‘Very few cartoons are broadcast live,’ said the animation producer to Homer Simpson, ‘it’s a terrible strain on the animator’s wrists.’

This advice clearly went unheeded by the cast of Anime Supremacy!, a Japanese workplace drama in which rival teams of animators go head-to-head in a battle for television ratings. Move past the weird suggestion that the teams are animating entire half-hour episodes on a weekly basis and there is a light, breezy appeal to the film, which is directed by Kohei Yoshino and based on Mizuki Tsujimura’s novel.

Hitomi Saito (Riho Yoshioka), a seven-year veteran of the anime industry, is finally granted directorship over a new made-for-television serial. At the same time the anime creator that inspired her to enter the field, Chiharu Oji (Tomoya Nakamura), returns with an all-new series set for the same time slot. After an under-confident Hitomi is patronised by Chiharu at a press conference, she resolves to beat him in the ratings at all costs.

In representing the anime industry, Yoshino’s film can only be considered partially successful. Asides from massively accelerating television production schedules, the film depicts the various artists and technicians as hard-working and obsessive, but fails to engage with genuine issues of over-working and poor pay that continue to dog anime production. Realism, ultimately, is not where Anime Supremacy!‘s priorities lie. Instead it is about relationships, romantic angst, and melodrama. One of the highlights is how each director interacts with their respective producers: Chiharu against Kayoko Arishina (Machiko Ono), and Hitomi against Satoru Yukishiro (Tasuku Emoto). There is a pleasing sort of warmth and humour to these exchanges. The cast generally do a solid job with their roles. The banter between Chiharu and Koyoko is particularly funny and effective.

Often a behind-the-scenes drama will stumble badly when attempting to show the fictional productions that the characters are making. One of the weakest elements of Aaron Sorkin’s abortive television drama Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (2006), for example, was the “show-in-show” segments that were supposed to be the best television comedy in America, yet rarely managed to raise a smile. Here the snippets of anime seen during the movie have been created by noted studio Production IG, which guarantees some eye-popping visuals that convincingly showcase both series as high quality works.

How one takes Anime Supremacy! really does boil down to what the viewer is looking for in a movie. It is a decently made and performed light drama, with a traditional workplace setting and a nice balance of comedic and serious moments. The anime elements really are a window dressing. It allows for some interesting conversations about the creative process and commercial demands, but there is no real insight into how the industry works. That film is yet to be made, and has a lot of potential.