My Animation Era

Although "SpongeBob SquarePants" was not originally designed to win awards, this animation is really influential in Europe and the United States.

This also led to the fact that even though Wanbao had no intention of competing for awards and did not even apply for many small awards, those awards were still awarded to SpongeBob.

Perhaps this is also a manifestation of breaking the circle of influence!

Compared to the proud Dave, Seto, who is far away in Neon, has not been having such an easy time recently.

The producer of the second season of the animated "Date Live" was exposed to a business crisis by the media and faced the risk of bankruptcy. This also cast a shadow over the currently popular "Date Live 2".

Fans are worried.

Although I usually like to complain and say that the second season is the same as the defense, in fact, to be honest, the quality of the second season is already very good.

If the second season is cut off in half due to sudden changes at the production company, it may be difficult for everyone to accept this result.

Not just the general audience.

The animation sponsors and animation broadcasters are also full of worries.

Especially the TV station, almost two calls a day came to Seto, and the core statement was one: The results of Date 2 are very good, the TV station attaches great importance to this animation, it does not matter whether the producer is bankrupt, what is important is the animation Can't be cut in half!

Pressure from all aspects gathered here, making Seto breathless.

On the one hand, he stabilized the mentality of sponsors, TV stations and fans, and on the other hand, he also actively communicated with the producers to ensure that the remaining episodes of the animation could be completed smoothly.

But the situation is really not optimistic.

The animation company responsible for the production of "Date Live 2" did not suddenly explode overnight, but had a serious debt crisis in the first half of this year.

To be honest, Seto was also deceived.

When the other party contacted Wanbao, they deliberately concealed some specific conditions of the company, so Seto did not find out that there was any problem with the other party at the time.

It's too late to find out now.

The animation has been completed for six episodes. It is definitely unrealistic to change the team temporarily. We can only bite the bullet and let them continue.

Under the mediation of Wanbao Neon Division, many creditors and the company's senior management have expressed that they will try their best to control the situation and avoid any impact on animation projects under production.

That’s what people say.

Seto laid out the bottom line. It's your fault. It should go bankrupt and it should be liquidated. As long as it doesn't affect the ongoing production of "Date Live 2", that's fine.

If that doesn't work, Wanbao can pay the wages and benefits of these animators on their behalf.

There is nothing Wanbao can do.

Compared to an animation that suddenly ends halfway, a little bloodshed is still an acceptable price.

As for helping the other party clean up the mess, or even get out of trouble? Stop making trouble, are you Wanbao's biological son? Wanbao is not your father, so why should he help you like this?

"I don't take advantage of them and step on them when they are at their lowest. I have shown great restraint."

In an email to Gu Miao, the president of the parent company, Seto gritted his teeth and wrote: "We can't just let this matter go. After the Battle 2 is completed, I have to let them know that the price of lying is very heavy."

"As you wish."

Gu Miao was not interested in how Seto would deal with the mess of the follow-up to Date 2.

Because compared to this, it was obviously the "Tamako Market" and the new work of the Neon Division mentioned in the email that made his eyes brighter.

The former needs no introduction.

As the first original animation launched by Kyoani Studio after "Hyouka", "Tamako Market" caused a sensation in Neon as soon as it was broadcast.

certainly!

The results are slightly inferior to "Hyouka", but having said that, Tamago Market is a purely original animation after all, so it is normal that it cannot compare with the adapted animation.

The fact that original animation can achieve this level of success has proven many things, and Kyoani Studio can finally raise its head and proudly declare that they are not a parallel import studio!

With the popularity of animation, Tamako and Mochizo, the duo of Usagiyama Shopping Street, have become anime characters obsessed with thousands of boys and girls.

Just a little bit annoying.

Some viewers reported to the production team that the animation focused too much on depicting the human fireworks of the commercial street. On the contrary, the emotional line between Tamako and Mochizo was rarely promoted.

Send candy! Give out the candy quickly!

The audience was a combination of the anxious king and the vanguard. They were jumping up and down anxiously, but they didn't say directly that they wanted to watch a sweet love scene.

For this, the animation production team was unexpected.

They didn't expect that after the animation was broadcast, so many viewers would pay attention to the relationship between Tamako and Mochizo. Obviously this is not a romantic comedy in the traditional sense?

It does not matter.

Since the audience wants to see candy given out, then give them some candy!

It's just that the plot of the animation "Tamako Market" has been written, and the animation is about to be completed. It is unrealistic to broadcast sugar on TV, and the only way to try it is in the second season of TV or the theatrical version.

"The theatrical version can be approved!"

In a reply to Seto, Gu Miao elaborated on the necessity of the theatrical version of "Tamako Love Story".

The reason why we did not initiate the project before was because Kyoani Studio was not on a stable footing and could not produce results to convince other teams.

Now that "Tamako Market" is doing so well, it's reasonable to release a theatrical version. There's nothing to hesitate about. Anyway, there are so many animated theatrical versions of Neon, so this one is no different.

This has nothing to do with favoritism.

"Tamako Market" is a neon animation launched by Wanbao Neon Division, and most of its main audiences are in Neon's hometown.

As we all know, Neon is probably the country that likes to watch animated movies the most in the world. There are so many animated theatrical versions produced every year, and any anime with some popularity will make a theatrical version to test the waters.

The conditions were very suitable in all aspects, and the production of "Okja Love Story" was not out of the ordinary.

The only factor that may cause controversy is that a lot of well-known animations such as "Dragon Ball" and "PreCure" are still in the queue. There is no exclusive theatrical version, so why should "Tamaja Market" be an exception?

Regarding this point, Gu Miao and Seto also thought of their words...

Na na, I know you are in a hurry, but don’t be impatient first. Listen to me. For super popular IPs like Dragon Ball and Guangmei, making a theatrical version must be a big deal, and you need to keep improving, right?

Since we are striving for excellence, we must not do it so fast! Is there any problem with making the theatrical version of an animation like Tamago Market faster?

Confusing the concept, everyone thinks that the reason why Dragon Ball and Guangmei did not have a theatrical version is mainly to pursue perfection, so it takes a lot of time to polish and improve.

This is not really an excuse.

Take Dragon Ball as an example. The reason why there is no major theatrical version of the movie yet is not because Wanbao doesn’t want to do it, but because TV is too high-profile and it is difficult for the theatrical version to satisfy all fans.

The same is true for Guangmei.

The TV version was so successful that the theatrical version was somewhat difficult to produce.

Just make a random one, but that obviously won't work. After all, the TV version is so popular, and a bad theatrical version might cause big trouble.

Let’s make a movie seriously, but I’m afraid that the result will be unsatisfactory, and I’ll invest a huge amount of money and end up with very little profit, even losing my pants...

no way!

It is for the above reasons that the theatrical versions of these super popular anime are so difficult to make and no one wants to make them.

In addition to "Tamako Market", Seto also reported to Gu Miao on their recent work content in the email.

The Neon Division has grown in size.

Now that it has reached a certain scale, it can no longer rest on its laurels with IPs such as "Dragon Ball", "Pretty Cure" and "Sailor Moon". It must create some new animations.

Wanbao Neon Division, which explores new themes and explores new areas and does not want to stand still, decided to create a super popular animation IP based on the existing IP to take the company's development to a new level.

The last time he visited the headquarters, Gu Miao gave a project called "Inuyasha" to Nishio, who brought it back to Wanbao Neon Branch.

After a period of discussion and discussion, Seto and a group of senior executives finally decided to launch the project and make it the most blockbuster new animation work of the Neon Division this year.

"Inuyasha?"

After learning from the email that the animation "Inuyasha" project had been approved by the Neon Branch, Gu Miao felt a little emotional.

If he remembered correctly, the plan for this thing seemed to have been written out of an idea one night five years ago when he was admiring the moon with Coco.

At that time, all he could think about was how to make this animation...

But unfortunately, he was quite busy during that time and soon put the matter behind him. The plan for "Inuyasha" also ate dust in the archives for almost four years.

It wasn't until last year, when Xiwei came to Jiangchuan headquarters, that Gu Miao suddenly remembered this interesting project and brought Neon back to him.

Another year passed in a flash.

Just when Gu Miao thought that there was no hope of the "InuYasha" project being implemented, he didn't expect that the Neon Division would actually designate it as the most important new work of the year!

This was beyond his expectation.

…

In the past year, Seto and Nishio have watched the planning of the anime "Inuyasha" countless times.

Both of them are very optimistic about this work.

Because we were extremely optimistic about it, we did not rush to set up the project. Instead, we spent nearly half a year in preparation and established it as the only hegemonic new show of the Neon Division this year.

At the first planning seminar after the establishment of the production team, branch director Seto conveyed the news from Egawa headquarters.

"Gentlemen, the president has approved the establishment of the "Inuyasha" animation production committee and has given instructions. We must be 100% determined and do our best to make this animation a success."

"Hi Yi!"

Everyone nodded in unison.

There was even a hint of surprise in the eyes of many people, as if they did not expect that the "InuYasha" project would actually attract the attention of the "Legendary President" Jiangchuan.

This is definitely good news!

An animation that even the legendary president pays so much attention to is enough to prove the extraordinary nature of "Inuyasha".

After all, the last animation that got the attention of the president was "Dragon Ball GT"!

"So without further ado, let's get straight to the point. Let's talk about the approximate episode length of the anime first!"

As the host and branch leader, Seto took the lead in introducing the theme: "Judging from the planned content of "Inuyasha", one annual series may not be enough..."

"Indeed, 52 episodes is too few."

"This content needs at least a hundred episodes to start! Even hundreds of episodes are not impossible."

"Hundreds of episodes are too exaggerated!"

As soon as Seto finished speaking, the entire conference room immediately erupted into noisy and disorderly discussions.

From the quarrel, Seto also heard the general opinion of everyone, that is, "Inuyasha" cannot be treated according to the standards of the annual series, and the volume of dozens of episodes cannot contain the planned content.

The mainstream recommendation is still around 100-200 episodes, which is 2-4 years.

"Everyone, please be quiet."

Seto knocked on the table to signal everyone to stop arguing, and then said: "I have also communicated with the president about this issue. The suggestion he gave is to do it in quarters, not to do it all at once."

"That's a good idea!"

When everyone heard this, they nodded immediately.

This is not to flatter Mr. Gu, but to broadcast in seasons during such a long serialization cycle is indeed the best solution.

"Then it's settled."

After writing down the results of the discussion, Seto immediately asked: "Second question, which of you is willing to be the supervisor of "InuYasha"?"

"..."

The noisy conference room immediately became quiet.

Inuyasha's supervision?

This position sounds good, after all, it is to direct a new series of annual hegemony, this kind of opportunity is rare.

But the problem comes again.

Directing such a hegemonic new show is also under great pressure. This is a work related to the company's development strategy. If it is messed up, the consequences will be disastrous.

"No one wants to?"

Seto was very disappointed. He didn't expect that there were so many elites in the club, but no one dared to take over the "Inuyasha" project. It was simply sad.

If he hadn't been transferred to an administrative position and no longer personally served as an animation supervisor, he would have signed up for this project.

"President...can I?"

Just when Seto thought that everyone had become mute, someone asked weakly: "President, I want to take over this project."

"you?"

Seto stared at the person who spoke, and it took him a while to remember his name.

"Aoki-san, I remember that before you joined the company, you worked as a supervisor on a mecha-themed anime?"

"Hi Yi!"

A young man named Aoki bowed and responded: "That was the first animation I supervised. Unfortunately, it failed in the end."

"It's not bad, at least the word-of-mouth response is very good!"

After carefully recalling this man's career, Seto sat upright and said, "Can you tell me how you would make "Inuyasha" if you became the director?"

"sure!"

Aoki was waiting for this opportunity. In front of a group of colleagues and branch directors, he concisely described his conception and thoughts on the "Inuyasha" animation.

Mainly the screen design, character image, art style, plot control, etc.

What he said can actually be regarded as a supplement to the draft plan, but he added some of his own understanding on the basis of the plan.

For example, he understood Kagome and Kikyo, one as a lively and kind-hearted girl, and the other as a shrine maiden who is as cold as moonlight, sacred and with a sense of mission...

The two are different.

It was these personal understandings that deeply moved Seto and established his supervisory status.