Moving back to the content of Eizouken episode 9 itself, it must be said that – omissions or not – there is plenty contained within that is more than enough to soothe my anxieties. Even if it is possible that these chapters will be adapted at a later date, in the meantime, I can’t help but feel just a little bit disappointed. The events of chapter 19, for example, tell us the story of how Kanamori and Midori first became friends, and chapter 18 is a wholesome adventure featuring Doumeki that would go a long way in cementing her presence within the wider team. Nevertheless, it is unfortunate to see so much good content from the original manga being skipped over. If all of this hopping and skipping about was needed in order to make Doumeki’s introduction work in the broader context of the anime’s narrative, then so be it. In the manga, it is not until a tense scene with the student council that this development is revealed.

While this is not as drastic of a change as the others, it is also worth noting that we get a much better idea of our characters’ overall aim of this arc – participating in the Comet A doujinshi market – much earlier on, which sets a clear narrative goal for our characters. For example, the scene that leads into Kanamori’s backstory – the one where the main trio are walking along the river – is entirely anime-original, and what’s more is that their destination (the ramen shop in the underground mall) is a complete fabrication by Science SARU.

Eizouken episode 9 starts out with the beginning of chapter 17 – completely skipping over chapter 16, it should be noted – before cutting to the main thrust of chapter 20 (Kanamori’s backstory) and finishing off with chapter 21 (the start of the club’s new project).Įven so, what this simple adaptational rundown doesn’t emphasize is the sheer amount of anime-original content and story elements that are introduced in this episode. Perhaps unsurprisingly given their track record, the studio took the latter route. Either they try and rework the material so that it fits in with the altered narrative of the anime, or discard it altogether. The sound-obsessed audiophile was introduced much earlier on in the anime, episode 6 to be precise, but now that the anime has reached the point at which in the manga she was initially introduced – chapter 17 – a fork in the road is presented to Science SARU and Masaaki Yuasa. One of the main problems that the Eizouken anime, and episode 9 in particular, was bound to come up against was the issue of Doumeki. Eizouken Episode 9 and the Problems of Adaptation

There are also several impressive visual devices and techniques employed by Science SARU in the animation department, which makes this episode almost as good to look at as it does to understand. While it doesn’t have nearly as much anime-original content as last week’s episode, it more than makes up for this in terms of structure, flipping around the order of many scenes and completely reworking the narrative of the original manga. In terms of adaptation, this episode diverges yet again from the original manga by Sumito Oowara. All in all, there’s plenty to discuss and explore.

We even get a look into Kanamori’s backstory, finding out at least some of the reasons why she is the way she is. What they decide upon will be decisively bigger than the last, as well as help circumvent some of the exploitative obstacles that lie in their way of making any sort of profit. There’s no rest for the wicked in Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! episode 9 as Midori, Kanamori, Tsubame, and Doumeki put their heads together to decide what their next project is going to be, just days after making a splash at their school festival.

Keep your hands off eizouken anime