Episode 17 of Shirobako, titled “Where Am I…,” is currently streaming on Crunchyroll for paid members. Free members can watch this same episode six days from now on February 12th. The episode begins with crucial information about Musashino Animation’s production of the anime adaptation Third Girls Squadron has been made public, but is met with skepticism and negative reception from the otaku community let alone fans of the manga.
This is one of those demoralizing feelings that the people working for an anime studio can feel, but it is part of the territory. It is similar to how fans of a video game will criticize movies for not staying true to the original story.
Film directors Paul W.S. Anderson and Uwe Boll have been judged by video game fans for their interpretations of the games. Fans of the original The Walking Dead graphic novel may have criticism towards the live-action adaptation on AMC.
Honda’s return surprised me because he dropped a lot of weight, which is ironic because he let Masashino Animation to work at the local bakery to hone his professional baking skills. I would assume Honda’s weight would have kept the same or increased because he’s baking all these cakes, cookies, pies, and so on.
Apparently Seiichi is jealous and depressed at Honda’s drastic weight loss.
Things get serious when Chazawa drops a bomb on the studio’s lap by demanding that a promotional video be made by August 13th because that is the date of the Manga Festival. Chazawa lies through his teeth insisting that he told the studio about it in advance.
I have the feeling that Chazawa is expecting the series to fail and shift the blame on MusAni if it does. It becomes harder when Chazawa reveals that he wants the promotional video done by August 9th.
This episode was interesting to watch because it shows that people can never lose the capacity to learn.
Satou’s flaw in not being able to learn roads and streets is an example that she should learn to remember them, Shizuka is learning to be a character instead of voicing a character, and so on. All the individual subplots in the story connect together to encourage you to keep learning as much as you can and to learn from your mistakes.
