Donut Quintet -- Platina Jet （プラチナジェット）

It's not quite April 1st yet, but since today was Monday, the changes have already started in Japan. It won't be too long before the new school year begins but I'm sure job transfers are taking place, old TV shows are ending and new ones are coming in, and there were some major staff changes on the nightly NHK news desk from this morning. Plus, yesterday at my buddy's place, we got to see the endings of a few of our favourite anime that we had been enjoying for the past few months.

One is "Shirobako" which launched back in October 2014 and finished off its 24-episode season this month. I already talked about the show when I wrote about the ending theme for the first half, the energetic "Animetic Love Letter". The anime about life in the anime production industry was special in that it seemed more like an animated dramedy than the usual over-the-top anime although there were some moments which were pretty whimsical. The second half had the five former high school classmates and still good friends continuing their young lives through the industry that they vowed to join. As another business year began, there were a few staff departures and some new arrivals including the equivalent of an angry Vietnam vet and a young lady so shy to the point of incoherence.

And there was one scene with one of the quintet, Ema Yasuhara, performing the Angel Exercises which has made a bit of a minor sensation on YouTube.

Anyways, in the article on "Animetic Love Letter", I mentioned some regret over the fact that the second round of 12 episodes was going to go with new opening and closing themes. But I have to say that the new closing theme has grown on me considerably since January. Titled "Platina Jet" (Platinum Jet) in reference to the new project that Musashino Animation has to tackle, "Dai San Hiko Shojotai"（第三飛行少女隊...The Third Girls Aerial Squad）, this time, the full group of five women, The Donut Quintet: Aoi, Ema, Shizuka, Misa and Midori as played by Juri Kimura（木村珠莉）, Haruka Yoshimura（佳村はるか）, Haruka Chisuga（千菅春香）, Asami Takano（高野麻美）and Hitomi Owada（大和田仁美）respectively hit the mike.

It's another peppy way to end the show and I enjoy the popping string-like synths that bookend the verses. Halko Momoi（桃井はるこ）once again wrote and composed the ending theme to "Shirobako" as she did for "Animetic Love Letter". I also enjoyed the nifty ending credits that closed almost every episode in the second round with the gradual creation of each of the five main characters and even the two dolls, Mimuji and Roro.

(Aoi version)

Not sure whether "Shirobako" will be making a comeback although my buddy tells me it could be a while since the director is pretty much up to his ears in projects for the next few years at least. But perhaps that might not be a bad thing since I think it would be more interesting to see how MusaAni and the motley crew change over time. And if not, I think Episode 24 ended the run with a very nice bow.