Zenshu Episode 1 Review

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in the world of your favourite anime series and experience the events of the show as they happen? Well, for anime director Natsuko Harose that dream is about to become reality in the new weird and wonderful isekai show Zenshu.

With the isekai genre being so popular and being tackled by numerous different shows, it’s hard to find an original idea as a lot of them boil down to the same bare essentials, and you’re living off the hooks that each one uses to bring you in, whether that be having the main character be a vending machine, or a sword, or a hero with/without overpowered abilities with varying power levels.

In Zenshu what we get is an animator. Natsuko is a hotshot highflyer who has quickly risen through the ranks and is trying to prove herself as a young anime director on her first film, “First Love”. We’re introduced to her working on the film in a brilliant sequence that reminds me a lot of Shirobako. You’ve got Natsuko struggling to put pencil to paper because she has no clue how to write the story having never being in love herself, while you’ve got the rest of the production staff either on her back or wringing their hands in expectations of the money she will (hopefully!) bring in.

We’ve had a lot of commentary on the creative process in anime recently, and this brings it fantastically round full circle back to messages that said Shirobako was trying to convey with the industry being a bit of a mess. Yet this is very much played as a comedy, and it is genuinely funny in the way it presents itself. Natsuko’s whole thing is having her long hair hide her face when she doesn’t want to interact with people, and the way she uses it to block off her frankly mean co-workers is hilarious. It’s a gag that’s used a lot in this episode, but it thankfully doesn’t get old as her hair is literally part of her persona. Meanwhile, there’s some good gags from her co-workers as they try to hide the fact that they are criticising their superstar animator.

Anyway, this is an isekai and this opening sequence in the animation studio is just a small part of the episode, as Natsuko quickly kicks the bucket (I won’t say how as I’ll leave that as a dumb surprise!) and ends up in the world of “A Tale of Perishing”, a dark fantasy movie where these creatures called The Void have taken over, leaving one remaining settlement, The Last City, still standing. This second part of the episode is really about Natsuko understanding what has happened and her getting used to her new life in this fantasy world. Predictably, she messes things up straight away, which causes some funny moments between her and the hero, Luke, as they really get off on the wrong foot. It’s all typical setting the scene stuff, but it’s really witty and I like that it takes on the “never meet your heroes” mantra, as let’s just say Luke isn’t the greatest guy in the world even though he’s the movie’s main character.

Things go pear-shaped fast though, and as Natsuko remembers the plot of the film, it doesn’t end well for the heroes. This is where the main hook of the series comes in and it’s one that I love – Natsuko can change the outcome of the film to her liking! It’s taking overpowered to the max, but I actually can’t wait to see how this power is used as it gives the show ultimate freedom to play around in this world and change things up, for better or worse. We’ve only seen one instance so far, which has major implications for the cast, but I think anyone can think of a dozen and one things to do with this!

Of course, the crux of this is helping to develop Natsuko as an animator, and I think if it can show her growth in her talent and understanding why she couldn’t pull off “First Love” then I think this show will be a success.

The folks over at MAPPA have done a good job with this too, as I like the cartoony look and feel it has in the fantasy world that’s meant to contrast the darker elements of the story. Whenever Natsuko uses her power though it really goes full beans as you get a special move sequence as she cooks up a storm at lightning speed. With this and the mascots, it feels a bit magical girl-inspired quite honestly, which definitely came as a surprise.

Overall, just from this first episode I’ve got some high hopes for this series. It’s a genuinely interesting isekai with some good twists and a mix of funny, dark, and exciting moments. Its test will be in moving forward and producing a decent plotline for Natsuko, both in how her powers alter the world around her, and in how she grows as an animator because of her experiences.

Zenshu is streaming on Crunchyroll from the 5th of January this winter season, and I can’t wait to get stuck into the full thing!