Shirobako Episode 9

What is it with this week? The shows that i’ve actually hoped and prayed were going to be good have sucked balls and the shows that I have basically given up on have done a 180 and truly surprised me. What do I mean by that? Get this. Shirobako’s episode this week was GOOD. I know, shocker right? A lot of stuff happened, so we better get started.

So we start off with the CG girl. She notices that ever since she started working for the company all she’s done is tires. Lots and lots of tires. The reason for this turns out to be that the company that she works for specializes in CG animation for cars. But unfortunately as we know, her goal is to world on anime stuff, not just cars.

Meanwhile we also learn that the company Miyamori works for is trying to acquire a very popular title to work on as an anime after Exodus is done.

"Business, Business, Business. Is this working?" "....yes." "hooray!" — “Business, Business, Business. Is this working?” “….yes.” “hooray!”

Also meanwhile (told you there’s a lot) the voice actress chick finally gets her first role. It’s walla, but hey, it’s a start. The only problem is, if you can guess, she gets embarrassed and messes up a bit so it’s a bit of an awkward scene. (can’t wait till she gets a lead role).

After the girls hang out for dinner the CG girl gets a bit frustrated with her job and asks her boss if they’re going to do anything other than cars. He responds with that’s just what the company does, and if you want to do other things, you should follow your dreams and do whatever she wants.

"If you want to do stuff other than cars, how about Initial D? or Gran Turismo?" "...I hate you" — “If you want to do stuff other than cars, how about Initial D? or Gran Turismo?” “…I hate you”

Finally we get to the last part of the episode. The director is still having trouble figuring out an ending. So they decide to bring in the writer to help bounce ideas off him. It’s then that the director has a breakthrough and comes up with a terrific ending and the storyboard is complete.

not gonna lie, it is a pretty boss ending.

Phew. That is an episode filled with a LOT of content. And I have to say, it was refreshing. In this episode, all the girls showed up, it gave the voice actor girl some screentime, and also the CG girl some VERY MUCH NEEDED screentime.

This is the way the show should be. Fragmented into the five separate girls stories on their journey to become anime makers. The fact that this show has been focusing SO MUCH on Miyamori just because she “doesn’t know what she wants to do” has made me SO uninterested that I almost dread having to watch this show. If we cut each of the girls’ stories into 1/5 of the show while also jumping around to the other characters we’ve come to know and it doesn’t feel like a mess, THAT’S good storytelling.

(not seen above because there's no subtitles. Good storytelling) — (not seen above because there’s no subtitles. Good storytelling)

I don’t want to hang around JUST Miyamori because you feel I SHOULD like her. Well you know what? I DON’T. She’s the kind of character I can only take in extremely small doses, and luckily, in this episode, that’s exactly what I got.

There was actually passion as well in this episode. The director showed it, the girls showed it, everyone showed it. It didn’t feel like a dead husk of a series anymore and I’m SO happy to see that. It has given me the excitement of when I first heard the series was coming out. If all the episodes are going to be like THIS then trust me, I’m hooked back in the show. Please PLEASE keep doing it this way. I’m actually very invested now and can’t wait for the next episode.

Touche Shirobako…Touche.

Episode 8.5/10

-Hideki

P.S. The producer even COMPLIMENTED mohawk guy in this episode!