Reviews

Creativity is a weird thing, but why do we even make art? Is it simply the strive to be original and make something that doesn't exist? Is it a showcase of our talents? Is it something we do to make others happy? Maybe it's just a way of expressing ourselves. But one thing many artists have in common is their emotional connection to their work; the anxiety and self-doubt that comes when that thing you made didn't come as good as you hoped or when you spend a long time on something only for nobody to notice it, but also the sense of accomplishment and fulfilment when you make something you're really proud of. Maybe you're too hard on yourself and are never happy with your work, or maybe you just love creating regardless of what the end product comes out looking like.

Urahara felt to me like an expression of that creative process. It's a show which itself is amateurish in many ways, but which has that underlying charm to it and passion behind it that made me respect and enjoy it much more than I ever thought I would. If you try to judge this show from a purely technical standpoint, you'd probably conclude it's not that good; The art style is rough and the animation is anything but fluid. It looks low-budget, and it may very well be low-budget, but I feel like from a design standpoint, it absolutely works. It's an aesthetic that works wonderfully with with the premise, themes and messages within Urahara, specifically the positive view it has on the process of creating art as means of expression rather than as a laborious process to achieve a high technical standard for other people to consume.

This is a stylish and eccentric and fairly abstract show which takes a ton of risks, many of which I felt absolutely paid off. It's one of the most unusual and experimental anime I've seen in quite a while and I couldn't help but tune in every week to watch another episode. It's a show that leans much more on its general themes, light-hearted aesthetic and charming, relateable characters than on trying to tell any kind of complex story. If that sounds like your thing, you should definitely give this rather bizarre and colourful show a chance.