But passion is nothing without a source to draw inspiration from, and Eizouken stresses that animation is not invented purely from the mind of the artist. Everything the girls create is a product of their own interactions with their surrounding environment. Animation is in fact directly inspired by real life interactions, even though we tend to think of it as fantasy. This explains why animation styles and themes in works are so different across cultures. Same with film, literature, anything of the sort. This is a detail that detractors of animation will miss as they denounce the field as a "waste of time" or a product of childhood immaturity, as opposed to a compliment to the world we live in today.
Passion is also nothing without a proper support system, whether that be financial or peer companionship. Kanamori, Asakusa and Mizusaki fit together like puzzle pieces and as a trio work towards achieving a common goal. Kanamori is perhaps the oddest figure of the bunch in her complete lack of artistic talent, but her blunt rationality is no less valuable than the ability to draw. She is the defacto producer of the group who leads the decision making process and maneuvers her team around conflict so that they can focus on their strengths without arbitrary interruption. I can see people who have aspirations about working in the animation industry but have no actual artistic talent being inspired by her ability to contribute to a successful team. I certainly am.
There are no major conflicts in Eizouken, in the sense of some catastrophic danger or an evil antagonist who threatens to thwart the heroes plans. The story moves forward at a brisk pace without annoying interruptions causing things to screech to an halt. But there are many micro-hurdles that are nonetheless threatening to the completion of their projects. For example, one of the early issues is hand drawn versus computer generated animation. Even though Ayakasa and Mizusaki want to hand draw everything to ensure best quality, this may not be practical because of time constraints and they are forced to consider using the method available to them that's most efficient. "Nothing matters if we don't finish it" - wise sage Kanamori. This serves as commentary on anime that fall short of their visual potential because of financial and staff limitations that force studios to cut corners. It's not really an indictment on the people working on the show - these are some of the best artists on the planet - as much as the stress placed upon them to crank out episodes on a strict deadline and having limited resources available to them. There's a good deal of commentary on the dilemmas faced by animators who are not always able to control the quality of their work, and not always free to take liberties in their artwork away from the structure of a a project due to concerns about audience interests.
Unlike many other anime of this ilk that are concerned with convincing an audience of why an industry is great, Eizoken does not preach to us through repetitive monologues. Eizouken chooses to express the values of animation through...get this...animation. Even if you don’t get all of what the characters are saying - it's fairly easy for the viewer to lose track in the midst of the many impassioned rambles - you can understand it through the visual spectacle and character enthusiasm. This is something Yuasa excels in with all of his shows, never feels like he has an agenda that he’s expressing through his characters, even though he usually does.
The lone flaw I see in Eizouken is that it there is so much more potential beyond final episode. The ending is not an abrupt one. There are no cliffhangers. But it was so much fun to watch the club work towards the completion of projects that you wish there was another cour to continue watching their journey into the future. This isn't enough of an issue to drop the score below a 10, however, as the 12 episodes we get are awesome as is.
I try not to make premature AOTY proclamations in March...but if anything tops theis experience I'd consider us lucky as fans of animation. This is the type of anime that'll make you appreciate the industry even more than you do now, even if you think that isn't possible.
