Akane-banashi

Episode 9

Episode 9 of Akane-banashi is another strong entry, though it suffers somewhat from not committing to the same format as the prior week.

Hikaru takes center stage this week for her performance in the Karaku Cup. She's bringing her background as a voice actress into her performance style, and that creates yet another layer to the different styles on display. She has a flair for the theatrical, and that make sense, with plenty of fine nuance to her delivery and powerful emotional moments like openly weeping on stage. It's not exactly a grand twist or anything but that doesn't take away from the effectiveness in making for a good performance and in differentiating her from her peers.

The contrast is most noticeable with Karashi's performance from last week. Whereas Karashi's episode had all these visual representations and projections into the secondary world of the story, Hikaru's episode lies entirely within the theater. It is all present tense, in the same room, and hinging on her vocal delivery; we as the viewing audience are experiencing Hikaru's art in the same way that the anime audience is. This creates a great sense of cohesion and allows us insight into the anime audience's mood.

The only downside is that she only gets half the episode. I know that it might have been risky to have two full episodes back to back without Akane performing, but I still wish the crew would have gone for it. Instead we get Karashi with a full episode and Hikaru with only about half to 60% of the runtime, and there's enough minutes on the back half to have Akane's performance start in earnest. I think this is a shame as it lessens the sense of Hikaru as meaningful competition to Akane, making her seem like a third place contender (intentionally or not).

I do like the way Akane's performance is shaping up and presented. It is particularly nice how her prior experience in customer service comes back to the fore, trying to adapt to the needs of the people rather than enforce her will or overwhelm them. The little cartoonish visualizations of an overt love confession versus a simple act of kindness were also well done, communicating the idea in a relatable way.

The tidbits in the beginning with the anime production were a fun aside too. Showing the behind the scenes process of doing ADR before a show airs was a neat window into a world we're all acquainted with - but perhaps not intimately familiar with.

Rating: