Anime Production: Healing the Audience, Part 15

The reason tragedy is tragedy is because it leaves people with endless regrets. Perhaps that was where its charm lay.

Fang Zheng and Yang Li went to the living room. He poured her a cup of tea, and they sat facing each other.

After the time it took to drink a cup of tea, Yang Li had calmed down. As long as she did not think about Shiru's lines, she did not feel quite so miserable.

"How was this lady's voice acting?"

Yang Li composed herself. Even she had not expected to cry that hard over a fictional character, but fortunately, Fang Zheng had not mocked her for it.

That also partly showed just how successfully Shiru had been written.

"Do you want to hear the truth or a lie?"

"Both!"

Seeing Yang Li raise her chin like a proud white goose, Fang Zheng smiled.

Though she hid it well, he could still see a trace of nervousness in her eyes. She was probably worried about the result of her audition.

It was obvious that Yang Li truly liked Shiru. Now that she knew Shiru's fate, if she failed to get the job of voicing her, she would probably jump up in frustration.

"The truth is two words: perfect!"

"What's the lie?"

Yang Li's face lit up, and her eyes instantly brightened. She knew the voice acting role was practically hers.

"The lie is that you're about as good as I am."

Fang Zheng looked at Yang Li with a grin. Thanks to the system, his Voice Acting Ability was at Lv5. Honestly, at that level, his vocal range had already reached a professional standard.

Other than female voices, he could handle nearly all male character voice work by himself. After all, he had not spent all those Reputation Points for nothing.

His voice was incredibly versatile. In terms of compatibility with Yang Li and the role of Shiru alone, the two were evenly matched.

Yang Li had graduated from a professional broadcasting program and had been tempered in the workplace. Her control over her own voice had long since become second nature.

The only thing she lacked compared to Fang Zheng was that she needed roles suited to her voice, while Fang Zheng did not need that at all.

Originally, Fang Zheng's voice acting ability could have completely crushed Yang Li's, but her performance today made him reevaluate ordinary people like her.

As someone with a cheat, he unconsciously felt superior to everyone else and assumed others could not possibly compare to him.

But Yang Li had taught him a lesson today.

In terms of voice acting technique alone, Fang Zheng was indeed no worse than Yang Li, perhaps even better. But there was one thing he could never attain.

It was the sincere emotion Yang Li poured into her performance!

He could say his technique surpassed Yang Li's, but voice acting absolutely required more than technique.

Without emotion, no matter how masterful the technique was, it would be difficult to move the audience.

In that respect, Fang Zheng felt he truly could not compare to Yang Li.

At the very least, her love for Shiru made him ashamed. Compared to her, he felt like a scumbag, far too indiscriminate in his affections.

He had far too many waifus. Between new and old anime, there were probably over a thousand of them~

Thinking about it, Fang Zheng felt he was scum to the core, falling for every girl he met.

But could he be blamed for that?

No!

Being indiscriminately affectionate was practically a common ailment among all otaku. It was not that our side lacked resolve; the enemy was simply too alluring~

The charm of 2D beauties was absolutely impossible for otaku to resist. Goddesses were replaced generation after generation. Faced with that colorful world, was it not only natural to become a scumbag and love them all?

So was being indiscriminately affectionate a sin?

It was not!

At least, it was not a sin for otaku hopelessly addicted to the 2D world. Long live fantasies!

"Tch, what a braggart!"

Yang Li burst out laughing at Fang Zheng's words.

Her pronunciation skills had come from systematic study and countless rounds of practice, combined with the experience she gained after joining the TV station. That was how she had developed her current voice.

But Fang Zheng did not look like someone who had studied broadcasting at all. About as good as her?

There had to be a limit to bragging, right~!

"Your eyes are telling me you don't believe me?"

Yang Li's expression had distrust written all over it. Fang Zheng did not need to guess; one glance was enough to understand.

"You don't need my eyes to tell you. My mouth will!" Yang Li looked at Fang Zheng and enunciated each word. "I. Don't. Believe. You!"

At those words, Fang Zheng's temper immediately flared. Who was not a baby in their twenties here~

"Come with me. Today, I'll show you what a genius is, and why you shouldn't look down on people!"

"Pah! You're the one with dog eyes!"

Bickering all the way, Fang Zheng and Yang Li returned to the recording studio. This time, Yang Li sat beside the equipment while Fang Zheng entered the booth.

"Mr. Fang, please begin your performance~"

Yang Li sat leisurely beside the equipment, put on her headphones, gave Fang Zheng a teasing look, and gestured for him to begin.

Fang Zheng picked up Tatsumi's script, took a deep breath, recalled the plot, and gathered his emotions.

He might not have been as devoted as Yang Li, but he still needed the proper emotions. Otherwise, the voice acting would sound lifeless, like he was merely reading from a script.

Then forget moving the audience—even he would probably be disgusted enough to vomit after hearing it once.

"Big Brother, thanks to you, I... won~ I... will grow stronger, and I'll definitely master Demon Possession! So... so... so... it's okay for me to cry a little now, right, Big Brother?! Aah!!!"

"Mine... Don't die... Don't die... You said you wanted to become a winner someday, didn't you~?!"

"I'll make a new promise with you. I won't die! And I definitely won't make you sad! Let's go see the new country, and everyone's smiles together~!"

"Sorry, it looks like I can't keep that promise..."

Inside the recording booth, Fang Zheng unwillingly lowered the script in his hand. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then slowly pushed open the glass door and walked out.

Fang Zheng did not attempt Tatsumi's most iconic and memorable soul-filled roar of "Demon Possession."

Because he knew that in his current state, even if he tried, it would not be perfect. He could not completely immerse himself in Tatsumi's role the way Yang Li could, nor could he experience that scorching emotion powerful enough to shake one's soul.

Before he had absolute confidence, he did not want to try. He did not want even the slightest flaw to ruin Tatsumi's unique "Demon Possession."

If... if he truly could not understand Tatsumi's feelings, could not shout that "Demon Possession" in a way that resonated with people and made them want to shout along with him, he would rather give up on Akame ga Kill! altogether!

The pinnacle of voice acting was emotional expression—making the audience unconsciously feel that same emotion. Whether through the visuals or the voices, neither could be lacking.

If he could not make it perfect, he would rather give up. That was the minimum respect Akame ga Kill! deserved as a work!

"You..."

Watching Fang Zheng walk out of the recording booth, Yang Li slowly took off her headphones and stared at him in disbelief, her eyes filled with shock.

Since Fang Zheng had dared to compete with her in voice acting, he obviously had some skill. From the very beginning, Yang Li had guessed that he knew some vocal techniques.

But she had never imagined Fang Zheng could reach this level. He had utterly stunned her, an experienced host.

"So? I'm not too bad compared to you, am I?"

Fang Zheng took a deep breath, suppressing the unwillingness and impatience in his heart, then looked at Yang Li with a smile.

"Not too bad? You're beyond imagination." Yang Li stepped forward and carefully examined Fang Zheng for a moment before muttering, "Monster. You can make anime and do voice acting too. What a freak!"

Fang Zheng's mouth twitched. Knowing Yang Li's personality, he did not take it to heart and simply treated it as praise.

"The lines you just read... Brody and Mine, they both die too, don't they?"

Yang Li suddenly remembered something. Her beautiful eyes fixed tightly on Fang Zheng, as though she wanted to see straight through him.

"Huh? Do they? How could that be? You're imagining things!"

Fang Zheng's heart jolted. How had he forgotten about that? He had been too focused on showing off, and now he was trapped.

"Heh, your expression tells me everything. Has no one ever told you that your lying face is incredibly exaggerated?" Yang Li looked at his obvious guilty expression with a cold smile.

"But forget it. You already wrote my favorite Shiru to death, so I can understand Brody and Mine dying too." Yang Li waved a hand. She had completely given up on Fang Zheng.

She should never have had any expectations for this bastard. Some super-hyped battle anime? With Fang Zheng's rotten personality, she could tell with her toes that it was impossible.

"Can you tell me who else dies?"

Yang Li looked at Fang Zheng curiously, anticipation in her eyes.

"Haven't you heard that spoilers doom your whole family?" Fang Zheng rolled his eyes at Yang Li. You already knew enough. If he told her everything, what would be the fun in that?

A certain great man had once said: fighting heaven brought endless joy, fighting earth brought endless joy, and fighting people brought endless joy!

Although Fang Zheng felt he was going further and further down the road of courting death, was outwitting fans and viewers not one of life's greatest pleasures?

"Fine, don't tell me. What are you so smug about?" Seeing that Fang Zheng would not tell her, Yang Li curled her lip disdainfully. "It's not like you can write everyone to death~"

Fang Zheng froze and stared at Yang Li in shock. Had this girl studied the Book of Changes or something? Could she predict the future?

Akame ga Kill! did not exactly kill everyone, but it was close. By the end, only Najeta and Akame remained.

Of course, it could also be said that the whole group was wiped out. Najeta had used Susanoo's berserk form, leaving her with little time to live. Although she made it to the end, she probably would not last much longer.

Akame was even worse off—a complete tragedy. She watched her companions leave one by one, and she herself had been cursed by the demonic sword. In the end, she alone bore all the "sins" and began a life on the run, profoundly showing the audience that being alive did not necessarily mean being happy.

Some said Akame would eventually die from Muramasa's curse, while others said she found a way to lift it. But Fang Zheng himself did not know the truth.

It could be said that Akame ga Kill! had been a tragedy from the very beginning. It would not be wrong to say that everyone died.

From that perspective, Yang Li's careless remark seemed to have completely guessed Akame ga Kill!'s ending.

"You should be thinking about how to deal with all the viewers you deceived once Akame ga Kill! airs."