A bit surprised to see this come up here, but for anyone open to watch anime, this show is truly great.
The article touches upon it, but the strategy the director took was a breath of fresh air: choosing talented people, and giving them enough freedom to make something great within their area.
This can be a recipe for disaster depending on the members, but with people who value collaboration it frees the director from micro-management and allows for each area to make their own tradeoffs.
It's all the more coming from left field as the production company (A-1) is notoriously bad at project management and had several scandals in the past about employees dying of overwork for instance.
I didn't expect it to reach page one when I shared it, but great to see (note: I only shared it, not the author). I had some more difficulty with Lycoris Recoil's flaws (aptly noted in the post) than the post did, but the article made me appreciate how much the team had to do to make a successful and entertaining series. I'd be curious to see what they could do with more time to put a season together, either in a second season of Lycoris Recoil or on a different project.
I'll add for anyone reading this post that this kind of long-form anime production content is characteristic of Sakuga Blog. It is a site worth following if you have any interest in anime or more broadly in media production.
I really enjoyed LycoReco too! One of my favourites of the season, and I'm surprised to see it on HN.
One thing sakuga blog hammers in every article is how chaotic production is. It's a miracle that shows of this quality get produced at all. I get the general sense it's largely a result of passion and connections - the star director here pulled in friends and prior coworkers, and even his wife, to help make the show what it is. And I doubt they got paid much or anything at all.
You can see that in the writing - it is all over the place and nonsensical at times. But somehow the overall show still works, which is pretty amazing for an original.
> The article touches upon it, but the strategy the director took was a breath of fresh air: choosing talented people, and giving them enough freedom to make something great within their area.
Or let work hard and then let them have free reign for a while. See Panty and Stockings. (Not for everyones taste.)
The article touches upon it, but the strategy the director took was a breath of fresh air: choosing talented people, and giving them enough freedom to make something great within their area.
This can be a recipe for disaster depending on the members, but with people who value collaboration it frees the director from micro-management and allows for each area to make their own tradeoffs.
It's all the more coming from left field as the production company (A-1) is notoriously bad at project management and had several scandals in the past about employees dying of overwork for instance.