Series synopsis
SHIROBAKO is a Japanese animation comedy drama television series that premiered on Tokyo MX on October 9, 2014. It ended on March 26, 2015. It stars Haruka Yoshimura, Asami Takano and Hitomi Ohwada.
In a school in northeastern Japan, five friends in the animation club, Aoi, Ema, Shizuka, Misa, and Midori swear to complete a new anime called "Shinbutsu Konkou SHICHIFUKUJIN" with some donuts. Since then, day after day, the five spend all of their time on anime production. The awe of going from rough sketches to animation, and the awkward acting in the after-recording session... The final product was finished at the cultural fair six months later. After they graduated they still pursued animat ...
Premise
In a school in northeastern Japan, five friends in the animation club, Aoi, Ema, Shizuka, Misa, and Midori swear to complete a new anime called "Shinbutsu Konkou SHICHIFUKUJIN" with some donuts. Since then, day after day, the five spend all of their time on anime production. The awe of going from rough sketches to animation, and the awkward acting in the after-recording session... The final product was finished at the cultural fair six months later. After they graduated they still pursued animation and swore on some donuts that they would make another anime together.
Cast and characters
Leading cast
- Haruka Yoshimura as Ema Yasuhara (voice)
- Asami Takano as Misa Todo (voice)
- Hitomi Ohwada as Midori Imai (voice)
Guest cast
- Haruka Chisuga as Shizuka Sakaki (voice)
- Juri Kimura as Aoi Miyamori / Mimsy (uncredited) / Lolo (uncredited) (voice)
- Hiroyuki Yoshino as Taro Takanashi (voice)
- Shuuya Nishiji as Yutaka Honda (voice)
- Yoshitsugu Matsuoka as Tatsuya Ochiai (voice)
- Junji Majima as Yuichiro Shimoyanagi (voice)
- Motoi Koyanagi as Shigeru Sugie (voice)
- Kengo Takanashi as Yoshiki Sakura (voice)
- Hironori Saitoh as Hironori Madoka (voice)
- Ai Kayano as Rinko Ogasawara (voice)
- Fumihiko Inoue as Isamu Momose (voice)
- Atsushi Ono as Hiroichi Wakabashira (voice)
Episodes
This series spans 2 seasons with 26 episodes.
| Season | Episodes | First aired | Last aired |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season 0 | 2 | February 25, 2015 | July 29, 2015 |
| Season 1 | 24 | October 9, 2014 | March 26, 2015 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
''Exodus!'' Episode 1: Exit Tokyo Episode 1 of Musashino Animation's Exodus! Akane, Aya, and Arupin, the members of the idol group Tracy, stage a performance at a supermarket, but no one stops to listen to their singing. As the girls redress into maid costumes inside bathroom stalls, Arupin remains optimistic of the reception, pretending the trio is living perfect lives as idols instead of being employees at the supermarket. However, she is scolded by Akane, who chastises her for not facing the reality of their situation. After comparing the dismal number of their fans to the fanbase of a rival idol, Ginger, they receive a call from a woman they call their "Onee-san", who praises a performance video they sent her. The girls then eat some manjū, which inspires Akane to speak to the trio's manager, Taguchi. Arupin follows her, but loses her and then finds Taguchi lying dead in a pool of blood. At the crime scene is a bloody knife identical to the ones the girls kept as part of their costumes, along with a partial message written by Taguchi with his blood, beginning with the letter 'A'. Shortly after, Akane and Aya stumble upon the scene as well, then all three are spotted by a man, who assumes they murdered Taguchi and alerts security. The girls then receive a call from Onee-san on Taguchi's cellphone; she instructs them to flee. Taguchi's murder is assigned to Inspector Miho Koigakubo, who declares the girls wanted criminals. Near Musashino Dome, Akane reveals her dream to sing in Musashino Dome in front of a crowd of fans. They then receive another call from Onee-san, who informs them that they were identified as murder suspects and their fanbase skyrocketed as a result. Seconds later, they are spotted by a fan and retreat to a basement parking lot, where they find a motorbike supplied by Onee-san that they use to flee. After stealing a policeman's revolver, the girls managed to evade police on a boat, although they wind up losing their makeup in the process, surprising them as they had never seen each other before without makeup. |
February 25, 2015 |
| 2 |
''Third Aerial Girls Squad'' File:01: Falling Angel Episode 1 of Musashino Animation's "Third Aerial Girls Squad". |
July 29, 2015 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Exodus to Tomorrow! The members of the Kaminoyama Animation Club, Aoi, Ema, Shizuka, Misa and Midori swore upon donuts that one day, they would all work in the anime industry. Two and a half years later, they are heading toward those dreams and all the hardships that come with them. Aoi is now working as a production assistant at an animation studio and doing her best. After getting key frames from one of the animation supervisors, she returns to the office but there's no one around. |
October 9, 2014 |
| 2 |
Arupin is Here! Aoi is panicking a little at the fact that episode four is a little behind. She manages to enlist the help of Endou, the animation supervisor for episode three, and is able to stabilize things a bit. However, as soon as one hardship leads to another. While at the episode four dubbing, Aoi is present when the director and animation director are discussing retakes. The director is moved by one of the voice actor's performances, and starts talking about the scene not being right. |
October 16, 2014 |
| 3 |
No More Recap Episodes On top of being in charge of episode 4, Aoi is now also tasked with episode 9. Despite being a newbie and full of doubt, she manages to complete every task asked of her. However, when Honda asks her to report on her progress, she panics. Even though Yano is able to calm her down a little, Aoi is faced with key frames not being delivered and an animator not finishing his cut in time. |
October 23, 2014 |
Production
Release
| Original network/platform | Tokyo MX |
|---|---|
| First aired | October 9, 2014 |
| Last aired | March 26, 2015 |
| Runtime | 24 minutes |
| Status | Ended |
| Schedule | Thursday at 23:30:00 |