#shade thrown at Wonder Egg Priority

[greatwyrmgold]

So, I've been watching The Yakuza's Guide to Babysitting this season, because any story with a guy raising a kid draws me in like a bug into a pitcher plant. This week, the production apparently fell behind, so they threw together a filler episode.

It's much higher-effort than I was expecting. It's not a straightforward clip show or something, it's a silly anime-original storyline with new animation and everything. Some people are confused by this (why not just make a real episode, or at least serious filler?) but...well, maybe I'm just that kind of nerd, but it seems obvious to me.

First: If you're vigilant, you'll notice a lot of reused animation from earlier episodes. Second, the new animation uses more extreme limited animation than normal—not, like, Hanna-Barbera levels, but plenty of shots of static computer screens or video thumbnails, talking characters animated from behind, scenes where one or more characters switch between a handful of poses, other scenes where lighting justifies not drawing a background, that sort of thing. Someone who's actually knowledgeable about animation would probably notice more.

Second: I don't know what's going on behind the scenes at (googles) feel inc and Gaina, but the episode's narrative structure is suited for being produced quickly, too. First off, it's inconsequential enough that nobody needs to worry about it throwing off any future plot or character development. Second, it's relatively easy to string together a series of loosely-connected scenes about a bunch of yakuza making YouTube videos. I mean, it's not easy easy, but it's easier than writing a normal serious episode, where you have to worry more about consistency and setup/payoff and stuff.

Third, this episode is good. I wish the balance of goofy-YouTube-antics to Yaeka-missing-Kirishima had a bit more of the latter, of course, but it was entertaining enough for filler and Kirishima worrying about Yaeka seeing one of their videos and disliking it was hilarious. The only way they could have made this plotline better is if they were VTubers, that would have been hilarious (and a good excuse to animate characters in an even more simplified artstyle). And I guess sliding into ordinary idol territory was a bit disappointing.

I mean, it's not normal-episode-good, but if feel inc and Gaina had the resources for that they would've made a normal episode. It was a better way of handling production difficulties than, say, Wonder Egg Priority managed.