"Watching 'Tokyo Magnitude 8.0' on TV when an earthquake actually happens—it's a bit surreal."
"People used to suspect that Lin Zhiyan was a time traveler or a 'second playthrough' player, but now it seems like there might be a real 'second playthrough' player among the planning staff for 'Tokyo Magnitude 8.0.' How else could it be such a coincidence? I even suspect this anime was meant as a warning, reminding everyone that a major earthquake was about to happen, but no one picked up on it."
"A time traveler? That doesn't exist, right? Otherwise, it wouldn't be 'Tokyo Magnitude 8.0,' it would be 'Tokyo Magnitude 9.0.' Ultimately, 8.0 is still too conservative."
"No, no, 8.0 is already terrifying enough. If they had actually made 'Tokyo Magnitude 9.0,' people would probably just think it was too exaggerated and might even criticize it. After all, who would have thought a 9.0 magnitude earthquake would really happen?"
"Indeed, reality is more surreal than anime."
Having said that, "romance" sounds like a decent direction. As it happens, he hasn't made an anime focused on romance yet, so he could do one.
Originally, as an anime for Fuji TV's Noitamina block that wasn't designed to cater to otaku, 'Tokyo Magnitude 8.0' didn't have much popularity. Now, with the earthquake incident, this anime has directly exploded in...
Originally, as an anime in Fuji TV's noitaminA block, Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 was not made to cater to anime otaku, so its popularity was not high. Now, with the earthquake incident, this anime has directly broken out of its niche, even more so than Yosuga no Sora did a few months ago.
Of course, breaking out of its niche is one thing, but how much commercial value can actually be converted is another.
Kyoto, Uji City.
Lin Zhiyan was looking at the related online discussions on his phone when he suddenly heard Yasuhiro Takemoto say: "Sudden disasters really do make people feel heavy-hearted."
"Indeed," Lin Zhiyan responded.
Then, he couldn't help but think of an event that would happen in the future of another timeline: the July 18th Kyoto Animation arson attack.
If there were no human intervention, more than thirty people would die in that fire, including Yasuhiro Takemoto himself.
Thinking of this, he said: "Natural disasters are unpredictable, and even if you want to prevent them, you can't. There's no way around it; the only things we can prevent are man-made disasters."
"Man-made disasters?" Yasuhiro Takemoto felt a bit puzzled.
Lin Zhiyan nodded: "If nothing else, a company like ours, L.S Produ, which has made seven or eight depressing anime, really needs to be careful about being targeted by extremists. That's why we have security guards downstairs at our office. Apart from employees with ID cards, anyone else who wants to enter must make an appointment and register, just to prevent man-made disasters."
Takeuchi Yasuhiro was dumbfounded by what he heard.
After a while, he said with a wry smile: "You guys really have it tough, though I don't think Kyoto Animation would have to worry about something like that."
"How can you be sure?"
Lin Zhiyan turned his head to look at Takeuchi Yasuhiro. "You adapted Key's tearjerker trilogy, which also depressed countless viewers. Who knows if there might be some extremist among them? In any case, it's best to be careful."
The corners of Takeuchi Yasuhiro's mouth twitched slightly: "I'll talk to the president about it when I get back."
Lin Zhiyan said no more.
He had warned him enough. Besides, that incident wouldn't happen until 2019; it was only 2011, still a long way off.
The planned exchange program lasted only one week, ending on March 13th.
After it ended, Lin Zhiyan did not continue to impose on them. However, he did not return to Tokyo immediately either. He had the others who accompanied him go back first, while he stayed behind to continue touring Kyoto, Osaka, and other places with his family.
While sightseeing, he was also considering new animation projects.
Shirobako didn't just have the 24 episodes of the TV series; it also had a theatrical film. However, it would be best to wait a few years before making that film. After all, even if he waited ten years, no other company would beat him to it.
Moreover, unlike Puella Magi Madoka Magica, this anime relied heavily on nostalgia, and that kind of sentiment required time to settle.
The timeline jump in the theatrical film was also quite significant; it skipped directly to five years later. Many people had already left Musashino Animation, and the company itself, due to a certain incident, had fallen into a slump and was in a state of near-collapse.
Things had changed, and people had moved on.
Therefore, from a content perspective, it was more appropriate to wait a few years before making it.
Since he wasn't doing the Shirobako film for the time being, he needed to consider other animation projects.
Original animation projects from 2011, or even 2013 and beyond...
For themes of friendship, growth, and tear-jerkers, he already had Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day. For comedy and moving stories, he had as. For workplace and inspirational themes, he had Shirobako.
What theme should he tackle next?
With the earthquake having happened recently, perhaps he should make an anime with a disaster theme?
However, a purely disaster-themed work would be too heavy and difficult to make a success of, and he couldn't afford to give up on commercial performance.
After much thought, he finally decided to ask for the opinions of those around him.
In a five-star hotel.
After their daughter had fallen asleep, Lin Zhiyan whispered to Nanase Mayumi, then took the opportunity to say, "I haven't got any clues for the next animation project yet. Is there any theme you're particularly looking forward to?"
"Eh? You want me to decide?" Nanase Mayumi was instantly interested.
"Not decide, just provide some reference," Lin Zhiyan shook his head slightly.
"Oh..."
Nanase Mayumi tilted her head and thought for a few seconds before saying, "School romance?"
Lin Zhiyan was stunned for a moment, then asked curiously, "Why school romance?"
"Think about it, didn't we go to the same high school? But, even though we were in the same school, we had absolutely no interaction while we were there, and only met after graduation. So sometimes I wonder what it would be like if we had known each other back then. If you could make an animation about that, that would be the one I'd look forward to the most," Nanase Mayumi explained with a faint smile.
"Is that so? I actually think things are best the way they are now." Lin Zhiyan didn't quite agree.
However, Nanase Mayumi's words were not without merit as a reference.
From 2011 onwards, there were a great many school romance anime, and especially after 2016, there were even more. It's just that most of them were manga or light novel adaptations. Original anime did exist, but they were rare. The only one Lin Zhiyan could think of off the top of his head was "Tsuki ga Kirei".
It's worth noting that in "Tsuki ga Kirei", the chat app LINE, which was used to bring the main characters closer together, only became popular right after the 3.11 Great East Japan Earthquake. If he were to make "Tsuki ga Kirei" at this time, it would probably generate even more buzz than the original version from the other timeline.
It's just a pity that this anime lacked a bit in popularity, and from the perspective of the anime itself, it wasn't outstanding enough. He could get others at the company to work on it, but there was no need for Lin Zhiyan to do it himself.
Since he wasn't doing this anime, it was even less likely that he would do other manga or light novel adaptation school romances.
That said, "romance" was a decent direction. As it happened, he hadn't done an anime primarily focused on romance before, so he could do one.
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