so expensive to produce? I felt as if there were a lot of people with jobs that could either be given to one person or the job itself didn’t make much sense. Just…just a lot of people and I didn’t bother to learn all their names. 

So the first episode aired and like the school festival anime we didn’t get to see any of it. Like shush guys it is starting, lets watch it and poof they are already clapping that episode 1 is done. GOOD JOB EVERYONE. Everyone was on a different scale of being worried and excited before the episode aired and after it aired everyone was at least revealed. Some people were on the internet trying to figure out how the general public was responding to the show while others are like okay onwards to more episodes we got to do this folks. Aoi and Ema shared in a moment of MOG this is our life now. We have done it, helped with an anime episode. Now are all the other girls involved so this is a dream come true? Just happiness for right now, more work later.

How dare you not take enough screenies for this episode Tenchi.

And then this is the part of the episode that makes me all confused. First off…I was taken aback at the fact that anime is made so……close to the wire. 14 days before the episode airs and it still isn’t done? Like that actors and actresses haven’t said their pieces nor have the special effects been added? Hot damn what is going on there? Animes are announced months in advanced and you are telling me they only start making episodes 2 weeks before they air? This explains why things can sometimes look and feel rushed, that once the DVDs come around things are really cleaned up. But why is it happening in the first place? Why can’t they just produce all the episodes in the winter season and then it airs in the spring season? Instead I feel as if the winter season ends and instead of taking a week or two off those people jump into a new project. So during that week or two where all the animes are ending and we have no new episodes everyone is scrambling to get episode 1 out. Doesn’t my idea sound better?

And that means Ema the newbie can't do it?

Apparently not. Because while there seems to be a million people working on producing an anime there is only a finite number of people doing the actual drawing. People with no drawing skills are then allowed to put the scenes in order, scan them on the computer, and do the coloring. The people who do the important drawings are outsourced. So while an anime might say such and such company apparently anyone can draw it. Here I thought that people were working all together in a room, the same team all the time. Or at least in the case of Sailor Moon, two teams that work on every other episode and boy does it show. But now I am amazed that every episode doesn’t look incredibly different. I am not sure how many key scene animators there are but it sounds like they use more than 5? Perhaps the same crew is used over and over again for background peoples and scenery but wow the fact that the show goes through that many hands is mind blowing to me. And since these people are contracted out they might be working on more than one show at a time? Like if this Misato is working on episodes 4, 7,10, and 12 of Exodus to Tomorrow she could be working on other anime episodes at the same time. Is that why everything looks alike nowadays? HMMMM so animes that look super different might have the same staff.

So if I say no the work will magically get done?

In any event…I don’t know what Aoi does. Nor what the boy who messed up a lot Tarou does. It seems as if there is a mini supervisor over each episode. Like make sure the artist stays on task, put things in order, and maybe helping with the coloring? Maybe. In any event (because I am confused) Tarou messed up. And I don’t really know if it was his fault. The key animator was like nope can’t do this in two days and handed him back the work. Sure Tarou should have said something but why would a professional say that?! It’s your job to do it even if it’s hard. Plus I think Tarou should have told someone higher up to deal with the situation, how do you make a grown person draw something they don’t want to? If that key animator is in charge of episode 3 and there is too much work to be done isn’t it their job to find assistants to assist them? Why is it Tarou or anyone else’s job to find them helpers? Wouldn’t they have assistants all year round no matter what project they were working on? Just….not seeing how this person could refuse the work.

Um you might want to be quiet Tarou.

But it doesn’t matter if I understand or not about why key animators can turn down work or what Tarou or Aoi really do at the studio. What matters is episode 3 can’t be finished and it is a perfect time to panic. This is going to set Aoi back no matter what because folks….3 comes before 4. Not a concept that made sense to a lot of people in this episode. I mean everyone was getting on Aoi’s case. If episode 3 doesn’t air there will be no episode 4. Yes she is in charge of episode 4 but this is a team effort folks. I think Aoi knows this will put her behind so maybe someone from episode 7 or episode 1 should step up instead. I guess it doesn’t matter what Aoi did as her key animator was the only one who said yes to helping out despite some people not being on board with her sense of style. Um don’t like her sense of style, do it yourself. And back up what you are going to say coward. Trying to lie about what he said…meh.

HAHA that's what you get.

So despite me not understanding a lot of what was going on I understood it was a hectic time at the studio with all this work for episode 3 needing to be done but until the frames were done it was put on hold. Aoi probably could have monitored other things while she was waiting for Misato to finish up. Standing by the phone wasn’t really helping. But Aoi was under a lot of stress too. All her dreams of coming to the big city and working with all her friends sounded like a grand idea in high school but now it is long nights and no doughnuts. Frustrating workers and what nots. Poor Aoi. This business seems very fast pace and stressful, all of which could be solved if they made animes in the Summer that would air in the Fall but what do I know?

Um....anime is serious business?

In the end Misato pulled out a win. A very exhausting win but a win. Aoi was able to zip around the city and the wheels for the rest of the episode 3 get started. I was a bit sad for Aoi as she didn’t get to stick around and see the voice acting process (where I think I saw Shizuka) because she had to actually start on episode 4. :( Poor Aoi. Maybe next time. I like that she took the time to get her hard working key artist Misato some of those precious doughnuts that she loves. You know..because the woman deserves them. But also because if Aoi hadn’t been thoughtful Misato would have been passed out on the floor alone. X___X So while this show has a lot of happiness and lala bubbly moments there is a serious side to making anime. Clearly everyone is overworked. So while I don’t understand everything going on in this episode….this show has promise. Maybe I will learn much more about anime and appreciate the process a bit more. Or feel bad for everyone in this industry and I can’t ever judge the C-team ever again. Time will tell if Aoi will enjoy this industry or will gain a million pounds by drowning her sorrows in doughnut. Until next time!

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