In the afternoon, inside the president's office.
Lin Zhiyan was being interviewed by a reporter from an animation magazine.
The reporter, Fukuda Miyuki, was a familiar face to him, having interviewed him several times before.
"President Lin, first of all, congratulations! The new animation, Shirobako, continues to be a massive hit, topping the ratings for October's new anime on major review sites," Fukuda Miyuki began with a compliment.
"Thank you," Lin Zhiyan replied.
Fukuda Miyuki settled into her chair, opened her notebook, and continued, "The most discussed aspect of this animation has been the character inspirations. Could you tell us which characters are based on real people, and who those real people in the industry are?"
Previously, when netizens had raised this question, Lin Zhiyan had neither directly answered online nor allowed company staff to participate in the discussions.
Now that several episodes had aired, it was appropriate to reveal the inspirations for the earlier characters. The online buzz had long since died down, and even if fans continued to discuss the matter, they would focus on later characters, leaving the earlier ones untouched.
Naturally, Lin Zhiyan didn't reveal all the characters based on real-life counterparts, only a portion of them. These included Masato Marukawa, the president of Musashino Animation; Supervising Directors Seiichi Kinoshita and Shoichi Shinbo; and voice actor Chiwa Saito.
After sharing these examples, he stated, "These are just a few of them. Many more characters have real-life counterparts that I haven't mentioned yet, and more will continue to appear as the story progresses."
Fukuda Miyuki nodded and continued, "In interviews before the animation aired, you mentioned you'd be making an appearance yourself. But in the episodes released so far, there's no footage of you—only your name is mentioned by Ema Yasuhara. Can you give us a hint about which episode we'll finally see your character on screen?"
In the original timeline of Shirobako, no character would have mentioned Lin Zhiyan's name. However, in this version, Ema Yasuhara does mention him in episode seven.
Episode 4 was essentially a solo episode for the rookie voice actress Shizuka Sakaki, while Episode 7 could be considered Ema Yasuhara's solo episode.
Ema Yasuhara, the Key Animator, had been trying to improve her efficiency, but all her keyframes were rejected by Animation Director Misato Segawa and sent back for revisions.
Aoi Miyamori, the Main Character and Production Assistant for that episode, called Ema up to the rooftop during a break. She offered Ema a donut and started talking about the situation.
Ema was naturally sensitive to pressure. Hearing that all her keyframes had been rejected was a devastating blow, and she dejectedly concluded that she wasn't cut out to be a Key Animator.
Aoi quickly tried to comfort her, saying that it was already impressive that Ema had become a Key Animator in just a year and a half.
Then, Ema said, "I heard Atsumi Fukuyama only took two months to become a Key Animator, and Lin Zhiyan from L.S Produ even entered the animation industry directly as a Key Animator."
"Ms. Fukuyama is a genius," Aoi replied, "and Mr. Lin is a genius among geniuses."
After that episode aired, viewers naturally teased Lin Zhiyan, calling him shameless.
However, it was an undeniable fact that Lin Zhiyan had entered the animation industry as a Key Animator, so most people only found his self-promotion a bit shameless. They didn't see any issue with the dialogue between the Main Character and Ema Yasuhara.
While the character's name had been mentioned, the character themselves hadn't yet appeared on screen.
As the animation's Supervising Director and scriptwriter, Lin Zhiyan naturally knew exactly when his character would appear, but he had no intention of spoiling it. He simply said, "Not that soon, but it will definitely happen. Just wait and see."
Fukuda Miyuki was slightly disappointed but didn't dwell on it. She immediately asked a new question: "Have any of the characters' experiences in the animation been based on your own life, or have you drawn from the experiences of people around you?"
"My own life?"
Lin Zhiyan pondered before answering, "It seems I've been fortunate to have a smooth ride in animation. I've rarely encountered the kind of chaotic situations depicted in the anime. However, this series focuses on common industry phenomena, so I didn't need to invent stories based on my own experiences. Anyone who's been in the industry for a while will hear all sorts of interesting anecdotes. Those are the true source material for Shirobako."
"Can you give some examples?" Fukuda Miyuki asked, her interest piqued.
"Well... for instance, I heard about a flat-chested voice actor auditioning for a role and being asked by the Sound Director to use a more voluptuous voice, while a busty voice actor was asked to use a more demure tone."
Lin Zhiyan continued, "There are also cases where animation production is scrapped and restarted because the final product conflicts with the initial concept. The reality isn't as rosy as depicted in the anime; sometimes, they can't finish on time and have to resort to compilation episodes... Oh, and the legendary brawl between a Key Animator and a famous Supervising Director—that's not made up either."
"That's... that's wild," Fukuda Miyuki said, surprised.
Lin Zhiyan sighed. "I tried to portray things as positively as possible in the anime. While there are certainly all sorts of troubles, I still love the animation industry. Otherwise, I wouldn't have joined it straight out of high school and stayed for over a decade..."
He paused, then continued, "Some people complained that the fourth episode, focusing on rookie voice actress Shizuka Sakaki's struggles, was too bleak. They claimed I still wanted to make depressing anime, or that the Shirobako PV, with its uplifting and inspiring tone, was misleading. I just want to say, I've already toned it down considerably. If I really wanted to make you miserable, I'd do it much more effectively."
"More effectively?"
Fukuda Miyuki secretly pondered this, then quickly jotted down keywords in her notebook: "Lin Zhiyan, struggling to control the King's Power."
Before, she had only planned to conduct interviews and gather material. She had no idea what kind of article she would write or how to make it engaging.
Now, she had a clear direction.
Writing along these lines would be a sure bet.
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