I had a great feeling about this show well before it even aired. That feeling was further reinforced over the course of the last half year, culminating to this perfect gem of a finale. Looking back, I knew I wasn't wrong in sticking with P.A. despite their slip up with Glasslips.
I think through this show we managed to see and understand what goes on behind the scenes, and all the blood, sweat and tears poured into each and every work, as well as the troubles and pressures faced by the animators, the studios and even the Seiyuus.
The speech done by Miyamori at the end was a perfect summary of what this show is all about. To say I was touched would be an understatement.
In an ever changing world where the current development in technology and the internet are providing us with more and easier access to information and entertainment from everywhere on this planet, it's really easy to take what we currently have for granted.
All the hard work in the development of the animation that we get to see today is not just confined to the artists, Seiyuus and studios of today, but also to the artists, the production studios and the Seiyuu's of yester-years who created this form of art, to be re-crafted and perfected by the current generation, and will no doubt be further developed by future generations. I am both grateful and proud to be able to say that I watched this show the very year that it came out, and cannot wait to see where the animation industry and all that it encompasses will end up.
For the story itself, I am so glad that all five girls managed to find their feet in the industry that they (and admittedly all of us here) so love.
I'm especially glad that Zuka managed to snag more rolls after MusAni gave her the Lucy roll, and seems to have rediscovered her confidence in herself. Admittedly, her's was the hardest part of the story to watch amongst all five girls, and I wish I could see her in her happy place for longer than just two episodes.
Ema went from Iguchi-san's mentee to having to mentor Kunogi was great development on her part, as she developed both confidence and skills that were required of her craft. I found her side the most "humane", because you could definitely see how the elder mentors help their protegee, and the advice passed on from the elder generation to the younger ones was most apparent in her part of the story.
Same for both Midori and Misa, both of whom found mentors of their own to hone their craft. In Misa's case, there was the added development of her realizing early on that the workplace she started out in wasn't suited for chasing her dreams, leading to a switch mid-way. In Midori's case, she was lucky enough to have had the opportunity to prove herself early to MusAni, and as the youngest of the bunch, seemed to have the love, help and support from everyone (apart from Hiraoka). To say she was babied wouldn't be too much of a stretch, but she also made use of her own talents to prove her worth.
And as for Miyamori, I'm sure nearly everyone can relate to her struggles with not knowing whether the things she was doing was actually right for herself, and what sort of target she needed to set for herself. I think we've all been there, or have at least experienced such feelings in our lives. We graduate from High School not knowing what we want to do, we head into College or University trying to figure that out, and in many cases some of us will even graduate from Tertiary and STILL not know what it is that we want to do with our lives. She is the most relateable of all five of them, and yet she provides us with hope with her accepting attitude and her unrelenting efforts to do what she can, even when she hasn't figured herself out yet, in the meantime.
This show doesn't just relate to Animation, but to a lot of things in life as well. Watching this through I feel like it's been throwing life lessons for viewers from the get-go, and I for one can appreciate the effort that P.A. made with this show. They don't always get things right, but in this show, they made an effort to practice what they preached. I saw no unnatural shots throughout the 24 episodes, and all the general mistakes that studios make in animation of the shows, I saw none at all.
This show I give a perfect 10. For what it brings out and what it is trying to teach us, I would give it a 1000/10 if I could.
Would definitely love to see them make a season 2 for this, however unlikely it may be. I would love to see all the girls working together again for other projects, specifcally I think Misa would do an excellent job to animate the pirate ship for "Two Piece" XD
Hands down this show triumphs anything that's been on air for the last two seasons (well... perhaps baring UBW.... but that's an entire different argument).
AOTY dark horse.
I'm definitely going to be in a slump since this ended. Just shows how perfectly good it is. |