Eren the Southpaw’s preview lets the audience know that this will be an art career-focused production. Numerous people have had conversations with others about whether they want to pursue art as a career and earn a decent income from the profession, while still having a passion for it. The trailer grabs attention from the start! Featuring vandalism, insults, and FUNKIN’ BEAUTIFUL by ALI, who many anime fans may recognize as he made Lost In Paradise for Jujutsu Kaisen. That being said, the trailer does not do the first two episodes, of Eren the Southpaw justice.
TW: This review briefly mentions grief and attempted suicide | Minor spoilers for episodes 1-2
We have Eren, an introverted former artist who struggles to create and habitually chews her hair. Eren the Southpaw also features Koichi, a guy who is more interested in making money than in the craft itself. The story is about those who choose art as a career and the realities of doing so. Eren challenges Kochi aggressively about his art, which she dislikes, giving him the drive to improve.
It’s great to have an anime about the phenomenon of the starving artist, as more individuals are able to pursue this profession thanks to connections and social media.
Due to this, I am much more interested in the characters as adults than as teenagers entering the workforce. While the early high school storyline is important because it has key pointers for the adult storylines, outside of Eren, the teen storyline at the beginning is underwhelming. What made me pick this series up was that we saw a lot of the adulthood in the trailer. However, we don’t get much in the first few episodes. We get a glimpse in the early minutes of the first episode and the final minutes of the second episode.
Eren the Southpaw does a great job of capturing feminine rage and the dark realities of losing a loved one.
Eren has a complicated relationship with art because she’s grieving for her father, an artist who barely made a living from his craft. He died by walking into the street and getting hit by a car when she was younger. Eren felt that her dad was a great artist, but his skill didn’t translate into much money. She takes out her frustrations by vandalizing the school’s art club posters, spray-painting graffiti on them. Becoming so overwhelmed with everything going on, Eren attempted suicide by almost jumping in front of a train, then quickly backing away when the train came close.
It makes sense that the title character, Eren, is the most interesting so far.
During high school, she is the one who gives Koichi the push to improve his art. Everyone else around her at this time wasn’t that entertaining, including Koichi. Then again, the first two episodes mainly focus on the characters when they’re younger. From the trailer, we see that Kochi’s life changes significantly in the time jump.
While I don’t think the first two episodes show this series’ strength, it gives enough to want to continue the story. Eren the Southpaw is one that can’t be judged by the first two episodes. While they matter to the story, they don’t capture the tone overall. Fans are probably going to have to watch more than the first couple of episodes to judge it for what it is. Especially considering it’s based on a manga with over 200 chapters. The first two episodes alone don’t even cover half of what it’s about.
