Crude

Strictly speaking, "Itano Circus," or simply "the Itano Circus," referred to the spectacular animation of a salvo of missiles, invented by the Earth animator Itano Ichiro. Over time, though, the definition had broadened. Anything that trailed exhaust, chased a target along a curved path, or even flew along a curved path on its own could be called a circus.

A lot of people knew this kind of animation: a barrage of missiles launched at once, trailing exhaust as they chased someone, while their target dodged and weaved through the dense barrage. It was incredibly expressive and looked fantastic.

It had been common in older mecha anime—robot and battle-mecha shows.

But not many people knew how difficult this kind of animation was. Its inventor, Itano Ichiro, had once drawn so many circus scenes that he ended up in the hospital...

It had been mentioned before that fights in the air, where characters just flailed around with superpowers, were easier to animate than ground combat. No one had really seen that kind of thing, so it was harder to spot when the action looked wrong. Most circus scenes also took place in the air, but they weren't like that. Not many people had seen tracking missiles, after all, and it wasn't as though anyone had been hit by one...

The trajectories in a circus scene had to be incredibly precise. Even a small mistake could make one drawing fail to line up with the next and throw the whole scene into chaos.

Gu Xue wanted to draw a circus scene because the script called for one: the Mother Queen and the extraterrestrial creatures flew through space toward Weilan, plunged through the atmosphere, and hurtled toward the ground with their bodies wreathed in flames.

The background was outer space, so the background department wouldn't have to worry too much about perspective shifts caused by the characters.

No matter how she looked at it, a circus scene would be the most expressive way to do it.

Then Gu Xue thought about the protagonist fighting the mooks and decided that scene might work as a circus, too...

Once she started drawing her own storyboards, Gu Xue seemed to make the same mistake as Misawa Hiroshi: she put the scene's expressiveness first and didn't give a second thought to how difficult it would be to animate—or to the fact that this was just an outsourced episode.

But she wasn't quite like Misawa Hiroshi. Since she was drawing it herself, she could handle the difficulty. And since it was a mecha show featuring giant robots, she was willing to handle it.

As for this being an outsourced episode, Gu Xue had talked herself into not caring at all...

She'd conveniently forgotten to worry about the quality of the in-house studio's twelfth episode of Invasion, or whether the eleventh episode her company was handling would steal the show and leave the twelfth looking bad.

From the start, Gu Xue had set the bar for the fight scenes in episode eleven of Invasion incredibly high, along with the difficulty of animating them. If someone else had to draw them, and animation hell had eighteen levels, the workload would be sitting around level seventeen by now.

All she could say was... CDD Animation Workshop, the studio making Invasion, would have to fend for itself.

There was another important reason Gu Xue wanted to draw a circus scene.

She remembered that this world didn't seem to have this kind of animation. A circus scene was incredibly expressive, too. If she used the technique in her cuts and let everyone see it, would some director or episode director start chasing that kind of effect? Would an animator get driven to the brink of madness...?

Gu Xue found the idea fascinating.

She even indulged in a slightly wicked thought: perhaps someone here might end up in the hospital from drawing a circus scene, too...

No...

Gu Xue quickly came to her senses and realized there was something wrong with that thought. She wasn't setting anyone up. She was bringing them a flashy animation technique to save the declining mecha genre. She was protecting the giant robots she loved in her own way. It definitely wasn't because she held a grudge, and it definitely wasn't because Anime Mirai's project had been forced to move back and she felt bad for Mihara Chisa, so she was taking it out on the studio handling the contract...

With that thought, Gu Xue gave a soft, satisfied hum, then bit her lip and began sketching out the storyboards with a slightly mischievous smile.

Since she'd always worked as a key animator, many of her habits still came from that experience. For instance, she didn't work in order. She drew whatever scene came to mind.

That wasn't a problem. She was confident she could draw the scenes in her head, then arrange them in order and put them onto the storyboard sheets. The timing for the dialogue shouldn't be a problem either.

Gu Xue lowered her head, picked up a pencil, and began drawing on the animation paper.

She drew in great detail. Storyboards didn't usually need to be that detailed; it was fine to sketch out the scene and leave the key animators some room to interpret it. But since Gu Xue was drawing it herself, she didn't have to worry about that.

After sketching and scribbling away, Gu Xue finished storyboarding the sequence of the Mother Queen and the extraterrestrials invading in episode eleven of Invasion at around eight that evening.

She looked up and stretched, then suddenly noticed Mihara Chisa standing right beside her.

"...Mihara, you know you scared me, right?" Gu Xue hunched her shoulders, braced one toe against the floor, and spun her chair around to face Mihara Chisa, looking both amused and exasperated.

Mihara Chisa, who Gu Xue had no idea how long had been standing there, held out a carton of milk in her right hand and said softly, "I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize." Gu Xue held her hands and gave them a gentle shake.

She knew Mihara Chisa felt bad and hadn't wanted to pile this ridiculous workload on her. But sometimes, there was nothing she could do. This was a company, after all.

When Gu Xue had first heard about outsourcing from Misawa Hiroshi, it wasn't as if she hadn't been unhappy with the company. She'd been furious, in fact. For a moment, she'd even thought about leaving. Whether she became a freelance key animator or took another job, it didn't matter.

But at the crucial moment, she'd thought of Mihara Chisa and her personality, and pushed the idea aside. Still, the seed of discontent had already been planted. Gu Xue just didn't want to think about it or talk about it.

She really didn't blame Mihara Chisa. She didn't think badly of Misawa Hiroshi, either. She was only unhappy with the company's decision.

Mihara Chisa was still holding out the milk carton, silent. Gu Xue took it from her, figuring they could let the matter drop. She pulled out the straw, poked it through the foil, and took a sip. After a brief hesitation, she asked, "Mihara, are you happy working here?"

"...It's all right." Mihara Chisa stared at Gu Xue's pink lips, damp with milk, and answered quietly.

"Okay." Gu Xue pushed aside all her dissatisfaction and thoughts of quitting. She lifted the carton to take another sip, but noticed Mihara Chisa watching her. Her face was expressionless, but somehow she seemed eager to try some...?

"Want some?"

Gu Xue glanced at the milk in her hand, assuming Mihara Chisa was thirsty too, and held the carton up.

Gu Xue didn't mind sharing with Mihara Chisa. Besides, she always brought her milk, and Gu Xue felt bad about it.

Mihara Chisa quietly hid her left hand behind her back, clenching and unclenching it. After a pause, she slowly bent down, gently tucked the hair beside her ear away, and took a sip through the straw.

Then she straightened up at once, quickly turned around, and, with her back to Gu Xue, said, "You get back to work. I'll come by again later."

"Hey..." Gu Xue watched Mihara Chisa's retreating figure and laughed. "It's only a sip of milk. Do you really have to be that shy? Your ears are red..."

Unfortunately, Mihara Chisa had already hurried off and couldn't hear her.

Gu Xue didn't mind. She bit down on the straw, ready to finish the rest of the milk.

But... it was gone already.

Hmm... Mihara Chisa seemed to have drunk quite a lot...

I read all the comments. If I don't reply, it's just because I don't know what to say...

Once I've recovered tomorrow, I'll think about it.

Thanks, everyone.

Also, please vote for the recommendations.