Asking the Impossible

Five days later.

Inside the conference room.

"It's about to start." Mihara Chisa sat beside the projector, looking at the animation director, Misawa Hiroshi, the director, Abe Shinichi, and the rest of the key staff.

"Go ahead," Abe Shinichi said with a nod.

Mihara Chisa pressed play.

The video began.

They watched it once, giving it a rough pass.

Abe Shinichi gestured for Mihara Chisa to play it again. Then they watched it once more, and then again. They kept going over it, one viewing after another.

What they were doing was called a rush check. In simple terms, they were inspecting the footage after compositing. The backgrounds and character art had already been combined, and the necessary effects added. Apart from the lack of sound, it was practically indistinguishable from the finished product.

Of course, if they found any problems or anything below standard, it would have to be fixed. And they weren't just checking the animation. The colors, backgrounds, compositing, and other elements could all require revisions if something was wrong.

With a light novel adaptation like Ore-sama, there was no way they could inspect every single shot in detail. In fact, until the final episode, this step was little more than a quick once-over.

Revisions took time. If everything was riddled with problems, there was no saving it, so there was no point in looking too closely...

As for why they were making such a fuss over the final episode, it was simply because the director and animation director had such high hopes for the cuts Gu Xue had worked on.

What they were checking now was only the key animation Gu Xue had handled.

They went through the footage frame by frame and found no major problems. There were a few minor ones, like colors that didn't quite look right, but those weren't important enough to warrant any serious revisions.

The animation director, Misawa Hiroshi, had just stood up to point out some of these issues. He'd barely gotten halfway through when he saw the murderous look in Mihara Chisa's eyes and obediently sat back down.

Once they'd checked each frame, they played all the cuts in a row and watched them through again.

The video finished playing.

"..." After a moment of silence, Misawa Hiroshi suddenly said, "What do you think it would look like if Miss Gu Xue did all the key animation herself?"

Abe Shinichi chuckled. "It would look like Miss Mihara chopping you to pieces."

That was pure fantasy. They could consider having one person do all the key animation if the schedule was generous and they had more than two months to work on a single episode. But Ore-sama didn't have more than two months—not even one.

Still, Abe Shinichi knew Misawa Hiroshi was just musing aloud.

Gu Xue really was an excellent animator.

When he noticed Mihara Chisa looking over, Misawa Hiroshi gave an awkward laugh. "I was just joking."

"All right." Abe Shinichi patted Misawa Hiroshi on the shoulder and stood up. "Miss Mihara, Misawa, get ready. We'll head over to Komachi Studio in a bit to edit the finished film together, stitching all the cuts into one. Let's get everything wrapped up in one go."

They really were in the final stretch.

Since the director had said so, nobody objected. Most of the key staff began filing out, while Mihara Chisa stayed behind to tidy up. Just as Misawa Hiroshi was about to leave with Abe Shinichi, Mihara Chisa called out to him.

"Please wait a moment, Mr. Misawa."

"?" Misawa Hiroshi stopped.

Abe Shinichi thought for a moment, then left without waiting.

Mihara Chisa picked up her computer and walked over to Misawa Hiroshi. "The Anime Mirai project has been decided. It'll officially start about half a month after we finish this anime. The company wants you to direct it, and I'll find the new talent."

"Is that a good thing?" Looking at Mihara Chisa's expressionless face, Misawa Hiroshi wasn't even sure whether it was.

It should have been good news, but after seeing how Miss Mihara had been acting lately, Misawa Hiroshi was starting to have doubts.

"That's for you to decide." Mihara Chisa shook her head. After hesitating briefly, she added, "I have only one request: please let Miss Gu Xue take part."

"...Haven't they already settled on the staff? It's not as if Gu Xue can come in as a newcomer, is it?" Misawa Hiroshi gave a wry smile. Of course he wanted Gu Xue involved in the project; he'd be more than happy to have her. He'd even put her name forward at first. But the company's managing director seemed to have his own plans, and Gu Xue's name had ultimately been crossed out and replaced with that of an old hand who'd been with the company for ages.

Mihara Chisa was silent for a moment. "Please negotiate with them."

"You're asking the impossible..."

Misawa Hiroshi's eyes widened.

As an animation director without much experience, he had practically no say beyond the content itself. For all he knew, even the content would be dictated to him.

If he tried negotiating with the company, they might brand him ungrateful and demote him.

"I'll speak to the company too. Sorry for the trouble." Mihara Chisa knew she was asking a lot, but she still insisted that Misawa Hiroshi negotiate with them.

"You're abusing your position for personal gain, Miss Mihara..." Misawa Hiroshi joked.

He'd meant it as a joke.

But a faint blush crept onto Mihara Chisa's face.

"Uh...?" Misawa Hiroshi's eyes widened again.

Mihara Chisa took a deep breath and said softly, "If Miss Gu Xue isn't involved, I'll keep a close eye on all of you. You know I don't trust you."

"W-wait, isn't that a threat...?"

"I just want us to do a better job."

"I want that too, but you can't expect me to bring home a gold medal, can you? Don't be ridiculous. CDD and 3.C PICTURE are among the companies entering this time. There's no way I could—"

He stopped mid-sentence and looked at Mihara Chisa. Remembering her time working in production at 3.C PICTURE, he asked in a quiet voice, "You're not actually serious, are you?"

"I am." Mihara Chisa hesitated, then nodded.

"..." Misawa Hiroshi gave a wry smile. "Then you'd better pray the final episode of Ore-sama gets good numbers and makes a bit of a splash. Otherwise, I really won't have the confidence to bring it up. Don't forget, I'm a backup choice too. If most of the company's main staff weren't busy working on Shueisha's hit manga adaptation, You Are My Hero, I wouldn't have gotten the job."

"The company wants me to direct the Anime Mirai project partly to train and develop me, but they're also taking the project seriously. It's about money, after all. If I want to replace someone, I'll need a good reason."

Mihara Chisa was quiet for a while. "...I understand."

September 16. Though the start of autumn had already passed, the weather was still hot.

Two days earlier, the video completed by the V-hen team had been delivered to the television station.

Today was the broadcast date for My Right Leg Is Missing a Big Toe, But That's No Toe—It's the Holy Sword.

The director, Abe Shinichi, and animation director, Misawa Hiroshi, seemed fairly confident in the finished episode. They both posted about it, each phrasing things differently, but with roughly the same message: Everyone, go watch it!

Even the original author, who had only taken part in the anime's early planning and had barely shown up since, came out to promote it.

The message was more or less the same: Everyone, go watch it!

Unfortunately, there weren't many people responding.

The sixth episode had caused a little stir, but viewers really did have memories like goldfish...

And after the shoddy production of episode seven, episode eight was shoddy too, and then came episode nine...

Anyway, whatever anticipation the end of episode six had built up was completely destroyed by the episodes that followed. The original story—or rather, the anime adaptation—was pretty good, with the distinctive feel of a cult film, but not everyone could put up with the ugly, mangled animation and keep watching.

At this point, Ore-sama was just one of dozens of fairly unremarkable anime airing that season.

Apart from its name.

They'd started out with boundless ambition, but Misawa Hiroshi didn't have much confidence in how many people would ultimately watch the show or what they'd think of it.

Please vote for the story. Thank you...