I believe that talent, first and foremost, is the ability to take a chance and to be calm enough to learn from mistakes.

An exceptional slice of life anime with the unique premise of following a friends group of young women as they try to make their high school dream of working in the anime industry together come true, with each main character pursuing a different dream position ranging from key animation to voice acting.

It's an ensemble anime, so you'll be getting glimpses into a lot of characters' personality, job, struggles and progress over the runtime of the show, offering insights into the workings of the anime industry - the challenges, sacrifices and issues that come with working in it for each worker and the studio as a whole as they're trying to create anime.

The depiction of their individual and shared struggles as well as unique challenges they face is portrayed very realistically and will hit close to home to anyone who has been trying to manage adult work life, worrying about sustaining yourself or learning as you go whilst trying to follow your goals at the same time. Shirobako is a working class anime at heart and it shows.
Additionally, comedic elements and references are woven neatly into the show and keep the balance between the stressful aspects and the more lighthearted moments.

The soundtrack overall is very beautiful and fitting to the show, with standout tracks for me being both OPs and pieces used during certain moments in the show.

Visually, this show is not only beautiful, it also boasts a very colourful palette which exacerbates the good and hopeful vibe this show keeps up, no matter how rough things get. It goes hand in hand with this being a very inspiring and motivating show as its messaging underlines the importance of not letting defeats be a cause for giving up in the long run as progress is not linear, learning from your mistakes and doing your best to move forward being good enough.

Better to ask and be a fool once than never to ask and be a fool forever.

Another detail I want to add before wrapping this up: Refreshing I find the attention to detail shown with regards to the change of wardrobe in this anime as there are multiple outfits for characters (most notably, Aoi) breaking the mold of having the characters in the same outfit for the entirety of a show which is all too common within anime.

Chances are, you'll find yourself rooting for these interesting and well-written characters and fall in love with this anime as I did, so I definitely recommend giving it a shot if you're looking for a new series to dive into!