Conflict

After listening to Misawa Hiroshi finish speaking, looking like a salted fish that had lost its dreams, Gu Xue considered it for a moment, turned around, flicked her ponytail, and said bluntly, "I can take it, but I do have requirements. These storyboards are far too ridiculous."

"Go ahead." Misawa Hiroshi flipped over like a salted fish, the fighting spirit reigniting on his face.

Gu Xue smiled. It was not that she truly did not want to take it on. As Mihara Chisa had said, she simply did not have the time. She was not entitled to sleep on the office floor, nor was she that fanatical. She actually disliked the anime Ore-sama, because of Toe Master's pacing...

But if she had the time allotted to a theatrical film, she would definitely have taken this key animation job without hesitation. Back on Earth, she had been known throughout the industry for demanding a great deal from both the visuals and herself. As long as she took on a cut and had enough time, she would not stop until she had worked herself to the bone and made it as good as possible—or at least to her own satisfaction.

But now that Misawa Hiroshi was willing to compromise, Gu Xue could consider taking the job.

"I want to be able to alter the storyboards myself..." Gu Xue made her first demand.

"Impossible."

Before Gu Xue could even finish, she was decisively refused.

So that whole thing about overwhelming charisma making people bow their heads the moment you showed off your skills was a lie...

Still, Gu Xue did not truly intend to drastically alter the storyboards. If an episode director could casually let the key animators under him do whatever they wanted, then either his skill level was worrying, or he had no confidence in his own work whatsoever. Such a person was not a qualified creator.

Since Misawa Hiroshi had chosen to draw the storyboards himself instead of entrusting them to someone else, he had to be someone with dreams and considerable standards for visuals. He was also very confident in the storyboards he drew and the final directing results they would produce. People like that were the hardest to deal with...

As for the two key animation cuts in Episode Six, Gu Xue had acted first and reported afterward. She had been forced into it, and the results had indeed been outstanding.

But if Gu Xue now bluntly said she wanted to alter the storyboards herself, of course she would be refused. It was not as if Gu Xue were some state-designated national treasure...

"I will not make any major changes overall. I will follow your ideas and only make the visuals flow more smoothly. For example, shortening the time the protagonist spends brawling with the Four Heavenly Kings. That would make the animation easier for me too," Gu Xue explained.

"Sorry to trouble you." While Misawa Hiroshi was still thinking, director Abe Nozomu answered for him. But he added at the end, "We will inspect it carefully."

The implication was... if it was not good enough, then she would have to fix every last bit! And she was not allowed to complain about being corrected!

Misawa Hiroshi had no objection to that.

Gu Xue said nothing either. She was not the overly domineering sort who could make unreasonable demands like, "I can draw it, but you are not allowed to alter my key animation."

"Do you have any other requirements?" Misawa Hiroshi asked somewhat nervously when he saw Gu Xue pondering.

"One more." Gu Xue came back to herself, picked up the storyboards and flipped them open, then pointed at a cut she would be handling next. "I am not good at explosions... Well, it is not that I cannot draw them, but if I do, there definitely will not be enough time. I suggest we stop pursuing such a grand spectacle and cut this shot entirely, or let me handle it freely. I will do my best to draw it well."

This half-bald episode director really knew how to have fun. A whole string of explosions, and the direction notes even said things like mountains collapsing, dust filling the sky, rubble flying everywhere. What a lunatic. If he wanted to see explosions, why did he not just buy some explosives himself? Would that not be much faster than waiting for her to draw them...

For large-scale explosion effects like this, to achieve the result the episode director wanted, once she had drawn several layers of key animation, it would take at least half a month. There was no way around it.

"I understand." Misawa Hiroshi was also an episode director who had come up through animation, so he understood the difficulty of this cut very well. Yet he still seemed unwilling to give it up just like that. "Do your best. The only requirement is that it must be awe-inspiring. I will make some preparations on my end as well."

Gu Xue did not know what preparations he meant, but she said nothing and nodded. "Then I will take it. Next, please confirm the schedule and requirements with me. As for the in-betweens... I will clean them up myself. You can decide the price."

Mihara Chisa, who had been silent the whole time, interjected, "Is that really all right? I mean, you cleaning up the second key animation yourself."

She seemed more inclined toward having Gu Xue draw the first key animation and letting someone else clean up the second key animation.

"I will do my best to meet the deadline. Trust me, the quality will be better if I clean up the second key animation myself." Whenever the matter concerned the work itself, Gu Xue explained patiently.

Honestly, while only drawing the first key animation would save time and effort, there was no guarantee of the final quality. A lot of second key animators were quite poor these days. If problems arose, some of the more unscrupulous ones would even shirk responsibility, saying things like, "The first key animation was already like that." Gu Xue had no desire to go through something like that.

If the key animation she had worked so hard to draw got ruined, only for someone to stab her in the back afterward, Gu Xue could not guarantee that she would not go berserk.

Therefore, all things considered, Gu Xue still felt it would be better to complete everything herself. She did not want anyone else touching her work.

Seeing Gu Xue insist on cleaning up the second key animation herself, Mihara Chisa fell silent for a moment before stiffly forcing out, "I hope you can deliver on time."

Gu Xue: "..."

Once or twice was fine, but time and time again, no matter what, even when she was making concessions, that attitude was getting irritating.

Gu Xue could not help feeling dissatisfied with Mihara Chisa. But considering that the other woman was also trying to ensure the anime was delivered on time, Gu Xue said nothing and went straight to Misawa Hiroshi to confirm the animation requirements.

However, on the way there, Mihara Chisa stepped in front of her and added another sentence.

"If you insist on cleaning up the second key animation yourself, there is nothing I can do. But please notify me immediately after completing each cut. I will bring it to the episode director and animation director for inspection right away, in case the schedule falls behind. Also, if you truly cannot keep up with the progress, please say so immediately. This is for your own good too. Please do not force yourself. That will not improve the situation; it will only harm everyone. And... to be honest, I do not trust you. Please do not cause me any trouble. I am begging you."

Hearing that, Gu Xue stopped walking, bit her lip, and took a deep breath before suppressing the anger in her heart.

What kind of person was this? She had not even started drawing yet, and the woman was already tearing her down.

And who needed her trust anyway?

"Got. It." Gu Xue replied through gritted teeth. Without even looking at her, she stared straight ahead and walked around her toward Misawa Hiroshi.

Mihara Chisa stood where she was. Even after noticing that Gu Xue was angry, her expression did not change. She still looked calm and unruffled.

Only the atmosphere in the meeting room suddenly became somewhat stiff.

No one spoke.

The key animators present sped up, quickly picked out the parts they wanted to draw, confirmed a few requirements with Misawa Hiroshi, and hurriedly left.

No one was socially oblivious. Everyone knew how to read the room.

As more and more key animators left, only Gu Xue, the episode director, the director, and Mihara Chisa remained in the meeting room.

Because great expectations had been placed on the cuts Gu Xue was handling, the episode director had an enormous amount of nonsense to say and demands to make. She had to accept or reject certain requirements that simply could not be completed on time depending on the circumstances, so she was delayed until the end.

Gu Xue would not use a conflict with someone else as an excuse to slip away. That might be fine in everyday life, but not while working. It was being responsible for herself and for her work.

But Mihara Chisa was even more unbelievable. Their relationship had just nearly deteriorated to the point of an argument, yet she still dared to come over and lecture Gu Xue again...

Gu Xue did not even know what expression she should use when facing her...

In the end, however, Mihara Chisa left first. After confirming the number of remaining shots and the schedule with the episode director, she expressionlessly glanced at Gu Xue, who was lowering her head and studying the storyboards with a serious expression, then opened the meeting room door and left.

Only three people remained in the meeting room.

Since the string of storyboards was genuinely troublesome and Gu Xue wanted to alter certain parts, rather than have the work fail to meet the episode director's expectations during the layout stage or even the key animation stage and get sent back for a complete redo, Gu Xue simply referred to the original storyboards and drew up her own version for the episode director to inspect first. If there were issues, they could be changed immediately. It was much more convenient.

So Gu Xue began drawing right there.

While waiting for Gu Xue to finish drawing the storyboards, episode director Misawa Hiroshi and director Abe Shinichi chatted constantly. However, with both women in the meeting room earlier, they had spoken quite cautiously. Only after Mihara Chisa left did they relax and loosen up a little.

Gu Xue was not particularly affected. She treated their conversation as background noise.

Whenever she occasionally heard something that interested her, concerning the industry, she would slow down her drawing slightly, listen until they were done, then continue.

As the two rambled on, for some reason the topic suddenly turned to Mihara Chisa.

"The company poached Mihara Chisa to prepare for you, right? For the Anime Mirai project?" Abe Shinichi suddenly asked out of nowhere.

But Misawa Hiroshi understood. He laughed at himself and said, "They mentioned it to me, but Miss Mihara is quite forceful. She had just arrived, yet she was willing to lower herself and serve as the production assistant for this episode. She even gave us quite a lesson. I do not know whether I can keep going when we work together later."

"You are making anime with public money, and you are still unhappy?"

Abe Shinichi teased him, then glanced at Gu Xue, who had her head lowered and looked as though she were seriously drawing storyboards, but was actually listening intently to their conversation. After thinking for a moment, he raised his voice slightly and said with a smile, "As for Miss Mihara, she is indeed rather forceful. But perhaps you do not know that Miss Mihara used to be quite a gentle production assistant..."