Shirobako Movie

劇場版 SHIROBAKO

7.65(17K votes)

Ranked #1567Popularity #3365

episodes

Type

Movie

Status

Finished Airing

Aired

Feb 29, 2020

Studios:P.A. Works

ComedyDrama

Synopsis

Four years after the production of Daisan Hikou Shoujotai, the once renowned Musashino Animation—commonly known as "Musani"—is in a dire state. The abrupt cancellation of an ambitious project left the company in financial turmoil, causing most of the staff members to resign. Since then, Musani has failed to create any remarkable works and gradually lost its luster. Despite her wavering optimism, producer Aoi Miyamori is unwilling to let this situation continue. Luckily, her opportunity comes in the form of SIVA, an original feature film scheduled to release in 10 months. Meanwhile, Aoi's friends are also facing problems with their own professions: animation supervisor Ema Yasuhara is struggling to keep up with her tight schedule; reporter and voice actress Shizuka Sakaki is discontent with the lack of anime roles; screenwriter Midori Imai has been unable to find inspiration since her previous failure; and 3D artist Misa Toudou is concerned that her excessive passion hinders her career. While the anime industry is one full of setbacks and uncertainties, the five girls are all hellbent on persevering through the arduous path ahead—which just might bring them a step closer to accomplishing their shared dream. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

55,559 Members

Worth Watching? — Global Verdict

7.1/10

Average Review Score

75%

Recommend It

Reviews Worldwide

International Reviews

Veronin

Recommended

In the early moments of Shirobako's latest film endeavor, one of the new characters lays witness to a discussion on the radio regarding the difficult state of the modern anime industry. Perhaps the anime bubble had burst, and buyers have long been dwindling away from the market? The song that follows is a fitting follow-up to these concerns, lamenting how there is little that can be done, save for embracing the reality and pushing onwards. This stark contrast to other anime and manga, where said industries are celebrated and deified, presents a more sober and realistic take that is scarcely found elsewhere. Perhaps we have beenseeing the decline of an industry for quite a while now, and have just failed to notice. An anime centered upon the anime industry holds more truths than is immediately apparent, as it is in some regards a vehicle for animators and writers to discuss their own experiences. If they do not say it directly, they can instead express it through creative mediums. On the surface, Shirobako is just an ordinary moe anime, filled to the brim with cute girls creating anime, pushing themselves to the limit and doing the nigh-impossible. And on these merits alone, the Shirobako movie provides plenty more fun for those it appeals to, with the movie's storyline mostly reminiscent of that from the TV series. Personally, however, I find that moreso than plot or characters (which are serviceable in this case), this subtext is what gives the most credence to Shirobako as an artistic work. If there is one criticism I might have, it is that the male characters are largely doofuses. This brings essential comedic value to the series, and consequently keeps things varied and exciting, but I do wish that some of them (namely Takanashi and Big Boy) had a few more layers to their personality. The antagonist of the movie is also another stock buffoon, a shady 'businessman' skirting the thin line between legality and crime (and failing at doing so, to incredible extents). But they are not the stars of the show, and they hardly hamper the integrity of the story or its enjoyment thereof, so it is largely a trivial issue. If you can forgive a mildly degenerate digression, I do feel obliged to state that Erika is a hell of a girl (twintails, short shorts, AND thigh-highs, all at once?), with her remaining my favourite from the series. It is a shame there isn't more of her (I had initially thought she wouldn't even appear in the movie), as I feel she could have made for an exciting and more dominant member of the main cast. But there is little to gripe about with regards to the main five. Shirobako had one of my favourite female casts in all of anime when it aired five plus years ago, and that remains the case even now in 2021. I could watch these characters for many more movies yet, and still be excited in what their individual story-arcs have yet to present, with their differing albeit interconnected careers. Still, it would have been nice if the movie wasn't so fixated on Aoi, as the rest of the main cast are treated with what seems more like cameo appearances, rather than anything meaningful or substantial— similar in many ways to Erika's disappointingly small role in the story. Those excited for more Ema or Midori, for example, might find themselves a bit disappointed, as their scenes feel quite wanting. Perhaps they have a couple minutes of screentime each, which in some cases, is less than characters we can barely even remember the name of. It is of course difficult to manage such a large amount of characters in a two hour format, though, so I suppose it goes to reason that the writers would choose instead to tell a smaller and more focused story. And while said story can be mild and potentially even underwhelming on a surface level (the rush to meet deadlines is something we have already seen aplenty in the TV series), I feel it is the deeper meanings that elevate the Shirobako movie into being more than merely decent. If the staff have made an entire movie expressing the pinch that animators, writers, and the industry as a whole currently finds itself in, then I might argue that there is more information to extract here than even most news sources could possibly provide. I have to admit, I was not expecting to be watching another Shirobako anime in 2021. But in recent days, we have been seeing a multitude of anime receiving sequels many years after their originals. And for this I am happy, and thankful, as it shows that some creators are willing to please their fans instead of perpetually chasing monetary phantoms. If you've watched and enjoyed Shirobako in the past, you already know whether or not you should watch this movie. And for those who have no experience with the series, I can only hope that you might give it a try. It is, in my opinion, one of the most enjoyable and meaningful anime from the previous decade.

Community Discussion

Tomm01p

Mixed Feelings

The original Shirobako is, maybe a bit oddly, one of the most original and unique experiences I've had with anime over the years of being a fan, despite not offering a complex plot or well-developed characters. What it offers is a really simple but endearing story of people working in an animation studio. Not much more, not much less. It uses its simple setup to tell very effective personal and collective stories and does so in an interesting, realistic, and fresh setting. And here we are today, with a direct sequel of the original Shirobako at hand. A sequel that didn't feel needed. After all, theoriginal story was finished. Nonetheless, the announcement was definitely welcomed, and I really felt that it could be a worthy successor of the original series. So, is it a worthy successor? Well, one thing is for certain: Shirobako Movie should've never been a movie. It should've been a 2-cour series with a similar structure and pace the original series had. Only that way it would've been able to realize its potential to the fullest. The plot is simply too thick, focuses on too many characters and too many ideas to fit into 2 hours worth of screentime. The original series already had a problem with making a case that anyone besides the main few characters has their name worth remembering. With that said, most of them were simple enough to succeed in their purpose - showing how many people it takes to create anime, how hectic and hostile can the studio atmosphere be, and most importantly, why people go out of their way to make anime in the first place. The movie has these ideas as well, but because every conversation, every idea, and every sign of personal struggle is so obnoxiously rushed, they just don't come to fruition. Which is a very big shame, because as far as potential goes, I'd say the movie has a core idea that in theory offers a more complete and interesting experience than the original did. At the start of the film, the studio is at their lowest, the original cast of characters scattered, but in the end, they all come together to work on a passion project they always dreamed of. If realized, this could've been amazing. But it's not. Together with execution problems, the show also has certain plot elements that I thought weren't good to begin with. For one, I kind of dislike how the movie goes to incredible lengths to make literally everyone from the old studio come and work on this new anime. Most people? Sure, but it's been several years since the main series. People moved on and started living different lives. I would've liked to see some people who just straight up refuse to come back, for whatever reason they may have. I think it would've added some sense of realism to the movie, that otherwise just ends up feeling like a utopia of sorts. There is also a really stupid plot about another animation company who is, for one literally not doing the job they were under contract for, and for two holding the copyright rights to this very same job hostage, so that no one else could do work on it. It feels like the movie honestly could've ended 10 minutes in, if the Musashi Animation producer knew one thing about how to handle a situation like this and sue people for not respecting contracts. Something they end up doing anyway, at the end of the movie, after about half a year of in-anime time! Amazing! All in all, it just feels like the movie picks the easiest route of having a clear bad guy on whom all blame can be shifted. Which is something the original series did as well, but here it feels even worse because our heroes are so clearly supposed to be in the driving seat of their arguments with the villain company, but the anime acts like they actually aren't. While the fast pace made the plot suffer significantly, the lack of screentime is especially rough for many of Shirobako's characters. The main series focused on the motivations and lives of many people, but it also had a core main 5 whose old friendship tied many aspects of the show together. In this movie, it's very much just Aoi being the main character, and we see almost everything through her eyes. Almost all other characters, main or side, appear so little that it doesn't even feel like they were really there, more like they showed up to make a short cameo appearance. What did Erika do to deserve this? It's also important to note that the movie wastes a lot of time on aspects that could've easily been cut in favor of putting more time into the actual story, characters, or slowing down the plot a bit sometimes and making the work feel more atmospheric. The movie barely ever takes a breather, and almost always feels like it's just rapid-firing dialogue in order to quickly get to the next conversation because there's simply too much to be said. Its production values feel fine, but not amazing for a movie either. Its animation is very comparable to the main series, the character designs still look as colorful and gorgeous as they always did. The movie has a few nice and funni insert songs, some of them straight-up feel like PA Works are just doing their best Walt Disney impressions. Long story short, Shirobako Movie is a story of unfulfilled potential, much like what Chikai no Finale is for the Hibike! Euphonium franchise. What could've been an interesting twist on the original story, using a very similar structure but introducing new ideas and themes, ended up being something I can't but be disappointed about. Yes, it's fine. But this wasn't supposed to be fine. It was supposed to be amazing.

65 found helpfulApr 25, 2021