This has to coincide with movements in the background and dialogue as well, even with music in many instances. You need a ton of precisely drawn individuals and objects that differ only slightly from frame to frame. Whether it’s using hand drawings and using a Disney-style camera setup to film the frames or computer drawings using software, the idea is the same. But all of it would be useless without the work of animators themselves. Between conceptualization, resulting storyboard, character design, then finally putting it all together to make a scene, there’s a ton of different artwork required. One has to realize that in anime production there is a lot of work that goes into every single frame. Then you have the animator, Tsubame Mizusaki. Disinterested, sullen, but often very intense, it doesn’t quite resemble Miss Kobayashi, but I can understand the choice! She’s a lot of fun. It’s funny, I just wrote my review for Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid before I wrote this review, and this is the same VA as Kobayashi. I loved it when Asakusa enthusiastically questioned her once about how she’d gotten something done, wondering if it was “thuggery.” Kanamori is not to be played around with. She doesn’t care anything about anime! But it’s fun watching her and listening to her as she rips into everybody around her. And all the while, she doesn’t have a clue about the kind of work that’s being created.

She gets funding, she keeps everyone on task and on schedule, she fights off their enemies, and she secures them a market for their products. This is another fun characterization of a type that might work in an anime production company. Sayaka Kanimori is a businesswoman through and through. This much enthusiasm combined with creativity is a little hard to imagine for some of us who aren’t very artistic (yours truly), and I very much enjoyed getting to see such a portrayal in a character. But it’s that sheer amount of unbridled creativity that allows her to germinate and produce the artwork necessary for the three animes they create in this show. Everything she sees and touches becomes something imaginative and extraordinary. We get a good glimpse of how that might be possible from Asakusa. We all probably wonder at times how artists conceptualize and generate such a massive amount of artwork for all the anime that’s produced. But what I like most is the overwhelming amount of creativity and energy that overflows from her. She has a lot of personality but is extremely shy around people she doesn’t know. It’s kind of funny how it messes with your head without really mattering to the show! But I like this character. I don’t know if there was supposed to be some doubt about this, or what role that could play in this series, but there is undoubtedly some confusion about this as you get oriented during the first episode.

Just to confirm, Midori Asakusa is a girl. Nevertheless, the creativity in this anime is somewhat reflected in these characters. The characters are individually unique and have potential, but because of the way they’re drawn it’s hard to connect with the characters on any level.

Keep your hands off eizouken mizusaki