Subject Matter

It seemed that before Gu Xue entered, the two had already been arguing for a while; otherwise, the air wouldn't have been so thick with tension.

The atmosphere in the conference room was somewhat stiff.

"Now, now, Ms. Mihara, please, have a seat." Gu Xue was quick-witted. Seeing that Mihara Chisa looked a bit agitated, she immediately grabbed her hand and urged her to sit down.

Mihara Chisa glanced at Gu Xue, hesitated for a moment, and slowly sat down.

That aggressive aura of hers vanished.

"..." Misawa Hiroshi watched this scene and smacked his lips, feeling a bit bitter.

Before Gu Xue arrived, he had indeed been arguing with Mihara Chisa for a while. But he had started out wanting to discuss things calmly, asking Mihara Chisa to sit down and talk several times. Ms. Mihara hadn't even acknowledged him, instead snapping back at him...

Now, with one pull from Gu Xue, she sat down, and even her gaze had softened.

What the hell is this?

Misawa Hiroshi felt like he had just swallowed a hundred lemons.

Gu Xue didn't know what Misawa Hiroshi was thinking. Seeing Ms. Mihara sit down, she breathed a sigh of relief, though she also felt a bit helpless.

The reason she joined this project was precisely because she was worried about this.

Ms. Mihara's personality was truly... terrible. She didn't understand the concept of being tactful at all. Being blunt was one thing, but she also didn't trust others.

And people's patience had its limits. Perhaps Misawa Hiroshi might have a high tolerance for her due to sympathy or similar feelings, but patience was something that would eventually run out.

Yet, Misawa Hiroshi was the type of person who had very strong opinions about his work.

If Ms. Mihara refused to budge and kept acting like this, even if things were fine this time, a complete falling out with the core creators was inevitable. Gu Xue didn't even want to imagine what would happen then.

Gu Xue didn't want to watch Ms. Mihara go through another "Director Narita Kei" incident.

So she came, specifically to prevent others from completely hating Mihara Chisa, hoping she could act as a mediator to resolve the conflict between the two sides.

If it weren't for Mihara Chisa, there was no way Gu Xue would have joined this project. What kind of "mid-level animator" nonsense was this... It was exhausting and thankless. Although the pay wasn't bad, if Gu Xue really needed money, she could just swallow her pride and act spoiled to get it from her sister, Gu Rou—wouldn't that be faster?

Her sister would even give her more.

If it weren't for love and passion, who would join an animation production company?

Besides, if they really made a mecha anime, Gu Xue was one hundred percent certain she would be screwed. She would likely end up doing the key animation for most of the project by herself.

Expecting newcomers to draw robots well without long-term practice was simply impossible.

If they could actually draw robots well, they wouldn't be newcomers; they'd just go get a job. Why join the Anime Mirai project? What kind of "nurturing" is that?

So... actually, Gu Xue didn't agree with Misawa Hiroshi doing a mecha theme either, but she couldn't act like Mihara Chisa. She had to be more tactful.

Be more tactful...

"Is something wrong with your brain?"

Gu Xue looked at him with disdain. "Please, Director, do you not know what year it is? You still want to make a hand-drawn robot anime? Look at how many companies still have the guts and the resources to make this kind of animation? Is it that other companies don't want to? They just can't do it. The animators who can draw giant robots well are practically antiques now, okay? They're practically being put on pedestals, and you want a bunch of newcomers to draw them? What will you do if the work doesn't get finished? Are you going to draw it yourself? I'm not doing it, anyway."

"I'm really not trying to bring you down." Gu Xue took a deep breath and continued: "You come from an animation background, so you should know very well how difficult it is to draw mecha. The fact that the industry switches to 3D whenever large machinery or robots appear is a perfect testament to that. Whatever Ms. Mihara said about the market just now, you can treat it as nonsense. It's true that many people still like robot anime, including me—I love them too, and I understand what you mean by 'a man's romance.' But romance doesn't put food on the table. Could you please consider the practical situation? I won't even mention the last time you messed around and changed the storyboards—I'll just assume you were inexperienced—but isn't it a bit too much to keep acting recklessly? Who gave you the confidence to think that for your first time as a director, with mostly newcomer animators under you, you should be making a robot anime?"

Misawa Hiroshi was silent for a moment, then whispered: "You."

"..."

Gu Xue turned directly to look at Mihara Chisa. "Ms. Mihara, please, you must make him come to his senses."

Mihara Chisa: "..."

"Then what theme do you suggest we do?"

Misawa Hiroshi gave a bitter smile, suppressing his desire to make a robot anime, and stopped insisting.

It was his first time as a director, and he couldn't suppress the urge to make the anime he wanted to make. He had been carried away.

Now, he was calm.

Mihara Chisa talking to him about the market and the audience was far less effective than Gu Xue tearing into him about the difficulty of the animation. Because he was a creator, talking to him about the audience was like playing the lute to a cow, but talking to him about the production difficulties that directly affected him gave him a clear concept.

And most importantly, if Gu Xue didn't agree to make a robot anime, and it ended up failing, she wouldn't take responsibility for it—so how on earth was Misawa Hiroshi supposed to draw it?

"Do you have any other themes you want to do?" Seeing him have a change of heart, Gu Xue's tone softened, and she felt a sense of relief. She hadn't cared about Misawa Hiroshi's face when she tore into him earlier, but if he had been stubborn for the sake of his pride and insisted on the robot anime, there would have been nothing she could do.

Fortunately, Misawa Hiroshi was still somewhat reasonable...

Hearing Gu Xue's question, Misawa Hiroshi didn't even think about it and said directly: "Robot anime."

This guy is hopeless.

"Does Ms. Mihara have any good ideas?" Gu Xue turned her head directly to look at Mihara Chisa.

Mihara Chisa was silent for a moment, then shook her head.

Gu Xue: "..."

"Ms. Gu Xue, do you have any good ideas?"

Seeing the situation reach a stalemate, Misawa Hiroshi took the initiative to ask Gu Xue.

"Me..." Gu Xue considered it for a while.

Actually, she didn't have any either. If it were a TV anime, she might carefully craft a story and make an anime that lived up to her own vision, but an OVA was only twenty minutes long. She felt that nothing she could think of would be appropriate.

Furthermore, Gu Xue really didn't have any good feelings toward this project. She never wanted to be some backbone animator in the first place, so expecting her to rack her brains coming up with a story wasn't very realistic.

Moreover, this project was intended to train newcomers, so it was best to cover all bases; it needed both slice-of-life acting segments and action sequences, which was a bit troublesome.

Gu Xue didn't want to expend the mental effort and was just about to shake her head and say she had nothing, but at the critical moment, a certain work came to mind.

Gu Xue looked at Misawa Hiroshi and said, "...How about doing a witch-themed project?"

"Eh?" Misawa Hiroshi looked at Gu Xue with a strange expression. "Wouldn't that be too juvenile?"

"You're not wrong about it being juvenile... but I think if it's a classic adventure plot, quite a few people would like it. Besides, most of the key animators are men, right? If you have them draw girls, they might be happier and more willing to draw."

"..." Misawa Hiroshi hesitated for a moment. "Then, if it is a witch theme, what kind of story should it tell specifically?"

"A story, huh..." Gu Xue looked at Mihara Chisa. "Ms. Mihara, could I trouble you to bring over some animation paper?"

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