Heavy Rain

Time flies.

More than three weeks have passed since the start of the animation production for the final episode of Ore-sama. Counting the time reserved for outsourced in-betweening, the final deadline is next Monday—or rather, today at midnight. If there are still key frames unfinished by then, then I'm sorry, but we'll have to push through regardless. Otherwise, there really won't be enough time. No matter how good the key animation is, if there isn't enough time left for the animation staff to do the cleanup and in-betweens, they'll just give up and make a mess of the work, unless we resort to a recap episode or delay the broadcast.

Over these past three weeks, Gu Xue has been working herself to the bone, constantly in a state of "this stupid anime, I quit." But that was just a thought; the progress of the cuts she was responsible for proceeded methodically. She would finish the second key animation, the first key animation (rough drafts), and the Layouts, then get scolded by her sister for overworking, and after the scolding, she would go right back to work. It was a never-ending cycle.

If at the beginning Gu Xue would rather draw rough drafts than clean up second key animation, by the later stages, she would rather clean up second key animation than draw rough drafts...

It was truly too troublesome. Several characters fighting in a melee, with the ground visible, requiring consideration of positioning and perspective, all while mixed with superpowers. Most of the special effects required hand-drawing, which was simply torture.

Getting stuck for a day not knowing how to draw a scene was normal, but she would eventually overcome it and get it done.

Following that was the great battle between the protagonist and the Demon King. That bastard Misawa Hiroshi drew the storyboards with such grandeur—it was all massive, sweeping scenes, another set of torturous shots.

To be honest, if it weren't for Mihara Chisa keeping a close eye on her, Gu Xue would have really wanted to throw in the towel or just slap something together and call it a day.

Fortunately, Mihara Chisa was strict, and Gu Xue herself was stubborn. As long as the deadline hadn't passed, she couldn't bring herself to accept sloppy work, which is how she managed to persist.

When she got stuck for a day, she would desperately watch fighting videos and movies with excellent action choreography—not to copy them, of course, but just to find inspiration. She would watch them continuously until the inspiration finally struck.

During this process, Gu Xue would consult with Misawa Hiroshi every week to cut or add a line of dialogue, or to confirm the requirements for the acting. As for Gu Xue's original goal—getting Misawa Hiroshi to cut certain shots—that had long been forgotten after a few discussions...

And Misawa Hiroshi gave Gu Xue a surprise as well. Starting from the second week, he handed most of the directorial check work over to the director, Abe Shinichi, and returned to doing key animation himself, drawing the explosion scenes that Gu Xue had given up on...

Aside from exclaiming "Holy crap," Gu Xue also consulted with him to add a shot and a line of dialogue, to which Misawa Hiroshi agreed.

Right now, Gu Xue is drawing that new shot—a shot she added with a bit of mischievous intent.

It is currently two in the morning, with 24 hours left until the deadline. Although this cut is quite difficult, Gu Xue feels it won't be a problem, though she will definitely get scolded by her sister.

Before this, Gu Xue had already been lectured by Mihara Chisa; adding shots before the deadline is incredibly reckless. If Mihara Chisa hadn't seen Gu Xue finish the first key animation so steadily and quickly, she would have forcibly forbidden her from acting out.

As for Mihara Chisa, she was preparing to go collect the key animation.

Two weeks into the production, just as Mihara Chisa had expected, the progress of most people was delayed to varying degrees. The worst case was someone who had only passed two cuts, yet still had nearly 20 cuts in their hands... These people are still too young, was the assessment Mihara Chisa gave.

Mihara Chisa did not sit idly by. Upon confirming that the person lacked the ability to finish on time and that the director, Misawa Hiroshi, was unwilling to lower the standards, Mihara Chisa reclaimed some of the shots from that animator and several others whose progress was equally delayed. In total, over 40 cuts were outsourced to freelance animators outside the company.

To find enough animators to take on the work in such a short time during the seasonal transition—one has to admit that Mihara Chisa's connections and capabilities are truly impressive. You have to realize that a single animator certainly couldn't draw that many shots; the time was too tight. Even if divided among five or six people, the workload remained heavy. After all, in the current state of the industry, which freelance animator doesn't have several animation projects on their plate?

But she found them. Although she had to exhaust almost all of her connections, it was enough to make Misawa Hiroshi deeply grateful.

In a way, the company really struck gold.

If you don't consider the issue of Miss Mihara's personality, that is.

Just as Gu Xue expected, during her time as the production assistant for Ore-sama, she managed to offend almost all the staff, especially those animators whose progress was delayed. By now, the tiny bit of goodwill they had initially felt because of Mihara Chisa's appearance had completely vanished. Even those she hadn't offended didn't have any particular fondness for her.

However, she herself didn't really care.

Production Assistant Office.

Mihara Chisa finalized the schedule and contacted the outside animators. After receiving confirmation, she let out a sigh of relief.

It's a bit funny to say, but among so many animators, the only one Mihara Chisa basically didn't have to worry about was Gu Xue...

The world is truly a strange place.

She stared at Gu Xue's name for a while. Realizing she had zoned out, Mihara Chisa immediately saved and closed the schedule, stood up, grabbed the keys and umbrella from the desk, and turned to leave.

Her colleagues in the same office were still busy with their own work. No one asked where Mihara Chisa was going. They hadn't exchanged more than a few words with her to this day; if they didn't see her every day, they might even subconsciously forget that a person like Mihara Chisa existed.

Rumble.

As soon as Mihara Chisa stepped out of the company entrance, she glanced at the sky.

It was late at night, the sky was pitch black, and muffled thunder rolled in the distance. It looked like a heavy rain was coming.

To be honest, now is not a good time to go collect key animation. Not considering whether others are sleeping or not, just looking at the time and the weather, it wasn't exactly ideal.

But... perhaps because she wanted to prove herself too much, or perhaps because she didn't want to lose to anyone, Mihara Chisa's mind was made up.

Driving the company car, she skillfully reversed and turned around. Mihara Chisa drove off into the distance, accompanied by the rolling thunder.

The journey was uneventful. Mihara Chisa's current state was actually bordering on drowsy driving; she had arrived at the company at two in the afternoon and hadn't rested since. But perhaps due to her extraordinary willpower, let alone dozing off, she didn't even show signs of fatigue.

Even though there was no one else in the car, a soft, melodic voice could be heard singing an extremely niche song.

When she visited the first animator, the person was indeed still awake. At this stage, where most anime are wrapping up their final episodes, it's impossible to finish the work on hand without pulling all-nighters. Since they chose to enter this industry, there was no other choice.

The person wasn't too surprised that Mihara Chisa had come to collect the key animation in the middle of the night. They even stood at the door and chatted with her for a while, treating it as a break. Unfortunately, Mihara Chisa wore an expression that kept people at a distance, and after they hadn't talked for long, she bowed and turned to leave.

Watching Mihara Chisa's departing back, the animator leaning against the door sighed and shook their head with a wry smile.