Game job has kept me busy, so I won’t go into too much new territory regarding this series that wasn’t said in my Early Impressions post.
So, fortunately, the enjoyment of the series continued throughout, though I acknowledge that the personal attachment is not quite what it could be. Something I noticed near the end of the penultimate episode is that Eizouken doesn’t really show too much of the actual anime production process. They simply state that these characters really dig anime, and it shows them working through montages and implied hard work. To some, this isn’t too much of an issue, as the point of the series, in my view, remains something of a love for imagination and storytelling, not a thorough how-to guide. Others may find the lack of detail, shown more thoroughly in series such as Shirobako, too wish-fulfilling.
Another point to consider is the series’s structure, which, frankly, gets somewhat repetitive over time. The three girls take a project, they work on it for a while through planning and other petty conflicts, and they eventually get it done, whether by design or through compromise. The payoff to these endeavors tends to make much of the waiting worth it, as there’s enough friction between the personalities of the three to create genuine conflict to make things feel impactful. And seeing what these characters are so passionate about, allowing them to bring it to life, is always a sweet treat.
My favorite parts of this anime are actually not about the anime production at all. It’s peering into the minds and pasts of these three leads—where they come from, what they cherish, how they got to their current points. Kanamori with her grandparents’ store, Asakusa sitting in front of the TV during a typhoon, Mizusaki mimicking trivial actions with her grandmother. I wanted to know about these characters that, especially relative to the medium they inhabit, feel like real people. There’s a tenderness to their ambitions—however apathetic they may seem otherwise—that make them easy to root for. I do wish there was a little more of that in-between the anime assignments and the occasionally overbearing imagination sequences. (Seriously, do they have to play the same track every time???)
Regardless, there’s much to like about Eizouken that will appeal to many with brains circuited towards empathy and drive. I almost wanted to pick up a pencil myself and start creating, just for the hell of it. Not a perfect series, particularly for a project that squanders its potential by playing it a bit too safe with the structure, but one definitely recommendable.
The rating for this title and all others can be found on MyAnimeList.
If you’d like to see more reviews like this, feel free to look at my full list of anime reviews!
Thank you for your time. Have a great day.
The Visualist's Veranda 