English Dub Season Review: Zenshu Season One

Overview (Spoilers Below):

After graduating from high school, Natsuko Hirose (Madeleine Morris) starts her career as an animator.  Her talent quickly flourishes, and she makes her debut as a director in no time.  Her first anime becomes a massive hit, sparking a social phenomenon and earning her recognition as an up-and-coming genius director.  Her next project is set to be a romantic comedy movie themed around first love!  However, having never been in love herself.  Natsuko struggles to understand the concept of first love, and as a result, she’s unable to create the storyboard, causing the movie production to come to a standstill.  One day, she passes out while working on her storyboard and wakes up in the world of her favorite childhood anime movie, “A Tale of Perishing”.

Our Take:

We all have that one dream of being involved in our favorite show or movie from our childhood.  In the case of this prodigious animator, her dream of residing in her childhood movie unexpectedly comes true thanks to the power of isekai.  However, she may want to rethink her cinematic fantasies regarding that movie’s grim tone.  In case you’re new to my reviews, I’ve spent countless months reviewing numerous isekai anime that provide the same narrative beats but with different coats of paint.  While I found some of them enjoyable for their concepts, the remaining ones failed to inject much interest into their repetitive plots, resulting in them being mediocre or forgettable.  I didn’t think I would find one that would stand out above the crowd regarding the genre until now.

Enter Zenshu, the latest original anime produced by MAPPA that utilizes the popular genre.  However, instead of being isekai’d into a fantasy world equivalent to an RPG video game, the series takes its protagonist to a realm inspired by their favorite childhood movie.  Considering my admiration for film and animation, this seemed like an appropriate change of pace for those already sick of the endless amount of video-game-esque isekai concepts.  However, what really matters is whether its execution has the cinematic values needed to warrant this change.  Upon my first glance at Zenshu, I immediately saw it as another isekai anime that utilized the same narrative beats as the others.  This was proven in the show’s first four episodes, which had its protagonist, Natsuko, reincarnated into her favorite movie, A Tale of Perishing, after dying from food poisoning.  Additionally, she gains an OP ability based on her drawing talents, allowing her to bring her creations to life, which she uses to assist the Nine Soldiers in the war against the Voids, the movie’s villains.

The first four episodes had a surprising amount of enjoyment injected into the show’s formulaic nature, mainly regarding the characters and vibrant animation.  But even with those merits, I was willing to write it off as another standard isekai whose plot is largely carried by its tropes.  One particular reason was the repetition in the episodic structure, in which Natsuko easily defeats the Voids through her drawings.  By the end of the fourth episode, “Eternity”, it was becoming clear that it would become another redundant chore to witness.  However, it wasn’t until its fifth episode, “Justice”, that my typical perspective completely changed for the better.  By focusing more on its themes and character development, Zenshu effectively changed its fate of being a by-the-basics isekai adventure into one involving an engaging and surprisingly touching love letter to the inspiring artists who dreamed big.

In a landscape of RPG and fantasy harem abundance, Zenshu provided a refreshing direction in the isekai narrative in which the spotlight falls on the animation and film category.  Additionally, it utilized its invigorating plot to showcase the self-referentialness of the overused tropes seen in other isekai anime, such as reincarnation and OP abilities.  The latter was characterized by Natsuko, whose knowledge originated from the genre as well as her love of drawing, animation, and “A Tale of Perishing”.  She uses that knowledge to overcome her obstacles, including the Voids, even though her ideas may do more harm than good.  Initially, this approach seemed to be heading into parodic territory with a dash of fish-out-of-water elements, which could risk the comedy overstaying its welcome.  Fortunately, the series’s director, Mitsue Yamazaki, ensured that its comedic moments are genuinely balanced with the bleaker and sentimental moments, resulting in an easily convincing mixture of humor and drama that earns its sentimentality and heart. 

While the structure may be familiar by design, Kimiko Ueno’s screenplay had enough inspiration in their art to draw up some laughs and surprises to reinvigorate its by-the-numbers narrative.  However, it isn’t without its flaws that prevented it from reaching a similar potential as Natsuko’s masterpieces.  In addition to the tropes it playfully references, the show was dragged down a bit from the season’s “weakest“ episode, “Eternity”, primarily due to Memmeln’s choice to terminate the world to end their constant suffering.  While it makes sense regarding its themes of depression and hopelessness, I feel like having the Voids trick her into summoning the Ultimate Void would’ve further characterized the antagonists as formidable threats to the world’s peace.  Not only that, but it would also make me dislike Memmeln even less despite changing her ways in the end.  The other issues come from its finale, “Zenshu”, in which the show breaks one of its OP rules involving Natsuko not allowing to draw the same drawing more than once.  There’s also the rushed ending that’s half-backed in how Natsuko returned to the real world, which is caused by its usual 23-minute runtime.  While it’s decent in straying far from the open-ended formula, the ending would’ve benefited better if the runtime for the finale was extended by ten to fifteen minutes.

Fortunately, those minuscule flaws couldn’t overshadow some of the show’s strengths, including Natsuko’s character growth.  Natsuko was first introduced as a stubborn and often careless animator struggling to figure out the process of “first love“ for her rom-com project.  Its seventh episode, “First Love”, further explores Natsuko’s issue, as her love of drawing kept her from interacting with other people who had feelings for her.  As the series progresses, Natsuko begins to understand love through the movie’s protagonist, Luke Braveheart (Ryan Negrón), who later becomes an inspiration to her passion.  Additionally, Natsuko learns to be more reliant on the Nine Soldiers for help following her failed attempt at stopping the Slime Voids herself in “Justice”.  Many isekai anime have the usual problem of making their protagonists one-dimensional OP heroes of their own stories.  However, Zenshu changed that intended fate by fleshing out the depth of Natsuko’s character arc, providing us with a convincingly well-rounded animator whose personality was emphasized by Madeleine Morris’s effective vocal performance.

Regarding its supporting cast, Ryan Negrón was the biggest surprise that elevated the English dub version’s existence regarding his performance as Luke Braveheart.  Similar to Natsuko, the leader of the Nine Soldiers can be seen as an arrogant jerk at first, especially towards Natsuko.  However, the pain and loss he received from the endless violence he endured made his actions a bit more believable than annoying, emphasizing the show’s reflection of despair originating from war.  Ryan Negrón provided a performance that successfully captured the raw anguish of Luke’s vulnerable state but also didn’t forget to inject some humor into his arrogance and confusion toward Natsuko’s real-world knowledge in between.  This performance alone showed strong signs that we could see more of Negrón’s talents sooner rather than later.  Luci Christian also had a share of decent moments as Unio to prevent Luke’s unicorn ally from dragging the show down with his jealousy. 

The animation was another reason for my interest in Zenshu, mainly because it was produced by MAPPA.  Regarding its visual vibrancy, production designs, and stylized action scenes, MAPPA is another animation company that highlights 2D presentations through depth and storytelling.  This was proven in some of their finest works, including the final season of Attack on Titan, Jujutsu Kaisen, and Chainsaw Man.  I’ve only seen two of its projects, Chainsaw Man and Jujutsu Kaisen 0, but they’re enough to recognize the efforts made by the animators.  After watching Zenshu, I’m happy to say that MAPPA continues to shine in the style’s vibrant and often throwback nature.  The production designs for “A Tale of Perishing“ suitably resembled the old-school aesthetics of 90s anime with a modern flair.  Additionally, the “Zenshu” sequences and action scenes were an endless burst of dynamic and color that’s as lively and creative as Natsuko’s drawings.  In short, the animation further showcased MAPPA’s capabilities of providing immersive and energetic stylization in the vibrant yet often grim presentations.  It’s even enough to get me intrigued in MAPPA’s upcoming original anime, Lazarus, especially with the involvement of Cowboy Bebop director Shinichirō Watanabe and Chad Stahelski of “John Wick“ fame.

While initially seen as another by-the-numbers isekai anime, Zenshu surprisingly changes that said fate for the better.  In a realm of countless isekai shows that follow a similar path with minimal to no effort, Zenshu draws up a new fate that revitalizes the tiring genre with its sense of style, depth, and, more importantly, heart.  Some of its storytelling aspects may not be as well drawn as Natsuko’s impeccable drawings, especially its finale.  Despite that, the show is another example of the genre fulfilling its concept through its themes and character depth without relying heavily on its narrative shortcuts.  The English dub’s cast was stellar in voicing its likable characters, and MAPPA’s presentation was another brilliant example of the studio’s animation capabilities.  However, the series shined in its story, utilizing its tropes and surprises to manifest its depiction of hope, despair, love, and fate.  For the latter, it paints a reminder that fate is what we make of it and not allow others to determine what we can and cannot do.  Of course, that includes people with similar passions that originated from inspiration.  If there’s one isekai anime that you should watch this year, make sure it’s this one, especially when you need a reason to love the genre again.