Produced by P.A. Works and directed by Tsutomu Mizushima (Another, Plastic Nee-san), Shirobako is a Slice-of-Life anime that aims to show the ins-and-outs of anime development and production by having main characters in every section of the industry.
The portrayal of the anime industry as shown here feels real, but also slightly exaggerated, to better create an enjoyable story and cast of characters. It also is very educational, showing step-by-step the production of anime and making each part seem equally important. I actually changed my view on producers because of it, as I originally thought they didn't do much for anime production, but I saw how wrong I was.
But that is not all of Shirobako. Beyond its "gimmick", there is a complex show with a vast cast of characters, that are actually developed and not only caricatures, and a fairly dramatic and well-executed story. The plot of the anime focus on the production of two anime and how the staff is affected by them. Despite the "normalness" of the story, it manages to make some fairly interesting twists along the way. Also, I felt that the story was perfectly paced and made the most of its 24 episodes.
The cast is absolutely gigantic, the numbers can even be intimidating. But whatever doubts I had about the quality of the character are put to rest fairly early on. Shirobako is actually littered with humane and quirky characters that are never just an exaggerated archetype. The absolute majority of the cast is developed and fleshed out during the duration of the anime. At multiple points, I was actually surprised that the creators managed to do so much with almost all characters in an actually short time, considering the numbers.
The art of Shirobako is pretty much always spot-on, from facial expressions to the background, despite not being that impressive to the eye. It never goes out of its way to exaggerate something, but what matters is detailed and well-thought by the art director. One thing that I found to be amazing were the eyes. They were always incredibly beautiful and showed a great deal of emotion, which was absolutely vital to the more character-focused moments.
The soundtrack is mostly composed of orchestral pieces that varies in tone according to the atmosphere of the scene. Some of the tracks are memorable, while others are missing something. Despite that, the tracks were always used to enhance the scenes.
The voice acting was, for the most part, great. Actually, some of the voice actresses were put in a fairly interesting position: they had to act out someone acting out, while still considering the feelings of the characters. I must say that the perfection of this particular scene was hugely impressive, specially in that regard.
I, as a "reviewer", loved every second of it. I adored how I could learn more on how anime is made, and how it still managed to be incredible in basically every other regard also. At some moments, I was laughing a lot (Oops, forgot to talk about the comedy! Spoiler: it is also great), while at others I was at the verge of crying. Somehow, Shirobako managed to do everything and be everything, and a bit more after that.
For enthusiastic fans of anime, this is, in my opinion, a must-watch. After it, your consideration for the products and the effort put on them may change, it happened to me, actually. For people who love quirky, but fleshed out characters, it is also a great recommendation. The only case someone might not like is if they watch only action-focused anime or want to watch a thriller.
