New year, new anime. And new hopes and dreams. My hopes and dreams for Zenshu, the newest original anime from Mappa, include a mysterious main character who never shows her face, fun jokes about the overbaked isekai genre, and overtly nostalgic references to old fantasy anime like Record of Lodoss War.
Zenshu episode 1 scuttled some of those dreams, but it delivered on others so subtly that nobody noticed.
Zenshu follows Natsuko Hirose, a talented animator who shot to fame right after entering the anime industry. She’s the hairy one. Now she’s working on a new animated movie — a love story — and suffering from crushing writer’s block. Or animator’s block.
If you thought things couldn’t get any worse for Natsuko (you poor, deluded petal), along comes Truck-kun Clam-kun to deliver isekai karma. Dead-Natsuko wakes up in her favorite childhood anime, A Tale of Perishing. But it’s a B-grade anime hated by critics and ignored by audiences. Oh, and Perishing is a tragedy. Can Natsuko draw her way out of this deadly animated bind?
Zenshu’s Tropey, Tropey Joy!
Anime reviewers get uptight about bad anime tropes. Anime blogger Abdul Saad said Zenshu has “a tired concept and premise that have failed to impress…” But what if Zenshu’s charm was in its hammy use of anime conventions? Luke Braveheart (Kazuki Ura) is a heroic paladin who is out to save the world. Boooring! Right? Uni (Rie Kugimiya) is an annoying magical unicorn we’d love to throttle. Snore! Maybe? And there’s a Deedlit doppelgänger elf girl and a flying calculator. Zenshu also gave us a Yoda tree and a furry convention town.
Heck, that’s funny.
Funny if you’ve seen enough isekai drivel to feel that the genre has sucked all the juice out of itself like a vampire contortionist. If so, you’ll appreciate that Zenshu is mocking itself. It’s an isekai dressed in nerdy trousers, thick glasses, suspenders, and truck-bumper braces saying, “Look at me!”
Retro Retcon Romance Revival
Look hard, or you’ll miss the genius character designs in Zenshu’s world of A Tale of Perishing.
For a 2025 anime, Luke has an old-school look that should have clued off more clueless anime reviewers. Ever since Final Fantasy 7, we’ve had ridiculously impractical sword designs. That trend continued in modern fantasy anime like Bye Bye, Earth. Meanwhile, Luke’s sword has the practicality of ’90s anime designs. Same for his armor.
When Uni — who reminds me of Crayon Shin-chan with a forehead spike — transforms, she looks just like Unicorn from The Last Unicorn (1982). Okay, every unicorn in anime looks like Unicorn. But don’t forget that Topcraft animated The Last Unicorn in Tokyo, which would later become the core of Studio Ghibli.
These are nerdable crumbs for reminiscing about retro anime! Zenshu is a highly anticipated anime that isn’t putting a new spin on the heroes because they need to feel familiar.
The fact is, if you look hard enough, that Zenshu is all about otaku love for old shows. My money is on Natsuko discovering that her fondness for an old anime is like loving a real person. Like a crappy old anime, we all have our weird quirks and show our cracks with age. But if you love someone, those quirks sure are adorable.
Watch Zenshu When We’ve Got Two More Episodes
Fences. They’re good for keeping the neighbor’s flea-bitten dog out and for sitting on. I’m on the fence because Zenshu has all the pieces set for a watchable original anime story. But it hasn’t stunned us. Not yet. Episode 2 drops on January 12th on Crunchyroll.
Zenshu’s opening theme, “Zen,” comes from Band-Maid. Maids, Basil! Maids! If you’ve never checked out the hard-rocking, apron-wearing girl band, you’re in for a treat. A teatime treat, maybe, but Saiki Atsumi and her rocker-maid friends might serve you in a wholly different way. Their music videos for “Domination” and “Dice” prove that maid outfits complement heavy metal. Okay, maid outfits go well with anything. You knew that already. We didn’t get Band-Maid’s new song in the first episode, but it premieres on YouTube on the 12th, the same day as episode 2.
Mitsue Yamazaki directed this original Mappa anime that Kimiko Ueno wrote. I bet Kimiko also got isassassikainated by a funky-smelling Clam-kun. The things animators do for fans!
You can watch Zenshu on Crunchyroll in the original Japanese or with English dubbing or subtitles. Natsuko’s hoody hair earns the show a middling but hopeful three on the Chibi Megumi bar. My fence-sitting will end if we get a gob-smacking twist in the next two episodes.
Did you watch the first episode of Zenshu? Did you think we’d see Natsuko’s face? Is Clam-kun the new Truck-kun? Tell us on social media or in the comments.
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