Shirobako

Shirobako is a very good anime. It takes a behind the scenes look at how anime are made in real life and portrays its characters realistically. Each of the five main characters (with the possible exception of Imai Midori) get good growth over the course of 24 episodes. The episodes themselves are beautifully realized. If you ever wanted to look at how anime are made in reality then Shirobako is it. It deals with a wide range of issues ranging from a director making last minutes changes to the script, to dealing with elusive authors and satisfying them. There is even bit of cozying up to the right people to get good contracts for the studio. Shirobako covers it all. It takes a realistic and non-romanticized look at anime production. It does a good job of portraying characters who aren't inherently good or bad but are all working towards the same goal. The path to the goal does not always match but the goals are the same. The aninme is an enjoyable watch for what it is. And I would have rated it very highly if the narrative was not so skewed. From start to finish, the narrative has a single mission in mind and that is to push a feminist ideology where all the men are essentially losers and the women in the business are the ones behind the scenes working hard to make anime successfull. With no exception all the major main male leads have issues dealing with pressure/doing their job properly. Almost all of them need a woman's touch to get their shit together. Contrasting that are the female characters who face their fears/doubts by themselves and grow in the process. Let us look at some of the leads for example to illustrate what I mean. - Seichi Kinoshita who is the director in the anime. A wishy-washy guy who is potrayed more like an otaku than as a serious face. Used mostly as a comic relief. Finds it difficult to really make up his mind. Eternally needs Miyamori's help. - Masato Marukawa, president of Mushashino. Happy go lucky guy who cares more for the food he is cooking than the anime his studio is trying to put out. - Yutaka Honda, production manager who is ever out of ideas. Partners with the director in the first half to provide comic relief. Leaves the team in the second half. - Hiroshi Iketani, episode director who it is implied lives in poverty. Tries to run away from work every opportunity he gets. Used for comic relief. - Tarou Takanashi, a production manager who is just about the most useless and inept person you would ever see anime or otherwise. Used for comic relief. - Ryousuke Endou, animation director who appears to have grudges with everyone. Throws a childish tantrum early on in the series to add some drama. Used for drama. - Shimeji Maitake, supposed scenario writer. Implied to be very slow in writing. Essentially acts as a foil for Imai Midori to grow. Delegates all his work to Midori later on. - Daisuke Hiraoka, a PM who replaces Honda. Shown to be extremely disinterested in work. Included to add unnecessary drama towards the end. Also portrayed to be sexist. Even relatively minor characters like the publishing house editors are shown to be extremely disinterested in their work who would rather play golf than sit down and talk about an anime production based on their publication. Contrasting all this are the female characters. Almost unanimously, they are all hard workers and work with 10000000% diligence 24x7. Almost all the problems they face are due to them not having the skills necessary and all of them have their own growth moment where they face their demons and succeed. Even supposedly shallow female characters like Sara Satou are potrayed as hard working/diligent workers towards the end. The anime is a good story. However good the story is however, this is nothing more than a feminist narrative. This culminates in the final episode where the main character Aoi Miyamori is celebrated as an unsung hero. Miyamori wasnt even a hero in the production chain, that goes coincidentally to another female called Erika Yano, but fuck logic amirite? Overall a good anime which could have been great if it hadnt been highjacked by a "wimmen are awesome" narrative.

Shirobako is an anime about making anime. It portrays virtually every aspect of anime production with excellent detail, from the research and writing of a story, to the administrative operations and planning, to the making of 2D and 3D frames, to the animation process, to the voice acting and related auditions, to the sound effects and music recordings, to miscellaneous artistic contributions throughout the production. Sounds like a mouthful? You bet it is, and Shirobako has this tendency of cramming so much information in that your head will be spinning whether you paid full attention or not. But that's not all. Technical operations is only half the picture; the other half is much more universal to all work environments and industries: human relationships, interactions, and work-related issues. We're not dealing with robots that do all their jobs perfectly and on time; we're talking about people who get lazy, angry, demotivated, emotional, stressed out, make mistakes, and have other things in life to deal with besides their soul-crushing jobs. We're working with artists, each with their own aspirations, troubles, and outlooks on their careers. Not everyone is satisfied with their job, and heck, not everyone has a job. This is all taken into account in Shirobako's comprehensive look at the anime industry. Yet with all that, I've only scratched the surface of what Shirobako has to offer. The real heart of the show is in its characterizations, conveyed piece-by-piece in a rich narrative of powerful, heartfelt character moments. We are shown the traps of getting caught in the daily doldrums of work life, with characters losing sight of the initial passion that motivated them to join the industry in the first place. We are shown harsh disillusionment, as characters realize that their dreams are either not as wonderful as they originally thought, or straight-up unattainable. We are shown that in anything the characters do, there will always be someone who does their job better, faster, and seemingly with less effort to boot. That talent is absolutely a thing. That luck is absolutely a thing. That effort without proper direction gets you nowhere, but effort with direction still only gets you so far. Yet while Shirobako is unreserved in conveying these cold, hard truths, it never stops being an optimistic show. A beautiful poignancy is achieved whenever an industry veteran manages a light smile in recounting their earnest, yet tumultuous pasts. An inspiring piece is made whenever two quarreling characters settle their differences in a rekindling of passion. Whenever one character helps another with their artistic or professional troubles, that act of compassion is always nicely reflected in later episodes, whether that help is reciprocated, applied to great effect, or even passed on to the next generation of creators. And even as our characters get humiliated, beaten, and put down by their troubles, they continue onward. They push forth. They grow. Not everyone makes it, and those that do will always be plagued with stress and setbacks, but it's the fact that they put a genuine effort towards their passions that matters. Even for those with aimless direction, it's to continue working, creating, and helping others that they find a purpose. And at the end of the day, there will always be someone cheering them on in the background and giving them support. Understated moments like when Aoi's parents call Aoi to tell her how excited they were to see her name in the ending credits does wonders in bringing everything down to earth. As shown, Shirobako is ridiculously good at crafting characters from its flurry of scenes and subtleties, and substantiating a cast of over 50 named characters. How many of these characters have great scenes, distinctive personalities, and endearing quirks to attribute to their face (because I suck at remembering Japanese names)? In a rough count, I got at least 7 directors/producers/administrators, 8 animators and artists, 5 production assistants, and 4 miscellaneous roles. Do the math; it's absolutely nuts! The show also performs extremely well in its command of tone and general storytelling. It balances a fast-paced, detail-filled story with a burgeoning and competent character cast so effectively, when it sounds like it'd be a horrid mess on paper. The ever-stressful environment of Musani Animations is complemented by sharp, slick comedy, constantly making me tense with anxiety over the characters' mounting troubles, followed by some scenes so hilarious they have ZeroHumor doubled over in laughter. With its many character moments, Shirobako maintains powerful heartwarm colored with poignancy throughout its course, as it balances its realism perfectly with its idealism. It's also worth noting that realism itself isn't Shirobako's aim; rather, it is to convey something meaningful within its realistic ideas and emotions that truly matters. Yes, Shirobako has talking dolls, exaggerated drag racing, and dream-like visions. But none of that detracts from what is real about this show, and what is truly significant: the passions and pursuits of art, the emotions in dealing with stress, and everything that makes this show extraordinary. In the end, Shirobako proves to be an extremely well-written show. I was frankly shocked when I saw that this was an anime-original work, considering just how seamlessly this show flows from point to point, from theme to theme, from episode to episode. It's a really immersive experience, endowed with its outstanding cast of characters, engaging subject matter, competent storytelling, and filled to the brim with its own passion. You can clearly see just how much this work resonates with its own creators, and in turn, how much it emotionally resonates with its audience. It's one of the best, if not the best of 2014.

*MINUTE SPOILERS FOR SHIROBAKO* Anime is an interesting medium. Critics, fans, news spreaders, forums, directors, studios, products, songs, and animators. All of them exist in other mediums, and some exist in all entertainment mediums, but they all exist here, and this is obviously, a rich and interesting medium. The thing is, we tend to only really know the news of the anime, some the people working on the anime, and the final result that airs on tv. We never really get to see the real ins and outs of it unless we study in those fields, which many of us here won't. It seems Studio P.A. Works realized that as well and decided to make an anime that can teach us a bit of what goes into making our favorite shows. Did it teach us some valuable lessons on the industry while still being an entertaining and satisfying experience? Of course! Then again, chances are, you're not here to find out that part. You're probably wondering why. Well, I guess it's my turn to give it a go, so if you are one of those people, then let's find out, shall we? STORY: 9/10 Over the course of 24 episodes, we get to see Musashino animation work on two interesting anime while dealing with loads of bumps on the road. One such member is Aoi Miyamori, leader of the anime club her 4 other friends were in during high school, the group consisting of: Aoi, Zuka, Ema, Midori, and Misa. The 5 of them take versions jobs in the anime industry, and suffer stress trying to find their place and in some cases, suffering stress trying to make it out there. Their paths are separate while working on the first anime, Exodus, but most of their paths converge when working on Third Aerial Girls Squad, until towards the end, Zuka manages to land a role for the series. We get to see the ups and downs of not just these 5 girls, but everyone working on the two anime series over the course of 2 years. Each end to an arc (the arc being the production of one of the 2 anime) is satisfying in their own right, especially due to the sheer amount of anime references that increase the more each arc nears the climax. We also get to learn a bit about key-animation, CGI, voice acting, adaptation, editing, and so many other things that can really benefit someone trying to learn a bit about the inner workings of an anime. As for the last two episodes, they get absurdly over the top, but have some of the most satisfying and heart-warming moments in the series, like Ali crying when she hears Zuka reading her lines for Third Aerial Girls Squad, and the celebration of the anime's completion. It's not just educating us on anime, it's also giving us engaging and interesting stories with loads of references to real life studios, anime, and directors. Not to mention that the ending is great. CHARACTERS: 8/10 Aoi is a bit nervous and friendly but assertive at the same time, all of which are shown in full display during production, and she is a really pleasant protagonist to follow. Shizuka and Ema are usually friendly and upbeat, but get a bit down due to circumstances regarding their work, especially Shizuka until her insanely emotionally resonant big payoff at the end of episode 23.. Midori gets inspired by the other girls and eventually becomes the most diligent of them all. Misa is also friendly, but eventually wants something more out of her job as a CG animator. I'm sorry for these shallow descriptions, but putting them into descriptions is a bit hard given how real they feel at times. Sure, Ema gets needlessly melodramatic at times, but we still care about the girls' endeavors, and that's partly due to these guys... There is a gigantic cast of characters that work at Musashino and other studios, so I'll have to be a bit brief. Tarou is a bumbling idiot akin to the likes of Tamaki from Code Geass, but can still pull through here and there, and even has a pretty fun drunk scene with Daisuke. Seiichi and Honda are nervous wrecks that have to really pull through via pain in order for things to work at times given their flaws. Daisuke is a pessimist with terrible mindset of getting things done and nothing more: the mindset that allows works like Mahouka and Blazblue Alter Memory to spawn (not that I'm still angry about those series or anything), but we get to see just what horrible assholes pushed him that way, in the aforementioned really great drunk scene with Tarou, who often bugs hum about being buddies. So many of these characters have their own unique quirks, and are pretty fun to see, even if a lot of them butt heads, all except for Ai; she's annoying, and that's all I'm going to say about her botched attempt st a mute and shy character. They still can get work done when it gets down to the wire, no matter what he'll they go through in the process. Seiichi even gloriously goes to see the creator of the second anime and takes down the chronies that block his path, including that asshole "funny story" guy who keeps wrecking what they try to do by never doing his job right and being a pain in the dick. Hell, we get personified imaginations of a girl doll and a polar bear to entertain us and represent Aoi's thoughts occasionally. Talking about all of them will be daft given the given cast, but they're endearing and diverse, and all have at lest one moment in the spotlight, like Endou in episode 8 after his arc about trying to quit his position on Exodus. Also, try to guess which ones have real world parallels. I'll give you a hint. One of them is a reference to Hideaki Anno. ART: 9/10 Studio P.A. Works did a great job with this series. The animation during the normal scenes generally looks good, but the visual flares really kick in during the OPs and EDs, including some Ufotable level lighting. ED2 has it the best, with a packet that alerts which version of ED2 is being animated. Not to say that the animation in general isn't great, but it really stands out in the OPs and EDs. I love when they get into shading and coloring, and other animation moments since as you can no doubt guess, they do a great job at showing that. Why wouldn't they.It's a treat to be sure. Now if only the CGI were as good it kinda falters occasionally, but can still be decently done other times, like with the cars that are always speeding, and no, I will not dock points for the purposely clunky CGI in the CGI testing scenes since again, they were supposed to look like how bad CGI looks in anime. Regardless, it's a very pleasant show to look at, especially when they do such a great job at illustrating Re anime process, literally speaking of course. SOUND: 7/10 OP 1 "Colorful Box by Yoko Ishida" is an extremely charming OP, and is a perfect way to draw you into the series. It screams pleasantness, putting a smile on my face every time. OP 2 "Treasure Box by Masami Okui" isn't as good brbis still a nice OP. Never thought I'd hear the accordion in an anime OP. ED 1 isn't anything special at all though. ED 2, Platinum Jet, was actually preformed by the seyuus of the 5 main girls, and is amazing. It is beyond pleasant, and is perfect to cheer yourself up to during night time, and is course, it's very catchy as well. Like Gurren Lagann's second ED, this was what convinced me that I really loved the show even more than i thought I did. The rest of the OST isn't anything noteworthy aside from a few moments here and there (like the song hat plays in the final scene of episode 23), but it works decently enough for what we got. Also, the Andes Chucky theme is catchy for me. Shaddup. ENJOYMENT: 9/10 This is a very immersive show for me, so much so that at points, the scenes where characters get super stressed stress me out as well. I mostly grew out of that though, it tenimmersik was still their, as each moment of relief for the characters was a relief for me, as the troubles were over for now. Each success was satisfying, especially the finale. Also, that scene in episode 23 with Aoi and Zuka was so heart-warming, especially when Aoi cried. I enjo…

Story:Not judge from first see.This story not have fan service anime that have moe characters.This is story about hardship of Musashino animation and main characters that base from life of staff of cast anime how about to each episode. but this story presents these hardships out to be comedy and slice of life.That make me not serious to follow each episode.and every episodes have good lessons that can use in real life. Art:Not bad, it have 3D scene that suit drawn scene b animator.Have bright color tone that make my eyes strain Sound:Soundtrack likes when you saw documentary.It so calm and have many sounds that different each scene.Character Sound is suit for every character,Every VA have talent to did. Character:Over 50 characters,you can forgot some character when next episode comes with new character.but PA knows how to use character to be worth. Especially,each main characters, have different way to go and difficulty to through about anime works. It enough for make you enjoy them. Enjoyment This is one of the best I've seen,Impressive

Shirobako is a great and unique anime that tells the story that nobody elses try to made, its about the anime industry itself, how to make anime ? How many people are involve in it ? The intrique and the hectic situations that comes up from making anime. From that description alone, this anime could be the most boring anime or the most interesting anime, and i'm here to tell you that its the most interesting anime that i ever watched. First thing first, the story isn't like your typical anime story telling, the characters dilemma, problem, happiness its all told from a realistic view point, you can easily relate to the story and the characters because of this. The plot itself when it didn't focus on the characters, it focused on the anime making process, it teaches the viewer how to make anime, what are the roles, the dynamic relations between roles and how all of that is combine to make a team that is capable of making anime. It also told the viewers about the hardship of scheduling, how one failure could destroy the whole schedules, its very mature and i can see from the viewers perspective that this anime is made with love, PA Works (The production company that make this anime) love what they do and love every anime that they are making. Everything about this anime is oozes with love, even though some scene like the driving scene feels out of place because they feel the need to make it exciting at the cost of realistic, its just feels off when been compare to the realistic plot. The character developments is great for some characters and really bad for some other characters. From the main characters, Miyamori, Ema, Zuka, Misa, and Midori, they all got good development, they all got a really realistic problem that really hits me personally, its about what do they want to do in life, what is their dream, and how can they achieve it. They all grow to appreciate themself and others in the course of the anime. The trip and hardship that they have to face to reach their dream is both really sad and exciting when they finally reached it. I cry with tears of joy when one of them finally reach her dream after soo much hardship and failure. For some of the other characters though, some of them got 1 or even 2 episodes dedicated to they development as a characters, and some others only got a little bit of development or even none in the course of the anime. What i didn't like but totally understandable is that, its really hard to remember all the characters name since they put like 20 or more characters in the anime, i can't even remember some of the important side characters name because of this. They nearly did it right but putting the name up everytime we see them for the first time in an episode, but after episodes 7 or so they just didn't put the name up again. The background art and the music is really beautiful and great, its really add to the whole experience as a whole, its one of the most beautiful background art that i ever seen from an anime with actual complex plot. The sound suit everything well, especially for the sad scene. The beautiful background music will makes you feel the scene more. The charaters art itself is pretty cute and cool, the variety on the male characters is really good to looks at. Theres's a fat guy, old guy, cool guy, normal skinny guy, and a lot more variety. But, i know why they decided this because anime viewers like cute girls but all the girls in the anime looks young and cute at the point where i don't know who is older than who most of the time. Soo.. Is it good ? Yes. It might not been the most fun anime out there, but if you want a unique realistic anime with a deep character development and beautiful art and music. I can even say its an educative anime. You would want to watch this.

I like to eat cake, but that doesn't mean I am interested on learning the process of cake-baking. Safe to say the same theory applies to anime. If you're here on this site, then chances are high that you watch animes, and you love them. But that doesn't mean an average anime viewer would want to be bothered with learning and understanding how an anime series is made, as long as we get to enjoy the final product, who cares? Which is why Shirobako is such an entertaining watch. It manages to juggle around explaining the basic procedures of anime production, at the same time featuring a great balance between comedy and drama to ensure that viewers are constantly hooked. The recipe is just right. Revolving around the tale of the five female leads who made their vow during their highschool days, we are told of the struggles they faced in the anime industry. Each of them ventured into vastly different roles: Aoi manages to land into the production line, Ema with her great drawing skills naturally plied her trade in animation, while Mika contributes by making CGs. And so and so. In between them, we are also shown a myriad cast of characters with their respective roles in anime production. We have the goofy and enthusiastic director Kinoshita, the animation director Endou who doesn't really approve of the usage of CGs, the president of MusAni Marukawa who always provide mental support to his employees with his great cooking skills etc etc. Despite the huge cast, they are fleshed out sufficiently and will most often ended up being memorable and lovable. Being a two-cour show, we are treated with the production of two anime shows by MusAni, one for each cour. It is truly an exciting ride often riddled by suspense and tension during the production process, with many different crisis popping out here and there to disrupt the otherwise smooth sailing. Watching how the crew of MusAni pull themselves together and made it all the way is undeniably satisfying and touching, it is not easy to hold up tears of joy as you celebrate together with the production crew when they succeeded in finishing an entire anime series. Besides having anime production as the main theme of the show, Shirobako also frequently entices viewers with what it takes to excel in a workforce. Is having an interest simply enough? Perseverance? The ability to notice and grab the opportunity when it presents itself? What will you do when things aren't going as you wanted? How would you stand up and face your challenges? So in the end, Shirobako does provide tons of moral values and inspirations for its viewers. Which is always something I like in an anime show. Produced by PA Works, you can expect high quality animation throughout the show. The buildings featured in the show are based off the real life locations found in Japan, and the amount of detail present in the backgrounds are amazing, for instance the dilapidated and neglected working room of Studio Taitanic really captured the glooming atmosphere lingering within. The character designs? Nothing that I can complain of. We have people from various ages joining in the fray, some are fresh into the working force with their innocent and naive look, while some are seasoned veterans with grey hair and wrinkles around. We also have fat people around so it's quite realistic in a sense that most animes featured perfect and unrealistic bodies in them. I believe in order to convey the right emotions to the viewers, the music has to play a very important role, otherwise what supposed to be an intense scene filled with feels will be falling terribly flat. Thankfully, Shirobako manages to pull this one off very well, and the viewers will easily suffer an anxiety attack at the crisis scene; an adrenaline rush during a "resolution" scene; as well as shedding tears during the tear-jerking moments. Not much comment on the voices, as I think all of them portrayed their character well. It is always nice to see how the seiyuus in the show performing their different voices appropriate to the roles they are given. All in all, a truly enjoyable watch. Perhaps the heavy jargon and slightly fast pacing in the first three episodes might turn some viewers off. But fear not, as the pacing eventually slows down and you will find yourself familiarize with the animation jargon pretty quickly.

Allow me to do a little intro, I have a friend working as an animator in an anime company and often did I heard that he would go home earliest by 2am or even 6am. I had no idea what dragged him from work but this anime cleared my curiosity. Shirobako focuses on a group of five girls who were once members of an animation club getting together to produce an anime for their school festival. Soon after graduation, they dreamed that they would one day produce an anime together. And thus, the real plot begins. The story focuses the working environment of an anime company where the MC is working at. The anime does a magnificent job in explaining the steps and procedures on how an anime is produced. Beginning from the process of writing a storyboard to the step whereby it is delivered to radio station, it might not be very detailed but it is very sufficient enough to give us viewer a general idea on what's going on behind the scenes of the anime we watched today. Apart from it being educational, the gem of this anime lies behind the characters development. The number of characters in this anime is quite enormous and almost most of them had made an appearance in episode 1. Sure enough I did not remember all of them but a few episodes later, I can roughly know them better. Onto the main point, the anime mentioned about the characters' pasts, fears, problems etc. Some with a depressing past, some facing with a bad situation in present, some with an aimless dream. Though the anime is fiction but all these are totally reflections of our reality. If I have to pick on a theme where the anime pay a lot of attention to, I would say "dream". From the anime you could see various characters (which sometimes reflects people around us) with different reasons of being in the anime industry, different objectives at the end of the road, different interests etc. And to add on, the anime also showed how did those characters work on achieving what they dream to be. Filling with element of surprise and emotions, the developments are very well delivered to the viewers. Next, climax. You don't need to have an extraordinary action or a tear-jerking drama to have climax into an anime. Even an anime as simple as showing the working environment could also provide tensions to the viewers. I'm not gonna spoil but all I could say that even though there isn't much climax, its a key element worth mentioning as I find them quite exciting! Alright, a short summary, Shirobako is a comedy, slice-of-life anime which centers around an anime industry with 5 friends dreaming to be together working on an anime. I apologized for not mentioning details like the art or sound as the other elements have brought my attention away. TL;DR version: As a whole, I seriously enjoy this and if you are viewing this page wondering whether you should give it a try, then I will say to just go on ahead. Don't turn a blind eye on this or you'll miss a great series! Thanks for reading! SPOILER: I love donuts too. :D

"An anime about making anime?!" These were the words that came out from my mouth the moment I read about the story that surrounds Shirobako. So after binge-watching the 24-episode series in about a week or so, I'm ready to share my thoughts about it. First the story: I like it, since there really isn't anything like it. Shirobako tells a story of 5 (female) best friends achieving their dream of making an anime production together. A story that surrounds the whats-and-hows of making anime may not be original, but when done right IT REALLY STANDS OUT. Shirobako introduce the pleasures and struggles of making anime, the daily interactions of the studio's staff members and also, the main characters trying to figure out what or how their dreams are to be achieved. The latter may sound cheesy, but for the most part it's not that you can spat on. The story does well to shaken the hearts of its viewers with some plot-twists and unfortunate events done unto the characters. However, the story doesn't only takes place in Musashino Animations, but also on the household of our main characters, showing their daily lives and how they each maintained the friendships. Dialogue is also spot-on since it greatly ties into the atmosphere of the story. Frankly, I can't quite comprehend on how anime production works but I think that's a good thing, since it made me realize that the anime industry can be harsh and quite unforgiving. Overall, there really is nothing to complain about the show's storyline. If I have to be nitpicky, I think 24-episodes can have the tendency to be dragging, but again, the story is interesting and every minute I waste was worth it. If there's one thing about Shirobako that's diverse is it's wide cast of characters. There is a lot of people involved in the story, characters with colorful personalities, so much that the viewer may tend to forget about the main characters. Speaking of, the 5 aforementioned friends include Aoi Miyamori, the production assistant, Ema Yasuhara, the timid animator, Shizuka Sasaki, the red-heard voice actress, Misa Toudo, the 3D editor and lastly Midori Imai, the aspiring script writer. Among them Aoi gets the most screen time since she is the focal character. Fortunately, despite the populous cast, I can't help but care for the most of them since they where all created cute and all. Character development is present as well, as characters tend to mature after gaining much experience in their workplace and after discovering their limits. Still, for a show that has a lot of cast but still end up loving and caring for most of them, speaks volume of how the show's creators were able to balance the story and the characters. Still, since there are a lot of characters, it is kind of hard to keep track of them, as some characters tend to be forgotten in subsequent episodes. But it's not really much to complain about since when they stand out, they really make an impact to the other characters and the overall story. For the show's audio and aesthetics, I say they nailed it. P. A. Works have, again, done a great job of making the world of Shirobako come to life with their signature design motif. The character designs are, dare I say it, cute. The backgrounds are very pleasing to look at. And the animation is okay for anime standards. Overall, the visuals aren't overbearing, but aesthetically pleasing enough that it isn't out of place or just... ugly. The show's soundtrack is also great, melding well with story's mood and ambiance. The instrumentals are also quite noteworthy, and pleasing to hear at. Overall, it's great. I'm glad I get to watch this show. It made me acknowledge the hard work that anime creators put in their production. It showed that dreams takes steps and not leaps to achieve. It showed me that achievements are to be treasured with friends whilst thanking them for their hard work. It's a show that taught me a lesson. Cliche as it may sound, but this is a show worth watching and knowing, and I wish more anime can aspire the impact Shirobako had showed me.

"Don-Don donuts! Let's go nuts!" - Aoi, Ema, Midori, Shizuka, Misa Shirobako is a wonderfully charming anime about five friends that make a promise to each other in highschool. They promise that they will live out their life-long dream of making anime together, and the show follows them along their intertwined journey towards that goal and all the trials and tribulations that come with it. It's an anime about making an anime. On the surface that doesn't sound like a very interesting premise, and to be honest, I went into this show thinking it was going to be very bland and uninspired, but boy was I wrong. This show, simply put, is a masterpiece. Shirobako has a massive ensemble cast that can at times make your head spin, yet by the end of the show, you feel like you know them all and what makes each of them tick. More importantly, you come to love and respect them all and their unique quirks. It explores each character's motivations for ending up in anime, from animators, to production, to voice actors, to the director! At some point they all had a dream, even if they lost track of it along the way. It delves into what it means to be new in the industry, to be old, to be confident, to be scared, it gets down right into the very fibre of what drives us as human beings. Hope. And this is the central theme running throughout the show. Always try your best, never give up, and live your life to the fullest! It's somewhat of a trite message, but Shirobako makes it work with extremely endearing and relateable characters whose optimism shines through the rampant chaos of working life. But it isn't all sunshine and lollipops, you are shown frustration as well. One character in particular is shown to fail time and time again while her friends pass her by, and she ends up getting more and more depressed despite the brave face she puts on. It's a very understandable and sombre demonstration of the reality of working adult life. Sometimes, hard work doesn't always pay off, at least not in the way that you'd like. These melancholic moments seem to punctuate the efforts of all the girls at times, eventually leading to probably the most cathartic scene I've ever experienced in anime when those left behind have their perseverance rewarded at long last. It brought me to joyous tears! Moments of comedic relief are expertly threaded in throughout the show and really help you get attached to the characters and their struggles. They don't stand out so much as to distract you from the story, but instead provide a welcome decompression when your heart is heavy and a bubbly energy to lift you sky-high when you're already smiling. All of these moments are seamlessly carried along by the music to this show, providing soft-tenderness when required, unbridled enthusiasm at the light-hearted scenes, and finally powerful jubilance during character triumphs. And as one would hope for a story about trying to create the best anime that one can, the animation quality itself is very solid. Neither the music nor animation are mind-blowingly amazing or original, but they are still effected with the careful craftsmanship of a true master honed by time. The voice-acting for the show could not have been more spot-on, the main girls absolutely nailed their roles and the emotions that come with them. Simply put, Shirobako is one of the most enjoyable anime experiences I've ever had, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this show to all viewers, especially serious anime fans who will get some of the more outlandish references in the show. The characters are perfect, the story is interesting and very relateable, the art and sound are very professionally done, the ending is beautiful and satisfying, I literally cannot think of any flaws with this show. It has so much heart, and the characters are so adorable, that I find it impossible not to relish every moment with them. It felt like saying goodbye to old friends when the last glorious frame of all the characters together was shown. Watching Shirobako was an amazing and deeply fulfilling experience, and I'm glad to have had the privilege to be a part of it!

//Review in English and Spanish// [No spoilers] English The story takes us to know 5 girls, who aspire to create their own anime together. Before graduating they were in the animation club and managed to do something similar, but promised that in the future, their dreams become true and they will fulfil it together. Each woman with a different goal but into the same direction as is the production of an anime, the first girl, which is what takes more prominence in the anime is Aoi Miyamori which was the who started with his dream, which was to be a anime producer. The second one is the one that also carries some prominence, is Emma, his passion is drawing and his dream was to be a animator and create moving images with her drawings. The third is Shizuka, she want to be a voice actress (seiyuu), a career of so much demand in Japan in the world of anime, so she is the girl who need to working more hard to realize his dream, but she struggle to go ahead and get it. The fourth is Midori Imai, who wants to be a screenwriter and create stories. The fifth is Todou Mass, and her dream is to create a 3D animation. Each girl in separately will fight to advance to their dreams and take a step closer to fulfil it. It will not be easy, they will face many obstacles and difficulties which they will overcome in order to achieve what they want. -------------------------------------------------------- Plot, setting, and character development The plot and setting of these characters is the style of the "slice of life" genre, We see characters doing things of everyday life. Here we see 5 girls working on their dreams. We have drama, that is present when the main and second characters decay because after a failure that include a lot of effort, but the situation will also help them to move forward, that is, learn from their mistakes as all people, and successfully passing the difficulties whith his willpower. And the comedy is also present, has several situations involving this genre, which makes entertaining this anime because the characters in this anime are quite nice and funny. You could say that some people confuse this anime with Josei, because we see Young adults protagonists through the difficulties of his dreams, which adds a point in favor because we don't see so much anime with this style. I found it quite original and entertaining the plot, which teach us what is the process that takes to the screens an anime and the difficulties that people who are involved in this work have to carry, etc. I have to admit I was totally ignorant in this regard, I had no idea of ​​how people work for make an anime, and has also found it quite interesting just because of that. The development of this anime is good, is enjoyable and personally not bored me at any chapter. You could compare this anime with "Bakuman" but with feminine version protagonists because each character struggles to reach his dreams in both animes, although Bakuman is to be mangakas and Shirobako to produce anime. They have some similarity. Also the title, "Shirobako" means "white box", that are important files for the animation of this process were kept, as I understood. The characters and the plot is the strong point of this anime. Both major and minor characters have some prominence in the series, that is, not fully focus on the main characters, a good characterist that difference this anime to others. -------------------------------------------------------- Drawing and animation Drawing and animation is is so good. Character design of the primary and secondary characters are well done in my opinion. A strong point of the anime is this, that makes entertaining to watch in conjunction with his good plot and characters. -------------------------------------------------------- Soundtrack The soundtrack is quite enjoyable, both openings (2) as the endings (2). Although I do not engage with any opening / ending in particular, except for the ending 2 song I found something sticky and nice, I sang in my mind several times after a chapter. For the rest, the ost I remembered something simple but sticks well with the plot. -------------------------------------------------------- Conclusion I recommend this if you like animes with slice of life style and have some curiosity to see how the anime are made. Also if you like anime with good drawing-animation and characters. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Español La historia nos lleva a conocer a 5 chicas, que aspiran desde jóvenes a poder crear su propio anime juntas. Antes de graduarse estaban en el club de animación y lograron hacer algo parecido, pero se prometieron que en el futuro, harían algo más grande y lo harían juntas. Cada una con una meta distinta pero hacia la misma dirección que es la producción de anime, la primera chica, que es la que lleva más protagonismo en la serie es Aoi Miyamori que fue la que primero empezó con su sueño, que era ser una productora de anime. La segunda que es la que lleva también cierto protagonismo es Emma, una joven que gracias a que su pasión es dibujar su sueño era poder ser animadora y crear con sus dibujos imágenes con movimiento. La tercera es Shizuka una joven que desea ser actora de voz (seiyuu), una carrera de bastante demanda en Japón en el mundo del anime, por lo cual ella es la chica que le cuesta más trabajo realizar su sueño, pero aun así lucha para seguir adelante y conseguirlo. La cuarta es Midori Imai, que desea ser guionista y crear de historias. La quinta es Todou Misa, la cual su sueño es crear animación en 3D. Cada chica por separado lucharan para poder avanzar y dar un paso más hacia su sueño, el cual no sera fácil, se toparan con varios obstáculos y dificultades los cuales trataran de sobrellevar para poder lograr lo que desean. -------------------------------------------------------- Trama, ambientación, desarrollo y personajes La trama y la ambientación de estos personajes es del estilo slice of lice, es decir, vemos a personajes haciendo cosas de la vida cotidiana. En este caso vemos a 5 chicas trabajando en sus sueños. Tiene sus toques de drama, que es cuando los personajes principales y secundarios decaen debido a un primer fracaso después de cierto esfuerzo, pero dicha situación también les ayudará a seguir adelante, es decir, aprenderán de sus errores como todas las personas y lograran superar las dificultades con su fuerza de voluntad. Y sus toques de comedia no se extrañaron tampoco, tiene varias situaciones que involucran este genero, lo cual hace ameno este anime, debido a que los personajes de este anime son bastante agradables y graciosos. Se podria decir que algunas personajes confundirían este anime con un Josei, debido a que vemos a jovenes adultas atravesando las dificultades de sus sueños, cosa que le agrega un punto a su favor a este anime, debido a que casi no se ven animes de este estilo. Me ha parecido una trama bastante original y amena, en la cual nos enseñan cual es el proceso que se lleva para llevar a las pantallas un anime, las dificultades que las personas que están involucradas en este trabajo tienen que llevar, etc. Cosa que tengo que admitir que era totalmente ignorante en este aspecto, no tenia ni idea de como se las ingeniaban para trabajar los animes, y también me ha parecido bastante interesante justamente por eso. El desarrollo de este anime es bueno, el ritmo es ameno y en lo personal no me aburrió ningún capitulo por lo que mencione anteriormente. Se podría comparar este anime con "Bakuman" pero versión protagonistas femeninas y más grandes debido a que cada personaje lucha por alcanzar su sueño, aunque en Bakuman es para ser mangakas y en Shirobako para producir anime. Tienen cierta similitud. También cabe resaltar que el titulo, "Shirobako" significa "Caja blanca", que es donde se guardaban los archivos importantes para el proceso de animación de este, según entendí. Los personajes y la trama es el punto fuerte de este anime. T…

Truly beautiful. Great mixture of slice of life elements and comedy that's open to all audiences. Though I'm unfamiliar with the post-highschool setting, I'm very happy to say that this anime really pulled it off. The "rookie" characters in their own professions related to anime are all wonderfully portrayed and really contribute to the setting of anime production. If I am able to understand even a little of what it's like to be in the anime production business from the backgrounds of each character and the progressive storyline, then I am more than happy to recommend this to any anime fan no matter what genre or them you're into. I was unsure of it at first, but this anime truly is a great display of ups and downs in life. Story: 9 - Although the episodes following the first progress through the story a bit slow, in my opinion, once the story picks up, it blazes through so many scenes without making you feel overwhelmed, and definitely kept me interested. The setting of an anime production company is very unique, in my opinion, as it's the first one that I've ever watched with this setting, but it does a great job pulling off the post-high-school setting. Art: 9 - I absolutely love the main art style of this anime, and I say main because of the fact that there are many times when the art style changes, but it's only when they are showing an anime within the anime. Although the animation isn't as fluid as say the "Fate" series, I actually really liked the animation of all of the anime displays, giving you a taste of each product that the characters got to experience in the past watching the animes they grew up with. Sound: 8 - Although I absolutely love the soundtrack, anyone who watches this may not be tolerant of the fact that many of the songs within the OST are different versions of the same slice-of-life main theme; slowed down for sad and touching moments, or sped up and made with different more ambiguous sounds for serious moments. I love the voices of all of the characters, not a single bad thing to say about those beautifuls. Character: 9 - At first, it was a bit overwhelming for me to keep track of all of the characters within the company, because of the fact that I initially thought that the main character and her 4 highschool friends were going to be the main characters that everyone would get to see most of, but that is quickly discarded as you rarely see her highschool friends progress in their own solo storylines, and even more rarely see them all together, but it does happen, and that's not even that bad of a thing. The cast seen most often are the people within the main character's company, and geez I thought there were a lot of them. I'm sure the director/screen writer/whoever knew that the sheer number of characters to remember would be overwhelming so they do remind you somewhat of who each person is when they appear on screen the first few episodes, providing a name and occupation-title on each scene they appear, multiple times, which I found somewhat necessary. Since there are many characters you see often, but don't get many lines, it might be hard to like some of the characters presented, but my favorite characters of the anime were the ones that didn't talk much & the softspoken ones as I found them absolutely adorable and hilarious! (Ema & her future kouhai). Enjoyment: 9 - Unfortunately it's my own opinion of myself but I'm rating it this high because of the fact that I watched the entire series within a short amount of time (24ep within about 3 days). As I mentioned before, I did think the storyline moved somewhat slow in the beginning, but that could've been part of having the audience get accustomed to the whole setting of "anime production company," as that is, in my opinion, an unusual setting for an anime. I'm sure if I would've graded my enjoyment differently if I had watched 1 episode per week, because I would've had to endure the slow-paced "getting-used-to-the-environment" episodes, but since I watched it pretty quickly, I didn't dwell on the early episodes much, as the later stream of back-and-forth comedy bits really sold me, and the real-life scenarios were also quite touching.

If you want to know more about how anime is made or what it is like to work in the anime industry, Shirobako is the show for you. What we have is an office-themed slice of life series that focuses on an animation company's productions from the vantage point of a young production assistant and her friends. Story: 8 The story of Shirobako chronicles the company's creation of two anime series, an original series and one based on a popular manga. Each story arc explores the difficulties of creating each type of story, and the show presents the work environment as hectic and insanely busy. Characters: 7 While the series has five protagonists, not all of them have equal screen time or character development. Beyond the main heroines, there is a large ensemble cast of characters who each play a role in the production of anime. Many of them are memorable and at first glance seem to be stereotypes, are given more character development as the show goes on. Learning how and why these characters do what they do and why they pursue their passions are very inspiring. Sound: 8 The music fits the mood, while mainly being upbeat and energetic. The Japanese dub is good, as characters each have a distinctive voice. And they talk about voice acting a bit in parts of the show when you see them dubbing the show! Art: 8 A lot of time is dedicated in the story to exploring the motivations and challenges faced by character designers and animators, explaining the difficulty of particular scenes that they are working on (such as a bunch of running horses) and then they proceed to show you that actual completed animation! The actual art of the series is bright and colourful in and of itself. Enjoyment: 8 I have always been fascinated by the animation process so learning how anime is produced and how many people are involved in the process was a great learning experience for me. There is a lot of people talking in jargon that is hard to understand, but that's true of any story involving an office environment. I also enjoy slice of life shows that show the progression of people through their daily lives. And it was refreshing to see a show about people pursuing careers as young adults as opposed to all the anime shows about teenagers dreaming about the future. Shirobako takes that next step and hows the struggles of establishing yourself as a professional, which speaks to where I'm at in life as well.

"I didn't understand a single shit at first.. But now... I understand more than I should've understood." Supposing that Bakuman is the king of manga production. Then Shirobako would be the queen of anime production. These two are so similar though there are a few contrasts which differentiates the two. I won't be discussing about that here. Rather, this will be a short review comprising of my feelings towards Shirobako. At first I didn't understand anything. The captions were so fast, facts that I don't even understand were told, everything felt so fast paced yet slow at the same time. Even so, as I kept on watching the show, I felt something emerging inside of me. Maybe it was my emotions? Perhaps I built up an understanding? Possibly both? Sa~, I don't even know myself. Still, everything became more progressively gentle, I understood more things, I didn't feel a slight inch of boredom or tiresome as I watched the show. It felt as if the show abandoned its exhausting, moderate experience and turned it into one of the best of the best experience I've ever experienced. A simple anime about how anime production works... Y'know what they say.. "Simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance". I'd presumably recommend this anime to everyone. It's something that must be seen. A must.

Before this review continues I want to thank all the staff who have successfully created masterpieces as good as shirobako. this anime teaches me the meaning of hard work and how to pursue a dream that must be started from zero. because surely I will try to get experience it too. thank you. Story : 10 I must say that the story in this anime explains that making an anime is very difficult regardless it becomes a good anime or not. storyboards to be thought through and then professionally have to adapt and have to cooperate well with many related people who have a variety of good characters is fun and not, and ultimately get a priceless satisfaction, it is amazing. stems from five young girls who want to realize the dream since high school as anime creator. and in fact realizing that dream is not as easy as eating a sweet donut, every episode of this anime gives a great impression and I can reach a stunning peak and learn that every process done in earnest will not fool the result. oowwww I am touched for the climax given to the story in this anime. Art and Sound : 9 Made with enough care and balance, sorry I am a little unfocused with the art and sound because it was swept away with the plot of the story. hahaha but overall this is very nice. Character : 8 very many characters in this anime that sometimes make me a little confused but it does not reduce my pleasure to the character because they all have their own role that makes it more colorful. I am slightly less amenable to the five main characters who turn out like drunk hahaha maybe because they are girls. especially Sugie san and Goth Loli Sama you both are amazing. Enjoyment : 10 really enjoy every episode of shirobako, maybe because this anime takes reference from real activities so the audience especially me can easily understand what to convey Overall : 10 Thank you so much Shirobako.

Do you recall your high school days? Did you do club activities? I did. I was in the school newspapers. An English newspaper in a Korean school, producing a tabloid-size every year. The first time I attended the meetings, I remember, an English teacher took to the front of the classroom. She passed out a sheet of paper to every new member of the club. It contained 'useful phrases for easy article writing', with the title written in bolded and underlined Korean. I also did interviews with the newspaper. The mission was to interview a Chinese teacher and I was paired up with a senior to do it. I prepared the questions, and the senior was tasked with the interview itself. For the daunting and audacious task we were allocated fifty minutes, and the senior prepared a pen and a notepad for the interview, then... told our beloved teacher to write the answers on the notepad. We were done in no time. We returned to the classroom triumphant, thirty minutes spent chatting in the restroom. Did I care? No. Did anybody care? Probably not. Did you care about yours? I'd say most of you didn't. But...but they did. These five girls did. It was the true birth of their lifelong dreams. Shirobako is too idyllic. Do you recall your college life? Some of you may not need to go there, but here in our place we need to go there, for economic reasons more than academic reasons. I remember about the entrance ceremony. Herded from the meeting place just inside the school gates, I sat in an auditorium, unwell from a cold caught some days before. They did congratulation gigs, they did speeches, they did 'explanations on campus life'...I was getting even sicker. And then a junior stepped onto the stage, and she talked about such an exciting subject. 'Things to keep watch on when you drink with higher grade students' I did part time jobs when I had free time. I needed the money. My major was 'istree, no way anybody would benefit on finding work from that. I resorted to managing a convenience store. It was close enough to the college itself. It was a run-of-the-mill job, mildly physically challenging, mildly mentally challenging. It's hard when you meet that drunkard on 3 AM. Then one day I met an instructor. He pulled out an energy drink and wanted a Marlboro. I duly gave it to him, and then he said...'Hey, working for your dream aren't you. Good luck.' I was a bit disillusioned. I guess you were too. But they weren't. At least, Midori wasn't. How easy does getting a seat next to your immediate boss does it get? Shirobako is too idyllic. Do you recall the first day you went to work? I admit, it's not too far back for me. Maybe for some of you the day hasn't come yet. I still remember that day. I borrowed my parents' car for the day, seven in the morning, and drove there. It was a fair distance, thirty minutes on car. If I was still living in Holland, a bridge may had suddenly wrenched on its legs and stop me for fifteen minutes strong, but I was in boring old South Korea so the only roadblock I got was a traffic jam. The workplace was edgy for a beginner, I remember nothing of it, and after the day I have to go home, don't I. I hopped on the car, maybe I would get to race a rival company employee! Guess what, I got another traffic jam. To quote Dick Ashcroft when he did Glasto, life's a struggle, and tomorrow is a Thursday not a Monday but anyhow Monday morning may be a struggle working in a job that you despise, and working for a bastard you despise. We're a slave to money then we die. Are you? I am. But they aren't. None of them are. All of them and maybe their colleagues too. Shirobako is too idyllic. And yet I dream sometimes that those five girls will grace my screen again. No, not that actually. In the dark cloudy nights after a long day, when I look out the window of my high-rise flat, the neon rainbow-coloured ark would appear, with those five girls sitting in the middle of the ark, and fill my eyes with lunar light. What's happened? We've got Shirobako season two. What will happen now? Surely, heaven would be ours... Do I need to explain to you what the series contains? No ta, just watch it. Drink it in.

I am a sucker for media about creators making media, the artistic struggle and the pressure that producing entertainment brings, when well represented, can be pretty emotionally powerful while at the same time make for something really entertaining to watch. I have to admit that I was a bit taken aback by Shirobako approach though. Rather than focusing on telling us a story about people making Japanese animation, it puts on the forefront the actually process itself, often completely stopping the story to show us how some particular aspect of the media is produced. Fortunately all this stuff is quite interesting, and explained in a very fast and snappy way (although I prefer very much scenes when we just see the character *doing* things, rather than the ones in which the two comic relief mascots just describe how something works). Tying this "technical showcase" together there is what is actually pretty decent drama, with a large cast of characters characterized just enough to make the endless crunch time squabbles quite gripping and entertaining. What lacks though, is a bit of cynicism, which I honestly think is quite needed when talking about industrially produced art. This is not to say that the series pulls its punches about what happens in the industry (hell one of the first thing we see is an animator fainting from the sheer amount of work she had just completed), but more simply it just doesn't really seems to acknowledge that some things it's showing us are not necessarily... good... or normal. This get touched a bit in the second season, but quickly brushed away by... basically getting the character who was posing those issues drunk (lovely...). About the second season it is also worth to note that while the first one manages pretty well to be grounded and relatively serious, the second season has quite a bit of wackiness added to it. Not enough to really be off-putting, but still, the tone shift can be felt. Overall I quite enjoyed this. It takes an in-depth look at how Japanese animation gets made while at the same time managing to tell a good story about crunch time, creativity and industry issues.

Fans of something not only love the products they consume, but they are also curious as to how exactly that product came to be. Shirobako knows that and scratches that itch by showing (almost) exactly how anime are made, and that is just part of its beauty. Produced by P.A. Works and directed by Tsutomu Mizushima (Another, Plastic Nee-san), Shirobako is a Slice-of-Life anime that aims to show the ins-and-outs of anime development and production by having main characters in every section of the industry. The portrayal of the anime industry as shown here feels real, but also slightly exaggerated, to better create an enjoyable story and cast of characters. It also is very educational, showing step-by-step the production of anime and making each part seem equally important. I actually changed my view on producers because of it, as I originally thought they didn't do much for anime production, but I saw how wrong I was. But that is not all of Shirobako. Beyond its "gimmick", there is a complex show with a vast cast of characters, that are actually developed and not only caricatures, and a fairly dramatic and well-executed story. The plot of the anime focus on the production of two anime and how the staff is affected by them. Despite the "normalness" of the story, it manages to make some fairly interesting twists along the way. Also, I felt that the story was perfectly paced and made the most of its 24 episodes. The cast is absolutely gigantic, the numbers can even be intimidating. But whatever doubts I had about the quality of the character are put to rest fairly early on. Shirobako is actually littered with humane and quirky characters that are never just an exaggerated archetype. The absolute majority of the cast is developed and fleshed out during the duration of the anime. At multiple points, I was actually surprised that the creators managed to do so much with almost all characters in an actually short time, considering the numbers. The art of Shirobako is pretty much always spot-on, from facial expressions to the background, despite not being that impressive to the eye. It never goes out of its way to exaggerate something, but what matters is detailed and well-thought by the art director. One thing that I found to be amazing were the eyes. They were always incredibly beautiful and showed a great deal of emotion, which was absolutely vital to the more character-focused moments. The soundtrack is mostly composed of orchestral pieces that varies in tone according to the atmosphere of the scene. Some of the tracks are memorable, while others are missing something. Despite that, the tracks were always used to enhance the scenes. The voice acting was, for the most part, great. Actually, some of the voice actresses were put in a fairly interesting position: they had to act out someone acting out, while still considering the feelings of the characters. I must say that the perfection of this particular scene was hugely impressive, specially in that regard. I, as a "reviewer", loved every second of it. I adored how I could learn more on how anime is made, and how it still managed to be incredible in basically every other regard also. At some moments, I was laughing a lot (Oops, forgot to talk about the comedy! Spoiler: it is also great), while at others I was at the verge of crying. Somehow, Shirobako managed to do everything and be everything, and a bit more after that. For enthusiastic fans of anime, this is, in my opinion, a must-watch. After it, your consideration for the products and the effort put on them may change, it happened to me, actually. For people who love quirky, but fleshed out characters, it is also a great recommendation. The only case someone might not like is if they watch only action-focused anime or want to watch a thriller.

The majority of the adult life concerns itself with the professional career. Enjoy your job, you spend much of your serious thinking time there, it’s how you make your money and ultimately do really anything. It’s important. I’m sure we all want to be NEETs, ideally, but of course in today’s world that’s hard to do successfully. So we sacrifice time in the present for a sustainable calling. And when we do get that job, after some time we may think to ourselves: Why am I here? Why do I do this? How do this relate to my passions and dreams? Such thoughts occupy Miyamori Aoi, our ever-passionate and lovable protagonist of Shirobako. In high school she dreamed of making an anime; now a young adult, she experiences the daily quirks, joys, and obstacles of working as a production assistant in an anime studio. She is indeed making anime come to life, although not in the way she had imagined; so for most of the show she ponders this question. Miyamori is the main character, but as a whole, Shirobako details the life of an anime studio. Each of the many characters, each of whom contributes towards the making of the shows in some manner, has his or her own distinct personality and design. Like Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Shirobako has an outstanding cast that doesn’t lose the realistic feel that is often lost when having so many characters. And the fact that they all work together as one big happy team, grown adults whose job description literally entails making anime, just makes me smile. Several times throughout the show you see many of the employees at Musashino Animation together in the same room, and to see these people talk about making an anime for youth so seriously is just… so gratifying. For someone who loves anime dearly, an anime about making anime is ambrosia and nectar. What’s even more appealing about Shirobako’s characters is how they interact with each other. Being a two-dimensional visual medium, anime inherently carries what I will call the Character Problem -- the difficulty with presenting characters in a way resembling three-dimensional human life. Given such constraints as limited screen time, limited movement, stylistic and peculiar designs, and so on, characters that are drawn on the screen just cannot appear as real as in live-action, and even less so than in real life. Often, to preserve memorability, an anime may make its characters very flat and distinctive, to the degree such that they react to situations the same way every time. Some examples of lackluster characterization are Brook’s recurring request to see a girl’s panties and Sumire Kakei’s histrionic panicking for even slightly worrying circumstances. Yes, this method leaves you with memorable characters, but they certainly don’t feel human. After all, in real life humans are not so different from one another. Which is why in hindsight looking back at the many fun personalities of Musashino it feels like I’m looking at the real thing. It’s amazing how P.A. Works managed to come up with that many unique characters that aren’t sharply defined as, say, the genin in Boruto: Naruto Next Generations. There’s something almost ineffably empathetic about the daily shenanigans of Miyamori and her coworkers; there’s definitely something resembling real human emotions and feelings. Kind of how Dostoevsky through his writing succeeds in manifesting human thought -- notably Crime and Punishment, whose protagonist Raskolnikov resounded to me far beyond the written word -- but on the screen. It’s hard to explain. But by the end of it all, I had grown to adore the characters of Shirobako, almost as if they were real. I miss them still. I could go on about basically everyone at Musashino, but for this review I’ll focus on its heart, Miyamori Aoi. Although not being at the head of things, with her role as production assistant, she has to make sure operations are moving smoothly -- that animators are meeting deadlines, that Kinoshita is drawing the storyboards, etc. -- which is often stressful. But Miyamori, whose infectious ebullience and devotion to the job can only lighten the mood, is a welcome presence, both to fellow adults spending hours drawing or creating or editing and to myself. And, I think, to anyone starting to think about his or her future professional career. We are creatures of pleasure, and thus the prospect of working a 9-to-5 job five days a week with sparse vacation time throughout the year isn’t exactly promising. I believe that it is against basic human nature to enjoy doing work. However, doing anything with others makes it enormously more tolerable, perhaps even fun; such was the feeling I got when watching the day-to-day routine of Musashino. I have worked a 9-to-5 internship so I know what it’s like, and after watching Shirobako I’ve realized that that lifestyle isn’t so bad -- you befriend your fellow slaves, you gripe together about your plight, you make it through -- and I think that this is important to recognize. If at least for that, Shirobako is mightily worth watching. For when it concerns potentially lifelong commitments, we humans seek out an all-unifying reason, a single important motivating factor that justifies the contract we make with ourselves. Miyamori asks herself this question, even though she does like making anime and doing it with great people. I guess the more pertinent question is this: Does there even have to be a reason? If you’re already on that path voluntarily, then you took the steps to reach that path, which means you decided to take that path, implying that there was a reason. Miyamori becomes a production assistant in the hope to come closer to her dream, of making an anime with her friends from high school. Don Don Donuts! Which is where reality hits. From episode 1 we are immediately struck by how the lifestyle of someone working in the anime industry isn’t all peaches and cookies. Sakata Gintoki described the anime studio as the “modern day sweatshop”; and Shirobako very likely sugarcoats it, which means that it really isn’t don don donuts at all. This is why we need to support the anime industry. This is why so much trash continues to be produced, and this is why the stigma surrounding the medium exists. As the story progresses, we see how Miyamori and her friends do become involved with the making of anime, but their dreams are yet far away. Take voice actors (seiyuu) for example. Watch any anime and you will be impressed by the sheer caliber of the industry’s voices. They sound so incredibly real. But each selected seiyuu is but one of many more who audition and fail. In general, breaking out in the fine arts is like winning the lottery, except that you have some control over your chances. In other words, you gotta have both luck and talent in addition to hard work. I mention this because Shizuka Sakaki, the aspiring voice actor, has it tough. Don’t expect her to get the part on her first try. It’s unfortunate, but that’s just how the modern day world works. Each spot has too many competitors. Just look at college applications. That being said, Shirobako is one of the more realistic anime out there. The women aren’t all ridiculously endowed. Facial designs are fairly accurate depictions of real human faces (by anime standards -- see Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works, Code Geass, or Re:Zero for example). And, of course, anything and everything related to the characters, whom I already mentioned. Their portrayals of real-life types of people are superb, and besides the hair they couldn’t be more human. And now, some other points: SOUNDTRACK Gigguk mentioned in his video “Music in Anime” how certain melodies, when played at certain moments, bring on the feels because they are associated with certain emotions. Shirobako’s main theme, a lighthearted, frolicking tune played on strings and what I believe is clarinet (and other instruments), changes throughout the show as certain cruxes are met. We see this techn…

Well, i really enjoy this anime myself because it let us know how they making an anime step by step and how hard it is. After watching this anime, i personal really respect to all the anime studios now, remeber last time i flamed the studios of Tokgo Ghoul RootA because the season 2 is really suck, the ending and the plot is so bad, BUT i do really appreciated to all the anime studios after watching Shirobako, how the studios feels and wanting to make a perfect anime for us to watch and make us happy. SO THIS IS THE ANIME THAT ALL OF THE OTAKU MUST WATCH!!!! REMEMBER MUST WATCH!!!!!! Have a nice day~ :

(This is a spoiler-free review adapted for this site) [Synopsis]: Miyamori Aoi (Kimura, Juri), a young production assistant at the animation studio Musashino Animation, entered into the anime industry in order to pursue her aspirations of making an animated feature with her high-school friends. Two years after graduating, Aoi and her friends have taken various career paths within the animation industry in order to reach their goal however their respective professions are far more challenging than they once imagined. Shirobako follows the day to day struggles of Aoi and Musashino Animation as well as the members of her high-school animation club as they all try to progress within the industry, meet deadlines, and create a compelling animated feature. [Characters]: Shirobako has an enormous cast of characters and so rather than going one-by-one and talking about each one of them individually, I’ll use this space to address the cast as a whole and highlight certain aspects of it with the exception of our main character Aoi who deserves her own description due to her central role in the show. Miyamori Aoi serves as our eyes through which we view Musashino Animation and therein the anime industry itself. She exhibits the enthusiasm and the uncertainty of someone new to the industry while still having a bit of time under her belt so that we aren’t presented with an entirely novice viewpoint. She is hardworking and her determination makes her endearing in the face of the studio’s many struggles and obstacles throughout the show. The one eccentricity that may come off as odd or ineffective within the show that concerns Aoi is her tendency to fantasize about her stuffed toys (a toy bear and a pirate girl) who share dialogue with one another and often speak to some element of the show sometimes in an explanatory manner. I didn’t find their presence to be particularly helpful or funny and so they felt a little unnecessary and intruded upon an otherwise realistic setting but luckily they don’t appear all that often and they are not nearly the main method of explanation. The members of the cast that the show most frequently features are the members of Musashino ranging from the director to the key animators on top of all of the support staff involved. Each character has some history in the industry and their experiences and knowledge make them who they are as characters as well as their individual personalities and quirks such as the director’s traumatizing last project Jiggly Jiggly Heaven and his tendency to always complete storyboards late. While the cast doesn’t quite allow for full on character development of every member, there are more than a few that receive quite substantial attention and grow considerably throughout the course of the show. The cast is realistic, compelling, and lovable and a strong point of the show. One quick thing to note is that Shirobako makes constant references and homages to various voice actors, industry members, and other shows which can be interesting and fun to pick out. Lastly I think it is an important thing to note that Shirobako plays out somewhat unconventionally in regards to Aoi’s friends from high-school. While Yasuhara Ema works alongside her at Musashino her other friends are far less present than one might think based on the premise of the show. They each have their own struggles such as working an unpleasant job and breaking away from the pack and making an impact however the action and attention of the show is spent first and foremost at Musashino and so the full cast of Aoi’s friends shows up less frequently than one might think. I think these characters were treated extremely fairly and there is still plenty of them to go around – they just aren’t the central focus of the show. Their progression or lack thereof at times helps reinforce the daunting nature of the industry they work in and went well with the realistic setting of the show as they struggle to find jobs or determine what they want to do. [Art/Animation]: I can hardly think of a better studio than P.A. Works to do a show like Shirobako which revolves around and discusses art and animation within itself. The quality of the show never drops noticeably, the character designs are unique, varied, and dynamic, and the setting itself, while having the potential to be bland, is anything but – the office setting is interesting and littered with various posters and utensils that give the setting life alongside the characters. The animation of the show is fantastic as well as the facial expressions of the characters especially in the infrequent emotional scenes. Shirobako, by means of its premise, felt highly aware of what it was attempting to do in this department and P.A. Works executed things excellently. [Story]: While Shirobako has a handful of sub-plots within it, the main story is quite straightforward – it follows Aoi and Musashino Animation as they work on the studio’s latest animated features, detailing each step of the process from the voice acting, to the key frames, to the impressions that the director wants the ultimate product to express and convey. Because of this, Shirobako ends up being quite informative of the process and techniques present in anime however it does so in clever ways and without hamfistedly explaining itself to the viewer. Nobody is going to break character, look directly at the screen, and lay out the finer points of key animation or why recuts are necessary – the work and the characters are mostly allowed to speak for themselves and this upholds the natural and realistic slice of life setting depicted in the show. The only instance where this might feel infringed upon is in the case of Aoi’s stuffed toys however they exist more as a gag and to speak to her adolescence rather than as informative insert figures and the scenes where they end up explaining something are highly infrequent which I was thankful of. I think one of the strongest points of the show is in its depiction of the anime industry and the work done by Musashino Animation – Shirobako, for the most part, does not glamorize the process and speaks to a good many of the harsh conditions and inherent problems within anime and in this way becomes far more interesting as a show than if it tried to fully romanticize the stressful process. Despite the slice of life approach of the show which is normally associated with a relaxing atmosphere along with the other tenets of the genre Shirobako is often nerve-racking and anxious in its delivery which I thought was executed perfectly. I felt stressed along with the characters and between the realistic struggles depicted, the music, and the characters themselves I felt myself most drawn in to these tribulations. One of my favorite elements of Shirobako is its use of emotion and drama. I hardly think these moments are frequent enough in the show for it to truly deserve the drama tag however when these scenes roll around they are absolutely astounding and heartfelt. The show has a tasteful avoidance of melodrama which is something P.A. Works has struggled with in the past. Each stressful moment, character meltdown, and teary-eyed scene felt absolutely legitimized and their infrequency lent itself well to the realistic setting and characters. While the show has a great number of outside references and homages to other works and real life people there is other interesting work being done within the shows Musashino is working on – the sub-shows. I think these shows bring a few things to the table, the first being that by being dramatic or action-based in their own right, Shirobako is allowed to experience these genres and scenes vicariously which can liven up the far more mundane setting of the show. Secondly, there are often parallels drawn between the characters and situations present in the sub-shows with those existent in Shirobako itself. One of the recurring themes or questions in the show is how those at Mus…