Inside a cafe, a man across from Lin Zhiyan introduced himself: "Mr. Hayashi, I'm Watanabe Satoru, the one you've been corresponding with via email. Thank you for meeting me today."
He then introduced the middle-aged man beside him: "This is Mr. Shinbo. He recently supervised Space Battleship Yamamoto Yohko and Star Trek: Pretty Girls. Have you seen either of them?"
"Mr. Shinbo" naturally referred to Akiyuki Shinbo.
At thirty-nine, Shinbo had already garnered attention in 1992 for his storyboarding and directing work on Yu Yu Hakusho. However, as a supervising director, he had yet to achieve any truly remarkable works, nor was he the industry titan he would become a decade later in another timeline.
To put it bluntly, Lin Zhiyan's industry reputation at that time far surpassed Shinbo's. The only difference was that Lin Zhiyan had no directing experience, and his fame stemmed primarily from his animation skills.
Regardless, Lin Zhiyan was not arrogant.
He greeted them politely before asking, "Mr. Watanabe, what is the purpose of this meeting?"
"I heard Mr. Hayashi left IG and took a team with him to start his own animation company?" Watanabe Satoru asked tentatively.
"That's correct," Lin Zhiyan nodded.
Although news didn't spread as quickly in 2000 as it would later, he had been gone for some time. Moreover, Watanabe Satoru worked at Tatsunoko, another company in Musashino City, so it was natural for him to be well-informed.
Watanabe Satoru had naturally verified the information before approaching Lin Zhiyan.
Hearing this, he immediately said, "The reason I'm here is that we're planning an animation called Soul Hunter. Mr. Shinbo will be the Supervising Director, and Tatsunoko will handle production. We'd like to invite you to be the Character Designer and Chief Animation Director, and also ask your company to assist with production. What do you think?"
"Soul Hunter?"
Lin Zhiyan almost gasped.
That anime was a disaster.
It was precisely because of this project's failure that Akiyuki Shinbo had to adopt the pseudonym Minamisawa Juhachi and start making adult animation—a venture he pursued for two or three years.
Of course, this was all Akiyuki Shinbo's fault; the animation's failure didn't affect anyone else.
In the original timeline, the production of this animation involved not only SHAFT and Triangle Staff but even Kyoto Animation.
Takeuchi Yasuhiro of Kyoto Animation was responsible for the storyboards and direction of the third and sixth episodes. Instead of being dragged down by Soul Hunter's failure, this experience actually led to him becoming the supervising director of the first two episodes of the 2002 sequel, Magical Nurse Komugi.
So, even if Lin Zhiyan had been involved in the animation's production, it wouldn't necessarily be a stain on his record.
However, Lin Zhiyan truly wanted nothing to do with such a disaster. Moreover, neither he nor his company, L.S, had the time or energy to spare.
They were all busy working on Death Note; how could they possibly take on production assistance for another animation?
As these thoughts raced through his mind, he replied, "Thank you for the invitation, but our company is currently preparing to produce its own animation, which is set to premiere this October. It's a half-year series, so we really can't help you. In fact, if you have any spare staff, we'd be grateful if you could lend us some."
Watanabe Satoru: "???"
Even Akiyuki Shinbo couldn't help but freeze. "Um... Mr. Hayashi, if I'm not mistaken, you left your company in late January and established your own animation company in early February, right?"
"That's correct," Lin Zhiyan confirmed.
"The anime is set to premiere in October this year. Even if you started planning in early February, that's only eight months from planning to broadcast. Isn't that cutting it too close for a half-year series? Are you sure this is feasible?" Shinbo looked utterly perplexed.
Their Soul Hunter was just a quarterly series, yet they were preparing for an April premiere next year. They'd spent over a year from the planning stage to the animation's launch.
Even that felt rushed.
Lin Zhiyan's pace was practically rocket-like.
Assuming he completed the planning in two months, scriptwriting, character design, art direction, and color design would still take at least three months, right?
Storyboarding was also time-consuming and could only begin after the script was fully or mostly completed.
After the storyboards are finished, they can start working on the Layouts. Once the Layouts are complete, they can begin drawing the Keyframes.
Voice recording must start at least a month before the animation airs. Plus, the new team needs time to gel, and they should stockpile one or two episodes to guard against any production delays during the broadcast.
No matter how you look at it, eight months isn't nearly enough time, is it?
Even if they work the staff to death, they still won't make it!
Just as he was thinking this, Lin Zhiyan, sitting across from them, smiled and said, "No problem. We've already completed the planning, script, and character design phases and are entering the formal production stage. Voice actor auditions should start next month. With the premiere in October, we have plenty of time—more than enough, actually."
"So fast!"
Akiyuki Shinbo and Watanabe Satoru were stunned.
It wasn't even March yet, and Lin Zhiyan had only left IG at the end of January.
The company was just starting up, and there were countless things to handle. How could he possibly have completed the planning, script, and character design phases in less than a month?
Even if Lin Zhiyan had started preparing two months before leaving IG, this was still too fast, right?
It was simply baffling.
Of course, Lin Zhiyan wouldn't tell the two people opposite him that he could complete a project in a single night or finish an animation script in half a month.
Moreover, he drew character designs and storyboards with remarkable speed. Without the constraints of the original rights holder or the Production Committee, his animation team's key animators and animation supervisor didn't have to worry about the Director suddenly changing the storyboard, rendering their keyframes obsolete and requiring them to redo everything.
With the original animation from another timeline as a reference, it appeared he only had eight months for pre-production. In reality, those eight months were equivalent to over a year for other animation teams—more than enough to prepare a half-year series.
There was no need to explain everything to outsiders.
Feigning regret, he said, "In short, we really can't help you. If you have any spare personnel, please be sure to lend us some."
With the matter settled, there was no point in wasting more time. Everyone was quite busy at this point.
Before leaving, Lin Zhiyan asked Akiyuki Shinbo for his contact information and added, "Mr. Shinbo, although this time didn't work out, there's always the future. I hope we can collaborate again someday. Also, feel free to join me for a drink sometime, and you're welcome to visit us at L.S."
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