Episode Reaction: Shirobako Episode 1 – For the Love of Doughnuts, Don't Drive Like That!

P.A. Works, I love you, but Glasslip should be renamed Glasshit, because . . . it's shit. Thankfully, however, Shirobako doesn't seem like it will stoop that low anytime soon.

Story plays out like a slice of life: just the everyday lives of our characters. We are introduced to five girls who plan on becoming a part of the animation industry in their own ways. They are all a part of the animation club at their high school and for their school festival they created an actual anime. Like, they did all the work themselves. And from what we see of it, it looks pretty damn good—for high schoolers, especially. These girls promise—in the name of donuts—they'll reach their dreams eventually and meet again.

IN THE NAME OF DONUTS, I SOLEMNLY SWEAR TO REACH MY DREAMS.

This episode, we focus on [insert name here]. Yeah, again, for the fifteenth time, I suck at remembering character names. This trait also applies to me in real life: I'm better at remembering people's faces than their names, so don't get offended if I ever meet you in real life and don't remember your name. Anyway, recently the character's animation studio released its first episode of a fictional idol anime. However, they're running behind on the key animation for episode three.

Our main heroine is then sent to go find a key animator to animate the parts. And that's where this woman comes in:

Yep.  It's not just you, dearie. We're all looking at the same place.

Again, can't remember this character's name for the life of me, but I can tell she's a hardworking woman who, if given a challenge, will do it right—no matter how tired or in pain she is. I like her; I hope we see more of this woman later. So as you'd expect, they barely manage to get the whole thing animated on time for dubbing.

This raises the question, though, why are they animating episodes three and four when episode one just aired? I always thought animation studios were way, way ahead of the airing episode, possibly completely finished if it's a one-cour. After all, there's way more work to be done for an animated series than a live-action one, so I don't really know why they're so behind on the animation. Ah well.

I've always adored P.A. Works' animation style, and Shirobako is not exempted. I love all the character designs—whether they were the main characters or the supporting cast, everyone has their own unique design that fits their personality. Speaking of the characters, holy crap are there a lot of them. There are honestly 15+ characters introduced here, including the main cast. There is a two out of five chance I'll actually remember all of their names, like damn. I can't even remember the main characters' names. Hopefully I'll know most of them by the end.

I agree with you 100%: Donuts are love, donuts are life.

At the very least, I do remember many of their personalities. The main character focused on this episode is a huge doughnut-lover but also a hard worker. She's dedicated to her job and works almost 24/7, but she's a bit of a softie when it comes to pressuring key animators to finish their work. However, I found her to be a very fun character to watch and look forward to seeing more of her.

I swear, she looks like an even older Miuna from Nagi-Asu.

There are really no other characters of significant importance to mention except the main heroine's friend (who is in the front of the promotional image), but she doesn't have enough screen time to warrant a discussion of her character. But I expect to find out more about her later, perhaps even next episode.

This is what trying to see behind the credits is like.

In the music department, I don't really remember any notable soundtracks, but the opening was likable and the ending was forgettable. But from what I can remember of it, it was pretty cute.

All in all, Shirobako has proven to us in only its first episode it's going to be a fun, entertaining ride throughout, giving us knowledge about the anime industry and poking fun at anything anime-related (from ten-second still frames [reference to Glasslip] to combining two studio names together [G.I. Staff, lol]). And with that, take care, otakus!

Heeeyyyy P.A. Works, I see what you did there!

I told you, lol.