Well folks, a day I have both been eagerly awaiting and quietly dreading has finally arrived. At long last, we find ourselves on the brink of Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!’s final episode, as the adventures of Asakusa, Kanamori, and Mizusaki conclude with the debut of their third major production.

It’s been a cozy and rewarding journey so far, full of insights into the complex world of anime production. Asakusa has taught us a great deal about creative inspiration and storytelling, Mizusaki has illustrated the finer points of animation itself, and Kanamori has consistently tempered her friends’ ambitions with reminders of the fiscal limitations and other compromises inherent in film production. They’re a good trio, complimenting each other both in terms of talents and temperaments, and through them Eizouken has illustrated and celebrated many of the granular elements that make animated art so compelling.

It’s certainly true that this episode doesn’t feel particularly climactic, though. As an adaptation of a continuing manga, Eizouken has made little effort to hide its episodic nature, and hasn’t really “ramped up” towards a climax in any way beyond the natural rising tension of their development schedule. But that seems somewhat appropriate for this show, which has so often reveled in the day-to-day friendship of these girls, and which clearly sees a long and illustrious future spiraling out before them. It’s been a delight to spend time with this cast, and appreciate the joy and imagination with which Yuasa’s team has brought them to life. Let’s settle in one more time for Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!

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Hello everyone, and welcome back once more to Wrong Every Time. Today we’ll at last be continuing our journey through Masaaki Yuasa’s joyous and beautiful Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!, as our crew struggle to complete an alien invasion anime celebrating their unique hometown. Though they’ve endured persistent interference courtesy of their school administration and meddling parents, Kanamori has held this team together, the siren allure of capitalizing on her friends’ talents keeping her dedicated even as the whole world conspires against them.

Meanwhile, her friends aren’t really making things easier for her. Last episode saw them joining Doumeki on a sound-gathering expedition largely because it sounded fun, and Asakusa still doesn’t have a clear overall storyboard, and still hasn’t clarified the designs of the townsfolk’s defenses relative to the alien attackers. I don’t expect this episode to be twenty straight minutes of Kanamori shaking her by the shoulders until a plan falls out, but we’re getting pretty close to that point. With panicked brainstorming and major crunch time on the horizon, let’s get back to Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!

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Folks, I am beyond delighted to be returning to Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! I actually only watched up through Eizouken’s ninth episode as the show was actually airing, as other projects ended up getting in the way of me giving it the time and focus it obviously deserves. Determined to write a fresh article to document my first impressions of the whole last act, I ended up putting off new episodes until the new season began, and then… well, regardless, I’m here now, and suddenly find myself with three episodes left in what has easily been the most visually imaginative and intellectually stimulating show of the year so far.

Last episode saw Kanamori taking center stage once more, this time as the team’s financial manager, in an episode that explored the often maddening relationship between making great art and actually being paid for that art. In spite of making a film that both impressed their clients and dazzled general audiences, the Eizouken were left with almost nothing, save for a bunch of requests for other projects that also wouldn’t make them any money. The anime industry’s problem isn’t a lack of work – in fact, there’s an overabundance of projects that are already stretching the industry’s workers beyond their limits. The problem is a fundamentally predatory financial model that sees anime studios as interchangeable contract workers, as well as an established pay scale that assumes animators will work for a pittance, and either move up or burn out after their first few years.

Kanamori can’t fix the anime industry by herself, but she can do her best to make sure her friends are paid for their labor. Having secured a commission from the actual Shibahami Chamber of Commerce, Kanamori is dragging her friends towards financial stability, and I’m eager to see how Asakusa and Mizusaki bring their entire town to life. Let’s dive into another episode of Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!

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Hello all, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time! Today we’re returning to Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken, after an episode that essentially served as Mizusaki’s dedicated statement of purpose. That episode opened on one of Eizouken’s most poignant sequences yet, as we learned that Mizusaki’s fascination with the human body was in large part inspired by her love of her grandmother, with her studies of human movement eventually helping to restore her grandmother’s own mobility. The roots of artistic inspiration are varied and personal, and for Mizusaki, conveying the fluid beauty of bodies in motion likely brings her back to those days with her grandmother.

At the same time, Mizusaki is clearly passionate about animation as a tool for self-expression, and eager to announce her existence through cuts intended to dazzle even fellow animators. Anime is one of those rare mediums where an individual artist can sear a blazing signature into the work – like a dazzling guitar solo, an inspired cut of animation reaches up out of a work and grabs you by the throat, demanding you acknowledge the passion and talent of its creator.

This, unfortunately, is all just bad news to Kanamori. She just wants to ensure the project actually gets finished – and with her lead animator rambling about animation for animation’s sake while her director dithers and refuses to delegate, that’s currently not looking too likely. With the fate of their giant robot anime hanging in the balance, let’s return to Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!

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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!

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Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am beyond excited to continue our journey into Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!, as I’ve once again put off my first viewing of this episode until this very moment. Last week, Eizouken managed to turn a topic I don’t actually have much interest in (giant robots) into another essential exploration of the creative process, as the show explored the finer details of seeking inspiration for new projects, dealing with difficult clients, and finding common ground within creative collaborations.

Asakusa and Mizusaki are in large part a strong team because they bounce so easily and happily off each other – in contrast, their negotiations with the robot club were far more tense, but still ultimately resulted in a design everyone was happy with. That negotiation process also highlighted some of the natural disconnects that tend to exist between audiences and creatives – in particular, how audiences often seek a “perfectly real” fantasy that can only exist as a personal feeling, and which becomes an impossible contradiction when introduced to sunlight. A great part of the artist’s job is to massage the sharp edges of that contradiction – to present a fantasy that is technically impossible, but still feels “real” and emotionally impactful, due to the many clever tricks of presentation Eizouken has so thoughtfully explored. Whatever creative design stone Eizouken wishes to unturn this week, I’m eager to return to this charming, beautiful, and incredibly generous production. Let’s get to it!

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Hello everyone, and I hope you’re ready for another episode of Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! Today I am consumed by even more anticipation than usual, as unlike every other episode since the premiere, I actually haven’t watched this one myself yet. Yes, scandalous, I know.

Eizouken’s fourth episode seemed like a clear endpoint for the “first act” of this production, as our three young creators both created and debuted their first finished work, earning themselves an actual club budget in the process. “Hold That Machete Tight!” was a stunning demonstration of all three of their talents: Asakusa’s evocative designs, Mizusaki’s fluid and personality-infused animation, and Kanamori’s ability to wrangle her unfocused and overly ambitious friends into working on something they can actually finish. Their production managed to simultaneously embody all the shortcuts they had to embrace to actually finish, while also demonstrating the indescribable magic of seeing your creative ideas come to life. I imagine the team will be setting their sights even higher for their second production, and I can’t wait to see what dark corners of the creative process this show illuminates next. Let’s get back to Eizouken!

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We’ve not a moment to lose, everyone. At this very moment, I could already be watching Eizouken’s fourth episode – it’s only the tragic necessity of offering some framing to these notes articles that keeps me from the golden glow of its animated splendor. Having already watched this episode once, it already feels like a genuine contender for the best episode of anime about the anime-creating process that I’ve ever seen. To be honest, there aren’t that many contenders – there’s one specific episode of Paranoia Agent in contention, and aside from that, the consistent excellence of Shirobako.

But while Shirobako stands as a remarkable collective love letter to the full production process, I don’t think I’ve ever seen an episode get as deeply in the weeds of cost-saving animation techniques, production compromises, and editor-animator dialogue as this, nor illustrate the final product with such tangible awe at the wonder of creating something with your own hands. Eizouken’s fourth episode might actually be its best episode yet, and I’ve run out of patience waiting to revisit it. HERE WE GO!

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Alright everyone, we are bounding right back into Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken. This show’s first two episodes were both dazzling marvels of creativity and charm, simultaneously succeeding as an energetic slice of life and a loving celebration of the animation process. From its gorgeous backgrounds and fanciful dream sequences to its endearing and endlessly expressive leads, Yuasa’s latest is an embarrassment of riches on all fronts, and also about as much of a Me narrative as he could have possibly picked. I love small-scale, affectionate character stories like this, and I also love stories that directly interrogate the creative process; seeing one of my very favorite directors working on something so close to my heart is an incredible feeling. Without further ado, let’s get back to Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!

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