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I truly do not understand what this anime is trying to accomplish and am fascinated by how ambitious it is visually while being seeming devoid of any meaningful themes (so far?). I think I’m willing to stick around for the rest of this show to see if it ends up developing into anything meaningful, but at this point I seriously doubt it.
It’s a pretty straightforward theme about how an animator visiting her childhood muse to escape from writers block?
It’s not a complex theme but it’s honestly a common feeling for creators. When you get stuck you daydream about what you found fun in your childhood.
Unlike a lot of other anime about being a loser who does nothing, Zenshu is actually a decent mindset for a go getter animator. We all get stuck and sometimes overworked. But we can often find inspiration from our childhood memories.
That seems like it might be what they’re going for, but my problem with it is that we haven’t seen her actually engage with this idea very much. What is it she likes about this old movie? All we’ve seen from her is her complaints about it (QJ being useless, Destiny causing problems for no reason, etc). The things she draws to resolve the conflicts also seem like they should tie in to those themes because they’re ideas pulled from other anime, but she doesn’t engage with any of them as a fan either. It’d go a long way if we got some flashbacks of her watching or fangirling about the stuff that inspired her, or really anything that shows us how excited she used to be about animation.
TBH, I feel like Zenshu’s biggest strength right now is that it has a lot of space for viewers to bring their own ideas and themes related to artistic endeavors and insert them into the story, which I can understand being enjoyable for some people, but for me that just ends up feeling like they forgot a big piece of the heart of the story.
I mean, the problem is that she needs to write a romcom and she has writers block on that.
The introduction of Destiny Heartwarming and her enjoyment of Luke x Destiny interacting is clearly on the path towards the romance angle and RomCom inspiration.
If I were to say anything about this, it’s being too obvious and direct for me. It feels really predictable where it’s all going. But the themes seem crystal clear to me because of how predictable all this setup is.
ZenShu isn’t aiming to be a masterpiece or a complex story at all. But that’s fine, it looks like it’s aim is at a relatively straightforward story and theme here.
They’ve also made it clear that Hirose is a bad team player and tries to do all the work herself despite having a huge team supporting her. I’m curious if she makes progress on that, and I feel like Unio is the character who will force her to learn how to work better with others.
I am to much of a human to let slide the disrespect for foreign cultures and religions. “Look at that silly thing they are doing! aren’t they hilarious! 😂😂😂” even though the people are holding value in it.
I feel a dichotomy between what it wants to be, a comedy show; and between what it ought to be, a serious exploration what it means to be a storyteller, tragedy and a thing you want to do with your life (animator vs director.)
I feel a dichotomy
I feel like it’s not succeeding at the latter, if that’s indeed what they’re going for
I love that she inadvertently fixed the sexist damsel in distress character just by pointing out that she could have agency (and giving her a role model).
I assume Serval Cat Mask was inspired by Kinnikuman as that’s the only pro-wrestling anime I know of and the moves looked pretty similar.
It’s probably Tiger Mask. I’ve never read or watched that, but it has been referenced a lot in other works too and the appearance / naming seems to fit.
Ah I was hoping someone would have a better idea, thanks!
This is getting quite boring. Uni is unbearable and so are a few other characters. The story is whatever (it’s barely there). The world is uninteresting. Natsuko is uninteresting and her powers are so one-note and such deus ex machinas. The best animation of each episode is essentially a prolonged magical girl transformation sequence after which she fervently draws as if it’s Dragon Ball Z characters punching really fast. And it’s repeated each episode.
I’m giving it one more ep and if it’s more of the same, I’m dropping it.
Episode Three of Mappa Flex: the Animation. Utterly amazing that they pull off movie-quality visuals so far. Would be a shame if they encounter production issues (knowing Mappa, it’s a possibility)
Ga-go, ga-go
Knowing Tagalog, I metaphorically spat my drink hearing that 💀
Hm, at the end it looks like Natsuko is noticing some of the suspicious behavior, which might not have been in the original story. Or maybe it was in the story and Natsuko is just playing it cool.
More Screenshots
That is my… Beautiful!
いけー
Victory!
Also, I like how the village chief’s attire serves as an excuse for Destiny’s clothing, but they don’t force feed you this excuse.
Also,
The only one who could make Luke smile from the bottom of his heart was Destiny.
meanwhile
Serval Cat Mask becomes the heroine.
Done!
