The sixth episode of Shirobako aired a couple of weeks ago and now the episode has been pulled from Japanese and overseas streaming services with the only notice being that it’s because of a rights issue. The show was removed for that episode from the Niconico service and Crunchyroll has done the same in North America. The Hulu service has not had to deal with it as only the first four episodes of the series have made their way there. Initial speculation in the absence of facts has a lot of people believing it’s related to the Ideon parodies inside of the episode, but there’s also a potential for it to be related to the Waiting on Godot piece as well, as the discussion here [and on our forums here] paints an interesting picture of the legal issues that has faced the property from the estate over the years.
Sentai Filmworks has licensed the series for domestic release and it’s unknown at this point how the rights issue will impact that.
The fall anime series has Tsutomu Mizushima on board as the director with Michiko Yokote doing the overall supervision while Ponkan8 is handling the original character designs and Kanami Sekiguchi is adapting them into animation form.
The cast includes Juri Kimura as Aoi Miyamori, Haruka Yoshimura as Emma Yasuhara, Haruka Chisuga as Shizuka Sakaki, Asami Takano as Misa Todo and Hitomi Ohwada as Midori Imai.
P.A. Works was established back in 2000 by Kenji Horikawa, who has been involved in several animation studios previously. They worked on numerous shows over the years and produced their first on in 2008 with True Tears before going on to Canaan, Angel Beats and several others, including this seasons Glasslip.
Plot concept: Aoi will never forget how she felt the day her high school animation club’s labor of love was shown at the cultural festival. But two years after graduating, she works as a production assistant for an animation studio, the reality of her job has somewhat diminished her enthusiasm. Despite the long hours and the daunting schedule, she still hopes to fulfill the promise she and her friends Ema, Shizuka, Misa, and Midori made: to one day reunite and make a real anime of their own as professionals!
[Source: ANN]
