Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! vol. 6
Eizouken’s latest work about the wooden clock tower, produced with the Anime Culture Studies Club, is another success for them. However, while they’ve always moved forward for each new project, their latest one sees them taking a step back. Back to where it all started with the short that got them established as a club in the first place: A full-length version of “Clutch That Machete With Strength!” Not only will it call upon all of the production and storytelling techniques they’ve learned so far, but it’s going to force them to branch out into a new field as well. That would be voice acting, which means it’s time for them to start holding auditions!
The core of “Eizouken” has always been Asakusa, Kanamori, and Mizusaki and that remains true here. Audio engineer Doumeki has always worked well when they’ve needed to use her talents, but she’s always felt more like a “plus one” than a full-fledged member of the main cast. So consider my eyebrow raised when it looks like the series is going to raise that to a “plus two” with the latest addition to the club. That would be master vocal stylist Seki Sakurada who wows them all in her initial audition. There’s just one catch: She’s been using her skills for evil and is now the biggest delinquent at school.
Getting her to join Eizouken involves a lot of silliness and slapstick that’s still in line with what we’ve come to expect from the series so far. As for the actual production side of things, we see a lot of talk about that throughout the volume, even if the actual discussion of voice acting isn’t given a whole lot of time here. This is likely due to mangaka Sumito Oowara having written himself into something of a corner here. Voice acting is an integral part of anime production, but how do you convey its nuances in a silent medium? He could have a plan here, but there’s not much focus on it in vol. 6.
What there is, and is likely better for Sakurada’s effective integration into the main cast, is a generous focus on the delinquent’s interactions with the club. It’s fun seeing her match wits with the cast of Eizouken and there’s some good comedic mileage in seeing how she atones for her “crimes.” Yet it’s the quieter parts that see her actually interacting with the club and what its members are doing that make the most impact and make you think that there could actually be a long-term for this character as she realizes an outlet for her talents that doesn’t involve actual crime. Yes, there’s a lot of setup in vol. 6, but it’s the good kind that gives you something to think about while the author gets things together for next time.