Shirobako Collection 1 DVD

This is basically an anime about making an anime and it works well to show the work, confusion and 'insanity' associated with this. This is Episodes 1-12 of 24 and is a good start to the series. Starts with the girls of a high school animation club producing a short anime for the school festival, then going on to making a vow to make an anime together for real. It then moves on to follow the careers of the girls in and out of the anime industry. Well worth watching and a show to enjoy over and over again.

While initially watching the 1st ep. on hulu, I thought, "man! there's so much technical jargon! how can I keep up with this?" So I let it go at that and moved on to other stuff. But later I got brave and decided to gamble on the DVD release. Taking in the large cast of characters and keeping names straight was daunting, as well as following the whole nuts-and-bolts process of producing an anime. But what really hooked me was how all the characters were so 100% on-board with the making process, so passionate about what they were doing. Even when one of the staff members started having self-doubts and was ready to give up, she didn't just drop out of the picture but found unexpected help from one of the other members for pressing on. It's that team spirit and shared vision among the characters that lends strength to the whole show. By the end, I even felt like I'd become part of the Musani team myself. Can't wait to join them again in Collection 2.

The U.S. DVD release is substandard. Sentai Filmworks did not provide a dub and released it in 480i but still felt the need to charge $40 for both! Perhaps it is my own fault for not getting a superior Bluray but I still cannot fathom why not only such a low resolution on a modern show but to also release it in interlaced?! If this is a shameless ploy to get me to pay extra for a Bluray then what's next, will we DVD users have to settle for 4:3 ratio just so we'll buy your BluRays? If Crunchyroll is capable of providing me a 720p stream the same should be able to apply for a DVD release.

Of course I love Bluray but it is rather expensive and with most anime series these days being split onto two sets even for relatively short series, I need to be selective with purchases of Bluray. There's no excuse for this by Sentai and I feel ripped off as a consumer.

I love this series. I really do. It manages to tug on your heart strings and gets you to laugh out loud constantly with its industry based humor and satire at certain points. You find yourself loving all the characters and feeling an absolute frustration to the antagonize of the series, which is not just one entity, but multitude of problems all rolling into each other in an avalanche that our mostly main character, Aoi Miyamori needs to overcome.

As for the DVD, it's a DVD. With OPs and EDs in it, it's exactly what it is. Basically episodes and titles and that's it lol

Still recommend though!

Okay, so we've had manga about making manga, so why not an anime about making anime? This show is part educational, part public service announcement, part character-driven comedy/drama, and 100% fun.
Part 1 follows a newly hired production assistant as she learns the ropes - the hard way. Her team is already starting to stumble and risk missing deadlines early on, and must go through a series of misadventures that show viewers not just what the process is, but where and how it can go wrong. Dynamic and colorful characters (many based on actual staff members) keep things interesting. This set also completes a full self-contained arc and can therefore stand on its own.

Altogether, this series has been highly praised, and fully lives up to the hype. Highly recommended.