Since 2019 is finally coming to an end, it’s time to take a look at the top five shows for this year since I only completed 14 titles this year. We will also take a look briefly at the top ten shows of the decade. As always, this list is subjective.
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Shirobako
12 Days of Anime for 2015 and Merry Christmas
It is that time of year again, it’s time to share my 12 anime moments for this year, a tradition I do every year. Since I am busy with work, I decide to do it in one shot.
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The Dark Side Behind the Glamor or Why Being a Voice Actor in Japan is Difficult
Earlier this year, I have focused on how being an animator is tough given the poor working conditions, salary and being overworked in general. However, I have not covered the other aspect of anime production, voice acting. As seen with Shizuka in Shirobako having extreme difficulty in landing in a role, there are a good number of people who want to become a voice actor or rather, a seiyuu (声優), but they do not realize how difficult it is to gain a role.
Like I did with my analysis on how much animators make, I will focus on some of the basic aspects in regards to how people become voice actors, how much they are paid, how roles are determined and issues they face.
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Life Lessons – Relating with Shizuka’s Difficulties – Should you Chase a Passion?
Since its airing, Shirobako gave a good glimpse of the Anime Industry on how it works and the issues surrounding it with some that are interesting to discuss about. Now, I am going to take a look at the last aspect, should you chase your passion or pursue a career that pays well?
Sure, the other four girls (Aoi, Ema, Misa and Midori) had an easier time getting their foot in their door, but there is one girl who had an extremely difficult time and her name is Sakaki Shizuka. The difficulties she faced comes at no surprise considering that the voice acting industry is very competitive and there are only so many roles to go around at a given time. Was it worth it at the end to pursue such a career? Could she have done things differently?
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Shirobako – Final Review
After PA Works finish producing a failure known as Glasslip, they have to come up with something that no studio has done before to make up for it. With that, they decided to make a show about anime production called Shirobako (白箱, lit white box), which focus on five girls trying to make it in an industry that is hard to get into.
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Shirobako – Episode 24 (END) – Crossing the Finish Line and Looking towards the Future
At last, Musani is almost at the finish line. Can they get the finished product to all the TV stations on time?
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Weekly Anime Impressions – Winter 2015 – Week 11 – Dog Days Double Dash and Shirobako
It took awhile, but Shizuka finally did it…
Also, this is the last Anime Weekly post for this season and I will be doing final impressions next week.
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Weekly Anime Impressions – Winter 2015 – Week 10 – Shirobako and Dog Days Double Dash
We are heading to the home stretch with only two more weeks until most of the winter shows concludes.
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Weekly Anime Impressions – Winter 2015 – Week 9 – Shirobako and Dog Days Double Dash
This week has been bad (not only traffic noticeably dropped in the past few days, but also in real life) as the Job Search appears more difficult than I thought. While it’s easy to relate to Shizuka for the fact that she still haven’t received a voice acting role and got rejected many times, she hasn’t given up. I shouldn’t let this setback bother me too much considering that others have it a lot worse. Eventually, it will come.
Now that I vented my disappointment out, it’s time to focus on this week’s Anime impressions…
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Weekly Anime Impressions – Winter 2015 – Week 8 – Shirobako and Dog Days Double Dash
February has finally come to a quick end and winter is almost over. We are finally at the home stretch now!
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Weekly Anime Impressions – Winter 2015 – Week 7 – Shirobako and Dog Days Double Dash
If you didn’t know, today is Maekawa Miku’s birthday, which lands on “Cat Day” in Japan since two in Japanese almost sound like a cat when said consecutively. Yep, I just learned something new…
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Weekly Anime Impressions – Winter 2015 – Week 6 – Shirobako and Dog Days Double Dash
Happy Singles Appreciation Day! It’s not like I’m lonely or anything…
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Weekly Anime Impressions – Winter 2015 – Week 5 – Shirobako and Dog Days Double Dash
Cold snaps and snow is making me feel a bit lazy…
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All Work and No Pay – Being a Japanese Animator is Tough
Just little over five years ago, I have done some research on how the Anime industry works and of course, I have only covered the surface. Shirobako, which started airing back in October of last year. Not only it reveals how anime is produced, but also blew open some of the internal issues in the industry, especially in regards to the animation studios.
With that, I will be focusing on animator’s wages, working conditions and its implications on the industry as a whole. Also, what steps should the industry take to deal with these issues?
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Weekly Anime Impressions – Winter 2015 – Week 4 – Shirobako and Dog Days Double Dash
While the blizzard was a complete bust, at least we got to see some nice moments with Ema.
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Weekly Anime Impressions – Winter 2015 – Week 3 – Shirobako and Dog Days Double Dash
Sadly, deadlines are meant to be broken after all…
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Shirobako – Episode 13 – A New Year and More Work for Aoi
The New Year barely started and Aoi is already stressed out after taking on a higher position of becoming the production desk.
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Production Values and Anime – Is “Let’s Fix it in the Blu-ray Release” a Bad Excuse for Lack of Quality?
Animation quality is one of the aspects of Anime that viewers tend to judge first hand when determining how good the production values are for a show. The sad fact is that animation mistakes regardless of the studio are bound to happen. Animation studios work on a very tight schedule and because of that, they might not have enough time to check every key frame before having to give the finished episode to the station to air. As a result, these errors usually get fixed later on, namely for the Blu-ray/DVD release.
To me, I think it is always in the best interest for the animation studio to make them not too noticeable and then fix it while enhancing some scenes in the final release. However, what implications will arise if studios decide to take advantage of this fact and air a half-finished product to entice people to buy the physical releases? Let’s find out.
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Shirobako – Episode 12 – Learning a Thing from a Veteran Animator
Since I didn’t cover the last episode for the first half of Shirobako, it’s time to find out if Musashino Animation will finish the final episode or not…
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Best and Worst Anime of 2014
It’s almost the end of the year and since I have shared my thoughts on what games I enjoyed in 2014, I will focus on the top 5 shows that I enjoyed and completed during the year.
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Weekly Anime Impressions – Fall 2014 – Week 11 – Ore Twintail and Shirobako Episode 11
Christmas is almost here and the full 12 Days of Anime is the next thing on my list. It will come out by Tuesday.
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Weekly Anime Impressions – Fall 2014 – Week 10 – Ore Twintail and Shirobako Episode 10
Christmas is almost here and I am busy with exams… I will be focusing on the 12 days of Anime (will be done in one post), top Japanese Video Games and Anime in the coming days.
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Weekly Anime Impressions – Fall 2014 – Week 9 – Ore Twintail and Shirobako Episode 9
Finals are coming, so I’m going to be somewhat busy. The good news, I already beaten Pocket Monsters Omega Ruby and the full review is coming on Tuesday/Wednesday.
Now, for the Anime impressions.
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