I’m now 6 episodes into this series, an adaptation of the Gekidan Shinkansen play by Kazuki Nakashima (who also wrote a little thing called Gurren Lagann last year), and I’m enjoying it greatly.
To a certain extent it’s another anime ABOUT anime, but it’s going a bit further than that. From reading about Gekidan Shinkansen and an interview with Nakashima, they have a strong belief in accessible, escapist, mass market entertainment. This has led Gekidan Shinkansen to claim their productions are a modern Kabuki, in that they fulfill the same role as a Kabuki did in it’s prime.
Oh! Edo Rocket is about that belief that art and entertainment should be escapist and available to the masses, not only the elite. This isn’t a metatextual theme, while the plot is ostensibly about getting a shape-changing girl from the moon back to said satellite, the message about art is upfront and blatant. It’s a view the majority of the characters seem to hold, especially the main character.
The story is set in 1842 making much of the enforced frugality in Edo of this era, and what impressed me in the sixth episode was how they drew the connection between this and the budgetary considerations of TV animation production. For a self-admitted filler episode, the script and direction had surprising depth. I’d like to get hold of Murakami’s Superflat book as I understand similar connections are drawn there.
Overall I’m finding it wonderful to find an anime that has something say about the form that isn’t pandering to otaku or overly cynical.