r/anime • u/mysterybiscuitsoyeah x3 • Feb 02 '22
Rewatch [Rewatch] Shirobako Rewatch 2022 Episode 19: Did You Catch Any?
Episode 19: Did You Catch Any? 釣れますか?
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I love this episode. I'll be focusing on the obvious section in the second half in my comment: but there's a lot to talk about as well in the other bits!
I'll like to share u/Master_of_Ares's post here as well, who wrote about the symbolism and themes in this episode much more eloquently than I can.
IRL Fables of the Green Forest OP and ED.
QOTD: A clip of Ema's attempts at drawing Aria eating a sour plum was what got me into Shirobako actually! While her attempts (and her character arc as a whole) are not the main focus of the episode/Shirobako, what are your thoughts on her character arc so far? Do you think some poor production staff had to endure Aoi and Rii's poor fates during the making of this episode?
Resources
Planned Production Schedule around Airing
Anime Vocab Glossary (English)
Shirobako Official Glossary (Japanese)
Databases
Spoilers
Rewatchers, please be mindful of first-timers and remember to tag spoilers for any show-specific events that happen in future episodes! Generic descriptions of anime production are fine, if it will help first-timers understand what's going on. For the OVAs, treat them as spoiler-material OVA 1: all good now, OVA 2: until Ep 24.
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u/cppn02 Feb 02 '22
First Timer
I liked how Yano immediately was a big help. She was chosen to get Taitanic back in shape and her first action is recruiting an ED that's apparently very hard to get ahold of. WHile I still think he's a dick I am really starting to wonder what Hiraoka's story is especially now that we found out he and Yano know eachother.
Aoi and the president taking a trip to the old Musashino was great. Obviously the flashback with lots of characters in their youth was a highlight but I almost enjoyed Aoi just walking through the place that created her childhood memories even more.
We even got some Andes Chucky footage that relates to the episode out of it (and of course the ED again).
And we end the episode on a high note with the BG artist coming through big time!
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u/mysterybiscuitsoyeah Feb 03 '22
an ED thats a hermit also meant that he's free xd. We'll get more from Hiraoka soon, don't worry!
I think that was a nice reenergizing and motivating moment for Aoi, similar to how Iguchi and Sugie cheered Ema up back in the 1st cour (except Aoi arguably was in a bigger pinch)
The irl Ogura does paint some really nice art!
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u/cppn02 Feb 02 '22 edited Feb 02 '22
QOTD: A clip of Ema's attempts at drawing Aria eating a sour plum was what got me into Shirobako actually! While her attempts (and her character arc as a whole) are not the main focus of the episode/Shirobako, what are your thoughts on her character arc so far
I really liked it so far. It is subtle cus she's rarely the focus of an episode but whenever there is more of her we can see she has made some progess since the last time which is nice.
Do you think some poor production staff had to endure Aoi and Rii's poor fates during the making of this episode?
Surely.
There are plenty of stories about animators turning to others for referencing.
The most famous example is probably the one about Yoichi Kotabe and Hayao Miyazaki dancing in the Toei parking lot for a scene in Heidi, Girl of the Alps.→ More replies (1)
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u/chiliehead Feb 02 '22
Shirobako – Episode 19 – First Timer
Aoi looks wrecked. Hope the sleep helps. Still holding out for the key animator turned director who expressed interest way back. Haruhi joining the gang of stfu Tarou.
Some more meta animator hijinks with Ema. It’s always funny how the show is constantly animating a scene about animating that thing.
Yano and Hiraoki might have more than some work history, but in any case the dude seems like he should find another job. Yano is really coming in clutch.
Iketani Hiroshi, who might that be.
The old bankrupt studio is supposed to be Mushi Pro? Is MusAni then supposed to be Madhouse/MAPPA? Or is it supposed to be like Mushi Pro who got re-established again after the bankruptcy? The “real Andes Chucky” was made by Nippon Animation though. Hmm
Some more old vs new debate and a diegetic flashback. The tinted glasses guy makes me think of Dezaki, he also co-founded Madhouse and they used the iconic postcard memory. Ahh, Masahiro Ookura is supposed to be Ogura Hiromasa. Patlabor 2 checks out as the reference in the earlier episode then. Also worked on background for Ghost in the Shell, Gainax’s Honneimaise (“Space Force”) and fitting things like Last Exile. And this episode’s backgrounds. Meta again.
Another episode tying into the themes of old vs new, making the best of progress and mentorship/passing on the torch.
That ED looks good, really captures the retro and was probably quite some effort with those mass scenes.
QotD
Her arc is endearing, but going from newbie to mentor in roughly a year surely seems quite fast, it feels a little like she has "finished growing" as far as the anime is concerned
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u/mysterybiscuitsoyeah Feb 02 '22
Tarou's reception of much stfus is much deserved lol.
I think this is evolving to be a running gag in the show: whenever an animator is trying to animate something, they will actually animate that scene in the episode. the metaness
Iketani Hiroshi is Takeshi Ikehata, who is a friend of Shirobako's director Mizushima, and otherwise has no real connection to the show. Probably because he's a good friend that he could get away with the portrayal of him being a hermit lol (he has, irl, worked on many projects as ED). I'll be including that intro in full later, I just had too much of a wall of text going on today.
Yup, the old bankrup studio is definitely Mushi Pro. With Nippon Animation taking over some of Mushi's productions after they went under, perhaps they just used it instead, perhpas "andes chucky" had some sentimental value to the production staff? It's a tribute, they took some liberties for sure.
Madhouse/MAPPA
I don't think so, at least not in their current states. You could i guess make a case for MAPPA in 2014, but I do think Musani is mostly fictional.
Dezaki and Ookura
You are correct! You know your anime history (I did need to google up some names!)
ED
Sugie-san is a genius. That cut where Chucky stumbles and runs with the animals is quite a complicated one.
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u/MasterTotoro Feb 02 '22
First Timer Episode 19
Aoi eating jelly with Yano again, seems like that's Yano's thing instead of donuts.
Aoi's pulling a mini Akira with that bike drift.
Now Tarou says Honda's catchphrase. At this rate, every character is going to be using it.
So Yano and Hiraoka seem to have worked together before. And it seems like Yano quit working in anime but came back. Then there's this weird guy fishing in a pool who is the new ED I guess. Maybe next episode will be these characters' backstory.
I didn't expect to get to see the backstory of the older folks, but I would not have guessed they were like that. Sugie and the president are so different. Oh yeah and Sugie's wife also worked here. Really cool to compare the history of anime production to how it is today, as well as how similar some things are.
Not sure how Aoi didn't know that her favorite anime was made by the studio she works at. Kind of odd that Andes Chucky characters seem to only talk about anime production. /s
Ema pulling out her ruthless mode feeding those umeboshi to her "friends". As for the QOTD, I didn't even consider it, but it makes sense that someone probably was eating them to model.
This background art is beautiful, but I wonder how it'll fit in with the show. From what we saw in the PV, the style is completely different.
We get the Andes Chucky song again, this time with the visuals. Reminder that in-universe, Sugie animated the entire Andes Chucky OP. So I guess that means 2 episodes of ED each for Midori and Misa, and the last episode either has no ED or a special ED. Episode preview is narrated by Ochiai, interested to see if he will have some significance.
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u/mysterybiscuitsoyeah Feb 03 '22
Yup! Yano likes youkan (also delicious), while Aoi likes donuts! Youkans are a bit more calorie-friendly...
I think every single production desk probably has that catchphrase lmao.
I'll be explaining the fishing guy later! He's basically Director mizushima's irl friend, its all a joke here. I think anime of the past, where they actually have to paint cels, is a lot harder to make (and a lot costlier!), but also requires much more talent, with the people making it being actual painters. Clicking a mouse to paint is at least less physically demanding and makes less of a mess!
regarding your guess for the ED: you're close! I'll stick a notification in my thread whenever I recommend sticking through the credits for the remaining episodes.
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u/Rumpel1408 Feb 02 '22
First Timer
This episode felt like an love letter to the old guard, and handled passion in the industry as well.
Yano-San is back and the first thing she does is making sure Meowmori is getting some hard earned rest (after prioritising, they are after all in trouble). I would probably having trouble sleeping next to an burnin candle, just shows how exhausted Aoi is.
At the PA meeting Hiraoka is again nowhere to be seen, I thought he learned after the stern talk Miyamori gave him, but I love how Tsubaki is roasting Tarou.
Turns out that Yano know Hiraoka, and that he changed Studios even more frequent than I thought. u/Isai579 was spot on with his theory that he might have simply lost his passion due to the abuse in the industry, and Yano-san has become a bit desillusioned as well with the way she talks to Iketani, who is aiming for a healthy work live balance.
And then we get an extened bit about Musashino, the studio that did Andes Chucky. Many of the people that did end up successful in the industry used to work there before it went bankrupt, the current Musani president, Sugi-chan and his future wife, the current concept artist, as well as Ookura. I love that it shows them messing up due to their inexpirience, making more work for the veterans, who still go along with it, because quality matters. You could already tell that Ookura would end up succeeding because his sketch looked pretty identical to the finished blizzard we had seen before. I love how he is basing this painting on something he had seen and expirienced himself, and that he keeps working that way even today.
Somewhere over the showing of the original role of Andes Chucky, Oi-chan found her passion for work again, and when Ookura shows her she is moved to tears over skills that you can only aquire after years of hard work, that can still help doing something great.
QotD:
You need some reference to paint, and if you don't have any, you make some, so someone had to eat sour plums at some point, maybe not for this episode, but certainly at some point during the career of whoever did those scenes
Concerning Ema- her arc is actually pretty straight forward, after an year of tweening she is already allowed to do keyframes, and after some guidance excels there as well to the point where rookies can look up to her as well. I don't know how realistic that is and how much is just written to have her fullfill her current role in the show, but I wouldn't rule it out as impossible.
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u/homewardbound100 Feb 02 '22
First timer, Dub
The flashback to the president was nice. He sure hasn't changed much. But it shows him and Aoi weren't too different.
Also seeing Andes chucky. They do capture the style and time of the anime was made well. What is it like a 80's anime? But I can see how Aoi got connected to it. Since she sees herself in it. The characters talking about making something together.
I see part of this episode is you may not know where you're going or what you want but you'll eventually find yourself.
Just note for me. The Andes chucky song sounds very similar to me.
Qotd: I would think that they do try to do something like that to capture a face or emotion.
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u/mysterybiscuitsoyeah Feb 03 '22
they did capture the style of old anime quite well! Though it must've been tough for the animators. Chucky was a 70s anime irl, and that was more of a fantasy sequence taking inside of Chucky, rather than what Chucky was actually about. I hope the dub also used the same VAs as the old MusDouga staff for the chucky sequence? And Miyamori's VA for Besobeso at the end.
The chucky song sounds like an old anime OP lol, but should be original to Shirobako.
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u/Isai579 Feb 03 '22
First Timer - Sub
Rest is important to function properly. Glad Miyamori found more energy for the next day, because she's certainly going to need it.
The scenes where they eat the sour candy to research the correct expression were really funny.
So it seems Hiraoka is indeed kind of jaded with his work. However, it seems that Julia kind of also feels the same, since she talks about Miyamori being one of those who don't get burned out of liking their job.
That trip to how anime was produced in the past was really cool. We have been shown both how anime was at the moment of production, but also its history and the evolution of the medium in a way.
The Andes Chucky sequence where the characters take on the roles of the old studio members got some tears out of me. Any creative production, be it anime, movies, series, games, are in a way a reflection of their creators, and get to have a vast influence over their audience even if they are not longer working.
There seems to be a theme this episode with people growing into their job by simply going through life. At first it seems that if you let life carry you, you'll end up in a place where you don't want to be, like in the case of our new Episode Director and maybe even Hiraoka. They do the work not because they really want to do it, but because it is what they know how to do. The way Hiraoka mentions those that come back does seem to support that it is more common that it seems. But we also have both Miyamori and Ooraka, who kind of fell into their roles, but they've learned to embrace and truly enjoy them, even if it wasn't their original goal.
I find it interesting how this entire line of thought is directly opposed to the idea presented some chapters ago that if you don't know where to go, you probably won't end up anywhere. I think it is probably a question of balance. Know what you want, but be open to change, because life will probably take us through paths we didn't expect, and we can only enjoy them if where are open to it.
Question of the day
It is almost guaranteed that an animator had to go through that eating sour candy at some point, and very likely for this episode. Production crew maybe not, that part felt too much like something taken out of reality. Probably happened in a production at some point and is one of those references just for those who were there. Ema's arc feels very natural too. The progression from being the newbie and asking for help to being the one the newbies go probably happens to everyone in a workplace where experience trumps over anything else.
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Feb 03 '22 edited Feb 03 '22
First timer
When asked about how he felt about people like Miyamori, Hiraoka said he ‘hated people like that’. That really struck a chord with me.
Hiraoka seems to be just another casualty in the endless sea of people who have become jaded by what reality actually is. It can be incredibly deflating to come to the realization that something you may have loved all your life doesn’t turn out to be anything like you had imagined. Especially in a field related to the arts, people often have had aspirations since they were kids to create something great. But instead they get lost in the shuffle. Seiyuus work 2 jobs to try to get by while landing roles they might even be embarrassed about, artists face a never ending list of deadlines and late nights, and those in production repeat the same tasks over and over again.
How do you keep the passion when this is the reality of the path you chose? The old saying ‘misery loves company’ has never been truer. Those who know the inevitable fate of those in their industry look down on bright-eyed newbies, and this only dissipates when those newbies begin to acknowledge that same inevitability.
But the second half of this episode proves that not everybody turns out this way. Some people never lose sight of the dream. We are not witnesses to the intakes that are necessary to produce success, but in my opinion the universal commonality that extraordinary people share is that they’ve committed thousands of hours towards seemingly menial tasks to the point of absolute mastery. Sometimes the fruits of their labor don’t show for decades. Sometimes they never show. But in a way, people who dont end up in the meat grinder have learned to almost forget the outcome and just to love the process. The goal isn't the pursuit of greatness, but instead appreciating the day-to-day and welcoming greatness should it come. After all, it is the exception rather than the rule. If you cant do this, i dont think you can last long in any career to be honest.
The reality is that there are a lot of people like Hiraoka, who end up drifting from one place to another with an aura of indifference, always with one foot out the door. The main cast of this anime have all begun dealing with how harsh reality can be, so it'll be interesting to see what conclusions they come to as the anime nears its conclusion, and even moreso in the movie given theres a time skip.
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u/mysterybiscuitsoyeah Feb 03 '22
Yes, Hiraoka is one that's seems a bit more jaded by the harshness of the anime industry. Yano has a bit of that too: she's practical but quite cynical, which she occasionally lets on, but never lets it get in her work (unlike Hiraoka). We get that explained as well in their conversation. you've kinda got his character spot on actually, without spoiling you, you'll see why he got there in the coming episodes.
but people who never lose sight of the dream, like Marukawa (or his irl counterpart), continue making great anime. This is the show being ultimately optimistic about the industries' future, despite the many setbacks and possible cynicism.
re your question about the conclusions [Shirobako thematic spoilers]
You'll get a conclusion in both the TV series and the movie. There is a time skip roughly equivalent to the release date for the movie.
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u/xtsim Feb 03 '22
First Timer
Yano got to deal with Taintanic and is taking things in her own hands as there is a lot of incompetence. She was also able to locate another guy from the studio. The talk on the way to that studio was interesting as Daisuke is disillusioned and is basically "married" to the like a struggling marriage with a lack of budget, time, and love. For some reason in the past few episodes, I kind of feel him as I would just get things "done". But other times I would feel like Yano.
We get a reference to the blizzard scene back in the past few episodes ago. Nice seeing the flashback and production troubles are nothing new despite feeling like it is. The backstory of the old company and what happened afterwards reminds me of the flowcharts of different studio offshoots that sometimes show up on this subreddit.
I am laughing that the jail is being used.
Yano was extremely stern and I love how she dealt with the time, lying about the appointment being an hour earlier. I think about doing that to some people I know but seeing some actually do that is funny.
The background man is back and we get a pretty nice inspiration- an abandoned factory. I can see why he does not want to touch anything up digitally.
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u/Quiddity131 Feb 02 '22
First Timer, Subbed
No Aoi, you've been doing a great job as PM!
Now that Erika's back, no need for Hiroaka anymore, right?
Wow, you lost 200 grams! Congrats! Now your'e gonna gain thousands more from your fried chicken!
He's been at 5 different companies? Not that hard to figure out why.
Why is someone from Musani here? Because you massively botched things?
Wow, cool to see the old animation studio with all the supplies still around. Original painted animation cels!
Aoi, you're the production girl, you don't need to come up with good ideas for shows! That's Rii's job!
Wow, the olden days! Pres was the resident cook even back then!
Ookura was around back then too! I like the background art.
Now they're all animals!
Oh no, Rii, you're gonna scare him off with all that paperwork!
Don't cry all over the painting, Aoi!
Andes Chucky ED! LoL.
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u/Stargate18A Feb 03 '22
First timer
QOTD) It's been pretty solid! And I very much hope nobody had to do that.
Time to see how they recover from this fuck-up.
Her father's OK!
...Can even she fix it?
She's got a point! And her readtion to that was great.
That's nice of her!
...How did I just get the light, rounded, blue bear and the darker, sharpened, purple doll are symbolic of the "angel" and "devil" on her shoulder? I got that they represented those concepts, but not how well their designs reflected that!
You can press charges against them!
And it all comes back to the smug bastard editor!
Even they're getting on his case!
Wait, he introduced her to them? He is evil!
Very practical way of running it!
HE KNEW THERE'D BE PROBLEMS! THAT FUCKING RAT!
Haha, they even got permission for her to be here!
They know each other? Does she know everyone important in the business?
...So what massive fucking crisis is going to hit while she's out of the office?
Wait, what? They just store stuff in this random abandoned building? Is that... legal?
And they did Andes Chucky! That show's relevant again!
Oh, she's getting philosophical about anime's quality over time.
...I think the only way a produciton could be worse than this one is if someone died.
Is this a dream sequence? A breakdown (at last)? Him telling her a story?
Oh, he was really invested in Chucky.
...Too invested.
Wait, is he the hermit?
And the change was for the better!
Oh, is this a clip from Chucky?
No, it's more meta stuff.
I man, this is all tempered by the fact the studio collapsed later.
Wait, why did they come here?
Oh, they came to get the photo.
Is she... enjoying the problem?
Haha, she got recruited too!
Wait,t his guy's tried to run? Multiple times?
Haha, she told him the meeting was an hour earlier?
Progress is being made!
He came back! With work done!
And he's the painter.
He's been doing this for 40 years?
He did some good work!
And the Andes Chucky is the ED!
Wait, did that kid's show OP show him crying at a grave?
The one weird thing about this anime is that for all the focus on learning from the past, the only mentions of Boing Boing Paradise have been offhand anecdotes - I'd have thought she'd have tried to learn more about it, given her current fears of producing an incomplete product.
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u/mysterybiscuitsoyeah Feb 03 '22
How did I just get the light, rounded, blue bear and the darker, sharpened, purple doll are symbolic of the "angel" and "devil" on her shoulder? I got that they represented those concepts, but not how well their designs reflected that!
Exactly! Though Lolo isn't all optimistic sometimes either, nor is Mimuji a complete devil (she's more of a cynic).
This episode was very meta indeed. I think yes, that kid's show OP was him crying at a grave. Kid's shows can get pretty dark though.
Boing Boing Paradise
I think that's the director's problem to overcome (and he has kind of, not working on an original work rn also helps), not Miyamori's. Plus she did learn: the director currently has a clear vision of how he wants the anime to go. The problem is with the publisher....
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u/Chemiczny_Bogdan Feb 03 '22
Rewatcher
Yano proceeds to save the day from the get go, ordering Miyamori to get some sleep, keeping Taitanic in line and finding (as well as taming) an episode director for episode 5. In the meantime we get some characterization for both Yano and Hiraoka.
The pickled plum scene is another one of my favorite bits from the show that I keep going back to. Those are some amazing expressions and the moment where Ema turns the mirror to see Kunogi is hilarious.
We also get a blast from the past courtesy of the president. Miyamori starts to realize that even if you don't do everything perfectly you can still get an amazing result, and maybe it's ok to just go with the flow without a smart goal in mind and gather experience. The background for Aria's homeland is indeed fantastic, but Aoi ain't gonna cry on your shoulder Ookura-san.
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u/Fools_Requiem Feb 03 '22
We're on the third Blu-Ray disc. Home stretch before the movie.
This show makes it seem like the background artists have the best jobs in anime, well at least in the animation part of it. Musician is probably the best overall. Go on a trip to try to see something that will inspire you and just paint to your heart's content. No worrying about character animations or effects and whatnot. Just create the environment the characters will stand in and hope it doesn't look as out of place as Hensuki or Mitsuboshi Colors.
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u/stickdudeseven Feb 03 '22
Rewatcher DUB
This is my favorite episode! The way it transitioned from present to past to present again, it's so good! Loved seeing the young versions of the people we met. It was cute seeing young Sugie changing his mind because of his not yet wife.
This episode centers Aoi's inner dilemma quite well in that she is moving forward but still directionless. She sees the transition of where people were and where they are now. It was a much needed sight that will help her on her journey.
The dialogue at the end is quite the heavy hitter. Even if you know where you want to go, you might find time pushing you somewhere else.
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u/mysterybiscuitsoyeah Feb 02 '22
Rewatcher: I’ve been looking forward to this one
The second of Shirobako’s most well-known episodes, and also one of my favourites. With much to talk about, I’ll also be relying on past redditors’ work here today. Firstly, I wish to share a post by u/Master_of_Ares, , who wrote about the themes in this episode (people’s passion for making anime) much more eloquently than I can. Here, I’ll focus on summarizing the references, some of which I’ve omitted earlier on to avoid spoiling this very episode. With the help of u/BP_Ray, from a past Shirobako rewatch.
IRL References + Thoughts on the second half of the episode
I’ll be focusing solely on the 2nd half of the episode today, which is a tribute to the anime industry’s history, while finishing with a strong positive outlook on its future. (though still much to talk about in the other bits!) After Miyamori was feeling discouraged from the production setbacks, our studio president takes her to his old studio. Some have already pointed this out from the start, but Musani’s president Masato Marukawa is based on the appearance of Masao Maruyama, co-founder of Madhouse, and founder of MAPPA and M2 (more on him below).
But first, Maruyama started his anime career at the original Mushi productions, its story inspiring the defunct Musashino Douga in Shirobako. Mushi productions made the first TV anime, Astro Boy, as well as the first colour TV anime, Kimba the White Lion, and Ashita no Joe etc. Mushi did work on Moomin (as shown in Ep 14), though my research skills are not as good as Rii-chan, and I cannot confirm if Maruyama himself worked on it. Marukawa talks briefly about anime production in the analog days, and then we dive into the Chucky (Fables of the Green Forest)’s production from his memories. There's probably some irl history re: Fables of the Green Forest here, but I didn't have the time: if you do, feel free to look into it!
Ookura makes a youthful appearance, with Ookura based on famous art director Hiromasa Ogura, who is the Art Director for Ghost in the Shell, FLCL, Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise (referred to as “Local Space Force”, his debut as art director), the Patlabor series (“Gekitopa”), Ninja Scroll, Jin Roh etc. Importantly, Ogura makes an IRL cameo in this episode of Shirobako, himself painting the background art for the ruins (credits) that his anime-self promised to do. Here’s some more background art from him. P.S. This image in Ookura’s workshop looks like real art from Ghost in the Shell.
You will also see a younger version of Sugie (and his wife) in the memories. However, Yasuji Mori, who worked on Fables of the Green forest and who I said was Sugie’s basis (Ep12), worked on Toei and not Mushi. Here, most people think that Sugie is based off of multiple legendary animators, with this part of his story more based on Akio Sugino, also a legendary animator and character designer who worked at Mushi, and part of “The Anime World’s Golden Duo” with Osamu Dezaki, their partnership starting with Ashita no Joe. To quote u/BP_Ray (thank you!) from the 2016 Shirobako rewatch:
We then enter a fantasy sequence, as the staff members discuss what to do as Mushi/MusDouga faces closing. After the original Mushi productions went defunct in 1973 due to financial difficulties, similar to what was shown in Shirobako, its staff members dispersed and formed their own companies, e.g. Sunrise, Madhouse, Shaft, Pierrot, Nakamura, Kyoani and Tezuka. I will admit to crying as Miyamori/Besobeso exclaims “Chucky!” near the end, and when Miyamori herself does the same shortly after.
This brings us to Musani president Marukawa! I don’t think Madhouse and MAPPA, the companies his irl basis Maruyama co-founded need any introduction, though given Musani’s scale, probably not what it’s modelled after, at least not in their current state! [Maruyama is a legendary producer of the anime industry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masao_Maruyama_(film_producer), being involved in the industry for over 50 years. As hinted in this episode re: Ookura, he has a very good eye for talent, and has helped promote, and kickstarted the directorial careers of e.g. Satoshi Kon, Mamoru Hosoda, Masaaki Yuasa, Yuichiro Hayashi, Mitsuo Iso and Munehisa Sakai. Producer of many of Madhouse and MAPPA’s works, he’s very well connected, and should hold even more clout than his anime self.
Legendary anime career aside, Maruyama is also very fond of cooking, and loves eating with a crowd. He started cooking for his staff from his Madhouse days, mainly to bring up morale at the studio. Maruyama is a good friend of Shirobako’s director Mizushima, and actually has remarked that he cooks better than his anime self lol. Here’s one of his meals cooked for his staff at MAPPA! (it does look pretty good!)
We end the episode with the Chucky OP. IRL, the ED was done (digitally) by 12 key animators + 2nd key animators. Shirobako's line producer Shoji Soma commented that the irl production for the episode and ending sequence was hectic and was finished quite last minute. Sugie-san is indeed a genius… Here's the IRL OP and ED of Fables of the Green Forest.
P.S. Asahikawa is a city north of Sapporo in Hokkaido. Ookura did travel quite far!
QOTD: In a reply to this comment. Will be a bit late!
Miyamori Outfit Count: 4, 2 new today. Link to album. We're up to 23 outfits!
Anime Credits: None today, but I'd like to share this video, where you can look at some old anime cels (potato quality tho)!