People always said that real gold would eventually shine. But when the gold was buried under sand, who knew how long it would take?
For a tiny nobody studio like Starfall, there was no built-in audience. If they had quietly put out their anime without any fanfare, it could have been an incredible show and still struggled to gain traction right out of the gate.
But Clannad was both genuinely excellent and absolutely loaded with talking points, and people wouldn't stop buzzing about it.
Where there was buzz, there was attention. So even though the number of people who had actually watched Clannad's first episode wasn't all that high, the show had basically already taken off.
April 8th, Saturday.
A reporter arrived at Starfall with a cameraman in tow.
The reporter's name was Natsuki Takase, and she was from Anime Weekly.
As for what real-world publication Anime Weekly corresponded to, Yuta had no idea. All he knew was that they had a working relationship with Arcane.
This interview was partly because Anime Weekly had been interested on their own, and partly to support the promotional push on Arcane's end.
The TV station was also doing some promotion to boost ratings, but that side of things didn't require Yuta's involvement. At least not yet.
After introductions, Yuta invited Natsuki Takase to sit down and said, "Miss Takase, for this interview, I'd prefer not to show my face. I believe Arcane already mentioned that?"
"They did."
Natsuki nodded. "That's no problem at all. But you really are modest and low-key, President Shido. Most people would jump at the chance for this kind of exposure."
Yuta smiled and said nothing.
The reason he didn't want his face out there had nothing to do with being modest or low-key. And it certainly wasn't because he was so handsome that it might cause public outrage.
It was because Clannad was a tearjerker anime.
Right now they were only on the first season, so the emotional damage was still relatively manageable. But when the second season eventually aired, it was probably going to make a million viewers ugly-cry.
And after Clannad, he would most likely keep making tearjerker anime.
If his face was out there and someone recognized him on the street someday, was he going to get grabbed and beaten up?
For the sake of his future personal safety, keeping a low profile seemed like the smart move.
Natsuki Takase had no idea what was going through his head, of course.
After a moment's thought, she said, "President Shido... oh wait, what should I call you? President Shido, Director Shido, Shido-sensei, or Producer Shido?"
It was a clever way to ease into the topic through his many titles.
"Any of those is fine. You can just call me Shido if you want," Yuta said casually.
"I'll stick with President Shido then."
Natsuki continued, "So tell me, President Shido, how did you manage to handle so many different roles on Clannad by yourself? With that much on your plate, did you actually have enough hours in the day?"
Yuta thought for a second and answered seriously. "There was definitely a lot to do. I suppose the simplest way to put it is that I just used the time other people spent on coffee breaks to work on the anime instead."
Natsuki paused, then said, "Can I interpret that as meaning you're extremely dedicated and hardworking, with excellent time management skills, which is how you were able to pull off so many roles at once?"
"That's about right." Yuta nodded.
"Even so, you clearly have exceptional talent across all these areas, and that's what everyone really admires. No matter how hard someone works, they couldn't accomplish the same thing without that kind of ability," Natsuki added.
Yuta hesitated for a moment, then decided to be honest. "Actually, the only thing I'm reasonably good at is key animation. Everything else, directing, scripting, music, I'm really just average. No special talent to speak of."
"Hm?" Natsuki was suddenly confused.
"I'm hoping to keep learning and improving over time, I guess." Yuta sighed.
Natsuki: "..."
'Average? Is he joking?'
Based on what Clannad's first episode showed, Yuta's abilities across the board were clearly top-notch.
How did "top-notch" become "average" when he described himself? If that was average, then what would extraordinary look like? And he wanted to keep improving? Where would that even end?
Natsuki was screaming internally, but on the surface she just smiled politely. "You're too humble, President Shido."
Yuta wasn't actually trying to do some kind of fake-humble flex. His skills really weren't that impressive.
By saying it now, he was laying the groundwork so that if anyone came to him in the future asking him to write scripts or compose music, he could refuse without having to dance around it with excuses.
"President Shido."
Natsuki shifted gears. "According to rumors, the director originally attached to this anime was Genma Wasabi, who previously worked on First Love Island. But then things fell apart between your studio and Director Wasabi, and that's when you stepped in yourself. Could you walk us through what actually happened?"
Back when the whole drama first erupted, Yuta had given his side of the story, but since the anime hadn't aired yet at that point, he couldn't get into specific details about the script.
He had only given a rough overview, and not many people knew the full story.
Now, there was basically no reason to hold anything back.
He organized his thoughts and began. "Here's what happened. I asked Arcane's president, Miss Fuji, to help me find a reliable director..."
First, he explained why they went after Genma Wasabi and how they ended up hiring him.
Then he talked about how Genma had acted like a diva, demanding that the entire studio adjust its work hours to suit him.
And finally, the conflict over the script.
"I had already finished the scripts for the first five episodes, but Wasabi only read through the first three before telling me they were no good. He wanted me to scrap everything and start over. He told me to cut out the family storylines for both the male and female leads and add a sister character instead. Obviously, I wasn't going to agree to that..."
Natsuki took careful notes throughout, and only when Yuta had finished the entire account did she ask, "So the version of the script that audiences are seeing now, is that the same version Director Wasabi was unhappy with? Did you end up making any changes to it afterward?"
"Not a single word."
Yuta answered, "This anime has a massive number of plot threads woven in starting from the very first episode. Everything is connected. Changing any one thing would unravel the whole structure. And besides, I never thought there was anything wrong with the script in the first place. There was no reason to change it."
Natsuki nodded and moved on. "Clannad's first episode aired yesterday to overwhelmingly positive reviews. How would you personally evaluate this anime, President Shido?"
"It's okay. Not too bad," Yuta said.
"Not too bad?" The corner of Natsuki's mouth twitched ever so slightly.
"Episode one is just the beginning. The story gets better and better from here," Yuta added.
"It sounds like you're very confident?"
"Absolutely. Feel free to look forward to it."
_______________________
Give some power stones and leave a review if you like it!
Support me at patreon.com/CulturedOne and read 50 Advanced Chapters