Looking back on 2014, part 6: never, ever settle for anything less!

It wasn’t even on my radar when the season started, but now, I’m just about convinced that Shirobako would have taken out my ‘anime of the year’ memory by a mile if it had actually finished this year. Yes, it’s a bold statement to make when there’s still half the series to go, and everything could certainly go as badly as the previous work of Musashino Animation. However, Shirobako sings to me because I really enjoy finding out how the shows I love have been brought to life. Though I have to admit that the seiyuu aspect has tended to dominate the expressions of my appreciation of these works, I honestly do love looking into the work that went on behind the scenes. That’s why I will always try to watch the extras, and also why the first piece of merchandise I’ll get is typically the series guidebook. Do note that this doesn’t apply just to anime, however: you don’t want to know what my collection for Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy looks like!

It’s the director’s job to judge, make decisions, and relay them to everyone!

Returning to this 6th memory of 2014, however, given the different challenges of production that Shirobako addresses, I thought that it would be quite difficult to pick a moment or incident that stood out. Indeed, I also felt the weight of the point that director Kanno drove home to Miyamori in episode 12, about how important it is to know what people can do before you seek help from them. To be ignorant is insanely rude, and this is something that applies in any field of work — do your research, no matter how pressed for time you are!

In the end, however, I still return to the Wow! moment I experienced at the end of the third episode, Arupin is here! When the second half of the previous episode delved into one of the problems that teams can experience, namely, when their director keeps the fundamentals of his characters or story in his head, thus making it difficult for them to really bring his vision to life, I kept nodding my head along with Kinoshita’s frustrated staff. But Miyamori’s positivity and drive to make sure that Musani made the best show that they could was inspirational, and I’m glad it paid off in the end. The same could be said about the finale of the first cour, but I found this far more impressive.

Behold how the love and passion of a team can turn this:

…into this:

p.s. Yes, I do know the meta references that Shirobako keeps making! I sure hope you all do too!