ZENSHUU.

DESCRIPTION

CAST

REVIEWS

• 

  FenrirBlack22

  90/100
  A True Love Letter to Anime and Animation

  An absolute love letter to the cheesiest corniest most beloved beautiful story telling tropes and beats in all of anime. One of the best anime original anime I've ever seen and one of the best anime I've seen in a good while. Solid 9/10. It would have been a 10/10 Masterpiece it played the story too safe. It was predictable a lot of the time and very by the book. You could follow the three arc structure it had going episode by episode which while could be intentional seeing how the show was based on a movie within the story. If that was the case then bravo for such meta storytelling. An absolute love letter to the cheesiest corniest most beloved beautiful story telling tropes and beats in all of anime.
  The characters were phenomenal. Some more than others. Memmeln felt very under utilized despite having her own personal tragedy and character growth but it was so short and felt like too easy of a change for someone with such deep seated anxiety and issues. The Bird Director was probably the biggest disappointment. She was neither an ally or an enemy. Just a random inclusion despite being such a significant figure when it came to "A Tale of Perishing". Her inclusion had a lot of potential as an antagonist but it never went anywhere and frankly if was removed all together nothing would change. Luke, Unio, Justice, and of course our heroine Natsuko win the gold star for not only being just great characters but each having their own well rounded character arcs and development. This show was not carried by the plot or the references to other anime, but these characters.
  Shifting to the plot, it was very by the book. A character like Natsuko struggling with pressure that came with success and her own shortcomings sent to a world where she is given god like powers and omnipotence as she struggles to use said powers and knowledge to change a fate written in stone. She did everything she was supposed to do for a character. She struggled, grew, evolved, and in the end over came her short comings established in the first episodes. It was well executed, handled, and animated with incredible skill and grace. It was also safe. Nothing really stood out about her character or the story as a whole. The anime reference and easter eggs were a nice touch for any anime fans but overall the plot was standard, safe, and predictable. Everything from beginning to the last scene was exactly what one would expect from a series like this. It was amazing, beautiful, and exciting to watch as well.
  In a lot of ways, Zenshu's predictability is part of its charm. It truly is a love letter to the 3 arc structure of story telling and all those movies, shows, and stories that follow it. It was not trying to rewrite the rules because it was celebrating them. This series is a celebration of anime and animation.

  Continue on AniList
• 

  TheAnimeBingeWatcher

  60/100
  Old Mappa is back, and it's (mostly) a relief.

  It feels like Mappa has become the most hated high-profile anime studio in recent years. Between their exploitative work practices and their tendency to gobble up every high-profile shonen they can get their hands on, I get the sense that most people are just tired of talking about them- and their equally noxious fandom- as anything more than a representation of everything wrong with the current anime landscape. But there was a time, dear zoomers, before Mappa lost its way. There was a time when it was known not for being an endless grist mill, but as a factory for the most exciting, revolutionary anime on the market. Kids on the Slope, Terror in Resonance, Yuri on Ice, Dororo, Banana Fish, Sarazanmai... from bold, transformative manga adaptations to original series from the most talented creatives in the business, Mappa's output was unique and audacious and like nothing else in the medium. And while it was often far too ambitious for its own good- some things never change, sadly- that spirit of undaunted risk-taking is what everyone in this medium should aspire towards.

  All this is to say, Zenshu is the most Old Mappa show that Mappa's made in at least half a decade, and I couldn't be more thankful for it

  It's also one of the most frustrating series to talk about, as it feels like everyone wrote this off long before it released. Not because of anything in the show itself, but because the advertising made people jump to conclusions about it that weren't actually true. "Lol, Mappa's making a show about an animator dying from overwork? Tone deaf much?" And it pisses me off because it feels like so many people completely dismissed Zenshu based on something that isn't even a little bit true. Genius animator Hirose Natsuko isn't done in by overwork, but by a rotten clam lunch. And her story isn't focused on the plight of modern anime working conditions at all. Not that Mappa shouldn't be criticized for its godawful work practices, but that's just not the territory Zenshu is exploring, and it doesn't deserve to be raked over the coals for having different goals than Shirobako.

  It also, frankly, doesn't really deserve the "isekai" label either. At least, not in the modern sense. Yes, Natsuko's death takes her into a fantasy world where she's granted special powers, but there's nary a Dragon Quest reference or stat screen to be found. Rather, this is much more in the realm of classic 90s portal fantasy: think Inyuasha, Escaflowne, Magic Knight Rayearth. Shows where the magical world the protagonist is transported to is a richly detailed and unique fantasy setting, and where the focus isn't on harem-building or stat-grinding, but on the main heroine's personal journey as she overcomes the demons that plagued her in the real world through her trials in the fantasy world. It's a show brimming with nostalgia for the shoujo-tinged days of this genre's past; and in fact, it soon becomes clear that Zenshu is a love letter to all of anime's past, and to the very power of storytelling itself.

  You see, Natsuko isn't just transported to any old fantasy world by her run-in with week-old clams. Instead, she finds herself in the world of A Tale of Perishing, the movie that inspired her to become an animator when she saw it as a kid. It's a bizarre, aesthetically jumbled mishmash of fantasy tropes in which the world is endangered by monsters called Voids, seeking to destroy a mystical gem known as the Soul Future which is protected by humanity's last remaining city. Eight other Soul Futures have already been shattered; if this one goes too, the world ends. Humanity's fate rests in the hands of the Nine Soldiers, an elite band of heroes led by the dashing-but-immature Luke Braveheart, which also includes an elf archer, a shit-talking plush unicorn, and an Aztec-inspired living computer. And if you're wondering what happened to the other five, well... let's just say A Tale of Perishing is not the happiest of movies, and Natsuko's arrival marks a chance to change this world's tragic fate.

  It may sound like I'm being blase about that tragedy, but I think that's the intended takeaway, at least at first. Something that becomes clear through the early parts of the show is that the movie A Tale of Perishing that Natsuko loves so much is, well... bad. Really bad. Most of the characters are cardboard archetypes, the plot derails for the sake of the most distressed damsel to ever be damseled in distress, and one of the main characters turns traitor and tries to destroy the world and it's never explained why. No, I'm not joking. Natsuko even makes a point to mention that not even the supplementary materials and side novels explain why. It's no wonder it ended up such a flop in Natsuko's world. But she saw it at just the right time, and flaws and all, it lit a fire under her that led her to pursue animation with a passion that drove out all other interests... and most other people as well. By the time we meet her in the present, she's grown into a control freak who tries to do tackle everything in the production by herself. And if you know anything about animation, you can probably guess the kind of strain that had on her before reincarnation gave her a chance to perform fix-it fanfic on the story that started it all for her.

  And it's here that Zenshu reveals the true reason for its inception: Natsuko's special power is the power to summon legendary animation techniques. To fight the approaching Void swarms and give A Tale of Perishing a happy ending, she's granted a magic peg bar that allows her to summon whatever she draws into the world as weapons to save the day. And she uses that power to call forth the most iconic, influential bits of animation throughout anime's history, from Nausiccaa's legendary God-Warrior to a full-on Itano Circus that was guest-storyboarded by the very man who gave his name to that particular technique of animating missile barrages flying across the sky. All of which are rendered in gorgeous sketchy line art, like watching the unfinished storyboards on an animator's drawing sheet spring to life, notations and all. It's absolutely stunning, and if you're any kind of anime history buff you're gonna have so much fun picking out all the references.

  But this isn't just nostalgia for nostalgia's sake; all this history knowledge and 90s-fantasy throwback vibes are crucial to understand Natsuko as a character. She's someone who's become disconnected from the reasons she fell in love with anime in the first place, crushed by her own self-imposed perfectionism and unwillingness to compromise on her vision. Like so many hardcore otaku, she's trapped in her own narrow world, unable to connect with the people around her and lacking the real world experience necessary to communicate something meaningful with her own art. But now, thrust into the retro-styled world of the movie that first inspired her, fighting back against monsters that represent despair using the techniques that have inspired countless animators throughout the years? Now, at last, she has a chance to get out of her head and remember why she chose this path in life. By reconnecting with her past, and with anime's past as a whole, she might just be able to grow out of her self-absorbed attitude and become a creator capable of connecting her art with the world around her and the people within it. Provided, of course, she can change this world's fate before it follows the movie to its nihilistic conclusion.

  What's disappointing, sadly, is it feels like Zenshu doesn't ultimately take any of these ideas as far as it could. Moment to moment, it's immensely fun to watch, with gorgeous animation and world design whether it's a pitched battle or just the characters hanging out. But when I look back on it as a whole, it doesn't feel like any of these rich thematic threads really amounted to much beyond "Yeah, that's a thing that exists." There's a twist with A Tale of Perishing's original creator that just sort of exists, there's a dark reveal about the nature of Natsuko's powers that also just sort of exists, there are questions raised about the nature of this fictional world and whether or not it's responsible to try and "fix" a work of art that's already been completed, but in the end those questions, well, just sort of exist. And as a result, an ending that should feel world-shaking lands with a weak sort of "eh." I'm the easiest lay for art about art and stories about stories, but I really found myself struggling to care all that much about where Natsuko's journey was headed or what lessons she was supposed to learn when all was said and done.

  How could this be fixed? I don't know. But what Zenshu really needed, in my opinion, was an editor to help it focus on what it was trying to say. Maybe it should've spent more time exploring Natsuko's feelings about A Tale of Perishing and how her relationship with it changes now that she's an adult with more discerning taste. Maybe it should've focused more on the relationship between art and audience, and what responsibility they have to each other when you find problems in a work you like. Hell, maybe it should have taken the corporate exploitation angle and had Natsuko been ground down through years of awful working conditions before rediscovering her passion for the art form through reconnecting with its formative past. I dunno, it feels like there's so much opportunity for Zenshu to be about more than it actually ends up being about.

  But maybe that's kind of poetic in its own way. After all, this is a show about what it means to connect with a piece of art despite its flaws and love it even as you constantly wish it could've been a better, more complete version of itself. And that's pretty much where I'm at with Zenshu. I like it for what it is, even as I see all the ways it could've been so much more, and I'm probably gonna spend a lot of time wondering how I would "fix" this story if I was ever given the chance to help it realize its full potential. I doubt that was the creators' intention, but it feels like the perfect takeaway regardless. And if nothing else, I hope Mappa starts making shows like this again. Anime's lifeblood needs shows like Zenshu, even when they don't fully pan out. If it can balance its all-consuming greed with the passion for creativity that inspired it in the first place- and do so without crunching its animators into wallpaper paste- this industry will be a much better place.

  Continue on AniList
• 

  luxray978

  70/100
  A flagging start and a shallow world overshadow some good ideas

  Animation/Visual style

  As expected since MAPPA is working on Zenshuu the animation is extremely fluid and several creative shots make good use of the team’s skills. The combat animation is very cool and even the sketches and paper creatures look great. There's not much to say here besides top-class work. However a caveat here is that I didn’t find the visual style to be very unique, and the design of the world was largely generic. I guess that fits with the “forgotten XO’s movie” idea but I still didn't like it.

  Plot and themes:

  I found the overarching themes of Zenshuu interesting but I didn’t find them handled particularly well. The monster of the week format for the first half doesn’t work for me and many of the themes go very underexplored. Finally, the world-building is extremely shallow to the point where it goes beyond the point of being nothing and becomes actively distracting.

  The aforementioned Monster of the Week episodes lack interesting monsters or solutions for most of them. They resolve with Natsuko drawing something from pop media and then the credits roll for the vast majority. They don’t bring anything to the table besides allowing the romance to progress a bit in the background. As such this time could’ve been spent on a more interesting plot device or exploring the many characters that lacked proper development in the show. I’m aware that for many people seeing references to animation history was cool and fun but I think this could’ve been integrated in a more interesting way than simply pointing at previous things. I would give a pass if this tied into a larger theme or arc around Natsuko being unable to create original media and overcoming that but it does not. They begin to improve on these towards the end of these episodes but the damage is already done in making me sit through the previous uninteresting fights.

  In my opinion, the main themes of Zenshuu are First love, Oblivion/Depression, and feelings of inadequacy. Of these, the first is given the most screen time and is handled the best with a consistent and satisfying slow buildup and great integration through the vignette episode midway through the series. As for the last two they are certainly touched upon but I felt their integration to be weak despite the sudden heavy focus given to Natsuko's feeling of inadequacy. It’s a shame because I think both could’ve been the basis for an interesting show but ended up cluttering things and serving to push things out.

  Zenshuu’s world-building generally occurs when characters have to pass through something for plot reasons or an offhand comment. As such things feel very empty and as a viewer, it’s sometimes hard to take the stakes seriously because of it. There’s no significant explanation for what’s going on or why people believe the things they do with one notable well-done exception over the course of an episode.

  Character Design:
  Character designs were at first annoying and then transitioned into being mostly nothing to me with the exception of Justice and Natsuko. While I’m aware it’s partially the “point” to have the 9 soldiers designs be scattered it still feels really bizarre at the start. As the series progresses they manage to work around this better and scenes feel a lot less weird but it was extremely distracting for me until I got used to them. Even after that, I found them to be pretty nothing with them being simple pastiches of other media. Justice’s design and VA are really cool and his swoon-worthy persona is accentuated by how he moves when he’s interacting with Natsuko. Natsuko is by far the standout with her hair covering her eyes serving as a unique design element and a great way to display her mental state.

  Character:
  As far as the characters themselves I find all of them besides the main duo to be extremely shallow even though many change throughout the story. Those that change feel less like a dynamic change taking course through the story and more like a switch being flipped to change them between modes. The prime example of this is probably a period late in the show where a character reverts their personality changes before immediately switching back again. However, the character who becomes convinced to give up their firmly held beliefs by kinda nothing and sticks with it is also not great. Unio is the closest to having a fully developed arc and I became a focal point for my attention, especially towards the end but things still feel shallow there.

  Natsuko and Luke’s relationship on the other hand is handled really well. Watching the slow-burn romance is really fun and the way both Luke and Natsuko change as he realizes his feelings and she becomes more connected to the world is very cute. This dynamic was what kept me watching week-week and without it, I would probably have dropped the show.

  Treatment of women:

  Despite having a female protagonist Zenshuu has close to nothing to say about women’s role in society or their treatment. Destiny’s arc is kinda saying something about the way belief in powerlessness can reinforce it but it’s extremely shallow. A more critical observer may even find some distaste for the way the show seems to imply that situations like being trapped in an arranged marriage are easy to leave.

  Sound: :
  The sound design in the dark scenes stood out to me as a good way to show the change in tone.  There’s some good foley and other effects mixed in as well which I enjoyed. The sound is generally effective throughout the series but never massively stood out to me besides in the last episode. Besides that I found the OP to be a cool song and I added the artist to my music rotation so I would consider that a win. I can’t comment on the lyrics or how appropriate they are because I don’t speak Japanese so I’ll leave that to other people.

  Conclusion:

  Zenshuu is a very pretty show that often feels like it has the same issues as the poorly received old anime films it parodies at times. Worldbuilding and character development are shallow with the exception of the main cast and I found much of the early show to be quite a drag. Nevertheless, it manages to rally towards the end and create enough emotional impact through its main duo to push itself up to something interesting. As such my final rating is a 7/10,  If you really like isekai, are dying for a female lead slow-burn romance, or really want to see some references to old animation check out Zenshuu. 

  Continue on AniList

SIMILAR ANIMES YOU MAY LIKE

• ANIME

  ActionRe:CREATORS
• ANIME

  AdventureEizouken ni wa Te wo Dasu na!
• MOVIE

  DramaLook Back
• ANIME

  ComedySHIROBAKO
• MOVIE

  ComedySHIROBAKO Movie
• SPECIAL

  AdventureSHIROBAKO: Gekichuugeki Animation
• ANIME

  ComedyAnime-Gataris
• MOVIE

  ComedyEiga Daisuki Pompo-san
• MOVIE

  ComedySaenai Heroine no Sodatekata Fine
• ANIME

  ComedyComic Girls
• ANIME

  ActionKyousougiga (TV)
• ANIME

  ActionFlip Flappers