When Gu Xue asked about the outsourcing job, Misawa Hiroshi's eyes lit up, and he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
What he'd just said really had been a little attempt to garner sympathy.
It was true that he hadn't insisted Gu Xue help him and Miss Mihara finish the outsourced work, but that didn't mean he didn't want her to join them. After all, not just he but even many of the key animators knew that Gu Xue deserved eighty percent of the credit for the discussion the final episode of Ore-sama had generated.
Without her, even if Misawa Hiroshi had been as strict as possible about the key animation the others submitted for review, Ore-sama would only have managed to be barely watchable before ending on a thoroughly mediocre note.
When reviewing the key animation for Ore-sama, he'd been amazed more than once that Gu Xue, a girl, could draw scenes with such power.
An animator like Gu Xue was someone no director or episode director could resist.
For now, not many people in the industry knew who Gu Xue was. They only knew that the lead key animator for Ore-sama's final episode was called Gu Xue, but they didn't know what she looked like, and not many had her contact information.
In a little while, production teams looking to hire her would surely get in touch. Misawa Hiroshi figured there'd be quite a few of them.
Now that Gu Xue was willing to help complete the outsourced work, it was truly the best possible outcome. The Anime Mirai project shouldn't be delayed, and the eleventh episode of Invasion, which they were helping produce, would probably turn out beautifully, too...
Seeing Misawa Hiroshi's expression, Gu Xue knew what he was thinking. She said dismissively, "I'm doing this for Miss Mihara. If it weren't for her, there's no way I'd take part. Trying to get my sympathy won't work."
Smart girls really were a pain...
Misawa Hiroshi gave an awkward smile.
"I'm sorry," Mihara Chisa said softly.
"You don't need to apologize." Gu Xue turned to her, smiling brightly.
If Gu Xue had guessed right, Miss Mihara had just been arguing with Misawa Hiroshi because she didn't want him to pressure Gu Xue into taking part in the rest of the outsourced work.
In the end, Misawa Hiroshi hadn't bowed and begged her to help. He'd only tried to garner a little sympathy.
Gu Xue was quite touched by Miss Mihara's actions.
Miss Mihara was indeed the main reason she was helping. The Anime Mirai project was another reason, of course. After all, she'd told Miss Mihara she'd do her best to win the Gold Award. They'd even kissed, so Gu Xue couldn't go back on her word...
She couldn't just watch the two of them get dragged into the mud by the outsourced work, see the Anime Mirai project delayed again and again, and do nothing.
Besides, if the Anime Mirai project didn't leave Gu Xue enough time, she couldn't promise she'd be able to make anything good. The only exception would be if she decided to work herself to the bone every day and draw the entire production alone. But that was impossible. It wasn't a question of ability. Even if she had enough time, this was a government project meant to train newcomers. If she went and did the whole thing by herself, she'd just be picking a fight...
Misawa Hiroshi sat in his chair, looking at the smile Gu Xue gave Miss Mihara and thinking of the disdainful look she'd given him a moment ago. He smacked his lips, feeling a little sour.
Felt like I'd just eaten another lemon.
But Gu Xue didn't leave him feeling sour for long. She soon turned back to him and asked:
"What's going on with Invasion? Why did they only think of outsourcing the work at episode eleven? Shouldn't they have decided something like this back during the planning stage? If they knew their own studio didn't have enough people, why didn't they do something sooner...? Wait, isn't CDD Animation Workshop pretty big?"
Misawa Hiroshi shook his head. "I don't know the details.
"All I know is that the episodes of Invasion that have aired so far have been really good—at least several levels above Ore-sama. It's not a huge production, but it's one of the more talked-about anime this season. Their own studio is making the final episode, and they've asked us to do the penultimate one. Their requirements are pretty strict, but they've also given us a lot of room to work. They only gave us the script, not even the storyboard. They only had a specific requirement for the last cut: a big explosion, to make it flow into the final episode."
"...What kind of genius idea is that?" Gu Xue was speechless.
They'd outsourced the work without even providing a storyboard. Weren't they worried someone might go off the rails?
Misawa Hiroshi said, "I heard a rumor that someone gave up on the project..."
Gu Xue fell silent.
"But that's not our concern. The most important thing is that we do a good job on this episode. Their requirements are strict, and they might ask us to revise it several times, so we'd better make it good enough that they have nothing to criticize."
"What's the story about, exactly?" Because she'd been busy with the final episode of Ore-sama, Gu Xue hadn't watched the new anime this season in a while. She genuinely didn't know what Invasion was about.
"Extraterrestrial creatures invading—you can just think of them as aliens. The protagonist's a high school student who pilots a mecha to fight them... After ten episodes of buildup, the creatures finally launch a full-scale invasion in episode eleven. Then episode twelve, the finale, starts the big decisive battle. Our episode needs to build up that atmosphere before the final battle."
Gu Xue said, "That's pretty clichéd..."
"Did you forget what you just said...?" Misawa Hiroshi gave a wry laugh.
"Sorry, that was a fantasy story. Sure, it was clichéd, but there was no saving the world. If you're going to have high schoolers save the world, at least bring in some adults, damn it."
"..." Misawa Hiroshi's mouth twitched. "There's nothing we can do about the story. We should just do our best with our own work. The first half of episode eleven is dialogue, and then the extraterrestrial creatures invade in the second half, with plenty of fight scenes. At the end, the protagonist has to hold them off alone, followed by an explosion to build up the atmosphere."
"Here's what I'm thinking. I'll handle the final explosion, and I'll draw the storyboard as soon as possible. As for the fight cuts, I'd like to ask—"
Before Misawa Hiroshi could finish, Gu Xue interrupted him.
"Leave the storyboard for the fight scenes blank. I'll draw it, and let me handle the explosion, too."
Misawa Hiroshi fell silent.
"I don't mean anything by it," Gu Xue explained. "I just want to finish this job as soon as possible. If I handle the fight cuts and storyboard them myself, it'll be much faster. Much, much faster. As for the explosion, just think of it as me wanting the animation to flow smoothly."
Misawa Hiroshi thought it over for a while, then nodded.
He'd felt a little uncomfortable about it, but the feeling quickly passed.
He was interested in mecha anime, but he'd seen how fast Gu Xue could draw. Thinking about how slowly he worked, he couldn't see any reason to insist on doing it himself.
Besides, it wasn't unreasonable for Gu Xue to decide on the compositions and storyboard for the fight cuts she was responsible for. They were the most troublesome part of the episode.
But he didn't understand why she also wanted to draw the explosion cut himself. He looked at Gu Xue, puzzled...
Gu Xue ignored Misawa Hiroshi's puzzled gaze.
She hadn't been lying. She really did want to draw the storyboard herself to work faster, but she had another goal, too.
Outsourcing, huh? Building up the atmosphere, huh?
Then I'll show you what a smile can do. The limited-edition 200,000 EVA—what it means to be the most hype anime of all time, my drill piercing the heavens, what it means that even my dad never beat me, and what a nuclear explosion looks like!
Let's see how you handle episode twelve after that...
Before you continue