Shirobako

"... anime is made by hundreds of thousands of people, decades worth of time, and the thoughts and feelings of all the people who watch it." 

              - Aoi Miyamori, Shirobako

(See, D.K., I can do this quoting stuff, too.)

Anime Revue: Shirobako (2014)

Studio: PA Works

           Licensed (NA): Sentai Filmworks

Director: Tsutomu Mizushima

Genre: Dramedy, Slice of life

Main Cast:

Aoi Miyamori - Voiced by Juri Kimura (JP)

Ema Yasuhara - Voiced by Haruka Yoshimura (JP)

Shizuka Sakaki - Voiced by Haruka Chisuga

Misa Tōdō - Voiced by Asami Takano

Midori Imai - Voiced by Hitomi Ōwada (JP)

          Now, these five are definitely the main characters of Shirobako, but there are also A LOT of recurring characters, too.

This is all SEVENTY-FIVE fucking characters

          Shirobako (literally White Box) is an original anime that premiered on October 9, 2014. It has two adaptations, a manga released just two weeks before the first episode, and a light novel, released on January 27, 2015. The title refers to the final cut of an anime episode, which, during the days of VHS tapes, was distributed to the production staff in a white colored box. Nowadays the physical white box is no longer used, but the term is.

          Shirobako is based around five girls, a group of friends who were an anime club in high school, all newbies in the anime industry. The series depicts their daily lives and hardships while trying to perfect their respective crafts to keep a promise they had made (over donuts, so you know it was serious!) to remake the movie they had produced in high school.

Donuts are serious business, (trust me, I've been a security guard)

Writing

          Shirobako is a slice of life and does an excellent job as such. It portrays the workers of Musashi Animation, a fictional anime studio, as it produces two anime series, Exodus! (a fictional moe anime about a group of idols on the run after being falsely accused of murder, apparently), and The Third Girls Aerial Squad (another fictional moe anime about a squadron of female fighter pilot mercenaries, I think.) While the five girls are the main characters, the story often follows some of their coworkers, as well. There are only two negatives that I can say about the writing, neither of which is REALLY that negative. One is the improbably female cast (more of that in the characters section), and the other is an unacceptable break from reality late in the series (I do have to admit that it IS funny and crazy awesome, but definitely out of place on an otherwise very realistic series.)

Characters

          

          Without a doubt, the main character is Aoi Miyamori, a newbie production assistant (read: low man on the totem pole) at Musashi Animation, major donut fiend, and not as sane as she may appear (she often imagines her favorite dolls are talking about her problems as a form of stress relief.) Ema Yasuhara is a newbie key animator with Musashi Animation, and struggles with her self doubt throughout the early parts of the series. Shizuka Sakaki is a newbie voice actress (read: really a waitress at an izakaya who wants to be a voice actress), and her struggles involve having problems finding voice work (a VERY saturated job market in Japan, I assure you.)  Misa Tōdō is a newbie 3D animator working at a company that does 3D animation for video games. She is discontent with her current job, as she wants to make anime, not the vehicle designs her company makes. Midori "Diesel-chan" Imai is the only one of them who is still a college student (C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER!) She is an aspiring writer and wants to write scenarios for anime.

Aoi's problems mainly have to do with the schedule

          Now, back to my improbably female cast comment. As I mentioned before, Shirobako has more than 70 named characters. Now, by my count, 32 of those characters are female and 38 are male, which is a completely probable split. but if you narrow those down to people involved with Musashi Animation, the total drops to 25 with 14 being female and 11 being male. Then remember that Musashi Animation is a company that has recently ONLY been making Moe anime, a genre that is typically unpopular with women. That's where it starts becoming improbable, Not impossible, just somewhat improbable. Also, I feel the need to point out that it's not like I dislike having a lot of female characters, because I do.
          In a show that has lots and lots of characters, sometimes it is easy for some of the characters to blend together, or not be distinctive enough. Shirobako has absolutely none of those problems. Every single one of the seventy plus characters is completely distinctive and nearly impossible to mix up. Let me reiterate this: THERE ARE MORE THAN 70 FUCKING CHARACTERS!!! The amount of work that went into creating the cast of Shirobako must have been immense. Also the development is not restricted to just the main cast, even the more minor characters get development. There is only one character that I can think of that is recurring that does not receive development, and that is the butt monkey (as in the butt of all the jokes), Taro.

Visual

          The amount of work put into Shirobako does not stop at just the characters, even the artwork is amazing. And, honestly, it has to be. Often times it shows the animators drawing, and the details on their hands is just incredible (arguably the hardest part of a human body to draw.) The fluidity of movements is also something to be admired. The only thing I did notice was a little bit of conspicuous 3D, such as the animation of cars (but, given the way that Aoi drives, it is likely just a reference to Initial D.)

          The series does an excellent job of portraying the many techniques and technologies used in the industry. Key animation, in-between animation, 3D animation, sound studios for ADR and sound effects are all shown in great detail.

Sometimes you just have to see things in the real world before you can draw them...

Or animate them in 3D

Audio

          Remember back when I said there were more than 70 characters? Well, guess what? There is only a hand full of voice actors that have more than one part. I'd like to have seen some of the ADR sessions with THAT sized cast. Holy cow. On top of having a HUGE cast, not one single part sounds out of place. Damn.

          Shirobako has two regular openings and two regular endings. The first opening is "Colorful Box" by Yoko Ishida, and the second opening is "Takarabako (Treasure Box)" by Masami Okui. The first ending is "Animetic Love Letter" by Juri Kimura, Haruka Yoshimura, and Haruka Chisuga, and the second ending is "Platinum Jet" by Donuts Quintet (Juri Kimura, Haruka Yoshimura, Haruka Chisuga, Asami Takano, and Hitomi Ōwada). In addition to these openings and endings, Shirobako also has one opening and one ending that each appear in only one episode. The ending for episode 19 is "Yama Harinezumi Andes Chucky" by Miyuki Kunitake (it is the opening for the fictional Mountain Hedgehog Andes Chucky of which Aoi is a fan.) The opening for episode one is "I'm Sorry Exodus" by Tracy (which is the idol group in the fictional Exodus! It is performed by Mai Nakahara, Shizuka Itō, and Ai Kayano who are actually performing as their voice actress characters performing as their characters from Exodus!) 

Enjoyment

          Shirobako was a very enjoyable series for me. I found the portrayal of an anime studio to be absolutely fascinating. Because of the nature of the series (being a realistic slice of life), the pacing can seem a little slow at times. Despite this, there was really only one thing about the series that I didn't like, but that is not because it wasn't well done, but because it didn't necessarily fit the overall realism of the series. The scene I am talking about took place all the way in episode 23. After struggling with a publisher for the entire second half, the director dresses up like a cowboy (hat, bandanna, duster, and boots) and goes in for a full frontal assault. Funny... hilarious, in fact, but bizarre in comparison to the realism of the rest of the series.

I can't make this shit up

The Final Word

          Just like many slice of life series past and present, it makes you want to try to do what the characters do. Like BECK and/or K-On! made me want to play an instrument and make music, Kofuku Graffiti made me want to cook something delicious, and Lucky Star made me want to be lazy and geeky-

 "Well, one out of three ain't bad!" 

Shut up, D.K.

          Now where was I? Oh, yeah, Just like those series, Shirobako made me interested in making an anime, and I think that's great. Maybe this can push a new generation of people who genuinely love their craft to approach the art of making anime, much like Aoi Miyamori wanting to make something equal to or greater than her beloved Mountain Hedgehog Andes Chucky.

This doesn't really fit anywhere, but this little gem has made its way around the internet recently