Kunihiko Yuyama looked at the new protagonist on the design sheets, then at Satoshi Tajiri beside him, whose face was blazing with fervor.
Sega's combination punch was never simply about making an animated series.
They were using animation to pave the way for new hardware and new games.
Games, animation, merchandise—the three formed a trinity that would thoroughly penetrate the Heisei generation's market.
"I understand." Kunihiko Yuyama gathered up the storyboard pages. "I'll reorganize the writing team and draft the outline according to the timeline eight years from now. However, the new protagonist's personality must be clearly distinct from Ash Ketchum's. He can't just be a reskinned tagalong. Ash is hot-blooded and reckless, so the new protagonist needs to be steadier, or more focused on strategy. The audience needs something fresh."
"That's exactly what we need to discuss." Satoshi Tajiri perked up, pulled over a whiteboard, and swiftly sketched battle formations across it. "The new protagonist must pay more attention to tactical combinations! They need to work with the games' Double Battles and Ability mechanics. Battle scenes can't just rely on shouting and grit like before—they need brains! For example, weather-based Abilities, rain teams, sun teams. The anime needs to present those tactical contests clearly!"
Nakayama Takuya leaned back in his chair, listening as the two returned to work mode.
"The battles in the anime can directly serve as a gameplay tutorial." Nakayama Takuya added, "Kids who watch the anime should immediately want to pick up their handhelds afterward and try out the tactics they saw in the games. That is the ultimate goal of cross-media integration."
Satoshi Tajiri vigorously circled the word "tactics" on the whiteboard.
"No problem! I'll assign game planners to the anime writing team specifically to oversee the logic behind the battle storyboards. We absolutely won't