Zenshu: New MAPPA anime MC is a genius director struggling to cook up a rom-com

Cue the meta-references – MAPPA is producing an anime about making an anime. Capturing the struggles of an animator, the original TV animation Zenshu was officially announced on March 22, 2024, and along came other details about the upcoming series still in production. Mitsue Yamasaki and Kimiko Ueno’s original story revolves around Natsuko Hirose, a recent high school graduate who pursues her professional aspirations as an animator.
Branded a genius director, the young woman’s debut anime garners massive applause in the back-breaking industry. While the rising animator wallows in her phenomenal breakout delivery’s success, she’s tasked to work on a romantic comedy movie centred around the poignance of first love.
Her blissful euphoria is short-lived as the new project lands her in big trouble. Hitting a dead-end, she faces a drought of inspiration because she’s never been in love herself. As the production stands still with her blank storyboard, she bends over backwards to understand the notion of first love.
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Anime’s sublime visuals have always been extolled as a romanticised breakthrough. While many awestruck audiences remember to praise the vibrant beauty of the narrative’s vision, the animators’ painstaking and gruelling uphill battles are often overshadowed by other over-the-top occurrences. TV anime Zenshu plays around the same memories of humbling, toilsome drudgery that anime directors have to drag themselves through to put together the final bombshell results.
Contextually, the Japanese title ‘Zenshu’ here means “redo everything,” which again flips through the vision of an artist at work grinding away countless hours to finally produce a “masterpiece.” Natsuko’s story witnesses a reversal of fate because her first creation itself is rendered a sensation, ultimately burdening her with immense pressure to replicate the same effect in her sophomore offering. The self-sufficient artist still declines any assistance that could support her process, pushing her into a corner to deal with the love formula and badgering deadlines on her own.
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