Hello folks, and welcome back to Why It Works. Today we’ll be continuing 2020’s brightest new anime star, the endlessly inventive Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!, as Asakusa and her compatriots work to create their own giant robot anime. Last episode was all about plotting out the larger points regarding scenario and character design for this new project, so I expect the team to be in full production mode this time around, and am eager to see how they manage the increased needs for coordination presented by this ambitious collaboration. But either way, I’ve been putting off watching this episode for five whole days now, which makes me the art critic equivalent of a half-starved animal about to be set upon some artistically riveting domestic sheep. With that confusing image in your heads, let’s dive into the latest episode of Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!
Episode 7
An overhead establishing shot gives us a full view of Mizusaki’s sprawling estate. The architecture still somewhat echoes the school’s ethos, with buildings seemingly flowering out of each other over time
Mizusaki’s bedroom has an internal door with an airtight seal, like you’d see on some kind of ocean-fairing ship. The show has previously hinted that it takes place in a near future reality; perhaps the architecture here is naturally more reflective of rising waters worldwide
And more intricately animated hand movements, as we slip into Mizusaki’s childhood. Mizusaki’s solo adventures regularly express precisely what she finds enchanting about animation – the way careful study of true human movement can be conveyed into animated form, thereby creating something that can feel even more alive than life itself
Young Mizusaki’s movements and expression work demonstrate this philosophy in action – her curiosity, single-mindedness, and general tendency to look before she leaps all come through clearly in the careful animation of her attempting to mirror her grandmother’s actions
Later on, while learning posture in what looks like a ballet class, she finds herself fascinated by the distinct mechanical movements implied simply in standing up from a seated position. Even if you ultimately want to make fantastical stories with larger-than-life characters, you must embrace and internalize the fundamentals of human movement if you want your characters’ actions to feel impactful. Sequences like this are grounded in a keen understanding of human musculature, weight, and momentum
Just as Asakusa was inspired by the grand designs of Future Boy Conan, Mizusaki is inspired by dynamic human movement – as she’s stated, she sees animation as one more way of being an “actor,” and that means precisely understanding the artistic toolset that is the human body
It looks like some of Mizusaki’s initial motivation came from her desire to help her grandmother move around more easily
And even now, the lessons of those times, and the understanding of the sway and give-and-take inherent in motion, inform her current efforts. A terrific opening segment
The “motor vehicle club” brings over the sound engineer’s gear. I’m charmed by this school’s ridiculous proliferation of incredibly niche clubs. The student council clearly have their work cut out for them
Kanamori perpetually walking in on her friends in the middle of some fresh bullshit
Discussions with their sound engineer reveal more of the difficult realities of production – how, in order for aspects of the production like sound design and vocal recording to be completed, the entire storyboard must be carefully plotted out down to the timing cues even before any animation begins. Creating anime is like commissioning five teams in different towns to all build one fifth of a house, and then praying the five pieces you receive actually fit together
This process is easier for Asakusa than Mizusaki – her storyboards are timing-agnostic, whereas Mizusaki’s animation is directly tied to the timing and sound design
The robot club want to play the lead parts themselves, which means now they’re managing a bunch of temperamental actors
Excellent shark teeth from Asakusa as she demonstrates her preferred opening sequence
Right, Doumeki’s the sound engineer
And now Asakusa’s dealing with an even greater problem – having left too many details in the hands of the background artists, she now finds herself with a pile of unusable background art, and a collaborator who’s angry that his work is being disparaged for things he feels are either irrelevant or outside of his control. Asakusa and Mizusaki have already learned that they have to consistently sacrifice in terms of personal vision in order to collaborate on something greater; but for their contract workers, seeing their sole contribution to the project chopped into pieces is far less acceptable
Fortunately, the girl Kubo is more open to criticism than her clubmate. This, more than raw artistic talent, is the type of skill you need to scout for in terms of creative collaborators – someone who’s willing to put their ego aside, and work in service of the project, even when problems arise that aren’t necessarily their fault. Any project of a certain scale requires that denial of ego – there are countless highly talented people in the world who never break through professionally, not because they lack the skill, but because they cannot be humble and collaborate fruitfully with others
“Doing it myself is faster than explaining how to fix it.” Asakusa is right, technically, but as Kanamori responds, that’s a serious problem. If you can’t explain how to fix things and delegate effectively, you’re not cut out to be a director – and Asakusa, with her clear fear of confrontation and tendency to take on overly ambitious tasks, is currently failing at that role
Torrential rain results in classes being cancelled, meaning our team will once again be working through a monsoon. It does seem like flooding is a pretty consistent concern in this universe
Great joke of anticlimax as Asakusa’s elaborate reveal of her rain poncho is smash-cut into a still shot of all of them drenched in the rain. There’s a natural comic energy in shifting from an elaborate explanation to a blunt punchline, and that applies to visual framing, too
Kanamori wrings out her wet clothes, Asakusa just shakes her head like a wet dog
A return to tight perspective shots that celebrate the labyrinthian nature of this facility, as the girls head to the bathhouse
“Enjoying some fun with your friends today?” “No.”
Mizusaki has profound Mugi energy. The rich girl who’s perpetually dazzled by everyday living is a strong archetype
This bathhouse sequence seems in part designed to show off Science Saru’s underwater distortion animation, which also felt like maybe half the motivation for their recent Ride Your Wave
Aside from forbidding her for pursuing anime, Mizusaki’s parents are apparently very accommodating, and basically let her do what she wants
“I’m more of a grandma’s girl, anyway.” Downplaying the presence of parents in teenagers’ lives helps many anime succeed as fantasies of youthful empowerment, but simultaneously hobbles them as genuinely insightful or relatable character studies. Shows like this, or most of my favorite character dramas (Eva, Bakemonogatari, March comes in like a lion, etc), embrace the fact that our own stories will always be informed by our family lives
Asakusa and Mizusaki are also more believable teens than you tend to see in anime in other ways, like how they’re still such kids that they end up having a fantasy battle in the bath. It’s that perpetual distinction between media about teens that’s intended to validate their self-image, versus media that’s intended to actually portray them as they are
This episode has largely been an excuse for Asakusa to let her imagination run wild again, which is necessary in a practical sense to avoid burnout for a creative like her, and also a boon to us in the audience, who get to enjoy this feast of vignettes from her “Greatest World”
It actually kind of reminds me of The Eccentric Family in its rambling structure and focus on incidental moments around town. I am a huge sucker for shows that convey life as it is lived like this, with just a dash of magical realism on top
“Isn’t a producer supposed to develop a discerning eye?” Asakusa at last wins an argument with Kanamori by challenging her on her professional, not her personal investment in the project. Of course, Asakusa herself lacks the awareness of character to internalize the key lesson here
“Having proper sound design takes some of the load off the animator.” The unique frustration of realizing your part in a work is done, and that other artists will have to take it from here. The editing of minute details like this is one of my favorite parts of the creative process – when I wrote a novel some years back, I’d spend weeks going through the hundreds of tabs I’d created for myself on looser editing sweeps, leaving myself piles of notes like “clean up this metaphor” or “the pacing of these three sentences is choppy” or whatnot
Mizusaki frames anime as the best medium for the appreciation of movement itself. As Kanamori says, her passion is harder for a general audience to relate to than Asakusa’s focus on exciting mechanical objects – even when an audience appreciates the care animators took in bringing some event to life, they’ll rarely assign their appreciation to the animation specifically, instead of just the narrative action being portrayed. In light of that, it makes sense that Eizouken itself would dedicate so much time to articulating the unique power of animation itself
Wonderful trading off between the two of them, as they collectively describe what makes a rocket taking off seem cool, each of them extolling their own specialties along the way
“As unpleasant as I find artistic passion, I think I grasp the concept.” High praise from Kanamori
And Done
At last, Mizusaki gets her own dedicated episode, and what an episode it was! Those bookending sequences entirely focused on her specific passion were wonderful; just as Asakusa was inspired by terrific feats of background design, so was Mizusaki inspired by the fundamental movements of the human body, and how our understanding of motion can actually help us surpass our perceived limitations. It was easy to see how her love for her grandmother directly fed into her discovering her own creative passions – and along with Mizusaki’s artistic journey, this episode was also stuffed with inventive yet realistically grounded vignettes around town, clearly articulating the growing friendship between our three heroines. Eizouken continues to impress with every new episode!
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