So last week we delved into the flashback world of people who used to be young but now are old and how they used to make anime.
What is the theme THIS week?
Ah. Well then, better get started I suppose.
So yes, the episode pretty much starts out with a meeting about the main girl from Third Aeril’s motivation for not flying. Which quickly devolves into a roundtable discussion on why the people in this company are making anime.
We hear all sorts of answers from Money, to ‘it’s a job’ to…um…proving his existence.
but to me, that’s all just padding for what I consider to be the best part of the episode. And really, this is what makes this episode good.
The guy that recently got hired is busy being his usual jerk self and tries it on one of the artists, however, he actually doesn’t take his shit and fights back, basically yelling at him and accusing him of being worthless.
And, for the first time since this character came in, we actually see him have an emotion other than complete apathy. And to be honest, I actually feel like I want to know more about him. I actually do want him to check his baggage and get better. It’s kind of like the mohawk guy that I like that no one else seems to. Are they hard to deal with? Yes. Are they not perfect at their job? Yes. But damn, I REALLY want to see these guys grow and develop. Also, come on, the mohawk guy is actually really adorkable and hilarious.
After the fight the owner actually sits down and talks to him, and, you can tell that he puts on this air of apathy with a combination of his own insecurities, and his lack of want to get to close to people as he’s jumped between jobs so many times and had to leave so many people behind. You think he’s just going to be a douchebag, but you really get into his psyche in this episode. Good on you Shirobako, good on you.
Afterwards, he seems to calm down a little, even apologizing to the artist from before.
And…to be honest I laughed a little now that Taro (mohawk guy) thinks that he and Daisuke (the douchebag guy) are friends.
The episode then basically wraps up with the group at the table discussing what they think Aria should say/do in the finale of the Aeriel third…thingymajigy show.
Oh, I gotta say one more thing. I feel I have to. There’s a character in the anime within the anime that is from Texas. How do we know she’s from Texas you may ask?
Well if the blond hair, blue eyes, freckles, jean jacket, and American flag on that vest doesn’t give it away…. She talk about how she wants to take Aria to see a baby calf being born back on the ranch.
Now, there are those of you who are saying “Hideki, she could be from a myriad of southern states. Just because they say she-”
“Um…well then. Never mind Hideki”
Look, Anime, I love ya, but not EVERY SINGLE PERSON FROM TEXAS IS A RANCHER. I don’t understand why cartoons do this. It seems like every time a cartoon has a character from Texas (even America is guilty of this one) they are wearing cowboy hats and lived on a ranch. Is there like…some test you have to take to become a Texan resident where you have to hogtie a calf? If that’s the case, everyone at Funimation better all have Rodeo trophies.
But I digress…..as I tend to a lot.
This episode was good….in some spots. It was moderately interesting hearing why the characters all got into anime, albeit a lot of them couldn’t really give a straight answer. The whole side stuff about not knowing what they wanted Aria to say at the end of the series drug on a little and kind of left me feeling a bit bleh, but like I said, where this episode really shined was the development of Daisuke. I never really cared about him before, but I must say, I’ve become extremely interested in him and I want to see where they go with him.
Overall, pretty okay episode, if only for the Daisuke development.
6.5/10
-Hideki