It was nearly nine o'clock when Lin Zhiyan finally left the IG Office Building.
After discussing drawing techniques with Kazuchika Kise, he had successfully secured Kise's recommendation and received an offer for the position of Key Animator at IG.
The fact that he could bypass the Animator stage and directly join as a Key Animator was something he hadn't even considered when he arrived that morning, so he felt he had exceeded his expectations.
"Mr. Hayashi, wait for me!" A figure hurried out behind him—it was Akimoto To, the production coordinator.
Lin Zhiyan stopped and turned to look at Akimoto To, a hint of confusion in his expression. "What is it?"
Akimoto To jogged up to him, grinned foolishly, and asked, "Do you have plans later, Mr. Hayashi? Want to grab a drink?"
Lin Zhiyan hesitated before replying, "I'm not of legal drinking age yet, so I can't drink. But I can join you for a late-night snack."
"Right."
Akimoto To finally remembered. "Alright then, let's grab a late-night snack instead."
They headed to a nearby restaurant for some oden, but Akimoto To still ordered a cold beer for himself.
He took a deep swig, let out a satisfied "Ah," and turned to Lin Zhiyan. "Mr. Hayashi, I can't believe you're only eighteen! You completely fooled me. I thought you'd already been working in the animation industry for years."
"If I hadn't said that, would you have let me draw the keyframes for you?" Lin Zhiyan defended himself.
"That's true," Akimoto To agreed, nodding. "Speaking of which, this is the first time I've seen Mr. Kise so impressed with a new key animator. He even said you're better than him! But I thought you had no prior animation experience? How did you manage to hone your skills to such a high level?"
"Of course, it's all about talent," Lin Zhiyan said with a smile, half-joking.
"Hmph! I don't buy that for a second! You must have made animations in school and just kept it secret, trying to make everyone think you're some once-in-a-decade animation prodigy!" Akimoto To retorted, picking up his cup and gulping down another mouthful of sake.
Lin Zhiyan had made animations, but not in school. It was in his previous life, or rather, in another timeline.
Naturally, he wouldn't reveal this to Akimoto To.
He silently ate some food before eventually asking, "I start work in two days. Could you give me a heads-up about the people in our company? I want to be prepared when I join."
"The people in our company?"
Akimoto Tobe munched on his food while thinking, then quickly began the introductions: "First, the president and vice-president, Ishikawa-san and Gotō-san. I don't need to introduce them, right? Then there's First Division and Second Division..."
As a production coordinator, even though he was at the bottom of the production hierarchy, his work involved tracking the animation production progress and liaising with people from all departments involved in the process. This meant he knew a lot of people within the company and could generally name the key personnel in each department.
First Division, Second Division, Production, Direction, Keyframe, Animation, Coloring, Photography... He introduced the departments to Lin Zhiyan in the order of the animation production process.
Lin Zhiyan was listening attentively until Akimoto Tobe reached the animation department in Second Division and mentioned someone named "Sekiguchi-san." He couldn't help but interrupt: "Sekiguchi-san? Which Sekiguchi-san?"
"It's Sekiguchi Kanami-san. What? Do you know her, Mr. Hayashi?" Akimoto Tobe glanced at Lin Zhiyan, finding it a bit odd.
"No, no, I don't know her," Lin Zhiyan hastily denied. "It's just that at my old school, there was an upperclassman named Sekiguchi who was supposed to be really good at drawing. I thought she might have gotten into the animation industry too."
"Having the same surname but different names is quite common. Besides, I heard Sekiguchi-san from our company lives in Saitama Prefecture, so she must be from there. Mr. Hayashi, wasn't your former school not in Saitama Prefecture?"
Akimoto To shook his head slightly before quickly turning back to Lin Zhiyan to talk about Sekiguchi Kanami. "I'm not sure if she joined last year or the year before, but when she first started, she was in the First Division, working on the in-between animation for Earth Guardian Spirit with Gotō-san and Director Yamazaki. After less than a year, Gotō-san probably saw that she preferred the Second Division, so he transferred her there as an animator."
He took a sip of his drink and ate some food before continuing. "Makes sense, really. Even though Gotō-san, who oversees the First Division, is the vice president, the Second Division has Director Oshii stationed there. Which of our younger animators wouldn't prefer the Second Division?"
Lin Zhiyan smiled but said nothing.
Though he claimed not to know Sekiguchi Kanami, she had become quite famous by the time of his rebirth. As a legendary artist at PA, her "PA Face" design, alongside Yukiko Horiguchi's "Kyoto Face," were arguably the two most iconic facial styles in the animation industry, each with legions of fans.
Yukiko Horiguchi was born in 1983 and joined Kyoto Animation in 2003. By 2006, when The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya was produced, she was already an animation supervisor. Her role further expanded in 2007's Lucky Star, where she became a character designer and chief animation director. Her rise to prominence was astonishingly rapid.
Her popularity skyrocketed with the massive success of K-On! in 2009, cementing her reputation within the animation industry.
Sekiguchi Kanami, on the other hand, wasn't as fortunate. Although she was one of four character designers for Hikaru no Go in 2001, it wasn't until 2008, when PA produced its first independent work, True Tears, that her career took off. Handling keyframes, character design, animation supervision, and chief animation director duties, she gained modest recognition alongside the show's mild success.
It was this breakthrough that solidified her association with PA, eventually making her one of the studio's signature artists.
Lin Zhiyan first took notice of Sekiguchi Kanami through True Tears. Since then, he has followed her work in every subsequent animation she's been involved with, including Ya Boy Kongming! which aired in April 2022.
Despite this, Lin Zhiyan wasn't entirely sure which animations before True Tears Sekiguchi Kanami had worked on, aside from Hikaru no Go.
He knew she was from IG, but there were many prominent figures from that company. If Akimoto To hadn't mentioned her, Lin Zhiyan wouldn't have thought of her at all.
Since he planned to recruit a team and break away in the future, he needed to start identifying potential recruits now.
Anyone who had been a key animator at IG longer than him was too senior to poach. Even if he managed to recruit them, it could lead to future problems with managing such experienced staff.
An animator who hadn't yet become a key animator was the ideal target.
Sekiguchi Kanami perfectly fit the criteria and had tremendous potential. It would be unforgivable not to try and recruit her.
"If I remember correctly, Sekiguchi Kanami left IG in 1999 or 2000, encouraged by Kenji Horikawa, who later became the president of PA."
It was currently 1995, so there were still three or four years left—plenty of time.
The only problem was... how to approach Miss Sekiguchi? And once he did, what approach should he take to build a relationship with her?