Why the Title “ZENSHU” Fits This Winter 2025 Anime So Well

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Summary

  • Title “ZENSHU” explained as “fix them all” refers to redoing and remastering, connecting to main character’s journey.
  • Anime follows Natsuko, rising director who struggles with first love for a new project, leading to a unique isekai adventure.
  • Series created by MAPPA, directed by Mitsue Yamazaki, and explores themes of burnout, passion, and renewal in the animation industry.

The Winter season of 2025 anime has begun, and one of its highly anticipated debuts is an original production by MAPPA, the animation studio behind numerous well-known titles such as “Attack on Titan: The Final Season”, “JUJUTSU KAISEN”, “Hell’s Paradise: Jigokuraku”, “Dorohedoro” and “CHAINSAW MAN”. “ZENSHU” revolves around a talented young animator struggling after the triumph of her directorial debut, and the show has generated significant buzz due to its intriguing teaser trailers, which premiered on Sunday, January 5.

Title “ZENSHU” may seem intriguing to those unfamiliar with Japanese, yet it doesn’t convey a clear meaning. However, the correlation between the anime’s title and its substance is fascinating, although it’s a fairly straightforward association.

What Is ZENSHU About?

Not Just Another Isekai

ZENSHU chronicles the journey of Natsuko Hirose, a bright young woman who embarked on her career as an animator straight out of high school. Swiftly advancing in her field, she rose to the position of director on an animation production project. This initial venture was a resounding success, earning both local and international recognition, and catapulting Natsuko into stardom. The first anime was such a triumph that when she was tapped to direct another highly anticipated anime adaptation, this time of the romantic comedy “HATSUKOI: First Love”, expectations ran high that it would birth yet another animation masterpiece.

Despite the setback that Natsuko couldn’t design the storyboards because she hadn’t experienced her first love personally, production was hampered. Tragically, while having lunch at work, Natsuko suffered a fatal collapse due to overwork. She found herself in another anime universe she had worked on, a melancholic fantasy titled “A Tale of Perishing”. Could immersion in this grim world reignite Natsuko’s zeal for art and animation?

ZENSHU originated from the concept of Mitsue Yamazaki (director, Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun) and scriptwriter/series composer Kimiko Ueno (series composition, Delicious in Dungeon). The production company is MAPPA, with character designs by Kayoko Ishikawa (clothing design, Yuri!!! on ICE), who adapted the original character designs by Yoshiteru Tsujino. Akio Shimada acts as art director, Kenta Fujita directs photography, and music is by Yukari Hashimoto (music, Toradora). Here are the main voice actors for both the Japanese and English versions of ZENSHU:

Japanese Dub:
– Character X: Voice actor A
– Character Y: Voice actor B
– Character Z: Voice actor C

English Dub:
– Character X: Voice actor D
– Character Y: Voice actor E
– Character Z: Voice actor F

  • Akio Suyama/Derick Snow as QJ
  • Anna Nagase/Madeleine Morris as Natsuko Hirose
  • Kazuki Ura/Ryan Negron as Luke Braveheart
  • Minori Suzuki/Alexis Tipton as Memerun
  • Rie Kugimiya/Luci Christian as Unio

Why The Title Fits

“ZENSHU” is An Apt Title For An Isekai

The title of this anime series, ZENSHU , is explained quite early in the first episode and it’s noticeable. In the initial scenes of ZENSHU episode 1, Natsuko takes us through her impressive career as an animator so far, but struggles to create a storyboard for “HATSUKOI”. During this time, one of her coworkers presents work for a promotional video (PV) related to their ongoing project. After briefly examining the entire project, Natsuko returns the folder to her colleague and simply says, “zenshu.

In episode 1, the title is clarified as “Remaster” (全修), where the characters “zen” mean “all” and “shū”, derived from the word “shūri“, has a modern connotation of “remaster”.

Natsuko was suggesting that the entire PV needed to be reshot, or “re-fixed”. This was because she realized, after watching an earlier work by their studio during lunch, that the original had significant issues and needed to be redone. Sadly, not long after this realization, Natsuko passed away due to overwork, thus becoming a part of the very story she was working on.

In recent times, stories about characters being transported into their favorite media worlds have become increasingly popular, such as the “Dragon Ball Reincarnated as Yamcha” manga, “My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!”, or this season’s “Old Man Reincarnated As Villainess”. The series in question could be seen as not just a reinterpretation of “A Tale of Perishing”, but also a symbolic resurrection of the artist, Natsuko, who found her passion for animation renewed even after her untimely end.

ZENSHU is available on Crunchyroll. New episodes are released on Sundays.

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2025-01-14 06:04