The delightful cast are keeping things bouncing along in Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken this week as the girls finish repairing their new club room and then start plotting to secure an actual budget from the school to fund their activities. The irony being they need to produce something to be acknowledged and be given a budget but they have limited time and practically no money left to do that. Fortunately, they have a wealth of imagination at their disposal. How did you find the episode Irina?
Basically, for me Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken is steady as she goes. No real deviation from set up and expectations of episode 1. And I LOVED episode 1 so this is a pretty huge compliment I’m giving here. I didn’t think the series would keep up its momentum this well and it still has plenty of time to lose its way. However if I were the type of person that followed the three episode rule, Eizouken would have passed with flying colours.
There was just something really fun about watching these girls interact this week. Whether they are repairing a building or planning a short animation, their flights of fancy and exuberant personalities overflow. The only time Tsubame didn’t seem to be loving every minute of life was when they were on the train and she was recognised as a model. It was only a brief moment but it did remind me that her parents really don’t want her involved in an anime club so I wonder when that is going to become a point of concern in the story.
I’m not sure. I figure the more pressing problem, as Kanamori keeps reminding us, will just be to keep the club going under school regulations. To be honest I’m pretty amazed they didn’t shut it down after the footage of Midori’s accident went on TV. Mind you, they had the girls repairing a shaky rooftop this week so I’m thinking this particular school’s safety regulations are a bit lax. I know this would never have been allowed at my school. I’m not entirely sure they would have let us handle hammers. Which may explain my tendency to destroy everything as soon as I have a hammer… Teach your kids to use hammers is the point here. Wait, we were talking about anime…
I really loved their imaginings this week. I felt the transition between the real and their fantasies that they wanted to draw were incredibly well integrated. And it wasn’t just once or twice. They went through multiple settings and ideas between the roof repairs and then through choosing a setting and a story. As always, the passion for animation is so clear in Eizouken and this anime is almost become a love letter to animators.
I mentioned it last week. Eizouken has gorgeous movement and we really saw it in Machety Girl vs Tank (title subject to change). I enjoy Midori’s tech based fantasies but it was nice seeing a character in the sketch world for a change. And plotted action always makes me really excited. It’s like seeing the anime’s inner workings. I get just as sucked in as the girls do and I almost want to start an anime club as well. Think I can get a bunch of our stuffy lawyers to draw cartoons with me in a shed? Bet we can work around copyright pretty smoothly if nothing else. And there would be nothing else!
I am not doing a great job sticking to the episode this week.. I really liked it and I hope the readers are having fun with it as well!
There’s just no down side so far. Despite the generic club set-up and the usual issues of a teacher opposed, possible later parent interference and the need to secure a budget, the cast here is delightful and the three girls make every moment of the episode a real treat to watch. Throw in learning a bit more about animation and just seeing what the girls dream of creating and its all just great fun.
Thanks for Reading From
Irina and Karandi
Follow along with all episode reviews of Keep Your Hands off Eizouken.
Images from: Keep Your Hands of Eizouken. Dir. Masaaki Yuasa. Science SARU. 2020.
There really is no downsides to this series so far. I just love it.
Same here!
CGDCT done right!
I’m not sure I would even call it CGDCT. It really doesn’t follow much of the tropes so far aside from a female main cast. But what do I know