Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!: an underrated anime about making anime

What it is

Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! is a twelve-episode series from Science SARU, directed by Masaaki Yuasa, that aired from January to March 2020.¹⁵⁶ It is based on a manga by Sumito Oowara, serialized in Shogakukan’s Monthly Spirits magazine.³

Midori Asakusa is a first-year high schooler who loves anime so much that she insists the idea is everything. She fills a sketchbook with concepts but has never taken the first step toward making one, convinced she cannot do it alone. Her classmate Sayaka Kanamori, a born producer, is the first to see her talent. When the charismatic fashion model Tsubame Mizusaki turns out to want to be an animator, the three start an animation club to bring to life the worlds only they can see.¹ In Japanese, Sairi Ito voices Midori, Mutsumi Tamura voices Sayaka and Misato Matsuoka voices Tsubame.²

Why it is worth your time now

It is complete, short and easy to find. As of October 2, 2026 it streams on Crunchyroll in the US, with twelve episodes of about 25 minutes each, so the whole series is roughly five hours.²

It also has recognition behind it. Science SARU’s own page lists a Grand Prize in the Animation Division at the 24th Japan Media Arts Festival, and a Grand Prize for Television Animation at the Tokyo Anime Award Festival.⁴

Who it is for

It is for people who make things, or want to, and for anyone who likes comedy about teamwork. It is episodic and driven by craft, so it will frustrate you if you want a twist-heavy plot. The US listing shows a TV-14 rating.²

What makes it different

The work is the story. The club’s first project is a short to win over the school’s budget committee. Next comes a short commissioned by the robot club, and then a film to sell at a local self-published media convention.¹ Along the way the girls hit the things real projects hit: a deadline that will not move, a budget, and hard decisions about which parts of the vision to sacrifice and which to keep.¹

It is also playful about imagination. In one episode, Asakusa pictures repairing the club room as spaceship repair training,¹ which is exactly how a person with too many ideas turns a chore into an adventure.

The one thing to watch for

Watch how the roles split. A dreamer, a producer and a performer each do a different job, and the series keeps showing that a project needs all three. If you have ever tried to finish something alone, that is the part most likely to land.