I'm glad I could keep running.

Want a short watch that could motivate and inspire you? Then Hashiri Tsuzukete Yokattatte (I'm glad I could keep running) is the right anime for you! This anime is about two aspiring voice actor and actress (seiyuus) and their special kind of bond that healthily influence each other's lives to do their best in their craft. Chikako, has a stage fright due to her previous professor's strict way of teaching, which lowered her self-esteem and her confidence in portraying her roles. Minato, on the other hand, is new to voice acting and does a decent job but lacks the emotions and doesn't quite understand how to "breathe lifeinto a character". I like how the characters are portrayed in such a way that it's convincing. Like, I could see a person like Chikako or a Minato in real life and I wouldn't be surprised. I could somehow relate to Chikako's stage fright and Minato's frustrations because I know it can happen to me and to anyone. Animation-wise, it's beautiful. It's not the type of beautiful that you would see in anime movies but I would not say that it is "just good". I mean, it does its job in immersing me into the "inspiring" vibes and when important scenes happen, the animation and art perfectly complements the atmosphere that the scene just flourish and sparkles naturally. Perhaps I can say it's above average, I guess. Sound... Honeyworks. Do I need to say more? Oh, yeah, the voice acting is great. It should be. It would be quite ironic and hilarious if an anime about voice acting would have terrible seiyuus, right? (Oh gosh, imagine a parody anime about crappy seiyuus... anime gods! can you hear me?! Make it come true!! Lol) Overall, the story is decent enough is you have the time and it certainly wouldn't disappoint you, especially if you are fond of the Shoujo genre.

A short 4 episode 15 min series. Story revolves around our two MC's Minato and Chikako who are learning and in training to become upcoming Voice actors. The series basically depicts the daily struggles, work and daily life of our two young Voice actors enrolled in an voice actor academy and how they are learning to grow and cope with it. Minato who got inspired from a voice acting performance decides to be one himself. He meeets chikako our female mc who used to reside in the room which minato currently is in and also is on the road to become a successful Voiceactor. Both have their own Struggles and Flaws, for example Minato not being able to breath life and emotions in his character and Chikako with her past trauma and nervous issues. But after meeting each other they start comforting, inspiring and supporting each other while working towards their own goals respectively. The best thing i liked about this show is the fact they give us the perspective , the emotions and the in depth truth about Voice actors and their work, how each kind of VA has their own style and approach to their roles and characters. Also how Minato and Chikako encourage each other using different methods for example enacting out a particular scene from a drama to portray the character who is a example of someone who's emotions and situations can be related to our MC's and then how the character resolves to overcome the challenges and our mc's taking that as an inspiration. its really something unique and a beautiful concept. The animation is done well by SIGNAL.MD. Also the original character Design by Yamako from Honeyworks is really top notch and so is the Music as expected from honeyworks . The intro and the outro are really well made. Good quality stuff. Finally i would just say if you are interested in small short series, Voice actors related stuff and bit of life inspiring moments to enjoy in a slice of life. Then definitely give a watch, its worth for a hour of your time . :)