This is another series I will be reviewing with Karandi over on 100 Word Anime but she wanted to get her solo first impressions out of the way, and my brain can’t accept that I just start at episode 2. The world can’t work that way…
I’ve rarely seen my enthusiasm for anime so faithfully recreated in a show…
Eizouken seems pretty popular, at least with bloggers. I’ve seen quite a few episode 1 reviews pop up, so I’m going to assume most of you already know what the series is about so far. But for the few still out of the loop, here’s the super abridged recap:
Anime version of me Midori has always dreamt of creating anime but isn’t sure where to start. She considers anime as universes of adventure and miracles waiting to be explored. She also has an awesome best friend Sayaka who could be my best friend any day (sorry Becky). (I don’t actually know a Becky). One day she accidentally meets up and coming idol Tsubame and the three of them escape her handlers for an afternoon. This is when Midori learns that Tsubame also dreams of becoming and animator and for one afternoon, on the second floor of a laundromat, the explore the magic of anime together!
I wonder how much my synopses betray my feelings for a series.
I loved this one. Absolutely loved it. And that’s no surprise. All my fellow bloggers that know me a little better immediately pegged this series as something I would go nuts for. As much as I hate being so predictable, they were absolutely right.
It’s a character driven slice of life show, so that already bodes well. I love the art style and the switches between the show proper and Midori’s drawings add a lot to the visuals. This is possibly one of the most relatable casts I’ve ever seen in a very long time and I would love to be friends with all of those girls in real life. We could talk about anime so that would be fun!
I am curious about who/what the titular Eizouken is. My current working theory is that it’s the fictional universe the girls are going to create.
This said Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! isn’t a show that really needs to go anywhere as far as I’m concerned. Even if we just watch the girls calmly talk about what anime means to each of them and have occasional fantasies, that’s more than enough to keep me charmed!
I can’t wait to talk about this show with Karandi!
Well I guess I know by now that if you love it, I’ll love it.
This is a love letter to anime itself. A well written one!
Eizouken is a short form of the Japanese words for “video research”, so it refers to the [video research] club Kanamori suggests Asakusa should create. I’m still scratching my head on why someone chose not to translate that word but translate everything else in the localised title, though…
Thank you. I ended up looking it up after episode 2. It was surprisingly difficult since the anime was all that came up. (It’s super popular). I ended up with “video ticket”…
Specifically, 映像 (eizou) means “video” and 券 (ken) means “ticket” (among other things), but the kanji used is actually 研, short for 研究 (read “kenkyuu”, which means “study” or “research” (the noun in both cases)). To be honest, I checked the website and Japanese Wikipedia page and they never seem to call Eizouken by its full name, so thank goodness Anime News Network helped me parse exactly how the characters were broken down…(which in turn, helped me figure out how you got what you did.)
Couldn’t agree more! The show is able to display what normally goes in my head but can’t put it on words or pictures haha
This sort of zany irreverence is right up my street. 😀
It’s delightful
I can’t watch the opening, and the dragonfly flight was also troubling my motion sickness, but I don’t care. This is such an awesome anime that a little headache isn’t going to stop me. And like Fred say, this is very likely the anime of the season. I haven’t seen anything that even comes close (wait, mybe Hanako-kun; that was excellent as well.) Can’t wait for more.
Hanako was on my list too but don’t have the platform. Seems Eizouken is pretty universally liked
The season has just begun and I’m very close to declaring this to be the best new show of winter 2020. That’s how much I loved it!
It was wonderful