Shirobako

Synopsis

On the rooftop of Musashino Animation's studio, Aoi pleads with Erika to take her job as production desk and then blames herself for the problems happening lately. Erika then advises Aoi to go home for the night and get some rest so she can get rid of her stress by the next morning. The next day, as Aoi, Watanabe, and the entire production desk discuss how to handle the issues with Studio Taitanic, Erika goes with Hiraoka, who is actually a former acquaintance of hers, over to Taitanic's office so they could help out with the fifth episode. Eventually, she selects Hiroshi Iketani as Yakushiji's replacement. Meanwhile, Marukawa takes Aoi to the offices of the bankrupt Musashino Pictures studio, which produced Aoi's favorite anime Andes Chucky, much to her own surprise. As Marukawa explains to her how anime used to be made, Aoi asks if people are actually able to make interesting anime today. Then, Marukawa recounts how both he and Ookura worked on Andes Chucky alongside Sugie and shows her that even animation production back then was stressful, but also rewarding and fun. In a flashback, a younger Marukawa and Ookura introduce their own background for a blizzard scene, which is nearly rejected by Musashino Pictures' higher staff since they are still rookies, but eventually accepted. Aoi then watches a leftover scene from Andes Chucky, which inspires her to keep having fun while she makes an even better anime. Later, as Musashino gets Iketani up to speed with the episode production, Aoi pays a visit to Ookura and becomes amazed by his finished background. (Source: Wikipedia)